Microsoft announces major PC gaming changes

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Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox and all gaming at Microsoft, announced changes today that change Microsoft's approach to gaming on PC fundamentally.

To better understand these changes, it is necessary to rewind just a few years. Microsoft announced Windows 10 in 2015 and with it the new Microsoft Store. The company planed to make UWP apps the new thing and wanted to distribute these exclusively through the Microsoft Store.

Users could buy apps or games there, and the competition was worried that Microsoft's ownership of Windows gave it an unfair advantage over the competition.

Microsoft launched Xbox Game Pass and Play Anywhere which improved gaming on its own platforms.

Today, Spencer revealed that Microsoft will change its strategy significantly in three core areas. The biggest announcement is the launch of the Xbox Game Pass for PC. Just like Xbox Game Pass for Microsoft's Xbox console, Xbox Game Pass for PC is a subscription-based service that unlocks a library of games to subscribers.

Xbox Game Pass is available for $9.99 per month and it is quite likely that Xbox Game Pass for PC will be offered for the same price.

Microsoft has yet to reveal any of the games that it plans to make available but it revealed that games from the companies own Xbox Game Studios will be made available, games from newly acquired companies like Obsidian and inXile, and games from third-party publishers and studios such as Deep Silver, Paradox, Bethesda, Sega, Devolver Digital, and others.

Microsoft promises that the library remains curated" and that new games will be added to the library every month.

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