If you've been upset over Xbox One exclusives, like Quantum Break, making the jump to the PC before they even release, you might want to get used to the idea. Microsoft has been talking about building a unified gaming experience between the PC and Xbox One since March of last year.
They have been saying that they 'lost their way' with PC games and that they intended on making a come back for a while and according to Xbox Head Phil Spencer, the Microsoft team is delivering on their word.
According to Spencer (via DualShockers), there are plenty of reasons why seeing Xbox One exclusives being made available on the PC is a good thing. One of the reasons that Spencer gave for Windows 10 versions of Xbox One exclusives being a good thing was that when the console generation passes, the game's go with it.
"The thing that we think it does for the console generation, is that we’re allowing ourselves to decouple our software platform from the hardware platform which it runs. I think all of us that have been console gamers for quite a while, know that at the end of the generation, we get the cardboard box out, we put our old console in there, a bunch of old controllers, all of our games, we stick it in the closet, hoping that some day we’ll get it out, nostalgia factor going, and play those games again, and then we buy our new console and a whole new library of games.
Basically, every time a generation shift happens in console gaming, it’s had the tendency to invalidate every game you’ve ever purchased, and require a whole new purchase push. This isn’t great for games. It’s great for innovation at that step function, but it’s not great that we invalidate the games that we have.”
Until consoles can be altered within their lifespan (like a PC), while maintaining the ability to be backwards compatibility. Spencer went on to say that by combining the Xbox One and Windows 10 game availability, Microsoft was giving more developers the option to develop games on either platform.
"Our game preview program that we brought to Xbox One has been incredibly successful. People play ARK: Survival Evolved, a game that has come to Xbox One because of the game preview program and that was adopted from something happening in the PC space, allowing game developers to bring their games in more of an unfinished state and engage with the community as they go up and build those games.
We’re getting more games developed for the console gamer, we’re letting more gamers play with the console gamer, and we’ll see more continuous hardware and software innovation as we realize this vision as we go forward. That’s the commitment from our team to our console gamers.”
If you're into gaming, seeing more games available on your platform of choice isn't necessarily a bad thing – even if that means you aren't the special snowflake anymore.
Spencer made it very clear that Microsoft intends on continuing their goal of creating a unified gaming experience between the Xbox One and Windows 10, calling it a "long term commitment."
