pudel
Member
They can do that already now: https://steamdb.info/stats/mostwished/
Its not like steam is hiding a lot, compared to M$. But I agree, I wouldnt link anything to that xbox app, if I doesnt have too. Some things you better keep separated.
[The Verge] Microsoft adds Steam games to its Xbox PC app on Windows
- Thread starter Topher
- Start date
Its not like steam is hiding a lot, compared to M$. But I agree, I wouldnt link anything to that xbox app, if I doesnt have too. Some things you better keep separated.
Astray
Member
This is missing some key things because iirc, Valve changed the API after Epic hired the Steam Spy guy and took all the data he scraped using the old API (he's no longer there anymore).They can do that already now: https://steamdb.info/stats/mostwished/
Its not like steam is hiding a lot, compared to M$. But I agree, I wouldnt link anything to that xbox app, if I doesnt have too. Some things you better keep separated.
It's not just relative position that matters, it's also how many wishlists are happening per game and what regions in the world are these wishlists happening etc.
pudel
Member
Ah okay, I see...its even stated at the top fof the page. Its not wishlists, but followers...whatever that means.
But do you think M$ will have access to that data, if Gabe was pissed already about it?
lastmessiah
Member
It's honestly fine - it does what it is supposed to, and the interface is sleek and functional.
I remember when the angry fat internet guy contingent was raging about Steam in the early days. They hated it and it was "unusable" - now it is the greatest thing ever and The Only Way to Game on PC.
It's the same with Windows 11 - you have this spittle-specked internet dork rage everywhere but when you actually go to use it...it's fine.
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Punished Miku
Gaslighter Pro: 16.7 Fireflops
Nothing highlighted the extreme fanboy mindset on PC more than the Epic store. Giving away more free games than anyone ever, and people act like they murdered their dog. I don't listen to anyone anymore when it comes to Steam. I'll be happy to use it in addition to other stores, but any comments beyond that are usually completely unhinged.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Ahhh, ignore me. Maybe I am miss remembering. For some reason I thought you had to select a PC as your offline PC. Im probably getting mixed up with Consoles.
clarky
Gold Member
Gamepass on PC makes you do this.
Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
No qualms with windows 11's performance when it comes to gaming.
Will give the xbox launcher a try!
GHG
Member
For steam specifically the only time you have to do this prior to going offline is with the Steam deck. So if you're travelling or are going to be without the Internet for a while you will need to place it in offline mode while you still have some form of Internet connection, after that you're good to go.
With all other PC's though you don't need to pre-emptively do anything.
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Fess
Member
I just want to boot into a combined library for all launchers I use.
If this scrapes my disk and automatically place all my games in a library with art and all then it's awesome and will solve a problem for me.
But it doesn't seem like it can go through your uninstalled games lists. It only add the already installed games going by the words in the OP. That makes the whole thing annoying. Big stumble there.
Describing a scenario:
- I want to play God of War!
- Oh no it's not added to Xbox App!
Okay let's add it - Open Steam - go through my library - install game -
*stumble*
- Don't click Play… for some reason… - Open Xbox App instead - let it search for new games - Game added - Click play
If this is how it works then it's yet another badly thought out strategy. They need to have ALL your uninstalled games from ALL launchers WITH install buttons on each one within the Xbox App. Otherwise you're doing extra steps for no reason.
If this scrapes my disk and automatically place all my games in a library with art and all then it's awesome and will solve a problem for me.
But it doesn't seem like it can go through your uninstalled games lists. It only add the already installed games going by the words in the OP. That makes the whole thing annoying. Big stumble there.
Describing a scenario:
- I want to play God of War!
- Oh no it's not added to Xbox App!
Okay let's add it - Open Steam - go through my library - install game -
*stumble*
- Don't click Play… for some reason… - Open Xbox App instead - let it search for new games - Game added - Click play
If this is how it works then it's yet another badly thought out strategy. They need to have ALL your uninstalled games from ALL launchers WITH install buttons on each one within the Xbox App. Otherwise you're doing extra steps for no reason.
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DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
GHG
Member
Yeh possibly a steamos thing or something that makes it easier to track the device in the event of theft.
twilo99
Member
I don't know what they are trying to do but if they can just add shortcuts to my steam games to the xbox app that would be great so I don't have to run both launchers.
What do you mean by auto search?
SomeNorseGuy
Gold Member
Even if I'd prefer it if SteamOS comes out on top, all I really care about is getting an unbloated, unlocked, big-screen OS that can launch most of my games in a living room PC setting. If Microsoft can bring the goods and actually deliver an compelling OS without fucking me over, then I'll gladly take it.
Astray
Member
If users are consenting to MS to give this data then there is nothing he can do other than close up shop on the API some more.
Astray
Member
Consider that Microsoft is the major reason we don't have this already lol.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Just a simple scan of all your installed games and the auto compiles/ lists them. That would be pretty sweet.
GHG
Member
A function like that would still require pointers, in the same way that it works with GOG galaxy, Playnite, Big Box, etc.
nemiroff
Member
The app used to be really REALLY bad around the time when everything was locked down with UWP. You had no intuitive way to manage your games and installs, not even open your ONE(!) game folder. And you couldn't even uninstall games through the app, you had to go through Windows settings for that, and still it wasn't guaranteed that you would be able to do it cleanly.. There was also a TON of stability issues. It really earned its bad reputation then.
But since back then the app has grown to function where you can do all the expected core stuff in a proper manner. Right now it actually just works. Not with as many integrated features as Steam, but if all you want is to download, manage (customize folders, make multiple folders, move installs to different drives on the fly etc), and play from that library of games, it's honestly completely fine.
TLDR; Don't listen to the usual suspects, the app works just fine, now. HOWEVER, no; It's not better than Steam. It's just something you use for the games you have in the Xbox/Windows ecosystem.
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haha exactly this!Imagine you want to start an Ubisoft game which you bought via Steam:
xbox launcher -> steam launcher -> Ubisoft launcher -> finally the fuckn game starts! Jezzus!
nemiroff
Member
I know you guys are just having fun with it. But that's how it infamously used to work, and that's indeed where the memes come from. But these days, relatively low profile services are usually "running silently" (= no popups) in the background, and don't need to load for every game, so it doesn't really matter in the front-end how many dependencies there are. It certainly shouldn't affect the boot time much. And if the end service supplier did its integration properly you don't even have to log into additional services.
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pudel
Member
On the other side, Gabe seems to be fine with this integration. If he would think this is bad idea all around, he wouldnt have agreed, right? (unless MS somehow put him a pistol on his head, which they could, but which I actually doubt).
IntentionalPun
Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Maybe my reaction isn't perfectly rational but it has nothing to do with pointless console wars.
I'm a PC Gamer who also owns all consoles, but this topic is a PC Gaming topic. Myself and many other PC Gamers have found the Windows Store (renamed Xbox in that particular app) to be one of the worst launchers. And it's not just because they lack feature like being able to add shortcuts to other games it's because the actual underlying Windows Store installer tech has been rife with issues.
In the end none of the "competition" in the Pc launcher space has really resulted in improving PC Gaming so Microsoft using their "we own the main operating system" advantage to try to get the renamed Windows Store to the forefront isn't something I'm pleased with. And most of the articles / threads about the topic are very similar to when Apple brings a feature to iOS that has been in Android for years.
Maybe this is the thread for me to vent these frustrations though so I apologize for derailing. There are other threads more suitable for these convos.
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nemiroff
Member
Yeah, I get where you come from now
I'm just trying to be a facts-driven guy:
- Xbox App and its games used to be horribly broken, UWP was a disaster. Much headache ensued...
- Xbox App is no longer broken, and most games on Windows are now Win32. Smooth sailing for basic stuff.
- Xbox App is not nearly as feature rich as the Steam app
- Xbox App is adding the ability to start third party games
Anyway, I don't see the point for me to add games from other launchers into the Xbox App. Most of us share that feeling. But the fact remains that they're adding the option, which is not a bad thing.
And yes: When I bought my iPhone I was indeed puzzled to my core over the lack of industry standard features.
No video recording
No custom ringtones
No copy and paste
No MMS
No third-party application
No GPS
No 3G
No front-facing camera
It was pretty shocking. But people ate it up.
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Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
That's true. And, to be honest, it is hard to beat Steam.
Steam is, by far, the best launcher and the best store there is. You can count all stores on consoles (PS, Xbox, Nintendo), and all launchers on PC (Epic, GoG, Ubisoft, EA, etc.), and Steam wins by a big margin, easily.
If you're launching PC games on Steam, it just feels home. I don't understand why anyone would abandon the significantly better launcher.
Second, if a "unified library of games across stores" is something that appeals to you, just install Playnite. It solves that problem and gives you lots of customization and features.
Astray
Member
Notice how Microsoft keep not explicitly mentioning Steam in all their comments about this initiative? That's on purpose.
Rn Steam and Microsoft are in a relationship where they rely on each other (Steam drives Windows adoption and Windows is where Steam makes most of its money) and yet they both vie for the same things. That cannot be described as a friendly relationship imo.
Sinfulgore
Member
Microsoft in no way relies on Steam and Steam does not drive Windows adoption. The vast majority of Windows PC users don't use Steam and never will.
Astray
Member
Why the fuck would any consumer install Windows? Any basic word processing etc can be easily and cheaply handled via Google browser apps or even MS's own. People who do creative work like Photoshop etc tend to gravitate towards Mac.
The answer is gaming, and every PC gamer has the vast majority of their spend and gaming time happen on Steam. So yes Microsoft needs Steam rn.
If Valve manages to make Linux gaming mainstream then Windows will become the work OS you despise and can't get away from enough, which means your company will be looking to get rid of it to improve productivity.
It's all connected when it comes to OS platforms.
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Sinfulgore
Member
Most consumers aren't installing operating systems. PC gaming is a tiny market in the PC space. Linux gaming will never be mainstream.
Mortisfacio
Member
They can do that already now: https://steamdb.info/stats/mostwished/
Its not like steam is hiding a lot, compared to M$. But I agree, I wouldnt link anything to that xbox app, if I doesnt have too. Some things you better keep separated.
I've always been a fan of Steam making so much of their info publicly available. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo refuse to jump on board and be more transparent, but praise be to GabeN.
pudel
Member
Not really sure, because I never used such a "unify launcher" yet. But I have installed the heroic launcher (hadnt any opportunity yet to use it) and from the looks of it, it really seems to be enough to just use your login details from a certain store and than the launcher offers you to start all yr games from this store. I am pretty certain that in case of steam it needs to be running at least in the background somehow, as otherwise I cannot see how this could even work with steam games baked-in "drm". Could also be that steam just opens regular within this xbox app....to not just vanish at all. We dont know yet.
But yeah, its some kind of "launchception" and M$ is really just putting themselves in the very front of it.
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mayham2199
Member
I agree and the worst part is releasing it like this. First impressions are everything and I have no idea why MS is approaching their new strategy like this. You want to step out with a finished, well optimized products that really impresses people the first time they use it. Now everyone hates the Xbox PC store. Maybe it's better now I don't know and I doubt most people care. All they remember was the horrible experience they originally had.
hououinkyouma00
Member
Because they are building that "new" gaming based Windows for the Xbox Ally. They said that it would aggregate multiple different stores and I think even pointed out GoG as well so I would expect GoG and Epic support soon as well.
It's definitely better than it used to be for sure but, there is really no chance that I would use it over Steam in general.
I really only use it when I'm playing something through Game Pass and for the most part I play those games on my Xbox versus my PC anyways.
pudel
Member
They dont know any better! And most people buy their PC's pre-built together with an OS and 99% of the time the only OS available is Windows.
I would wish this as well, but as far as I understand the whole linux/proton/steamdeck/steamOS thing is basically just "emulating" windows. So if windows gaming dies, this emulating thing will die as well. And native linux games are still niche as fuck imho....unfortunately. The whole appeal of using linux is just to have windows stuff working on it while not having to deal with windows anymore.
(at least when it comes to gaming)
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hououinkyouma00
Member
This will be a shortcut similar to whatever Lenovo and ASUS use for the Legion Go and ROG Ally frontend. The Xbox Ally uses a slimmed down version of Windows (by slimmed down what I mean is that they said the Ally will run Windows without some of the processes regular Windows uses primarily for productivity) and this will be the equivalent.
You will see a aggregated library and launch a game from there which will launch the game through Steam.
Fess
Member
Even if they nail it it's still not much better than what's already out there. If you can only add already installed games from other launchers it becomes an afterthought, like non-Steam games in Steam.
As said, what they need to do is override the controls of other launchers, so you log in to them all and then have your combined games list within Xbox App and can install, uninstall, play, see your playtime, etc, all within the same app.
That's what everybody expects.
And how hard can it be? They're making the OS, if anyone can do it right it's them.
But if they can add games automatically within Xbox App and add art and have everything in one big screen mode list it's still better than Steam at least.
I'll stay hopefull until I get to try it.
Any insiders impressions out yet?
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Gameplay Gods Bless
Member
Thanks chatgpt.Am I tripping? This idea is not new, right?
a quick search:
GOG Galaxy
– Created by GOG (Good Old Games).
– Its main feature is the ability to integrate Steam, Epic, Origin, Uplay, and other platforms into a single library. You can launch games and track friends across platforms from one place.
– An open‑source, highly customizable launcher.
– Supports Steam, GOG, Epic, Origin, Battle.net, Uplay, Xbox App (Windows Store), and even emulators.
– Probably the best and most "power‑user" option right now.
– Primarily for retro and emulated games, but can also be configured for modern platforms.
– Highly customizable and great for "all‑in‑one" setups.
– Tries to unify Xbox Game Pass and Microsoft Store games.
– Doesn't cover Steam or others.
– Both are popular among PC gamers for centralizing libraries. Playnite is more customizable, while GOG Galaxy is more user‑friendly.
Why this hasn't become universal?
Each platform (Steam, Epic, Xbox, etc.) has its own interests and doesn't want to give up control over its user experience and revenue stream, so making one truly official, universally supported app is challenging.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
i mean, is there anyone using traditional search engines anymore?
HRK69
Member
Don't these AI models still make a lot of mistakes? Also, they don't search the web for information by default, right?
For example, I was talking with ChatGPT about Bashar al-Assad, and it still thought he was the president of Syria, even though he's actually in exile.
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I'll just stick with Playnite. Controlling the Xbox app right now with a controller is pretty bad. The selector is all over the place and you have to press a direction multiple times to get where you want. It's not a program I'd want to use exclusively, I can tell you that.
What I want more is Xbox app inside of Steam so I can use Steam input. Please, can I have it? Or at least not straight up block Steam Input from being used.
What I want more is Xbox app inside of Steam so I can use Steam input. Please, can I have it? Or at least not straight up block Steam Input from being used.
Cramoss
Member
This will never happen.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
Yep. some mistakes and hallucinations can be very deceiving if the user is clueless about what and how is searching or tying to achieve.
in this case, I was aware this idea wasn't new, in fact; i think some version of Windows had something like that.
asking this question:
did some version of Windows had like a folder were all your games were shown regardless of where you bought them ?
it's answer:
Yes — you're thinking of the **"Games Explorer"** (or **Games Folder**) introduced with **Windows Vista** and kept in **Windows 7**.
Here's how it worked:
* It was a special folder (you could open it from the Start menu) that acted like a central hub for games.
* It automatically added shortcuts and information about installed games — regardless of where you bought or installed them.
* It would display box art, ratings, and other details for supported titles.
* It was designed to be a central place for launching and managing games.
**Why you don't see it anymore:**
Windows 8 deprecated it, and Windows 10/11 removed it entirely as part of streamlining the OS and focusing more on the Microsoft Store and Xbox app.
If you want something similar nowadays, you have to use launchers like Steam, GOG Galaxy, Playnite, or the Xbox app, which try to do the same thing across platforms.
If you want, I can also walk you through restoring the old Games Explorer in modern Windows — it's still possible in some cases! Would you like that?
then i can ask for sources (to corroborate than it's not making stuff up)
Getting Started with Games Explorer
learn.microsoft.com
way more efficient and effective.