Microsoft wants to make the Xbox app the home of PC gaming. Hundreds more games are now appearing in the Xbox app as Microsoft looks to bring even more PC games to its ecosystem. I think this is the start of interesting changes for the Xbox app in 2025. Details 👇 www.theverge.com/2024/12/11/2... - ThreadSky

tomwarren.co.uk • 77 days ago

Microsoft wants to make the Xbox app the home of PC gaming. Hundreds more games are now appearing in the Xbox app as Microsoft looks to bring even more PC games to its ecosystem. I think this is the start of interesting changes for the Xbox app in 2025. Details 👇 https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/11/24318799/microsoft-xbox-app-new-games-homescreen

Comments

sir-arsen.bsky.social•77 days ago

Microsoft fails to advertise xbox games lol

klinefamily.cc•77 days ago

What they need to do is also develop a Big Picture mode and a feature to shortcut non-Xbox games similar to Steam.

faustmarcel.bsky.social•77 days ago

Our generation has been on Steam for at least a decade, the next generation is invested in ugc ecosystems like Roblox and Fortnite. Apart from XBox, why should many players settle with Microsoft?

thatnerdguy.bsky.social•77 days ago

The Xbox app it's still trash. They clearly don't have people with the proper vision working on this to make it happen.

jacksonhiggins.xyz•77 days ago

If it wasn't a nightmare app which crashes, needs to update and once updated insist there is an update and also will show my account has a gamepass subscription but when I launce a gamepass game it proceeds to say I don't have gamepass

dude27th.bsky.social•77 days ago

Would you please stop saying Xbox App ?

sclnd.xyz•77 days ago

They need to stop pretending other game launchers don’t exist and allow launching non MS Store titles (ala Playnite, Gog launcher)

rileypaul.bsky.social•77 days ago

Until PC game sharing is a thing in the Xbox app, I'll continue to buy games on steam.

thatvikinggamer.bsky.social•77 days ago

Good luck trying to top Steam

cryolab.tech•77 days ago

Steam does way more than just let you buy games. The level of developer support is insane. No way Microsoft matches that, especially for free.

wriime.bsky.social•77 days ago

Are they fucking stupid

jakeaevinger.bsky.social•77 days ago

"[I]t will be interesting to see whether the company makes the bold move of listing Steam, Epic Games Store, or itch·io games in the Xbox app soon, too." There's plenty of room to compete in PC game distribution (PC Game Pass?). Steam is the standard, but it doesn't have to be the only winner.

misterbump.bsky.social•77 days ago

The app is so bad; no ability to back up and move games between PCs, no local streaming, no transfer installs, no collections, cloud saves can't be managed, the list just goes on. I haven't bought a single game and use it only for GP - they will need to do a LOT of work to make me change!

misterbump.bsky.social•77 days ago

Get to it @xboxp3.bsky.social 😉 I am certainly not adverse to buying games there, but its been years and years now and the app is still so barebones!

optimistbox.bsky.social•77 days ago

If they want to be the anything close to that, they've gotta work out something with steam. The boat left a long long time ago if they still think they can go it solo.

optimistbox.bsky.social•77 days ago

I'd love to see metrics on the ROG Ally or other windows handhelds on how often the steam launch button is used in their software compared to anything else.

theleathermushroom.bsky.social•77 days ago

Oh get bent Microsoft. Keep your bag of ass xbox programs off my computer. Remember games for Windows? I'd say stay in your own lane and make operating systems but you can't even competently do that anymore.

bofadsnuts.bsky.social•77 days ago

They'll never replace Steam but I have been playing quite a lot through the gamepass and think its a pretty solid deal.

li-sama.bsky.social•77 days ago

Is there a list of games that weren’t available before that now are?

taylormcintire.com•77 days ago

You love to see it

basementvibes.bsky.social•77 days ago

Apparently you don’t know me lol

taylormcintire.com•77 days ago

...what?

basementvibes.bsky.social•77 days ago

Can’t understand it for you, bud. No worries ✌️

davefpg.bsky.social•77 days ago

They should make it a dedicated gaming front-end and not a 2 bit gamepass launcher. Like the GOG launcher but big picture-ized

davefpg.bsky.social•77 days ago

So basically Playnite

tcrazi.bsky.social•77 days ago

Unless Microsoft has better accessibility, nothing is going to get me off of Steam 😅

calumdotexe.bsky.social•77 days ago

We all want a lot of things, Microsoft

sneakysnakev.bsky.social•77 days ago

i don't get people who say the xbox app is terrible since i use it (3 years now) i only had 1 problem and that was i think 2 1/2 years ago when you uninstalled a game but the disc space was still as if you've had it installed otherwise it's all good.

sneakysnakev.bsky.social•77 days ago

Still they have to do a lot of work to get as good as Steam OS.

garrythethird.bsky.social•77 days ago

Step 1: make it work.

diancecht.bsky.social•77 days ago

I think it's too late for MS to cash in, they should have done this year's ago. Steam has too big of a foothold.

zahrank.bsky.social•77 days ago

If they want to really make the whole “This is an Xbox” a reality, they need to bring parity between PC and Console with Play Anywhere.

montoulieu.dev•77 days ago

It can barely download games and keep them updated.
Swapping from Steam to the Xbox app is a non-starter.

akashdeep3469.bsky.social•77 days ago

Xbox Play Anywhere being more widely supported would keep me on the Xbox app. Buy 1 copy and play in several places (PC, Xbox, and the upcoming handheld.)

Then again, Valve is making huge strides in that area: Steam Deck and the upcoming Steam Machines.

milehighgeek.bsky.social•77 days ago

IMO Valve makes a much more compelling argument, because you can choose the devices, and more importantly, the operating system that you want to use. This is pretty important, at least to me but I've seen others state the same, as Microsoft seems to be trying to speed run Windows into the ground

akashdeep3469.bsky.social•77 days ago

Oh yeah. Windows 11 can be a box of unpleasant surprises. I'm wondering how strong of an influence Steam OS can have over PC gaming.

There's a lot of dissatisfaction they can take advantage of.

milehighgeek.bsky.social•77 days ago

Not even just SteamOS, but Linux in general. All of the work that Valve has done automatically works in pretty much any other distro. And it isn't limited to just Steam games either, Proton is integrated into Heroic launcher to let you play Epic and GOG games too.

imgoing.bsky.social•77 days ago

If any launcher could be light as steam and have half the features I think people would be way more happy about using/investing in them. Not sure why Epic and Microsoft refuse to make their launchers good.

mailia.bsky.social•77 days ago

Maybe Epic can't afford to. They keep harping on and on about how Valve takes too big of a cut of Steam sales and yet they're unable to even remotely match Steam's features.

optimistbox.bsky.social•77 days ago

"Maybe Epic can't afford to" is a wild sentence. Especially for the owners of fortnite and the unreal engine in its entirety.

mailia.bsky.social•77 days ago

Well they're clearly not investing into improving the storefront. Either they don't have the capital or they just don't want to do it.

optimistbox.bsky.social•77 days ago

Hey, I'm not claiming to understand why the thing still exists myself.

imgoing.bsky.social•77 days ago

I have to imagine they’re pretty set for infinite money with Unreal Engine and Fortnite as cash cows. I imagine the devs know it sucks but likely leadership doesn’t see it as a priority so it’ll never be improved.

sspyca.bsky.social•77 days ago

I already know it wont even work when you use it

calebsponheim.com•77 days ago

Do you expect them to invest more in PC Game Pass as a result?

tomwarren.co.uk•77 days ago

for sure, I also expect to see Steam games listed in the Xbox app soon

dinjoralo.bsky.social•77 days ago

Valve has spent over a *decade* building Steam to not be dependent on Microsoft. It's far-and-away in their best interest to not enable Microsoft's digital storefronts, to give Microsoft authority over how users get software on Windows. In what universe is this happening?

nerdpropellant.bsky.social•77 days ago

How is letting ppl use Xbox App to give Valve money 'Microsoft controlling how users get software'? It'd be an additional optional endpoint that wasn't there before. It wouldn't get rid of Steam, lol. Ppl can still go there to buy the games too.

cerealqueen.bsky.social•77 days ago

If I can use my Bing rewards to buy Steam games as a result I will be the happiest camper imaginable…

aintnowaydotgif.bsky.social•77 days ago

I'm assuming this was a subtle hint: https://i.imgur.com/zCNSIPy.png

tomwarren.co.uk•77 days ago

well, given Phil’s comments about expanding Xbox to other stores it only makes sense to list those games in the Xbox app. It should be an app that works well as a launcher too

aintnowaydotgif.bsky.social•77 days ago

Yep. Sounds great to me. I have games bought across Steam, Xbox app, and BattleNet, and EGS on PC. I'd love for those to all show up and be launchable via Xbox app.

Also that would mean the Xbox handheld would play Xbox games, Playstation games, Steam/EGS exclusive games, and Non-steam PC games.

calebsponheim.com•77 days ago

Do you see that as an official partnership with Valve, or more of a hacky file system launcher approach?

matte-gender.bsky.social•77 days ago

valve will not support microsoft on this. this is a long protracted war between the two, it’s why valve is so reliant on linux

within time microsoft will do their best to kill steam

anchel.com•77 days ago

Microsoft is now adding more games to Steam than ever though. Will they want to change that strategy in the future? We'll see, but right now it looks like they are happier giving access to their games on Steam, but with the Xbox Store version supporting other Xbox ecosystem features.

matte-gender.bsky.social•77 days ago

MS has always done this. putting their games on steam does two things:

-playful compliance with the law (we aren’t a monopoly we put games on steam!)

- get unaware consumers to view MS not as an evil but your average game dev

they can slowly build the good will with the xbox app. it’s a long play

thebman91.bsky.social•77 days ago

I've found an interesting issue playing Stalker 2 and Indy on the Xbox app, it will sometimes default to the integrated GPU and only a full shutdown of the app fixes it. How about fixing the myriad of issues on the app first before adding tonnes of content.

quixoticrocket.bsky.social•77 days ago

if they were smart they'd really be pushing play anywhere now. bribe 3rd parties to get into the scheme. do what it takes. it's a really good feature that they just don't push enough.

keithhill.bsky.social•77 days ago

This is the first step for the next console generation. Calling it now. The next Xbox is just a windows PC with a different skin that launches into the Xbox app. This paves the way for handhelds too.

jerrynsimon.bsky.social•77 days ago

I think it's more a push for an Xbox handheld that uses the cloud

keithhill.bsky.social•77 days ago

When asked if a hypothetical Xbox handheld would be a dedicated gaming platform where you can play games locally (like a Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch), or a cloud-based handheld, Spencer responded: "I think being able to play games locally is really important."

https://www.ign.com/articles/microsoft-confirms-plans-to-release-an-xbox-handheld-but-its-years-away

tentaslut.bsky.social•77 days ago

thats already what xbox is though?

keithhill.bsky.social•77 days ago

No. The xbox is a separate OS that at one point was based on a very stripped down version of windows. I'm talking running an actual windows version that can run Steam and any other x64 app. A true unification of console and PC.

jproyouknow.bsky.social•77 days ago

Step 1) Go back in time and murder Gabe Newell

zchrymllr.com•77 days ago

They're gonna have to create some kind of incentive to buy games in their store over Steam. As it stands, 99% of my PC game library is in Steam and there's currently no real reason to use any other game store outside of perhaps some kind of weird brand loyalty that gamers seem to be fond of.

snaaaape.bsky.social•77 days ago

I'm genuinely excited for what xbox is evolving into. As a gamepass subscriber I feel more invested, but also, witnessesing how console dynamics are changing is fascinating. Though when I feel nostalgic for the days consoles were paramount to gaming, I play the OG Xbox or PS2

notelkz.net•77 days ago

The first step is to make the app actually function properly because it's absolutely awful at present.

Epic, Ubi and EA launchers are currently better and that's saying something.

thebman91.bsky.social•77 days ago

It's dog shit atm. People have been calling for fixing the app for what seems like years now and they've done virtually nothing

goatstorm.bsky.social•77 days ago

There’s already a product that does all of this perfectly. Why make a copy of it that’s worse except to piss me off?

keeferickson.bsky.social•77 days ago

It doesn’t help that it’s one of the worst run app on my pc and is a pain to update everytime I open it

klinefamily.cc•77 days ago

Yup, it's sluggish as hell and for some reason downloads on it are significantly slower than Steam.

jwebb.social•77 days ago

This would make sense if PC gaming didn’t already have a home. It needs to be actually good (which it’s not) otherwise this is more clown shit. Even the battle net launcher is better than the Xbox app ATM

ynnadanny.com•77 days ago

I'm less likely to buy a game if it isn't on Steam. Microsoft has a lot of work to do to change that.

Plus, the progression of SteamOS on handhelds is gonna push me even deeper into Valve's ecosystem.

Valve has shown to be the superior vendor for decades. I don't see Microsoft winning this battle.

ticktok.bsky.social•76 days ago

100% Microsoft response to the steam deck and the travesty of all the competitors with half-assed desktop controller support taped on to the top of windows 11 by each manufacturer.

ardalis.com•77 days ago

Taking on Steam then?

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