Microsoft Studios Games Go Universally Cross-Platform

Steve Anderson : End Game
Steve Anderson
The Video Store Guy
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Microsoft Studios Games Go Universally Cross-Platform

Microsoft's ambitions to bring together the "console peasants" and the "PC master race" seem to be continuing briskly along. A new report recently emerged that noted that all the games Microsoft Studios publishes will be part of the new Xbox Play Anywhere program, a move that should have gamers feeling reasonably good about things.

Word from Microsoft corporate vice president Yusuf Mehdi noted the support, and that all the Microsoft Studios games would be "...easily accessible in the windows store." The announcement has something of a limited effect, however, as the first such game to qualify under this program will be ReCore, which comes out September 13. So basically there's just over two months until this program actually takes effect.

When it does, though, there will be a good slug of games coming out in this vein; the long awaited Cuphead will fall under this program, and Forza Horizon 3 and Gears of War 4 will also have a hand in. Thus, users who buy a game on one platform will not only be able to play it on another, but saves and achievements will also be able to transfer, making it a thoroughly "play anywhere" experience, as long as, of course, you've got a gaming laptop sufficient to handle the best of the new generation.

There's been a lot of speculation about just how this will work, especially as regards to things like cheating and hacking. Though it's not immediately clear how it will all work out, it's a pretty safe bet that Microsoft has already considered a lot of these implications and is working accordingly. It might not work out that way in the end--it's possible for anyone to miss a trick, even Microsoft--but many of the likely issues will probably be considered from the outset.

Either way, though, we'll likely see just how well this works one way or another before it's all said and done. In the end, gamers will get a lot more versatility and flexibility in being able to take games just about anywhere at any time.


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