Steam games will soon land in the Xbox app

Microsoft's Xbox app for PC gets access to games from other stores. The program will thus become a kind of store aggregator – a step that CD Project has also tried out with GOG Galaxy. In plain language, this means that games from alternative stores can also be launched in the Xbox app in the future.

In a blog entry accompanying the announcement, Microsoft does not mention any names of alternative stores that do not originate from its own company. Instead, Microsoft refers to the Blizzard store as Battle.net. However, it is considered certain that Steam will be supported: in the announcement of its Ally handhelds, Microsoft explicitly mentioned Steam as a platform whose games can be launched from the Xbox interface.

According to Microsoft, all games installed via the respective platform will automatically appear in the Xbox app without you having to do anything extra. The new function will first be activated for Xbox Insiders before it is made available to other users at a later date.

Only launch, not install

As is usual with such store aggregators, the integration of other stores is rather superficial: games must inevitably be managed on the platform on which they were purchased. The Xbox app will therefore be able to launch the games, but not install them. This means that even on devices such as the Xbox Ally, there will still be no way around Steam: To be able to launch a game via the Xbox app, you first have to install it via Steam.

Nevertheless, the move fits in with Microsoft's strategy of positioning the Xbox brand as a central point of contact for cross-platform gaming. With this in mind, Microsoft also wants to blur the boundaries between PC and Xbox consoles. This has led to speculation that Steam could also run on the next Xbox console – but this has not been confirmed.

(dahe)