Reports claim thatMicrosoftmay be testing runningXbox One games on PC. It’s worth noting that Microsoft already offers plenty of games on both Xbox One and PC, but rather than create a PC port for an existing Xbox One game, Microsoft appears to be testing running the Xbox One version of the game directly on personal computers. This isn’t Play Anywhere, this is Microsoft bringing the Xbox One platform directly to PC owners.
According to tech enthusiast site Thurrott, in early 2019, Microsoft offered a free copy ofState of Decayto members of the Microsoft Insider closed PC testing group. Microsoft delivered this free game alongside a message that it was bringing new technology to Windows 10, but didn’t clarify further. Once people began installingState of Decayon their PCs, some immediate differences were apparent.
Though it required some digging, several details about the installation made clear that it was an Xbox One version ofState of Decayrather than the PC version. For example, once the game’s installer is extracted, it’s shown to be the Xbox One file format of .xvc, and the game features a legacy DirectX installation that’s clearly unrelated to the modern installations found on the Microsoft Store.
The value inMicrosoftallowing Xbox One games to run on PC may not be immediately apparent. After all, porting games to the PC is a complicated process. The PC gaming community often expects optimizations, new menus, settings, and more.
However, the possibility of games likeRed Dead Redemptionand other Xbox One backward compatible games being playable on PC begin to make the idea seem more interesting. It could be hugely productive if developers only needed to create one package for both Xbox and PC rather than split resources. Xbox games replacing PC ports likely won’t be a concept that will ever be popular, but having options and increasing content diversity are ideas that PC gamers almost always support.
More than anything, bringing Xbox One games directly to the PC environment continues Microsoft’s exploration of bringing its Xbox and PC platforms together. After all, multiple pieces of news and rumors have pointed to future xCloud Xbox game streaming subscriptions, Game Pass coming PC, and a Microsoft storefront rework to focus more on gaming only. Considering Microsoft might even be bringing Xbox OneGame Pass to the Nintendo Switch, bringing them to the PC seems much easier and feasible.
As exciting as these rumored plans fromMicrosoftand Xbox may be, there’s a lot left to be proven. Nevertheless, one can only hope 2019 is a great year for Xbox gaming.
