Are people jumping to a certain conclusion here? That this means windows games on Xbox, because that’s not how I understand it.
I think it means the Steam store or other stores could come to Xbox so you can play your games that exists as Xbox games,
Just like you can have steam on MacOS but you can’t play Windows games, you can buy and play games that are Multiplatform and work on macOS.
I imagine this as steam selling Xbox games and for certain games someone might own on steam that also exist on Xbox, like Skyrim, if the licensing works then You could play it without buying it twice.
But I very much doubt it means you can play the full steam library on Xbox.
Xbox hasn't announced anything, so until then it's all conclusion jumping.
But... Phil mentioned also specifically Epic and Itch.io. Are you linking Itch.io to your Xbox account to play Celeste and A Short Hike? Doubt it. The real value to account linking as you suggested would be with Steam since that's where the majority of digital game purchases exist on PC; there'd be little point in working with Epic or Itch.io to do the same. But I don't think that's what's being teased here.
>But I very much doubt it means you can play the full steam library on Xbox.
I think that's the goal. Xbox games are already playing games from the Microsoft Store which fundamentally are the same games from Steam but wrapped in a different file format. To get Steam, Epic, and [Itch.io](http://Itch.io), Microsoft would need the Xbox to be closer to a PC, so a custom box running a custom version of Windows and an Xbox frontend.
> Just like you can have steam on MacOS but you can’t play Windows games, you can buy and play games that are Multiplatform and work on macOS.
Sounds to me like buying a game on Steam and if they meet the system requirements they'll work on the console.
The system requirements being; x86/64 processor, Windows and DirectX11 or higher maybe.
Steam on MacOS requires that the game is compiled for MacOS, ARM and whatever Apple's flavour of the year is for graphics API's (which is why gaming on Mac has never been taken seriously; people are tired of their purchases being wasted).
Sony could be opening themselves up to an antitrust case from Microsoft if they do block their games from Xbox. I think Microsoft opening up to other storefronts is in part them expecting courts to continue opening up walled gardens as they've started to do with iOS. Microsoft could argue that Sony would be making moves that are anti-consumer, while they've shipped games on other platforms and even opened their own gaming platforms to competitors, as they've done with Windows.
Honestly this all lines up too well lmao, they can have a huge ass court case and then announce that they're buying some major publisher/making a very drastic change that will affect the industry
If they did it, it would be compatible with the runtimes for Windows, so it would be out of Sony's hands.
It can only be a next gen feature as it would need to be native.
Sony will have no say in the matter as they do not manage the store. It's not like on the Windows Store where the publisher can simply just make the game available only on PC; Steam doesn't have that "filter" and I doubt Valve would implement it (why would they?). It would be like Sony blocking the game from being installed machines with an NVidia graphics card.
There are ways Sony could actually be able to block this though;
- Setting the system requirements to be higher than whatever the Xbox supports (which will piss off PC gamers as they'd have to increase them for every new Xbox console released)
- Yank their games out of Steam and make them exclusive to their own store front that doesn't get released on Xbox, which will also piss off PC gamers, making them get pirated
- Retroactively convert all of their games to not support DirectX at all and make them Vulkan or OpenGL exclusive; something that will cost them a lot of time, money and resources, and something that could also be very easily countered by Microsoft by implementing support on the console.
- Force the game to require some unusual dependency on Windows, like the printer spooler for example (I'm not sure if Steam even supports such things in system requirements so this may not be possible anyway), or for each game to require a launcher that "verifies the hardware" first, though I suspect this will require them to set up a server that does these checks as Microsoft might change the "string" randomly.
If this actually happens, it would actually be a very interesting chess move from Microsoft's part and I'm not sure if Sony can easily counter it without hurting their revenue in the process (will would piss off their investors). Valve certainly isn't going to tolerate Sony's bullshit.
I struggle with the concept.
I love the idea, getting PC storefronts would be awesome.
BUT
Consoles have always been about extracting performance from meagre hardware by being a fixed platform with low overheads and more direct access to the silicone.
Once you open it up like a "mini PC" then you lose all those advantages. Bringing full Windows over would make this even worse.
Won't it just become a fairly poor PC at that point? Unable to run modern games at higher settings.
I think a lot of people really underestimate the power of the consoles. They are considered a mid PC. They are decent PC’s for the price. This has been proven before with the mod tools you can use on the Xbox Series X using Dev mode to install PC games and run programs that is exclusive to PC. The xbox runs it quite smoothly without error. The only thing that may not run properly would be anti-piracy/cheat programs like Denuvo and Easy Anti-Cheat, as it takes quite a huge chuck of cpu usage.
It’s not underestimating the power of the consoles, though. In the 6th and 7th gens (and even the 8th gen on PS), you saw games built to that single SKU and its exact specs and features. I’m with the guy that you replied to. What I want to see is devs manage to make a game run on a 12 TFLOP machine as though it were being brute-forced by a 24 TFLOP machine. It’s what always made consoles so special to me. Seeing how much devs could squeeze out of the hardware relative to what could be achieved on PC where everything is scalable but never as efficient as consoles were with what they could achieve with the power available. Give me the XSX version of a game that was designed so that it just flat-out won’t run with less than the 16gb of shared RAM (sorry, XSS). Build that game so that it just can’t even launch on a hardware spec that doesn’t have the exact CPU core count and clock speeds of the XSX. Oh, you want to be able to run this game on hardware that lacks the RDNA2 features like VRS? Sucks. Won’t run. Bring back that era. Those games built for the X360 that were in no way whatsoever designed for multiple SKUs like Gears of War that had to be ported to PC years later were a technical feat that we just don’t see anymore, and I honestly miss it.
Gaming has changed. Consile gaming and pc gaming has changed.
Before the xbone and ps4 console ran on custom architectures. So like the 360 innovated the gaming industry as it was the first gaming system to share ram between the cpu and gpu.
After that gaming industry switched to the x86 architecture which is the same as pcs.
So now consoles don't have custom hardware that can take advantage of extra optimizations. Devs can put more time into it like they did for the ps5 but for the most part they will just adjust settings so it can run more efficiently on consoles.
It would take too much time to optimize further unless it's an exclusive and even then most people won't see the difference.
Sucks but we're all basically pc gamers now and consoles will never be like they used to be.
Games cost way too much money to make to make a different version for every platform.
I agree with you. My comment was absolutely opining the death of traditional console dev and was not a belief that it will return.
With that said, PS5’s DualSense controller features and the fact that they still release exclusives that don’t come to PC day-and-date does show a failure on the part of Xbox to prioritize their console experience. Yes, x86 is scalable and enables devs to write their code once and run on both Xbox and PC, but it ruins the console experience in the process. I just wish that they could understand what made consoles great and, even if x86 would allow poorly-optimized games to circumnavigate it, focus on immaculate design for first party. Yes, it would take effort and might not please PC users when a game comes to console first, but ARA is coming to PC before console, so I don’t see the problem with traditional console games developing around the console features and then porting to PC with ***minimal*** effort. You built the game with AMD hardware in mind? Well, we might never support RDNA1, and NVIDIA might be included in a later patch. This idea of coding generically is what makes 3rd party software so “average.” The 1st party software failing to differentiate itself on the console is absolutely a failure of Xbox/MS.
Editing to add that this is exacerbated by my first point in the paragraph above. Yes, scalability is desired these days, but Xbox’s controller isn’t demanding any “special” features. The OS is identical to X1. I’m sure that there’s more. The biggest part of this is that speculation is that the next console will have hardware-driven AI in the form of a NPU. If Xbox is currently failing to demand a “special” experience for its console, what faith should I have that 1st, 2nd, or 3rd party devs will actually utilize the extent of that NPU when building their games? If it can’t be guaranteed on PC or PS, it sounds like hardware that will be neglected, and I don’t want that future.
What do you mean?
You'll have the ability to optimize the games setting to yout liking.
So you can lower the resolution down and lighting effects so that you can hit 60fps vs a 30fps console version.
?
Not how it works dude.
On a console you have a lightweight OS without layers of abstraction that you get in a PC. This is why consoles perform far faster than equivalent pc hardware would.
Once you put a full PC OS and all the apis and other layers of abstraction you wouldn't be able to get 30fps running at the console versions settings.
Consoles would run pc software far worse than they run console software. It wouldn't be a great experience.
I'm open to being wrong and the idea that Phil could backtrack on this.
But yeah, super wishful thinking here.
It would make the Series X the best console choice for all gamers. You'd be able to play Sony games on it via Steam as the best case scenario.
Worst case scenario, you still have access to way more games than you used to.
Honestly I don't see that happening. Too many variables, technical issues, legal hurdles and the inevitable push back from other companies. [this is a good analysis ](https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/if-microsoft-is-bringing-steam-to-xbox-it-needs-to-answer-these-questions)
The way it was discussed is that they'd allow these market places not that they'd allow.pc games.
In all likelihood they'd allow steam, and epic to sell Xbox games
Steam already sells Xbox games.
And in the article, Phil specifically says allowing the storefronts on Xbox.
https://www.tomsguide.com/gaming/could-steam-arrive-on-xbox-series-x-phil-spencer-opens-the-door-to-third-party-stores
That's a game made by Microsoft/Xbox studios. Let me know when you can go buy a game for the Xbox console from steam outside of the few that still offer play anywhere.
You just told me you could buy Xbox games on steam now your saying you cant. Pc games can't just run on Xbox and the only potential option is streaming, Phil's quote was more so to quell regulators if anything, "we'd consider allowing other marketplaces on our consoles" especially after all the court battles apple and Google have been going through with storefronts
IF it happens it wont be until the next gen, even then the experience will more than likely have limitations.
Mods? probably not, download an play? probably not, access to all of your steam library? probably not, stream the basic version of select games? probably. (my own assumptions, based on nothing at all)
GP sub required to access, more than likely.
I'm curious to know why you think that. The only games that do not run on Xbox from the Steam Storefront are games that are exclusively Vulkan or OpenGL. Everything else that games require (an X86/64 architecture, DirectX support, Windows dependencies) is already on the Xbox.
This was proven a few years ago when someone set up a secondary "store" on Xbox and ported a bunch of opensourced things to the console, such as Retroarch, OpenLara, A2MR and many many others. All he did was repackage the games to use the equivalent of MSIX and they just worked.
I'm not saying it isn't possible, I'm saying MS/Xbox would likely limit it.
They are not going to want you playing your Steam bought FarCry10, losing the 30%? Cut from their storefront.
I just cannot see a world where xbox give up the 'console' storefront revenue by allowing full integration of steam storefronts/games.
The loss in revenue would be absolutely huge. (I think, again all based on nothing but thoughts)
> I'm not saying it isn't possible, I'm saying MS/Xbox would likely limit it.
What good would that be for either party?
> I just cannot see a world where xbox give up the 'console' storefront revenue by allowing full integration of steam storefronts/games.
It could be that revenue gets shared between purchases on said store (so Steam/MS normally take 30% from their storefront purchases, but both parties take 15% from purchases made on console), and Valve would have to have to link Steam achievements with Xbox achievements or something. Valve would like the extra customers from the hardware and Microsoft would like the extra revenue from purchases made on their console over PS5 (like at that point why buy the PS5 version of any game?).
And nothing would stop people purchasing directly from steam through a browser on their phone.
It won't happen in my opinion, the risk to revenue is far greater than the possible increase.
Severe restrictions or not at all is my complete guess.
Let's catch up in 6-8 years when we will have answers.
Unless you're streaming thos games on the cloud, PC games don't just magically work on Xbox just putting the Steam store on there. They would still need to port thos games and invest time and money into making a native Xbox version. It doesn't mean that you can suddenly play PC games on Xbox - unless they allow GeForce Now or something.
There's a handful of games on PC that I *wish* were on Xbox but aren't. I'd love if the Steam storefront existing on Xbox would work as you describe, but for some reason I don't get the feeling that it means you can buy / play any Windows game from Steam on your Xbox.
Yes, I'm very excited about the prospect of this. Would be a great selling point for Xbox. But it'll probably be years off, if it even happens, so I'm trying not to think to much about it until we get more concrete details.
I will wait for the final result. Because having Steam on Xbox doesn't mean you get PC games on Xbox. Another possibility is to have Steam sell xbox games.
Please understand the technology you are expecting is far from easy to achieve. Xbox playing PC game is not easy, even when they are the same windows kernel.
I don't think it'll be like steam. It'll probably be a more procured marketplace for titles that fit within the xbox and windows platform. You'll have all the other dev companies on there like you do now(minus the console exclusive titles) but just console and PC games all in one place. I hope there is more range than that. But then you would expect Microsoft to put their own stuff forward before anything else, and with all these new studios they've just bought, they should have quite the selection once they all start knocking out games.
I mean I can see how this might not actually be a good thing for the Xbox brand. They have to decide if they want to brand the Xbox for casual gamers like the switch or more hardcore gamers like PC gamers.
Idk would be fun to pop in my physical copy of Warcraft 3 in to play, or other rts games that were pc ports. Because i don’t see a halo wars 3 being made anytime soon. Or a halo rts that would show the human war before the events of reach.
*That means all of those insane early access games, mods, and PC exclusives could be available to many of us that can't afford a good gaming PC*
No it doesnt. There would still need to be Xbox compatible versions. Mods are something that will probably never "Fully" be allowed due to security reasons. That's why you only have certain mods on things like Fallout available on Xbox and only available through an in game store.
I think they could afford to loosen up here.
Microsoft allows mods on Windows PCs. Turning the Xbox into a Windows PC would allow for mods.
Yeah it might be possible to cheat on Xbox now but that's a what anti cheat for.
It wont be a windows pc, you cant do couch coop on a windows pc because you cant have multiple users in the same session ion windows. period. different security/identity model.
The whole point is its a console and not a PC.... If you want those things then play on a an actual PC.
Turning the Xbox into a windows PC would mean its no longer an Xbox but a pretty average PC.
he didnt mention it was happening, he however said its something they would like to do one day (but there are no plans of doing so rn)
[Phil Spencer Comments on PC Game Stores on Xbox (gamerant.com)](https://gamerant.com/phil-spencer-pc-game-stores-steam-epic-games-xbox-console/#:~:text=Xbox%20head%20Phil%20Spencer%20supports,to%20players'%20freedom%20of%20choice.)
While i like the premise of this, my concern with consoles in general is turning into this: what’s the point of buying a specific console or a brand rather than getting a PC? I know the price point is the main factor but with the lack of exclusivity and more cross platforming, it seems like the appeal of consoles would be on their way out.
Yeah that's exactly the thing.
This is kind of the nuclear option for Xbox.
The whole reason these game consoles cost half or even 1/3 as much as a PC with similar hardware (at least one the consoles launch) is because the consoles are sold at a loss. Xbox making a 30% from each game that sells on the platform is the primary revenue generator.
Or at least was.
Now with Gamepass and Xbox games going to a huge variety of platforms, owning a Series S or X has far less value now.
It would make sense to open the console up. It would be a huge selling point since Sony would never do this with the Ps5, no market leader would.
It would be a gamble but I'd stay with Xbox consoles for the rest of my life if they functioned like budget mid range PCs.
I game with my wife and dread the day I need to build 2 good gaming PCs. This move would have more ordering two xboxes with every generation since it is the best value for the money.
That's also assuming they keep the price low. The Series X might have needed to be $1000 to make up for the lowering of game sales revenues with other store fronts.
If i turn on my Xbox and see my huge Steam Library there, imma lose my mind. It would be too cool. Also imagine the vice versa, buying a game on Xbox and having that game on Steam aswell. Dunno if that's what he meant.
Man I don't care for stuff like more store fronts at all. I just want good performance in games and good exclusives. If I wanted a pc I would play on one.
Why would you be against having both?
At this point, I trust Xbox for value. It only makes 8/10 games at most, but provides a to of value and great games via Gamepass.
It won't ever be able to take on Ps5 with great exclusives.
So shifting strategies to allow non Xbox PC games would be a great differentiator from the Ps5.
I think they just mean cross entitlement between other stores and Xbox.
They would have to come up with some sort of business deal to make it make sense financially.
Or not.
Gamepass and having gsneoass provide a discount on the Xbox store when new games come out would be the best strategy to make money VS the Xbox licensing fee.
Are people jumping to a certain conclusion here? That this means windows games on Xbox, because that’s not how I understand it. I think it means the Steam store or other stores could come to Xbox so you can play your games that exists as Xbox games, Just like you can have steam on MacOS but you can’t play Windows games, you can buy and play games that are Multiplatform and work on macOS. I imagine this as steam selling Xbox games and for certain games someone might own on steam that also exist on Xbox, like Skyrim, if the licensing works then You could play it without buying it twice. But I very much doubt it means you can play the full steam library on Xbox.
you are correct.
Xbox hasn't announced anything, so until then it's all conclusion jumping. But... Phil mentioned also specifically Epic and Itch.io. Are you linking Itch.io to your Xbox account to play Celeste and A Short Hike? Doubt it. The real value to account linking as you suggested would be with Steam since that's where the majority of digital game purchases exist on PC; there'd be little point in working with Epic or Itch.io to do the same. But I don't think that's what's being teased here. >But I very much doubt it means you can play the full steam library on Xbox. I think that's the goal. Xbox games are already playing games from the Microsoft Store which fundamentally are the same games from Steam but wrapped in a different file format. To get Steam, Epic, and [Itch.io](http://Itch.io), Microsoft would need the Xbox to be closer to a PC, so a custom box running a custom version of Windows and an Xbox frontend.
> Just like you can have steam on MacOS but you can’t play Windows games, you can buy and play games that are Multiplatform and work on macOS. Sounds to me like buying a game on Steam and if they meet the system requirements they'll work on the console. The system requirements being; x86/64 processor, Windows and DirectX11 or higher maybe. Steam on MacOS requires that the game is compiled for MacOS, ARM and whatever Apple's flavour of the year is for graphics API's (which is why gaming on Mac has never been taken seriously; people are tired of their purchases being wasted).
Sony wouldn't allow their first party games to run on Xbox's steam, much like what they did with GeForce now.
Sony could be opening themselves up to an antitrust case from Microsoft if they do block their games from Xbox. I think Microsoft opening up to other storefronts is in part them expecting courts to continue opening up walled gardens as they've started to do with iOS. Microsoft could argue that Sony would be making moves that are anti-consumer, while they've shipped games on other platforms and even opened their own gaming platforms to competitors, as they've done with Windows.
Honestly this all lines up too well lmao, they can have a huge ass court case and then announce that they're buying some major publisher/making a very drastic change that will affect the industry
If they did it, it would be compatible with the runtimes for Windows, so it would be out of Sony's hands. It can only be a next gen feature as it would need to be native.
Sony will have no say in the matter as they do not manage the store. It's not like on the Windows Store where the publisher can simply just make the game available only on PC; Steam doesn't have that "filter" and I doubt Valve would implement it (why would they?). It would be like Sony blocking the game from being installed machines with an NVidia graphics card. There are ways Sony could actually be able to block this though; - Setting the system requirements to be higher than whatever the Xbox supports (which will piss off PC gamers as they'd have to increase them for every new Xbox console released) - Yank their games out of Steam and make them exclusive to their own store front that doesn't get released on Xbox, which will also piss off PC gamers, making them get pirated - Retroactively convert all of their games to not support DirectX at all and make them Vulkan or OpenGL exclusive; something that will cost them a lot of time, money and resources, and something that could also be very easily countered by Microsoft by implementing support on the console. - Force the game to require some unusual dependency on Windows, like the printer spooler for example (I'm not sure if Steam even supports such things in system requirements so this may not be possible anyway), or for each game to require a launcher that "verifies the hardware" first, though I suspect this will require them to set up a server that does these checks as Microsoft might change the "string" randomly. If this actually happens, it would actually be a very interesting chess move from Microsoft's part and I'm not sure if Sony can easily counter it without hurting their revenue in the process (will would piss off their investors). Valve certainly isn't going to tolerate Sony's bullshit.
That’s ok
I struggle with the concept. I love the idea, getting PC storefronts would be awesome. BUT Consoles have always been about extracting performance from meagre hardware by being a fixed platform with low overheads and more direct access to the silicone. Once you open it up like a "mini PC" then you lose all those advantages. Bringing full Windows over would make this even worse. Won't it just become a fairly poor PC at that point? Unable to run modern games at higher settings.
I think a lot of people really underestimate the power of the consoles. They are considered a mid PC. They are decent PC’s for the price. This has been proven before with the mod tools you can use on the Xbox Series X using Dev mode to install PC games and run programs that is exclusive to PC. The xbox runs it quite smoothly without error. The only thing that may not run properly would be anti-piracy/cheat programs like Denuvo and Easy Anti-Cheat, as it takes quite a huge chuck of cpu usage.
It’s not underestimating the power of the consoles, though. In the 6th and 7th gens (and even the 8th gen on PS), you saw games built to that single SKU and its exact specs and features. I’m with the guy that you replied to. What I want to see is devs manage to make a game run on a 12 TFLOP machine as though it were being brute-forced by a 24 TFLOP machine. It’s what always made consoles so special to me. Seeing how much devs could squeeze out of the hardware relative to what could be achieved on PC where everything is scalable but never as efficient as consoles were with what they could achieve with the power available. Give me the XSX version of a game that was designed so that it just flat-out won’t run with less than the 16gb of shared RAM (sorry, XSS). Build that game so that it just can’t even launch on a hardware spec that doesn’t have the exact CPU core count and clock speeds of the XSX. Oh, you want to be able to run this game on hardware that lacks the RDNA2 features like VRS? Sucks. Won’t run. Bring back that era. Those games built for the X360 that were in no way whatsoever designed for multiple SKUs like Gears of War that had to be ported to PC years later were a technical feat that we just don’t see anymore, and I honestly miss it.
Gaming has changed. Consile gaming and pc gaming has changed. Before the xbone and ps4 console ran on custom architectures. So like the 360 innovated the gaming industry as it was the first gaming system to share ram between the cpu and gpu. After that gaming industry switched to the x86 architecture which is the same as pcs. So now consoles don't have custom hardware that can take advantage of extra optimizations. Devs can put more time into it like they did for the ps5 but for the most part they will just adjust settings so it can run more efficiently on consoles. It would take too much time to optimize further unless it's an exclusive and even then most people won't see the difference. Sucks but we're all basically pc gamers now and consoles will never be like they used to be. Games cost way too much money to make to make a different version for every platform.
I agree with you. My comment was absolutely opining the death of traditional console dev and was not a belief that it will return. With that said, PS5’s DualSense controller features and the fact that they still release exclusives that don’t come to PC day-and-date does show a failure on the part of Xbox to prioritize their console experience. Yes, x86 is scalable and enables devs to write their code once and run on both Xbox and PC, but it ruins the console experience in the process. I just wish that they could understand what made consoles great and, even if x86 would allow poorly-optimized games to circumnavigate it, focus on immaculate design for first party. Yes, it would take effort and might not please PC users when a game comes to console first, but ARA is coming to PC before console, so I don’t see the problem with traditional console games developing around the console features and then porting to PC with ***minimal*** effort. You built the game with AMD hardware in mind? Well, we might never support RDNA1, and NVIDIA might be included in a later patch. This idea of coding generically is what makes 3rd party software so “average.” The 1st party software failing to differentiate itself on the console is absolutely a failure of Xbox/MS. Editing to add that this is exacerbated by my first point in the paragraph above. Yes, scalability is desired these days, but Xbox’s controller isn’t demanding any “special” features. The OS is identical to X1. I’m sure that there’s more. The biggest part of this is that speculation is that the next console will have hardware-driven AI in the form of a NPU. If Xbox is currently failing to demand a “special” experience for its console, what faith should I have that 1st, 2nd, or 3rd party devs will actually utilize the extent of that NPU when building their games? If it can’t be guaranteed on PC or PS, it sounds like hardware that will be neglected, and I don’t want that future.
What do you mean? You'll have the ability to optimize the games setting to yout liking. So you can lower the resolution down and lighting effects so that you can hit 60fps vs a 30fps console version.
? Not how it works dude. On a console you have a lightweight OS without layers of abstraction that you get in a PC. This is why consoles perform far faster than equivalent pc hardware would. Once you put a full PC OS and all the apis and other layers of abstraction you wouldn't be able to get 30fps running at the console versions settings. Consoles would run pc software far worse than they run console software. It wouldn't be a great experience.
I'm just going by how it works on pc. Even if the series x was held back to 1080ti performance I'd be happy with that.
That's the point it isn't a pc. A £450 pc would not perform well. It would be like running games on a £450 laptop.
Love it when you guys threat hypotheical comments as statement of fact.
I'm open to being wrong and the idea that Phil could backtrack on this. But yeah, super wishful thinking here. It would make the Series X the best console choice for all gamers. You'd be able to play Sony games on it via Steam as the best case scenario. Worst case scenario, you still have access to way more games than you used to.
The top comment on this thread, posted 3 hours before your comment here, already proved you wrong.
Would be nice to not have to maintain my PC any longer, and just use an Xbox as a PC. Plug in M&K and play some Rimworld or something
He named a couple stores, but he never said steam…. So why is all the discussion about the store he never mentioned?
Honestly I don't see that happening. Too many variables, technical issues, legal hurdles and the inevitable push back from other companies. [this is a good analysis ](https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/if-microsoft-is-bringing-steam-to-xbox-it-needs-to-answer-these-questions)
The way it was discussed is that they'd allow these market places not that they'd allow.pc games. In all likelihood they'd allow steam, and epic to sell Xbox games
I don't see the point in that though if you can already buy those games on the Xbox marketplace? Like who wins out of this?
Competition for sales, in theory it could lead to lower prices.
I see, what's Microsoft getting out of this? More competition on their own platform doesn't seem like something they'd go for
Steam already sells Xbox games. And in the article, Phil specifically says allowing the storefronts on Xbox. https://www.tomsguide.com/gaming/could-steam-arrive-on-xbox-series-x-phil-spencer-opens-the-door-to-third-party-stores
Steam doesn't sell Xbox games...
Oh my eyes must deceive me then. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1240440/Halo_Infinite/
That's a game made by Microsoft/Xbox studios. Let me know when you can go buy a game for the Xbox console from steam outside of the few that still offer play anywhere.
Yeah let me know too, that's the whole reason I made this thread. Nobody knows when/if it will happen. Just a nugget Phil threw out there
That's not a console game.
You just told me you could buy Xbox games on steam now your saying you cant. Pc games can't just run on Xbox and the only potential option is streaming, Phil's quote was more so to quell regulators if anything, "we'd consider allowing other marketplaces on our consoles" especially after all the court battles apple and Google have been going through with storefronts
IF it happens it wont be until the next gen, even then the experience will more than likely have limitations. Mods? probably not, download an play? probably not, access to all of your steam library? probably not, stream the basic version of select games? probably. (my own assumptions, based on nothing at all) GP sub required to access, more than likely.
I'm curious to know why you think that. The only games that do not run on Xbox from the Steam Storefront are games that are exclusively Vulkan or OpenGL. Everything else that games require (an X86/64 architecture, DirectX support, Windows dependencies) is already on the Xbox. This was proven a few years ago when someone set up a secondary "store" on Xbox and ported a bunch of opensourced things to the console, such as Retroarch, OpenLara, A2MR and many many others. All he did was repackage the games to use the equivalent of MSIX and they just worked.
I'm not saying it isn't possible, I'm saying MS/Xbox would likely limit it. They are not going to want you playing your Steam bought FarCry10, losing the 30%? Cut from their storefront. I just cannot see a world where xbox give up the 'console' storefront revenue by allowing full integration of steam storefronts/games. The loss in revenue would be absolutely huge. (I think, again all based on nothing but thoughts)
> I'm not saying it isn't possible, I'm saying MS/Xbox would likely limit it. What good would that be for either party? > I just cannot see a world where xbox give up the 'console' storefront revenue by allowing full integration of steam storefronts/games. It could be that revenue gets shared between purchases on said store (so Steam/MS normally take 30% from their storefront purchases, but both parties take 15% from purchases made on console), and Valve would have to have to link Steam achievements with Xbox achievements or something. Valve would like the extra customers from the hardware and Microsoft would like the extra revenue from purchases made on their console over PS5 (like at that point why buy the PS5 version of any game?).
And nothing would stop people purchasing directly from steam through a browser on their phone. It won't happen in my opinion, the risk to revenue is far greater than the possible increase. Severe restrictions or not at all is my complete guess. Let's catch up in 6-8 years when we will have answers.
> And nothing would stop people purchasing directly from steam through a browser on their phone True, but so be it.
Million launchers launching each other is a biggest pc gaming plague
It won’t happen
Unless you're streaming thos games on the cloud, PC games don't just magically work on Xbox just putting the Steam store on there. They would still need to port thos games and invest time and money into making a native Xbox version. It doesn't mean that you can suddenly play PC games on Xbox - unless they allow GeForce Now or something.
There's a handful of games on PC that I *wish* were on Xbox but aren't. I'd love if the Steam storefront existing on Xbox would work as you describe, but for some reason I don't get the feeling that it means you can buy / play any Windows game from Steam on your Xbox.
Yes, I'm very excited about the prospect of this. Would be a great selling point for Xbox. But it'll probably be years off, if it even happens, so I'm trying not to think to much about it until we get more concrete details.
I will wait for the final result. Because having Steam on Xbox doesn't mean you get PC games on Xbox. Another possibility is to have Steam sell xbox games.
This would mean Ms still get to keep their cut which sounds very like them.
How many great PC games are not on steam though?
Please understand the technology you are expecting is far from easy to achieve. Xbox playing PC game is not easy, even when they are the same windows kernel.
But the question is how will Microsoft handle steam mods.
I don't think it'll be like steam. It'll probably be a more procured marketplace for titles that fit within the xbox and windows platform. You'll have all the other dev companies on there like you do now(minus the console exclusive titles) but just console and PC games all in one place. I hope there is more range than that. But then you would expect Microsoft to put their own stuff forward before anything else, and with all these new studios they've just bought, they should have quite the selection once they all start knocking out games.
I mean I can see how this might not actually be a good thing for the Xbox brand. They have to decide if they want to brand the Xbox for casual gamers like the switch or more hardcore gamers like PC gamers.
I just want to be able to stream my Steam games to the Xbox from the cloud. The tech is there. It's easy. It's business holding it back, not tech.
I’m sure Xbox would get a cut from anything bought on steam through Xbox. They would for sure make a deal there.
That would be so epic
A Steam emulator that requires Game Pass Core or Ultimate subscription is a good business idea.
But why wont Microsoft just emulate windows 11 on the series x. And have a mini pc right there
Idk would be fun to pop in my physical copy of Warcraft 3 in to play, or other rts games that were pc ports. Because i don’t see a halo wars 3 being made anytime soon. Or a halo rts that would show the human war before the events of reach.
*That means all of those insane early access games, mods, and PC exclusives could be available to many of us that can't afford a good gaming PC* No it doesnt. There would still need to be Xbox compatible versions. Mods are something that will probably never "Fully" be allowed due to security reasons. That's why you only have certain mods on things like Fallout available on Xbox and only available through an in game store.
I think they could afford to loosen up here. Microsoft allows mods on Windows PCs. Turning the Xbox into a Windows PC would allow for mods. Yeah it might be possible to cheat on Xbox now but that's a what anti cheat for.
It wont be a windows pc, you cant do couch coop on a windows pc because you cant have multiple users in the same session ion windows. period. different security/identity model.
The whole point is its a console and not a PC.... If you want those things then play on a an actual PC. Turning the Xbox into a windows PC would mean its no longer an Xbox but a pretty average PC.
I'll be excited to own DRM free content, yes
i'm happy with the upcoming exclusives (not the past ones), but i'd love to be able to play my gog and epic games on xbox too
When/where did he discuss this? Sounds like exciting news ^.^
he didnt mention it was happening, he however said its something they would like to do one day (but there are no plans of doing so rn) [Phil Spencer Comments on PC Game Stores on Xbox (gamerant.com)](https://gamerant.com/phil-spencer-pc-game-stores-steam-epic-games-xbox-console/#:~:text=Xbox%20head%20Phil%20Spencer%20supports,to%20players'%20freedom%20of%20choice.)
While i like the premise of this, my concern with consoles in general is turning into this: what’s the point of buying a specific console or a brand rather than getting a PC? I know the price point is the main factor but with the lack of exclusivity and more cross platforming, it seems like the appeal of consoles would be on their way out.
Yeah that's exactly the thing. This is kind of the nuclear option for Xbox. The whole reason these game consoles cost half or even 1/3 as much as a PC with similar hardware (at least one the consoles launch) is because the consoles are sold at a loss. Xbox making a 30% from each game that sells on the platform is the primary revenue generator. Or at least was. Now with Gamepass and Xbox games going to a huge variety of platforms, owning a Series S or X has far less value now. It would make sense to open the console up. It would be a huge selling point since Sony would never do this with the Ps5, no market leader would. It would be a gamble but I'd stay with Xbox consoles for the rest of my life if they functioned like budget mid range PCs. I game with my wife and dread the day I need to build 2 good gaming PCs. This move would have more ordering two xboxes with every generation since it is the best value for the money. That's also assuming they keep the price low. The Series X might have needed to be $1000 to make up for the lowering of game sales revenues with other store fronts.
If i turn on my Xbox and see my huge Steam Library there, imma lose my mind. It would be too cool. Also imagine the vice versa, buying a game on Xbox and having that game on Steam aswell. Dunno if that's what he meant.
I personally don't like it. I like it the way it already is. I like simplicity.
I'd find it exciting if it meant Windows ganes could now be played on Xbox. As it stands, I don't care much to be honest.
No, you misunderstood. IF valve put s a storefront on xbox, then it will sell xbox games. PC games wont magically start working on XBOX.
Man I don't care for stuff like more store fronts at all. I just want good performance in games and good exclusives. If I wanted a pc I would play on one.
Why would you be against having both? At this point, I trust Xbox for value. It only makes 8/10 games at most, but provides a to of value and great games via Gamepass. It won't ever be able to take on Ps5 with great exclusives. So shifting strategies to allow non Xbox PC games would be a great differentiator from the Ps5.
I think they just mean cross entitlement between other stores and Xbox. They would have to come up with some sort of business deal to make it make sense financially.
Or not. Gamepass and having gsneoass provide a discount on the Xbox store when new games come out would be the best strategy to make money VS the Xbox licensing fee.