Are Xbox’s PC Releases Truly Meant To Reach Everyone?

There actions tell me a different story

It’s been a number of years now since Microsoft pledged that all of their first party developed and published games would hit PC at the same time as their Xbox console release, the Xbox brand has pushed to “reach gamers on every platform” through the use of programs like “Xbox Play Anywhere” and claiming that everything that can connect to the internet is in fact, an Xbox. Xbox Play Anywhere is the system which allows Xbox players to buy the game on console or PC and be granted a license on the other. Interestingly, Sony dipped their toes into something like this towards the end of the PlayStation 3 era where buying certain games on PS3 would grant you access to their PS Vita counterparts, examples of this being PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, and Jak and Daxter HD Trilogy. Xbox’s leadership under Phil Spencer have been adamant on this delivery going forward, stating that they want to put their games everywhere that they can, but throughout these years, do their actions reflect this?

On the surface, I would say they do. If we look at where Xbox games are being published as a whole we have, in the console space we have: Xbox Console, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and the eventually Switch 2, then in the PC space we have; Xbox PC/Microsoft Store, Steam and even in some cases the Activision-Blizzard ran and maintained BattleNet, as seen with the Obsidian developed RPG, Avowed and the upcoming Iron Galaxy developed Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3+4. Xbox games are also available through cloud streaming, whether that through Xbox’s own XCloud service, available if you have a subscription to Xbox GamePass, or on rival streaming services like Boosteroid and Nvidia’s GeForce Now as part of concessions Microsoft were forced to make to ensure that the Activision-Blizzard-King acquisition would go through, with these services allowing you to play Xbox games if you own the game on, or if you link your Microsoft account to verify your GamePass subscription, but ultimately you’re still playing from one of the above mentioned PC launchers.

While it’s ultimately great for players that only have PlayStation or Nintendo consoles are able to play newly developed games under the Xbox brand. I would like to focus on their PC release strategy and whether they adhear to the same mantra that they’ve applied to their console releases, because this is where I feel Microsoft’s facade of wanting to put their games everywhere is lacking. If we take a look at some of the major releases from Microsoft owned studios, Avowed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, all of these games were of course Day 1 on Xbox GamePass for PC users, which was absolutely massive for the GamePass subscribers, never before had one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world been available on Microsoft’s subscription service day 1. For Call of Duty the release on day 1 GamePass meant it would be available on Microsoft’s, aptly named, Microsoft Store for purchase and by extension their Xbox App on PC, which is a more streamlined Gaming-centric launcher that ultimately piggy backs off the Microsoft Store. It was also available on Activision’s own launcher, BattleNet, which has been tradition for their Call of Duty releases before the Microsoft acquisition was completed, then finally the game is also available on Steam, owned and operated by Valve, creators of such classics as Half-Life, Counter-Strike and Portal. Coincidentally the only non-Microsoft owned launcher, as mentioned before Cloud providers are still relying on you having a license for the game on one of these launchers. This is the same for Indiana Jones, and Avowed, the only difference being that Indiana Jones is not available on BattleNet, meaning on PC it’s only available on Microsoft Store/Xbox App and Steam.

GOG’s hard DRM-Free stance on games could be viewed as the deal breaker for Xbox, but to my investigation their games don’t use any form of meaningful DRM

Where are the releases on GOG? The launcher and storefront created by developers of the Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077, CDProjektRed, or Fortnite and Unreal Tournament creators Epic Games Store, hell, why not even Amazon’s Game Launcher? GOG and Epic are very much popular storefronts that have their fair share of fans, GOG’s hard DRM-Free stance on games could be viewed as the deal breaker for Xbox, but to my investigation their games don’t use any form of meaningful DRM, instead relying on authentication of the games ownership to be done through the stores themselves which is known to be trivial at best to bypass. The only one that would be ineligible would be Call of Duty as that game requires an internet connection to operate which goes against the principle of CDProjektRed’s storefront, on the other hand MachineGames’ Indiana Jones, and Obsidian’s Avowed have no such requirements and would fit perfectly on the GOG storefront which is already home to many historic older LucasArts developed Indiana Jones games.

The Epic Games Store, unlike GOG and more akin to Steam has no hard DRM-free stance, it is entirely possible to release DRM-free games on both of these stores, along with Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft Gaming, stating in an interview that he would love to see Epic Games Store and Itch.io as 3rd party store fronts on Xbox consoles which continues to fuel the rumours that Xbox would be looking to have a more PC-centric experience for their next Xbox console, having recently stoking the fires with the recent update to the Xbox PC app to show games installed from third-party launchers like Steam, BattleNet and Epic Games Store. One potential reason for not releasing games on Epic is that Xbox views them as a more reachable goal to surpass in marketshare, from Epic CEO, Tim Sweeney, claiming that they are the second largest PC storefront having a modest 15% marketshare. With Epic’s strategy of exclusives and their long standing free games program possibly being seen as a threat to Xbox in the PC space, removing business and competing for titles that would come to GamePass day 1. Alongside this, Epic doesn’t put their exclusives, such as Alan Wake 2, Fortnite or their upcoming Out of Words and End of Abyss on any other storefront besides their own which also includes the Xbox PC/Microsoft Store, so it could be again viewed as competition between the two companies, and in this case the competitor is much more within reach compared to the industry leader, especially when at this point you’re fighting over the scraps left over from the dominance that Steam has.

looking at their output on PC it ultimately amounts to multiple variations of their own stores

While both Epic and GOG combined come nowhere near challenging the behemoth that is Valve’s Steam, it’s confusing to me that Xbox management champions releasing games on as many places and platforms as they can but looking at their output on PC it ultimately amounts to multiple variations of their own stores, as previously mentioned BattleNet was owned and operated by Activision-Blizzard, they are now operating under Microsoft, meaning that the only true 3rd party store is the largest storefront that they have no hopes of dethroning in the nearby future, to draw a comparison, this situation sounds very familiar to what’s happened to Xbox in the console space, releasing their crown jewel franchises such as Forza Horizon, Gears of War and (eventually) Halo on competitors consoles, with Microsoft essentially waving the white flag in the Console Wars and looking to pivot their operations to being a pseudo 3rd party publisher, still producing hardware but having less focus on their consoles and more focus on GamePass and their games reaching as many people as possible.

I do believe though that if Microsoft thought they could get away with not publishing their games on Steam, they would do it

Perhaps I’m being too harsh on Microsoft and Xbox, they are largely fulfilling their end of the deal by putting their games everywhere they can in the console space, that much is undeniable. Go back 5 years or so and no one would believe Xbox games would be releasing day 1 on PlayStation consoles. Maybe I’m looking too much into it and Microsoft knows that the crossover of people using GOG/Epic and Steam is large and the people that would buy only on GOG or Epic are an extreme minority, which would make sense not to target those people. On the other hand, I do believe though that if Microsoft thought they could get away with not publishing their games on Steam, they would do it, but we’ve seen how that ends up as evidenced by EA and Ubisoft, especially when it’s been done by companies that must answer to shareholders.

Ultimately, the decisions that Microsoft have made makes me think their push “for games available everywhere” in the PC market is just a smokescreen to cover up underperforming console hardware that’s been compounded with an ever-watching Microsoft after a last ditch attempt to get ahead by buying publishers with the hope of gaining meaningful exclusives from them didn’t pan out, unfortunately what looks to actually have happened is a mountain of debt has been created from purchasing some of the biggest 3rd party developers in the gaming industry, lay offs never seem to be ending against the Xbox brand and the companies under that umbrella and studios are shut. No immediate gains to the Xbox brand with this new found treasure chest of IP, studios and industry talent has only put the Xbox brand under a microscope of Microsoft that will be watching their moves closely. It certainly paints the words spoken by Xbox leadership as nothing more than lip service, telling people what they want to hear.