One of the issues that Steam users have had with Early Access is that it is full of broken games that, frankly aren’t very fun. But now, Microsoft has confirmed that cross-buy for Xbox One/PC is limited-for now at least-to in-game items and DLC. Microsoft apparently plans to incrementally curate the games over a period of time armed with the might of community-driven support (feedback, testing and, of course, money).
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Speaking to Kotaku at Gamescom 2015, head of publishing Shannon Loftis was asked if Microsoft would consider releasing first-party titles through Game Preview.
The part about being able to finish the early build is particularly interesting, as it implies that the games will have a definitive end or some kind of conclusion. “It’s very much developer choice, but it is definitely an option”.
When we announced the pilot program it was really just to see if it was a viable approach to game development.
Early Access to Halo on the Horizon? Loftis explained that Microsoft is doing what it can to avoid this: “I think that’s one of the reasons we want to make sure that we’re curating; we’re screening the developers as well as the games themselves”. Though, the internal storage gets filled very quickly if you’re an avid game and install a few heavy duty games. Best Buy right now has an incredible Back to School deal that includes an Xbox One and a 40-inch Samsung Smart HDTV that are being sold together at a shockingly low price.
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“This exciting new collaboration with Microsoft Xbox is an important milestone for Seagate that will help us to reach a new audience, which has an insatiable appetite for storage”, said Jeff Fochtman, senior director of product marketing for Seagate.
