Xbox Play Anywhere: Buy once, get two versions of a game
Transcript
Buy an XBox game, play it on Windows 10 and vice versa.
That's the idea behind Microsoft's newly announced XBox play anywhere initiative, launched at E3 2016.
If you buy an XBox play anywhere game, you get both the Windows 10 and XBox version at no extra cost.
Games also sync up.
If you start a game on Windows 10, you can continue it on XBox one and the other way around.
Cross play is also available, meaning Xbox players can play against P-C players.
There are some caveats, not all games are Xbox Play Anywhere compatible.
Only games built Microsoft's universal Windows platform tools will run on both the console and the P-C.
Also, games must be purchased digitally.
Xbox Play Anywhere does not work with disc based games.
Also, you can only be signed into either the Xbox One or PC at one time.
Microsoft announced a number of Xbox Play Anywhere tiles, including Dead Rising 4, Gears of War 2, and Halo Wars 2.
The company also said that all games developed by Microsoft will be Play Anywhere-compatible.
A full list of games is available at xboxplayanywhere.com.
The XBox 1 has lied behind in sales compared to Sony's PlayStation 4. If the Windows 10 PC is essentially another XBox, that could capture developers into this, as long as Play Anywhere actually works the way Microsoft claims.
That's it for this tech news update.
I'm [UNKNOWN] and you can stay on top of the biggest stories at cnet.com/update.
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