Something strange is going on with Microsoft\u2019s Xbox app on Windows. Over the past few days, the Xbox PC app has started showing Xbox console games inside the library. While you can\u2019t install games like the original Alan Wake for Xbox 360, it shows up if you own it as part of the \u201cMy PC Games\u201d list inside the Xbox PC app.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t believe this is a simple bug, but more the result of Microsoft\u2019s plans to more closely combine its Xbox and Windows stores. I wrote about this effort in March, when I revealed in Notepad<\/a> that Microsoft is working with Asus on a Project Kennan handheld. \u201cIt\u2019s part of a larger effort from Microsoft to unify Windows and Xbox towards a universal library of Xbox and PC games,\u201d I wrote at the time.<\/p>\n This effort also involves enabling Steam and Epic Games Store games to be visible in the Xbox PC app library. Microsoft accidentally revealed mockup images<\/a> showing Steam games in the Xbox PC library earlier this year, and at the time sources familiar with the company\u2019s plans told me Microsoft was working on an Xbox app update that will show every game you have installed on your PC.<\/p>\n Microsoft has also been working on making the Xbox app the home of PC gaming<\/a> over the past year, and it has recently started referring to its Xbox PC app as simply \u201cXbox PC.\u201d This new branding first showed up in Microsoft\u2019s announcement<\/a> of Gears of War: Reloaded, and a new gameplay trailer<\/a> for MIO: Memories In Orbit also shows off the Xbox PC branding and logo that we\u2019re going to see whenever Microsoft wants to let PC players know the game is available on its Microsoft Store.<\/p>\n All of these Xbox PC changes and the handheld work means we\u2019re probably close to seeing exactly how Microsoft lists additional games in the Xbox PC app. The big question will be whether Xbox console games will actually be playable on PC, and Microsoft may need to leverage its cloud infrastructure for that unless it has an emulation breakthrough ready to finally make the dream of playing old Xbox games on PC a reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Something strange is going on with Microsoft\u2019s Xbox app on Windows. Over the past few days, the Xbox…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[77,1583,507,12,326,53,16,15,289],"class_list":{"0":"post-167372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-gaming","10":"tag-microsoft","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-tech","13":"tag-technology","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-xbox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114647327313809811","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}