Microsoft backtracks on "Every new title published from Microsoft Studios" Play Anywhere promise

A few days ago Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi wrote a blog post about Microsoft’s Anniversary Update for Windows 10 in which he insists that Play Anywhere will be available for all new Microsoft Studios games. He said:

With the Xbox Play Anywhere program, you can buy a game once and play on your Windows 10 PC and Xbox One with shared progress, shared game saves and shared achievements. Every new title published from Microsoft Studios will support Xbox Play Anywhere and will be easily accessible in the Windows Store.

This made us and others rather excited, envisioning Halo 6 heading to the PC soon.

Now it seems Microsoft has backtracked on that statement, replacing that phrase in the article with a much more nuanced version, saying:

“Every new title published from Microsoft Studios that we showed onstage at E3 this year will support Xbox Play Anywhere and will be easily accessible in the Windows Store.”

This does not mean Halo 6 will definitely not come to the PC, but given its history this now seems rather unlikely.

While a robust implementation of Play Anywhere would have hurt the Xbox One, it would have provided a significant boost to Windows 10 and the Windows Store, which I feel is more important.

Unfortunately this inconsistency and unpredictability will fracture the ecosystem, meaning players will not be able to reliably know whether their gaming PC will get an Xbox title or not.

What do our readers think of this move? Let us know below.