One of the bigger pieces of news to come out this year's E3 was the reveal of the Xbox Play Anywhere program. A little bit of information was discussed during the conference, like how Windows 10 and Xbox One players would be able to play certain first-party games together, and more was discussed in interviews afterwards.
Gamertag Radio spoke with Aaron Greenberg, Marketing Head for Xbox, about some of the nitty gritty details for the program. The full interview can be listened to below (it's only 20 minutes and worth it), but here are the big bullet points:
- Currently, any first-party games coming out going forward will be cross-buy for Windows 10 Store and Xbox One; buy it one place, you'll get it for the other (similar to what happened with Quantum Break)
- If you play an Xbox Play Anywhere supported game through the Windows 10 interface (i.e., not Steam or Origin or some other digital distribution platform), you will be able to play with friends who are on the Xbox One. You can check the official site for the games that will support this
- Third-party developers/publishers can opt into this program, but it is up to them to do so. The Play Anywhere program will only be a requirement for first-party games
- The program applies to games that are purchased digitally only through the Xbox Marketplace or Windows 10 App store. Buying a physical copy of the game, or buying it through some other venue, will not apply Xbox Play Anywhere to that purchase
- Windows 10 and Xbox One players will not need an Xbox Gold Subscription to play co-op with one another. This applies to co-op only. If you want to do multiplayer on Xbox One, you will need the Gold sub
- Xbox Play Anywhere will not cost anything extra
This program is a good way to bridge the gap between PC and Xbox One players, though the limitation of buying the game digitally through Microsoft store fronts only is a bit of a bummer.