XPA would be huge if they’re on board for every title going forward. Still, this is neat.
Rockstar, EA, and Ubisoft have their own storefronts on PC so I will never expect them to support PA.
I know. Just a wishful thinking. Best we can get is cloud saves, not purchase save.
I thought the same for Fortnite/Epic (especially since they didn’t even support Steam), but I guess they have a partnership there considering fortnite crew. I wonder if Microsoft would negotiate deals with those with their own PC launcher for the Xbox PC? Maybe just matching the percentage on PC for XPA works. Like at a 12% cut how much are they losing vs gaining by supporting another launcher? And how many people are double dipping at full price? How many Xbox gamers even also own a PC? Idk. Me personally, I’ve yet to buy a single Rockstar, EA, or Ubisoft game specifically because they each have their own proprietary launchers and it’s just a hassle to setup, make an account, add my payment methods, and buy games. And for games that I buy on my Xbox console, I’m just not buying them a second time on PC at all (XPA or no) because there’s no point. I’d play both in my house in basically the same room anyway. The only real difference now is laying down with my handheld vs sitting up playing on the TV. XPA would only convince me to buy more of their games at a closer to launch price (not on sale). For Rockstar especially, features like XPA would be the start of a long road to regaining trust following their recent actions. Shrug though I’m sure they all have their data financial analyst running the numbers. The fact that they even still run their own storefront/launcher considering those associated costs probably does mean it’s more profitable to try and pull PC gamers over. Though again hopefully Microsoft works out deals for the Next Xbox if needed, because having to have multiple launchers for AAA games would be a hassle.
I have the 360 version digitally by the way (must be over ten years since I got it) and I haven’t gotten any free upgrade or anything. I have no idea how they decide who gets it but it’s certainly not clear cut for digital owners of the original.
Hey great point. Next generation will be interesting with the battle of storefronts on PC and the Xbox console.
Ugh, please no more battles. You know, I know Microsoft wouldn’t and can’t because windows is less locked down, but I remember when Apple forced apps to have a “sign in with Apple” option. I’d embrace this on windows with a sign in on Xbox. Especially if they magiced it to give you cross progression across launchers
Oh I understand! I just meant battle for your money and time. Hopefully we get great discounts and perks for buying games in different storefronts
I think you’re spot on as history does tend to repeat. Not long after the original steam machine was announced a flurry of publishes started their store fronts while it didn’t work out too well, I think with what Xbox is doing it will. More publishers are certain to want to try going for that 100% as to the 70% especially if they can gain the visibility. They’ll still put games on other storefronts with ecosystems to enable wider reach like with Xbox having cloud streaming but prioritizing their stores will come first.
Exactly!! Microsoft can approach EA, Ubisoft and Take two and say hey you can put your storefront on our next console hybrid. You can also make a Xbox version of your game so you can sell it on our the Xbox Store with more visibility and we can help market it since Steam doesn’t market games.
True though I was more looking at it now that every windows PC will have the XFSE (Xbox full screen experience) going forward which will give visibility to anything on it like the de facto Xbox app as well as make the XFSE like the google play store for windows. Xbox could for example add a general store for all the publishers and developers that wish to be independent and have their own launchers or that are at least on windows to have a place to search for every available game that exists on windows. A structure much like Google and Apple do with Android and iOS.
As long as they do native versions for the Xbox store, I’d be stoked on more competition between storefronts. They should try to offer the best experience possible to try and get gamers to use their purchasing platform over another. What I’m fearful of is fragmentation because of exclusivity. I really, really don’t want to HAVE to make a Ubisoft account and download the Ubisoft launcher and login every time and buy Ubisoft games separately just because Ubisoft couldn’t think of another way to pull me into their first party storefront.
I just dont get stuff like this, whats new or has changed ? Who hasnt played this age old game by now ? One of the best, but hasnt it been playable by all and sundry for yonks ?
Just graphics and performance (in theory). Thankfully if you own any version (even the 360 version) on console then it’s a free upgrade. And as for PC it’s the first time it’s available natively on the Xbox PC store at all. Also with this version it’s available on like everything everything as in including iOS and android and Netflix subscribers.