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Microsoft Introduces Cross-Buy Feature With Xbox Play Anywhere

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As part of Microsoft's plan to unite its PC and console gaming platforms the company will add support for various games with the Xbox Play Anywhere feature, which means that if you by the game on Xbox One, you get the PC version (Windows 10) for free.

This includes a variety of Microsoft’s marquee titles such as Gears of War 4, Halo Wars 2 and Forza Horizon 3. Additional titles include Recore, State of Decay 2, Sea of Thieves and Scalebound.

Some games are taking the feature even further, such as Gears of War 4, which will also support cross-play so that you can join your friends in the game whether you’re on the Xbox One or PC. Obviously, Xbox Play Anywhere will continue to expand to more games as more developers collaborate with Microsoft and publish their new titles.

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9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • turkey3_scratch 14 June 2016 01:46
    This is really cool. What if you already own the games on Xbox One? Can you get the PC version then?
    Reply
  • clonazepam 14 June 2016 02:35
    This could get really exciting. Xbox One and Windows 10 Store going head to head with the PS4 and Steam. It really could be a win/win for the PC crowd. PS4 could also release a game streaming app to maintain exclusivity in the sense that the best experience is still found on the console, while you can get a taste on PC.
    Reply
  • Zapin 14 June 2016 02:44
    The Cross-Buy is not new. Unfortunately the UWP implementation has been pretty poor so far. Windows 10 UWP only. Maybe it will get better but I still wish these titles were available on Steam instead.
    Reply
  • back_by_demand 14 June 2016 08:55
    I know that MS wants to sell games through it's own store, obviously, but if they could implement cross-play between Steam and Xbox it would kill Playstation dead.
    Reply
  • gggplaya 14 June 2016 13:09
    Smart move, a major reason for me to buy the Xbox.
    Reply
  • 14 June 2016 14:11
    No thanks...don't need <mod edit> Windows 10, let alone <mod edit> XBOX.

    <Watch your language in these forums>
    Reply
  • koss64 14 June 2016 14:33
    So does this mean you have to own an Xbox and does this mean that one day , eventually I can finally play Halo 3?
    Reply
  • Zapin 14 June 2016 16:26
    18120429 said:
    So does this mean you have to own an Xbox and does this mean that one day , eventually I can finally play Halo 3?

    Well so far the only cross-buy I have seen involved buying it via the Xbox Store then getting a code for the windows store, but in the future I imagine you could do it the other way around.
    Reply
  • Zapin 14 June 2016 16:32
    18120320 said:
    No thanks...don't need <mod edit> Windows 10, let alone <mod edit> XBOX.

    Well at this point PC gaming is not leaving the MS ecosystem anytime soon so you can hang on to Windows 7 or whatever but eventually you are going to feel pretty behind the times as DX12, UWP exclusives (hopefully UWP will stop sucking soon) and other Windows 10 advantages appear down the road. There will be a tipping point where the vast majority of systems will be Windows 10 and support for older operating systems will be a lower priority for drivers and developers.
    Reply