Xboxon PC has been criticized in the past for not being the most user-friendly experience, especially when compared to other PC launchers. Microsoft looks like its trying to change the narrative though, as a new update will bring a ton more control forXboxon PC users and their games.
Towards the middle of the last generation of consoles, Microsoft had some make-up work to do, having made some bold business decisions with the launch of the Xbox One. From the original reveal of being an always online console, not allowing players to share their games, and the tremendous asking price, Microsoft lost a lot of momentum that it had built up during the 360 era. Today though, Xbox is perhaps in the greatest place it has ever been, expanding from just a console brand, but to more of a service brand, with the company supporting its consoles as well as PC and remote users.Xbox has embraced the PC communityin particular, with all of its first-party games coming to the platform.
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A new article fromThe Vergedetails a new update that will allow players to control how and where they access their games on Windows. Microsft and Xbox journalist, Tom Warren, pens the article, stating, “Microsoft will finally allow Windows users to install PC games from the Microsoft Store or Xbox Game Pass for PC to any folder of their choice with unrestricted access.” With this “unrestricted access” comes the ability to alter game files, meaning the arrival of mod support, as well as simply moving games around their computer as they see fit. This information comes from sources “familiar with Microsoft’s plans,” with these changes being part of anXbox app for Windowsupdate that is currently being internally tested.
As this update indicates, the current Xbox app for Windows experience is quite limited in what players can actually do with their games. While there are certain games that do allow users to mod them, most games generally do not give that permission, making the platform in some ways, theantithesis of Steam, or other platforms, that give players these sorts of controls from the very second a game is purchase. Warren received a quote from Jason Beaumont, partner director of experiences at Xbox, who says of the update, “We wanted to provide players with more options to customize their experience in the Xbox app.”
One of the trends that is pertinent to the current Xbox brand is player choice, whether itsxCloud, letting players play their games from wherever, whenever, or Xbox Smart Delivery, which optimizes games for players depending on what console they are playing on. While PC has been a part of the that notion of giving players freedom in choosing how they play, until this update, the experience has still been quite limited when compared to other PC platforms. Soon,Xboxon PC players will have more reasons to buy a game through Microsoft.
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