During his keynote, reported by Polygon, the company is “building out a complete gaming ecosystem for Universal Windows Applications”, and looking ahead into the future, and updgradable Xbox One instead of new console releases. UWP is an abstracted platform that allows the apps running on it (UWAs) to be targeted for a device type, rather than a specific device.
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Microsoft is merging its software for Windows PCs and for Xbox consoles.
According to Spencer (via DualShockers), there are plenty of reasons why seeing Xbox One exclusives being made available on the PC is a good thing. Xbox is a platform that spans multiple hardware types.
In order to bring the platform to the level of experience delivered by Valve‘s Steam or EA’s Origin, Microsoft prepared a flagship title.
“That is our focus going forward”. The game is built on top of an updated version of Turn 10’s proprietary ForzaTech game engine. Eight new fighters are joining the arena in Killer Instinct: Season 3, Microsoft says, which will be available March 29 on both Xbox One and Windows 10. Spencer noted that the future of Xbox could lie in the arms of upgradable hardware, something we’re yet to see come to consoles.
“We see on other platforms whether it be mobile or PC that you get a continuous innovation that you rarely see on console”, Spencer said. The lagging Microsoft has stopped reporting sales of the Xbox One entirely (analysts peg sales at around 18 million units). The Xbox One is offered at a consumer-friendly $349 price point, and engineered to make it as simple as possible to turn it on, put in a game, and play on your big-screen TV.
The new game features a selection of 63 handpicked Forza cars which players can unlock through the new Spotlight Series and Showcase Tour modes. Spencer has said for almost two years that PC gaming is important to Xbox and its audience, and to gamers as a whole, but it isn’t until now we’re finally seeing the fruits of that ambition come to bear – both in terms of games we can play and what Spencer has to say.
Your $20 also gets you a new track-Virginia International Raceway.
Whatever the next Forza game is, we will know more about it at E3 2016.
If all of this sounds a bit familiar, it is because Spencer’s description of Xbox as a platform isn’t all that different than the original pitch behind the Steam Machines. And there’s no shortage of hardcore gamers watching skeptically from the sidelines, burned by Microsoft’s previous missteps in this arena.
Today’s announcement is the latest move in a company-wide effort to break down the barrier between games console and PC.
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The one major issue that Microsoft failed to suitably address is the issue with the Windows Store itself.
