Next week’s free Epic Games Store titles have been revealed.
27.03.2024 - 13:03 / techradar.com / Phil Spencer
Microsoft's gaming head Phil Spencer has said he wants to feature more digital storefronts on Xbox consoles.
Speaking in an interview with Polygon during the Game Developers Conference 2024 (GDC), Spencer explained that he'd like to break down the walled gardens and eventually find a way to allow players to purchase games through multiple digital retailers, instead of the Xbox console's designated first-party storefront.
When Spencer was asked if he could see a future where third-party stores like the Epic Games Store or itch.io could be made available to Xbox users, he said: «Yes,» using Microsoft as an example of how it utilizes Windows.
"[Consider] our history as the Windows company,” Spencer said. «Nobody would blink twice if I said 'Hey, when you’re using a PC, you get to decide the type of experience you have [by picking where to buy games].' There’s real value in that.»
The Xbox boss then went on to say that the idea of selling consoles at a loss and then regaining that money through game sales is becoming ineffective, explaining that the «price of the components of a console aren’t coming down as fast as they have in previous generations,» and that the console market isn't growing as more gamers now have a PC or a handheld device as an option.
"[Subsidizing hardware] becomes more challenging in today’s world," he continues. «And I will say, and this may seem too altruistic, I don’t know that it’s growing the industry. So I think, what are the barriers? What are the things that create friction in today’s world for creators and players? And how can we be part of opening up that model?»
Spencer's solution would be offering more storefronts because he thinks the gaming experience is impacted when it comes to what consoles users play on and what stores sell certain games, saying: «If I want to play on a gaming PC, then I feel like I’m more a continuous part of a gaming ecosystem as a whole. As opposed to [on console, where] my gaming is kind of sharded — to use a gaming term — based on these different closed ecosystems that I have to play across.»
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Amid speculation, Spencer also recently revealed what he would love in an Xbox handheld, explaining that there is a «list of things» he wants to do and that the Xbox hardware team is considering «different hardware form factors and things that [they] could go do.»
Next week’s free Epic Games Store titles have been revealed.
While the name Kareem Choudhry may not be as well-known as, say, Phil Spencer or Matt Booty, Xbox fans who keep abreast with the company’s announcements and showcases are likely to be familiar with his face. As corporate vice president of emerging technologies at Xbox, Choudhry was in charge of a lot of the more innovative things Microsoft’s gaming division offered in recent years, including backward compatibility and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Everyone’s favourite candid games exec, Phil Spencer, was in the news last week discussing the concerning ‘lack of growth’ in video games.
Next week’s free Epic Games Store title has been announced.
The Epic Games Store recently saw the addition of several older games from EA, including multiple entries from the Need for Speed and Battlefield franchises. Standing as one of the most popular online marketplaces for games, Epic Games has often looked for ways to help its storefront stand out from major competitors like Steam. Epic Games regularly features free games for users to claim through the storefront, often giving away popular games like The Outer Worlds and Fallout: New Vegas. Now, the storefront has added multiple EA games to its lineup.
Xbox has added a new feature to Xbox Cloud Gaming that could make the overall Game Pass Ultimate subscription a far greater deal for players. While there are separate Game Pass tiers for consoles or PC players with slightly different libraries, the Ultimate subscription grants access to Game Pass across both, along with the option to stream titles rather than downloading them both at home and on the go through Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Next week’s free Epic Games Store titles have been confirmed.
Images allegedly showing the white, digital-only Xbox Series X reported to be in the works earlier this year have leaked online.
Next week’s free Epic Games Store title has seemingly leaked ahead of an official announcement on Thursday.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has suggested that Microsoft would be willing to open up their console platform to third party storefronts. Could with see the likes of itch.io and Epic Games Store on Xbox in future?
Xbox head Phil Spencer has said that he wants to see more digital retailers on the console, such as the Epic Games Store and Itch.io.
In another interesting revelation, Xbox head Phil Spencer has reportedly backed the arrival of third-party game stores on game consoles. This has led to Xbox fans anticipating the possible launch of game stores, like Steam, on Microsoft's console.