Gathering Steam
It comes as a surprise, then, that when Quantum Break releases on Steam this September, it will also run on Windows 7 systems. The game’s original Windows 10 release was restricted to players with DirectX 12 graphics cards, but the Windows 7 release will support DirectX 11. Developer Remedy Entertainment is quite confident about this:
We have worked on this release for a while. We got a lot more experience in shipping DX11 titles.
— Thomas Puha (@RiotRMD) August 10, 2016
The DirectX 11 version of the game will not run on the Universal Windows Platform. So this sparks the question: is Microsoft giving up on UWP for its video games? And if this is so, what exactly has caused this about-face?
The most important factor here could be the simplest one: sales. Regardless of how well Quantum Break sold as a Windows Store exclusive, it will undoubtedly reach a much, much larger number of players as a Windows 7-compatible game released on Steam. Microsoft may have finally decided that those sales are more important to them than promoting Windows Store (and by extension, Windows 10).
Or perhaps, it is a strategy Phil Spencer has had in mind for a long time now. Spencer, who has a Steam account himself, said in a 2015 interview that “Five years from now you’ll be able to buy Steam games and be able to buy games on the Windows store.” Last month, he broke the news that Microsoft will be selling games on Steam. That’s games with an “s,” plural.
And Microsoft isn’t short on games right now. Thanks to the Xbox Play Anywhere initiative, every Xbox One-exclusive Microsoft has planned will also run on PC. This list includes the likes of AAA titles such as Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3, Scalebound, ReCore, and Crackdown 3. If Phil Spencer’s words and the recent Quantum Break announcement are any indication, these games will also be making their way to Steam. And this also opens the door to the possibility of the next mainline Halo game releasing on PC—and on Steam.
Whether Sweeney’s theory about Microsoft forcibly breaking Steam in the future turns out real or not, it does sound like the days are getting brighter for PC fans of Microsoft’s games. After a generation of games mostly exclusive to an Xbox console, we are finally seeing Microsoft properties return to Windows. If Microsoft encourages allowing games to run on Windows 7 or Windows 8 computers, they also stand to gain a wider playerbase.
Phil Spencer’s strategy might actually pay off, and if it does, everyone stands to win.
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