Resident Evil 5, Dead Rising 2 drop Games for Windows Live for Steamworks next year

Capcom is transitioning a handful of Windows PC games — Resident Evil 5, Dead Rising 2 and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record — from Microsoft's Games for Windows Live service to Valve's Steamworks, according to a Capcom Unity post.

Citing the "global popularity of the Steamworks platforms," Capcom says moving to a Steam-based solution for each game's cooperative multiplayer component "will allow more fans across the world to enjoy these games." The transition to Steam is expected to happen sometime in early 2015.

Capcom moved Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition from Games for Windows Live to Steamworks earlier this year, while the latest release, Ultra Street Fighter 4, launched on PC with Steamworks support. Some Capcom-published titles, like Street Fighter X Tekken and Lost Planet 2, still rely on Games for Windows Live technology.

Developers and publishers have been slowly moving away from GFWL since Microsoft announced it would shut down the Games for Windows Live Marketplace and signaled that the online service could come to an end. Microsoft clarified earlier this year that it plans to continue to support the Games for Windows Live service.

"Although customers are unable to purchase new games from the marketplace or receive title updates, they can continue to enjoy previously purchased content by downloading them through the Games for Windows Live client as usual," the company said in a statement. "We remain committed to investing in PC gaming in the years ahead, and look forward to sharing more in the future."