Good news for Windows handhelds: Microsoft is now letting you launch installed Steam, Battle.net, and other storefront games from the Xbox app
Xbox on PC is now officially rolling out a feature that might have it become a single stop for all your games. As Xbox’s VP of Experiences Jason Beaumont explains, in addition to “updated app functionality”, one new feature currently rolling out on Windows is an “aggregated gaming library”. Beaumont has also announced that “cross-device play history” will be coming, but that will be later this month.
The main library aggregation update rolled out to Insiders a few months ago, but it looks like it’s now being released to non-Insiders in regular updates.
Those considering using aggregator apps like Playnite, in other words, might not need to do so anymore because they’ll be able to use the Xbox app to view their entire game library, not just games bought on the Xbox app itself. This will “show your installed games from multiple PC storefronts, including your Xbox library, Xbox Game Pass, Battle.net and other leading PC storefronts.”
Getting to those storefronts should be easier, too, as you can use the new ‘My Apps’ tab in your library to house Battle.net and so on.
It’s worth noting, though, that third-party apps like Playnite and other aggregators might not be rendered completely redundant by this new Xbox feature. That’s because the new feature is only for installed games, whereas Playnite (for example) also acts as a home for owned but uninstalled games.
This also seems like more of a move for Windows handhelds—especially the Asus ROG Xbox Ally—than PCs, which explains why all the promo pics are all of the Xbox Ally. Although it’s nice to have all games from different platforms in one place on a desktop or laptop, it makes most sense for a handheld device where you’re expected to stay within the confines of the Xbox app, in the ‘full screen experience’.
It also fits in with Microsoft’s seeming push towards an all-encompassing platform.
I’ve come up with a new term for the Microsoft Xbox platform: ‘Gloop’. The Gloop is a globby mass of various features and services all schlopped together into an increasingly large ball of putty. At least, that’s how my peculiarly abstract brain likes to think about it.
Microsoft is even claiming that game streaming inside a car ‘is an Xbox’. With it seeming like the ROG Xbox Ally handheld ‘console’ is, well, just a Windows handheld with some optimisations, and with Xbox expanding and pushing its cloud gaming services across various devices, Xbox is starting to become synonymous as just ‘whatever runs on the Xbox app.’
Thus: Gloop. I’m not complaining, it’s just a metaphor. You’re welcome. It only makes sense to throw our mutli-platform game libraries into that mix, I suppose.
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