With the recent announcement of ReCore having a PC release, there have been questions within the Xbox community. To clear up some of the community’s concerns, Head of the Xbox gaming division, Phil Spencer, addressed questions about the future of the console with influx of Xbox One games with releases planned for the Windows 10 platform.
More games have been added to the list of Xbox One exclusives that are also getting a Windows 10 release. One of the main concerns is that releasing games on both console and PC will make the Xbox One a pointless purchase if gamers can just stick with or move to PC. Spencer replies on Twitter to this issue by stating, “Console is critical to our success, now and in the future.”
Why bring the PC gamers into the console market and vice versa? Some Xbox One owners may think that they are pushed to the side for the PC market. Spencer states that the benefits are, “more games, larger community, more choice.”
Recently Microsoft announced that Windows 10 has 200 million users. This can easily bring in PC gamers into the games of the console market. Having that great of a number of an install base will definitely prove to be lucrative to Microsoft in both the Xbox and Windows markets. By not singling out either market with big titles, Microsoft can make some big plays with new and existing IPs. The more the gaming division increases Microsoft’s profits, the better games all of us, Windows 10 and Xbox One owners, will get.
Spencer also discusses cross-buy and cross-play models. Having games on both Windows 10 and Xbox One is good for both the developers and the players. Developers can do what they need to make their games better, and players will have options on how and where they can play the games.
Along with ReCore being announced for Windows 10 in 2016, other titles include:
• Fable Legends Open Beta (Spring)
• Sea of Thieves
• Gears of War: Ultimate Edition (Spring)
• Gigantic
• Halo Wars 2 (Fall)
• Killer Instinct: Season 3 (March)
• Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (Spring)
It seems like their push into cross-play with Windows 10 will be much stronger than their experiments in the past. When Shadowrun came out for the PC and Xbox 360 in 2007, it was an ambitious move for Microsoft that ended up falling flat. With all of the recent work they have done to meet the community’s needs, it looks promising that the move this time around won’t go in that direction.
I hope bringing Xbox One games to Windows 10 proves to be a significant boost for Microsoft. Imagine if Microsoft doubled down on making even more games every year. While many of them might not come to Windows 10 immediately or at all, they will definitely make their way to Xbox One as that is the company’s priority. Gamers need to realize that Microsoft is more than just the maker of Xbox consoles, they have billions of other customers to cater to. Microsoft projects that in the next few years Windows 10 will be on more than 1.5 billion devices. Yes, 1.5 billion. Imagine how profitable gaming at Microsoft can become with access to that many potential consumers. At the end of the day, the better Microsoft’s gaming division does, the more and better games we get. It’s a win for everyone, especially Xbox One gamers.
Jason Hadley was a community contributor to ICXM, writing 2 articles in 2016 covering opinion pieces, and Xbox news. ICXM operated as an independent Xbox and Windows gaming outlet through the run-up to Xbox One S and Project Scorpio, plus the broader Windows 10 gaming push, drawing from a rotating bench of editorial volunteers.