14 DAY TRIAL // Gaming on Windows 10 could soon get a major upgrade, as Microsoft is believed to be working on a new feature that would make it possible to play Xbox One games on PCs without any porting or developer work.
Basically, if this is indeed what Microsoft is trying to do right now, then Windows 10 users would at some point be able to run Xbox One games on their PCs, install them from the Store, and enjoy all the benefits of the title even if they’re not using a gaming console.
Brad Sams of Thurrott has discovered evidence that indicates Xbox One games would support installation on Windows 10, and by the looks of things, code to make this possible already exists in the upcoming OS feature update due in April.
Earlier this month, Microsoft kicked off a mysterious gaming test as part of the Windows Insider program. The company called for users running Windows 10 preview builds to install State of Decay and play it on their PCs, all without actually knowing what’s it for.
Xbox One game format on Windows 10
And by the looks of things, the purpose of this experiment was to help test this closer tie between the Xbox One and Windows 10. The cited source discovered that when installing State of Decay, all files were downloaded from the Xbox Live server and not from the Microsoft Store server, despite the download actually being served by the Microsoft Store.
Furthermore, the game installer was packed in the XVC file format, which Microsoft is using since 2013 for Xbox One titles. Surprisingly, beginning with Windows 10 version 1903 (19H1), this format can be used to install games on PCs with PowerShell.
If the project advances in the same direction, there’s a chance that PC and Xbox gaming would be unified, technically making gaming on the two platforms very similar. The same package can be used by developers for rolling out games to both Windows 10 and Xbox, which in the end brings great benefits to everyone, including Microsoft itself, gamers, and developers.