A lot of people have had some hate for Games for Windows LIVE, mainly because a lot of classic modes of operation were hindered and people had to pay to play to use all the features of the service, while Xbox fans may feel it's totally justified, it really isn't and many services on the net have been doing similar methods or options for quite some time now. As such the subscription service embedded into the titles was probably met with one of the coldest shoulders in gaming.

Times seem to have changed for MS though, gamers will be able to enjoy Games for Windows LIVE fore free now, no exceptions to the rule and cross-platform battles will be free as well. It seems this is a bit of a good faith move on their part that maybe a free service will entice companies to support their system a bit more as it enables many features without the developer time to code it manually.

The short version from MS:

• Games for Windows – LIVE makes great Windows games even better, now offering completely free online multiplayer including TrueSkill™ matchmaking

• 1 gamertag, 1 friends list, 1 list of achievements and gamerscore for your Windows-based PC & Xbox 360
• Experience cross-platform gameplay with Universe at War, Lost Planet: Colonies, Shadowrun, and more.
• Games for Windows – LIVE is available in every country and region supported today by Xbox LIVE®

This doesn't solve the issue of international player problems, LAN support and more, but it is a step in realizing that PC gamers are just going to not buy what they don't like. Hopefully they move to open the platform to a global market because many key regions are still absent from their coverage for PC gaming.