Although Microsoft has traditionally shipped its flagship titles through Xbox Live for both Windows and consoles, the company is moving away from this strategy as it revealed its plans to ship these titles through Steam in the coming months.
This latest revelation came via an official blog post from the company where it iterated its commitment to support third party stores. In the post, Xbox chief Phil Spencer wrote, “Our intent is to make our Xbox Game Studios PC games available in multiple stores, including our own Microsoft Store on Windows, at their launch. We believe you should have choice in where you buy your PC games.”
When this change goes live, it’ll mark a significant shift away from Microsoft’s strategy. However, as the company mentioned, the upcoming changes will give players more options to purchase their games. Given Steam remains to be the most popular platform, it’s not a surprise that Microsoft moving with the changes.
In the blog post, Spencer admitted that PC gamers prefer to getting different titles through Steam according their feedback. As a result, Microsoft will add over 20 titles in the coming months. This process will start with the release of Gears 5 and Age of Empires I, II, and III: Definitive Editions. The company will release more details regarding these changes in its E3 press conference.
Source: Microsoft