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[Darsxx82]

Curious if Microsoft is contractually able to effectively port all its Xbox games to Windows without publishers giving the ok.

I think we'll get hints of this at the upcoming GDC 2025.

MS has a ton of panels focused on that plan.

Xbox at GDC 2025: Discover the Next Era of Gaming Anywhere

Discover what it means for Xbox to be playable on any screen.

developer.microsoft.com

Attendees that come by the Xbox Lounge in Moscone South will have a chance to see the latest Xbox experience on PC, join a Q&A with an Xbox development expert, and learn about the opportunities and benefits of building with Xbox across PC, Cloud and Console.

Xbox is expanding to any screen on any device, making it easier for anyone to play with the friends they want – whether they choose to play with Xbox console, PC, Smart TV or mobile. At GDC, we’re inviting game developers to go behind the scenes to better understand what it means for Xbox to be playable on any screen. We're committed to empowering game developers to tap into that opportunity by building cross-capable games that take advantage of Xbox across devices. Our presence will reveal the many ways game developers can reach more players with Xbox and showcase success stories of developers who are maximizing the opportunity.

Whether you're an indie developer or a seasoned professional, Xbox speakers will be presenting insights for every stage of your development journey. Check out the full schedule below. If you will be engaging remotely, you can learn more by visiting our Game Development Resource Hub here and to learn more about AI for Gaming, check out our Gaming AI Resource Hub here.

For us, GDC 2025 is as much about showcasing the Xbox developer experience as it is about fostering collaboration with partners and driving our gaming future, together. See you there!

 

[Ebrietas]

Agree. Plus I feel after buying Activision and seeing it's data they kind of realised their position and opened possibilities for them. Have 10 studios and a hardware platform, you prioritise the hardware because you can earn far more profit from that as compared to games.

But having 30-40 studios, some of the biggest ips in the industry and a hardware platform, you are earning( and can potentially earn far more) from the games as compared to the hardware platform.

Buying Activision( and Bethesda), in my opinion, changed MS's priority. They frankly see far more money to be earned from their games as compared to their hardware. Their main product is now games not Xbox. Why loss money from a declining platform( especially one's with expensive R&D, not to mention having to subsidize to attract customers and compete) all to earn 30% share of sales, when you can publish everywhere and earn 70% share due to your games.

That's why, I am still skeptical about MS's interest in having a hardware platform. Just doesn't make sense from a buisness point of view

Owning a large platform is more lucrative than selling games. This was absolutely not the plan when they bought Bethesda and activision. They simply have no other choice now.

 

[Kacho]

If the one is a true Xbox why this partnered Windows machine?

Part marketing to get the Xbox name in the PC handheld space. Part pilot program to get things ready for the main hardware.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Hoping for the best, expecting the worst.

Hoping whatever gets done will be best for the gamer but expecting gamers will get hosed on the final outcome in the end.

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

I've always jokingly said that if PC is so great why haven't they made a PC2? Seems like Microsoft is. A pc that plays pc games AND your Xbox games library sounds neat. I mean, I still won't buy it but good on them.

 

[reinking]

Very exciting news!

XBOX EVERYWHERE

In name only. XBOX EVERYWHERE is becoming XBOX NOWHERE when it comes to the future of the console. Yes, we are getting another generation. No, Xbox consoles are not the future. Xbox will be playing a support role to Xbox Gaming by the time this is over. You can celebrate if you want but it saddens me.

Yes. I took the bait.

 

[Fake]

UWP was a total fiasco, but sure. Lets kill what left from Xbox.

 

[Darsxx82]

The only thing I can think is not leaving people behind that want to bring their libraries with them

I don't get their direction right now and why the 2 handhelds a little over a year a part?

If the one is a true Xbox why this partnered Windows machine?

Because they want a response for SteamOS handhelds, and with that ASUS handheld partner, they can test and prepare the space for their own device that should ensure a minimum level of compatibility?

 

[Geruda065]

It's simple. Microsoft wants out of the hardware business. They are a software company, and they want to sell software and a lot of it. That's why they want to go everywhere. They will let a hardware company like Asus make hardware. They don't want to subsidize millions of consoles ever again. It is a purely business decision. A very logical one for them.

 

[Parazels]

They had better make the OS free, because now it costs extra $100 for manufacturers (and customers).

 

[Bry0]

It all sounds like a disaster unfolding in real time imo

It sounds very splintered and confusing. I’m kind of worried the execution here is going to be lacking, and the products they are going to deliver just won’t be desired by anybody versus what Sony and valve/pc oems offer.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

They had better make the OS free, because now it costs extra $100 for manufacturers (and customers).

Oh they will make it "free", and you will pay with your soul and data for it.

 

[Fess]

It’s as I said in the other thread. Slap an Xbox sticker on your PC and you already have this.

Depends if they launch this whole thing as a stand-alone OS with Xbox big screen mode for regular PCs.
I hope they do!

On a regular Windows PC you currently have a fairly small number of Xbox games. Their ”This is an Xbox” ad was a blatant lie. And you don’t get the console-like experience without Steam. The current Xbox app is quite useless tbh, at least if you’re on a TV.

 

[Hookshot]

An Xbox handheld? Time to dust off the old GameGear battery memes

 

[Panajev2001a]

So eventually everything will be a “play anywhere” title by default. Very interesting but I have serious doubts on them meeting my expectations with my Xbox library.

If you kill your old console and make windows PC in a box well… kind of a way to get your title to plate on all your platforms (of one)…

 

[vaibhavpisal]

This is far too confusing/complicated at this point.

Will just let them cook. They will eventually figure it out.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Goddamn. All sounds good to me!

 

[Kacho]

Still waiting to see these "innovative services" Phil keeps yapping about. I hope we get some answers at GDC next week.

 

[Parazels]

This is what I expected. Microsoft and Valve are going to compete by offering their user friendly operation systems on handhelds and consoles.

 

[cireza]

Release this at the same time as Switch 2 for optimal sales.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

Basically they are shelving classic consoles in favor of gaming layer for Windows. And UWP all over again, sigh.

If Microsoft actually gave a shit about UWP, it would a fantastic alternative to Steam. Unfortunately as I experienced with PC Game Pass a few years ago, UWP and in particular the Game Pass app and storefront are godawful. I see this is an opportunity for Microsoft, if they can deliver the experience they promised.

Sad thing is, the series x is a beast of a console that looks pretty good (for a box) is near silent and runs games well all for a pretty low price. And those fuckers have just left it for dead. So fucking sad what they've done to the Xbox console brand.

It's an incredible device that made most of the right choices (except for the SSD). For all the bashing Xbox gets (and deserves), they created an excellent device with a great platform.

So eventually everything will be a “play anywhere” title by default. Very interesting but I have serious doubts on them meeting my expectations with my Xbox library.

That's going to be even harder than it sounds, and mostly true for future titles.

Well there it is.

Play Anywhere titles will be carried over for refugees and everything else ends up being up in the air.



Well they might struggle with this because not every publisher/developer is on board and/or they aren't willing to subsidise everyone to do it.

It will be a nightmare for existing library, and for some games. Certain publishers will be more willing to renegotiate, but I see the re-release path being easier than migrating over what's existing. Maybe they will try something like Nintendo did when they charged a fee per game to upgrade from Wii to Wii-U VC versions.

Yes the BC team were emulation wizards. But they were dismantled long ago.

I’m just being realistic here. It’s a Mount Everest to climb to successfully get the complete Xbox library over to PC. It’s not something a preservation team they put together in 2024 can do til a late 2025 launch.

And the licensing is another mountain to climb. The games are licensed to play on original Xbox hardware. Nowhere else.
If there is a regular PC version, original/remaster/remake, available for sale publishers might not want people to be able to transfer and use an old license from Xbox One or 360 or OG Xbox on what essentially is a Windows PC. They want people to buy their PC versions on Steam or Microsoft Store.

It will be a long road, and it certainly will not be easy. There are bound to be some console exclusives that don't have a PC version (or ones that are not fully compatible on PC). I hope they can pull it off, but no matter what it's going to take time to deliver.

Consumer expectations have changed in that regard. Phil went on record saying that the Xbox One/PS4 generation was the worst one to lose because people started building their digital libraries. If we end up losing access to 30-40% of our games with this transition it's going to a PR disaster.

He was 100% correct when he said that, which is why I think the new devices are simply acts of desperation to retain their console userbase. If people get pushed to PC, why would they choose anything but Steam? Valve and Steam are basically synonymous with PC and it's an uphill battle for Microsoft.

Owning a large platform is more lucrative than selling games. This was absolutely not the plan when they bought Bethesda and activision. They simply have no other choice now.

Microsoft is still all in on the platform, they've never had real desire to be in the hardware business. They did it to protect their platform from Sony back in the early 2000s and have continued because it made them money and kept them relevant. Nadella and crew are all in on cloud services and now they are the largest publisher in the industry. I thin Xbox as a division does have passion and wants to continue with hardware, but it does not seem like it's up to them (and never has been, really).

 

[BlueLyria]

If it uses the terrible ms store and xbox app as they are currently, that's a guarantee I'll never be interested in it

 

[Magic Carpet]

If it uses the terrible ms store and xbox app as they are currently, that's a guarantee I'll never be interested in it

I'm almost certain it will be a direct copy of the Series X UI. A big Picture mode UI when launching the Xbox app.

 

[SHA]

Be Prepared

 

[jroc74]

Oh boy....

Good luck MS.

Well there it is.

Play Anywhere titles will be carried over for refugees and everything else ends up being up in the air.



Well they might struggle with this because not every publisher/developer is on board and/or they aren't willing to subsidise everyone to do it.

Some of us said it, the goal for MS is probably to move current Xbox users to PC.

That said....this is de ja vue:

https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/186745-microsoft-will-unify-windows-windows-phone-and-xbox-into-one-converged-operating-system

Back then, the struggling platform was Windows Phone. And we know how that went.

This time it's Xbox....

 

[Kvally]

If it plays my nearly 800 existing Xbox titles natively, I will buy it. If it doesn't play them, I won't buy it. Pretty simple.

 

[Ebrietas]

If Microsoft actually gave a shit about UWP, it would a fantastic alternative to Steam. Unfortunately as I experienced with PC Game Pass a few years ago, UWP and in particular the Game Pass app and storefront are godawful. I see this is an opportunity for Microsoft, if they can deliver the experience they promised.



It's an incredible device that made most of the right choices (except for the SSD). For all the bashing Xbox gets (and deserves), they created an excellent device with a great platform.



That's going to be even harder than it sounds, and mostly true for future titles.



It will be a nightmare for existing library, and for some games. Certain publishers will be more willing to renegotiate, but I see the re-release path being easier than migrating over what's existing. Maybe they will try something like Nintendo did when they charged a fee per game to upgrade from Wii to Wii-U VC versions.



It will be a long road, and it certainly will not be easy. There are bound to be some console exclusives that don't have a PC version (or ones that are not fully compatible on PC). I hope they can pull it off, but no matter what it's going to take time to deliver.



He was 100% correct when he said that, which is why I think the new devices are simply acts of desperation to retain their console userbase. If people get pushed to PC, why would they choose anything but Steam? Valve and Steam are basically synonymous with PC and it's an uphill battle for Microsoft.



Microsoft is still all in on the platform, they've never had real desire to be in the hardware business. They did it to protect their platform from Sony back in the early 2000s and have continued because it made them money and kept them relevant. Nadella and crew are all in on cloud services and now they are the largest publisher in the industry. I thin Xbox as a division does have passion and wants to continue with hardware, but it does not seem like it's up to them (and never has been, really).

Xbox consoles are done and nobody is going to buy PC games from the MS store.

They have no footing left in the platform business. PC, console, and mobile are controlled by others.

 

[Alebrije]

Xbox Lost the Battle vs PS4 PS5 , now they plan to battle vs Switch 2. and Steamdeck.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

Xbox consoles are done and nobody is going to buy PC games from the MS store.

They have no footing left in the platform business. PC, console, and mobile are controlled by others.

Microsoft already has more than just a foothold in the platform business, but they need to give gamers a compelling reason to purchase on their platform. I am of the belief they will continue with the multiplatform trend and try to attract people to the games they publish, for now. Later they will start moving toward promoting their platform, and we will see things start to change as their most popular franchises will be best experienced on Microsoft's platform. Eventually, they will flex their publisher muscles and leverage exclusives.

 

[Horseganador]

It seems like Xbox doesn't know what to do, every day a different rumor comes out.

 

[damidu]

they sure can find creative ways to D.O.A. at least, i'll give them that

 

[Heisenberg007]

So this release means Xbox is officially dead.

Replaced by a Windows gaming machine, just like Rog Ally X.

 

[Darsxx82]

It seems like Xbox doesn't know what to do, every day a different rumor comes out.

??? It's the same rumor that's been repeated for months.

In fact, this article from The Verge is simply reinforcing yesterday's information from WC.

 

[RCX]

Failception.

They have so much money they can probably flail around doing this kind of inane shit for another half decade before finally admitting they're just a third party publisher.

 

[BlueLyria]

I'm almost certain it will be a direct copy of the Series X UI. A big Picture mode UI when launching the Xbox app.

Probably, but if the backend is still the same as it is right now, I'm personally not sold on it. I've talked about it a few times and always had issues with Xbox App/MS Store, for me the one that made me the most annoyed was having to run windows update to be able to install something via the xbox app (which just downloaded the game from MS Store)

 

[Kacho]

Microsoft already has more than just a foothold in the platform business, but they need to give gamers a compelling reason to purchase on their platform. I am of the belief they will continue with the multiplatform trend and try to attract people to the games they publish, for now. Later they will start moving toward promoting their platform, and we will see things start to change as their most popular franchises will be best experienced on Microsoft's platform. Eventually, they will flex their publisher muscles and leverage exclusives.

I doubt they ever leverage their games in a meaningful way. They truly believe services like xCloud and Game Pass are compelling enough reasons to jump into their ecosystem.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

So this release means Xbox is officially dead.

Replaced by a Windows gaming machine, just like Rog Ally X.

 

[Pop]

Saw this today. Are they really going for this pc/console?

why the hell does that pc thread have 15k upvotes

you can already play every single xbox title on pc. did those dudes forget

 

[Sooner]

Thanks Punished Miku While, DarkMage619 is too scared to post anymore, he still enjoys participating by liking any anti-Sony or pro-Xbox posts. There are fewer and fewer of those and the poor guy must be feeling left out, while hiding in the shadows.

 

[winjer]

The Xbox app on PC is already bad enough, now they plan on making the UI even worse.
FFS, it's like going back to the age of "Games For Windows Live"

 

[kevboard]

the stores are already unified, and have been for a long time.
you can release an app on the Microsoft Store and have it downloadable on PC and Xbox if you want. in the compatibility section of an app on the store you will see which devices are greenlit by the developers.

how unified Xbox and Windows already are was observable in some play anywhere games like Scorn.
if you changed settings in the PC version of Scorn you would see some of the changes you did on Xbox once you sync the saves.

the game has a very narrow FOV on console, but if you play the PC version and increase the FOV, that change would also apply to the Xbox version. you could also lock it to 30fps and the Xbox version would then also be locked to 30fps quite a useless piece of knowledge, but interesting nonetheless.

 

[Punished Miku]

Thanks Punished Miku While, DarkMage619 is too scared to post anymore, he still enjoys participating by liking any anti-Sony or pro-Xbox posts. There are fewer and fewer of those and the poor guy must be feeling left out, while hiding in the shadows.

Be nice and he may like a post of yours someday. He has great taste.

 

[bitbydeath]

As with any other Windows machine

This isn't an Xbox

That was always the plan from what I’ve heard.
The next Xbox console is also #notanxbox nor a console as it will be Windows based and created by third parties. (OEM)

The parts that are Xbox is cloud based BC which this device is likely the testbed for.

 

[nani17]

why the hell does that pc thread have 15k upvotes

you can already play every single xbox title on pc. did those dudes forget

Maybe because they found it funny.

 

[ZehDon]

Curious if Microsoft is contractually able to effectively port all its Xbox games to Windows without publishers giving the ok.

Porting? No, as that requires under-the-hood code changes, where the code is still the property of the creator. That's a big no-no. License-based platform emulation and API-wrappers, however? That should actually be fine - it's Microsoft's platform, they're simply divorcing it from hardware and would still require users to buy the software. So, Xbox emulators and equivalent in Windows? I'd say it's at least possible, though disc-based emulation is likely a non-starer for a host of technical reasons. There are still some steep legal hurdles though, for example games that don't have digital packages, like many OG Xbox titles, would require disc images be created, which are probably not covered by the existing platform agreements because that wasn't really a thing that happened back in those days.

Overall, I'm curious to see how they do this. Microsoft have bungled a lot of transitions, and mismanaged a lot of user experience stuff, in this history. But, they also created Smart Delivery and Xbox's enhanced BC stuff, so who knows?

 

[adamsapple]

So this release means Xbox is officially dead.

Replaced by a Windows gaming machine, just like Rog Ally X.

Heisenfaker vs Heisentaker

 

[pudel]

So this "xbox pc" is coming with an UWP only OS? I dont know if I like that. No way Steam could be on board than, right? UWP is "walled garden" bullshit and the only reason Valve went towards Linux. So this reddit vid seems very misleading.

 

[StereoVsn]

If it still has the crappy Windows Store backend and it’s awful architecture, this will be asking for trouble.

They can pretty up front end UI as much as they want to, but the Windows Store pig still looks like shit, no matter the lipstick.

 

[Metnut]

So this is going to be stronger than the obsolete Steam Deck but run like a console? Wow.

 

[Ritsumei2020]

I think I understand. In simple words, they’ll lose backward compatibility to a majority of their older catalogue, but from then on every game released on Xbox will be essentially a PC game. Forward compatible so to speak.

Its not the end of the world, and it happened to Sony and Nintendo too, but for people like me who keep an One X around to play older games it feels like theres no need to change that.