Windows 10 And Gaming? Xbox Head Says ‘It’s Time To Talk’
Microsoft has a hit and miss history of supporting PC games on Windows. The hits include the DirectX API, Flight Simulator, and the Age of Empires real-time strategy series. The misses are seemingly more impactful, though. with the flop of Games for Windows Live, the closing of Ensemble Studios, and the recent setback of trying Flight Simulator as a free-to-play title. That’s why Xbox Head Phil Spencer’s recent statement about Windows 10 is raising some eyebrows.
Spencer responded Friday to a fan on Twitter to confirm that gaming will make an appearance at an upcoming Windows 10 event.
@RpLayy I’ll be focusing more on what we are doing on Win10 in January, it’s time for us to talk about gaming on Windows.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 12, 2014
That event is scheduled to take place on January 21 and is being billed as “Windows 10: The Next Chapter.”
You’ll hear directly from senior leaders from the Operating Systems Group including Terry Myerson, Joe Belfiore, and Phil Spencer, who will talk about the Windows 10 consumer experience.
Microsoft introduced Windows 10 in September with a focus on the new operating system’s (OS) updated user interface from Windows 8 and benefits to business users. A technical preview was released shortly afterward.
Windows 10 will be released in late 2015, as the Inquisitr reported. So, it makes sense that Microsoft will begin promoting the consumer aspects of the operating system now. Tipsters with ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley state that the January event will show off the mobile experience, which means we’ll probably see more of the cross-platform aspects of the OS. We’re already seeing some of that with the Xbox One, with the recent release of apps like The Khan Academy to the console.
Now the question is what exactly Spencer will talk about at the January Windows 10 event. Another attempt at Games for Windows Live seems unlikely. It’s likely that he will focus on the benefits of gaming on the new operating system, possibly with some titles developed specifically for it and the upcoming DirectX 12.
Spencer has talked PC gaming intermittently since taking over as the head of Xbox in March 2014. There was hope that PC gaming would make an appearance at E3 in June, but that didn’t happen.
“E3’s a retail show,” Spencer told Polygon. “It’s a retail show, it’s a console show, so it didn’t really feel like the right place for us to talk about Windows, but Windows and gaming on Windows is critical to Microsoft’s success.”
Microsoft appears ready to talk about gaming and Windows now, though. The question is, will they have anything that a skeptical PC gamer community wants to hear? What do you think? Sound off in the comments below.
