Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition has finally patched out its controversial Games for Windows Live DRM… seven years after it was discontinued by Microsoft.
When Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition launched back in 2009, it made heavy use of the much-hated Games for Windows Live system, which was Microsoft's early attempt at combining the Xbox and PC ecosystems. It required a log in with a linked Microsoft account, which would then be used to prevent piracy and second-hand sales under the guise of "features" like Xbox messaging and achievements.
In the latest Steam patch notes for Fallout 3, it was announced that it would be removing all trace of Games for Windows Live, bringing it more in-line with the GOG and Windows Store versions that forgo it. If you already have Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition installed through Steam, Bethesda recommends that you reinstall the game to remove any of the previous dependencies.
Though this move is certainly going to please players, it does come a little bit late, as Microsoft itself discontinued support for Games for Windows Live back in February of 2014. Though online services for games that run it are still available, the Games for Windows marketplace, and a lot of the Xbox/PC cross-functionality the service promoted, were replaced by the Windows Store.
Other titles impacted by the closure, such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Street Fighter IV, BioShock 2, and Dark Souls, have long since released fixed versions that remove Games for Windows Live. Dark Souls in particular was infamously the target of a fan petition, when Bandai Namco announced that the much-requested PC version would include the DRM. It was later removed in a patch and replaced with Valve's Steamworks instead.
Though Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition may no longer need Games for Windows Live, getting it to run on anything past Windows Vista can still be a problem. For running on Windows 7 through 11, it is recommended that you run the game in compatibility mode, as an administrator, and after applying a fix to enable multi-core threading.