3 Ways How Microsoft’s Huge Ecosystem of Xbox & PC Gamers are in a dominating situation right now, Where’s Sony?

Whoa 2016 will be among the years we will remember. This is the year of war between companies instead of consumers. Microsoft’s Windows has always been home to a PC Gamer. Even though Steam OS exists, PC Gamers still prefer Windows after all for its flexibility. Microsoft has been teasing gamers for months now about being able to play Xbox titles on PC. This is huge news for gamers, especially PC gamers since one of the reason that Xbox Users has was “Exclusives”.  Since the release of Windows 10, Microsoft is doing everything to pull users from old Operating Systems such as Windows 7 and XP. Microsoft has taken a few steps to force users to upgrade their OS.

01| Microsoft’s biggest steps to promote gaming

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Microsoft has taken three major steps in doing so;

  • First, Providing free Windows 10 upgrade for genuine Windows 7 and newer OS users for the first year since the launch of Windows 10
  • Second, DX12 is exclusive to Windows 10, this means a huge lot for PC Gamers
  • Lastly “Xbox Play Anywhere”, which will allow PC Gamers to play eligible titles on PC and Xbox for the price of buying one.

02| Microsoft’s “Xbox Play Anywhere” unites PC and Xbox Games

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For PC Gamers, these features mean a lot. Microsoft’s Windows 10 user install base is increasing everyday. Moreover, at Xbox’s E3 Event last week, Microsoft showcased a huge collection of games that are Xbox Play Anywhere eligible and will come to Windows 10. This includes the all-new Forza Horizon 3, Recore, Gears of War 4, Halo Wars 2 and a lot more. Windows 10 users will be able to play these Xbox titiles on their PCs, the same goes for Xbox users. Simply purchasing any of these eligible games on any platform, be it Xbox One or PC, will allow you to play on both platforms and continue your progress on both platforms, that’s a huge life saver for many.

At the moment Xbox titles that are available for the PC, are available at the Windows Store. Phil Spencer also confirmed that they are willing to distribute some games on Steam. Though, not everything goes so flawless with Microsoft. Many gamers who bought Gears of War or Quantum Break from the Windows Store complained about performance issues on decent graphics cards. If Microsoft wants to really unify Xbox and PC, then they’ll need to look into performance issues.

03| Big upgrades in performance are coming

Second up, for the consumer, big upgrades in performance are coming. There’s a huge leap in performance, both on the PC and Xbox One with the latest Xbox One S featuring 6TFLOPS of power translating into 4k gaming according to Microsoft, well let’s just take that as a pinch of salt. But making such a statement is impressive.

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As of PC Gamers, Pascal and AMD’s new Polaris GPUs and Zen CPUs are introducing huge leaps in performance in the price/performance department. Nvidia’s new Pascal GTX 1080 promised to bring the power of two GTX 980s in SLI into one GPU only for the cost of $699. That was the price of one GTX 980 just a few weeks ago. From the AMD TEAM they are really showing off their new RX480 which features premium VR to the masses for only $199! Speculating the specs, we could expect this card to run games at 1440p above 30FPS. But AMD is yet to show off the RX490, the ultimate beast, stay tuned for news about that.

Okay so let’s be honest, what’s Microsoft’s benefit here?

Well to be quite sure, they seem dedicated to this plan but why not take benefit from this? By doing this they could get quite a slice of PC users on Windows 10 and possibly satisfy users to actually buy a copy of Windows 10. Second, Xbox users will quite likely stick to their existing Xbox and may lure some Playstation users.

Think about it, Microsoft has hold of a huge number gamers when you combine PC Gamers and Xbox Gamers, in my option they are taking a great chance to keep hold of those gamers instead of users moving to the PS4. Allowing to buy one game and play it on Xbox One or PC and continue your progress from anywhere is a killer deal for many gamers. This is what they might not get with Sony Consoles. I am sure there are other reasons too which are compelling Microsoft to unite PC Gamers and Xbox Gamers which we may not know of.

15Microsoft’s “Xbox Play Anywhere” initiative is an attempt to unify PC Gamers and Xbox Gamers. This will allow gamers to buy one game and play it on both platforms, with progress being saved across both. The program will also see big upgrades in performance for both PC and Xbox One gamers. While there may be some initial teething problems with the program, such as Gears of War or Quantum Break from the Windows Store, Microsoft seems dedicated to making this work. With a huge install base of Windows 10 users and the power of Pascal and AMD’s new Polaris GPUs and Zen CPUs, Microsoft could be on to a winner here. What do you think?

Share your thoughts and feedback in the comments section down below!

  1. Its a strategy that I like as primarily a pc gamer and its one where if ms could also get 3rd parties in board would be nearly insurmountable for Sony in the coming years.

    It would basically relegate sony to a position nintendo currently lives in where the only reason to buy the console is for 1st party titles.

    I have both the xbox and ps4…and wiiu and a pc. I do most it my gaming on the pc then xbox (more friends there overall) then ps4 then wiiu. If I had to guess you would find most hardcore gamers on pc and xbox and then most people who ONLY own a console on ps4 and the wiiu is generally a secondary console for nintendo fans.

    If I could get every game I buy to be cross format so I buy once and can play on console and pc I’d be happy and right now all the need coming out of ms is making me very happy.

    • I see your point, but to me it seems like Microsoft has raised the white flag when it comes to consoles. Sony is crushing them so Microsoft is aiming at PC gamers to compensate. Scorpio and Neo might swing the tide, but I still see PC gamers sticking to the PC/PS4 formula which benefits Sony more than Microsoft if you ask me. And don’t forget that Sony already has “exclusives” coming to PC, like No Man’s Sky, for example.

    • You might be right from a purely fan perspective but from a business perspective it only makes sense to leverage for largest gaming platform of all time (Windows) and the Xbox. The fact that they have held off is kind of shocking since the who reason Bill Gates approved the Xbox in the first place was to be a Trojan horse so to speak to get computers in the living room.

      It worked for me. The og Xbox and to an extent the 360 made me decide that gaming at a desk on a monitor was really no longer for me. My living room has had surround sound in a state of semi constant upgrade since 2001 and I also have a big tv and a comfy couch so why was I sitting at a desk on a small monitor with headphones and an uncomfortable chair?

      My last pc was expressly built for the living room. Its a mid sized tower with enough room for 3 full length GPU’s, 4 if you consider the current trend is smaller more powerful cards and its hooked up in my living room which will be getting its next upgrade soon in a 65-70inch 4k HDR TV.

      If I can buy a game that plays on my xbox where most of my friends play but also get the windows version free and enjoy all benefits that entails ill jump at it. Microsoft knows this and with Phil Spencer in charge I have put trust in them that I haven’t had since J Allard and Sheamus(!!) were in charge of the division. Hell Peter Moore is probably my favorite gaming suit of all time and I wish he’d go back cause him and Spencer would be an even more team but I think Spencer is the man to make things happen. He’s turned the ship around, he’s invested in games and making the entire gaming eco system better and he really hasn’t made any mistakes. He was dealt a insanely bad hand by Don Mattrick (likely why Peter Moore really left) and he’s managed to turn it around with his team.

    • Excellent question. Primarily because until recently I couldn’t play Xbox exclusives which I’ve always enjoyed, couldn’t play with my friends (zing!) Most of which ate on Xbox since the 360 and equally as important I think the Xbox is a great little…or big, media box that is super easy to use for my family, has voice commands which get used daily during those times and doesn’t heat up the room or take as much electricity as my high end PC with its 1000w psu. Also sometimes id just like to play a simple game without raising the room temp 5 degrees.

  2. “Even though Steam OS exists, PC Gamers still prefer Windows after all for its flexibility.” This right here shows how little the person writing this actually knows. What the actual….

    • Dude, with all kindness, if its gaming related, then it is. I have addressed the Xbox ports on PC and they are horrible. I myself own an R9 390 what do you expect?

    • He’s talking about the operating system, you’re talking about the store. Windows is the preferred OS, but Steam is the preferred store. Apples and oranges.

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