No more "Just On XBox"?

Microsoft moving to an Xbox/PC business model? From Joystiq:

"Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, took that stage to announce a PC version of Fable Legends, the latest entry in developer Lionhead's long-running and lovably lighthearted fantasy role-playing series. Not only is the game coming to Windows PC players, but it's coming in a way that allows them to play and chat with Xbox One players through Xbox Live. According to Spencer, it's the first game of several first-party Xbox games coming to PC."

"From the perspective of someone looking to choose the right console, this could be seen as a weakening of Xbox's position. Games like Fable Legends (and even games like Dead Rising 3 before it) are no longer "exclusive" in the same way, making the PC a viable substitute for someone intrigued by Microsoft's own lineup. It weakens the Xbox sales pitch.

Spencer frames this argument in a larger picture, however: Microsoft wants Windows 10 to be successful and loved. For that to happen, it needs to excel on all fronts, including its push to become the de facto operating system for PC games. The Xbox is a gaming platform in itself, with enough partnerships, expertise and creative studios to bring a shared sort of 'exclusivity' to all of Microsoft's leading platforms. Doing so beneath the specter of Games for Windows, a failed attempt to graft the Xbox to a download service on PC, should also provide some guidance on what not to do."

Thoughts?

I like it, I always wondered why Microsoft kept Windows gaming on the back burner when they should have been promoting it as their so-to-say second console, just how nintendo has a wii and a ds. They should keep games like fable legends for both platforms, but keep games such as gears or Halo only on "xbox", and make more Pc exclusives from their Microsoft Studios, market it more as well, make a store that will compete with Steam.

If it's anything like GFWL, they can burn in hell

sounds great and everything but it could end up being more of a double edge sword.

#Rip-xbone.

This better not be another windows live.

Power to the PC and great from people who want to play the xbox games but don't want to pay money on the low end xbone to experience them.

If they bring Quantum Break to PC I'll finally upgrade my PC and all my xbone needs as far as games will be fulfilled

Yup

They should change it to "Not on PlayStation".

Still bet that Halo, Gears and Forza won't happen. But hey, the less reasons to buy an xbone or piss 4, the better. Just give me Scalebound

@deadline-zero0: they did use forza though as an example of how easy it is to transition a game to PC with DX12

Just give me FH2 in 4K at 60FPS and I'll be happy.

well is not like xbone had any exclusives left except for the biggest flop ever that is mcc, the question now is why own an xbone then?

They won't completely get rid of Xbox exclusives, I can't see Scalebound or Banjo 3 coming to PC. Gears and Halo miiight.

Titanfall.

i am afraid they will try to push the xblive on pc or even go as far as to try and make pc gamers pay for it again, its microsoft after all.

Xbox has a bright future. Adding PC isn't taking anything away. It is adding value.

nope, it just made the xbone the poor man pc and insignificant.

There'd be even more value forgoing the Xbone completely. Just use that otherwise wasted money on steam sales

I would hope they're not that stupid

PC gamers will be happy that they don't have to buy an Xbox to play those games. It's good money for the company selling on two platforms instead of one. The only thing that could hurt them is lost Xbone sales, but the idea is to gain PC game sales and push Windows 10.

They have to dance a fine line between the two products.

I'm so excited to pay for my online service on 3 devices.

eh,maybe, but i won't hold my breath. Has i've said in the past,what i expect is Sunset Overdrive, D4 and Killer Instinct.

Maybe Quantum Break, PhantomDust and/or Scalebound latter.

343 should take a page out of Bethesda's book and put the MCC broken as it is on PC with developer tools. let the community fix their game for them since they obviously can't do it.

YBox.

Xbone has a bleak future. I can see why they are going this route. I'm less likely to buy an Xbone than I was just a week ago. Ybox is a good name for it.

If Forza gets ported it is over for Xbone....

Very hard to find a similar game on PC with career and upgrades and licenses and all..

Agreed. I remember when Peter Moore was heading up Xbox and asked before an E3 what he thinks as far as sharing titles with PC. He said something to the effect of the PC not being a direct competitor to the xbox. Now here, that will be scoffed at. But talk to gamers in a gamestop, BestBuy, Walmart sometime. Many don't really care to play on PC. Hell, we hear that in these forums from some.

Business wise, this is smart.

So this is obviously goodbye Xbox exclusives, just like happened with PSNow and Vita, yes?

@darkspineslayer: maybe, depends how it works out

They're not getting rid of Xbox exclusives, only some games will follow this path, but either way I only see it as a good thing, it gives more exposure to their games and I like the cross platform play idea but I've yet to try it so will have to wait for now.

This is a new venture for them and some adjustments will be made along the way no doubt. I watched an interview with Spencer the other day form a few months ago I think, and he said something along the lines that he wants the "Games to be the star". That if you have a game collection, you can basically take it where you want. They're just giving us more options and in the grand scheme of things, I don't see how this could turn out to be a negative. But again, we'll just have to wait and see how it unfolds to get a better idea.

They are both ms platforms its win win for them.

The xbone is on its last leg. This will be the last console generation for MS, thankfully.

Hijack pc to promote xbox, basically.

Anyone who doesn't see this as Microsoft diversifying away from producing costly hardware to segway back over to the highly profitable gaming software market is a dumbass. Now all they need to do is bring back Ensemble and they can deep six XBox forever for all I give a ****.

I don't like this....I want my favorite console to have exclusives.

@ReadingRainbow4: I wouldn't say RIP yet. This could bring a wave of pc-only games to xbox one with the ability to port in a few months instead of a full year. I'm excited about that since I don't play the x1 that often. Smaller studios can now port or co-develop games cheaper without heavy recoding

Oh I think you give lots of fucks...I mean what else would you even talk about without the xbox?

Forza Horizon 2

@chikenfriedrice: There are still sheep and hermits to make fun of.

@speedfreak48t5p xbox 360?

TC is right for once, xbone doesn't know what an exclusive is and the trend will only get stronger.

if microsoft gets a big enough windows 10 userbase from this they could start having enough sway to turn multiplats into exclusive deals for xb1/windows 10 only and if that happens the PS4 won't even get the 3rd party games anymore and will only run a few exclusive things and unique exclusive indies they fund

if windows 10 is a huge success it would be the downfall for sony cuz of the sway they would have on titles that come to windows 10

another ignorant lem that thinks sharing an os = sharing games.

If this happens PlayStation will be dead. Xbox as a service, over 80 million pcs sold every quarter. Sony will have to bring ps4 games to PC or face annihilation.

This, if it's nothing like GFWL then it's very welcome. Kinda wish they'd made these announcements before i bought my Xbone however...

@Snugenz: MS hasn't been the best at following through on things, so this is really more of a wait and see kind of thing

I remember that Peter Moore stuff...Good times. :)

Yeah true.

@StormyJoe: He's talking about streaming games from XB1 to Win10 PC's. He already said on Twitter that the XB1 would still have plenty of exclusives on it's own. Just because they throw Fable Legends on the PC doesn't mean every XB1 exclusive will be heading to the PC. That's not going to happen.

https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/558737377602965504

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There will be LOTS of Win10 Exclusives games that will just be on PC only. There will be lots of XB1 and PS4 exclusives that will never be on the PC. The facts haven't changed.