Twitter has certainly been alight with the latest announcement by Microsoft a few days ago. Quantum Break, originally an Xbox One exclusive is now also available at launch (April 4th) on the PC.
Gamers who pre-order the Xbox One digital version on Xbox Store or other participating retailers will not only get the Alan Wake games via backwards compatibility but will also get the Windows 10 copy of Quantum Break for free. Cross-play is also available, which means you can play between the PC and Xbox One copies of the game using the same save.
Phil Spencer and the Microsoft team suffered some backlash over the big announcement as some gamers felt they weren’t being transparent enough and were lied to about Quantum Break always being an Xbox One exclusive. It is a fair point; Microsoft have always maintained until a few days ago that the game was going to be an Xbox One exclusive. Suddenly announcing a PC version does potentially put a damper on Xbox One console sales. It seems this won’t be the only game that will support cross-play either and they are considering third party titles as well.
@Nahkapukki @MSFTY @Nicodemus9 @DCNationSlade We’ll make it a platform feature. We think it’s good for gamers.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) February 11, 2016
A lot of rumours are flying about that Gears of War 4 will be the next big first party game to support cross-play and be released simultaneously on the Xbox One and PC. This is certainly an interesting marketing move. Trying to break into a larger PC market may be the right way to go but you have to wonder if this means the Xbox One will never come close to reaching the sales figures of the PS4 now. If the big Xbox One games are being released on PC there will be less incentive to buy a console because exclusivity is no longer a big factor. Some gamers will definitely find the PC to be the preferred platform.
It will be interesting to see how the Xbox One fares over the next couple of years, with this changing strategy from Microsoft. I think if Microsoft is going to go all the way and really take this cross-play idea to its full extent then perhaps they should consider streaming from PC to the Xbox One? I’d love to see that personally, although it would mean I would have to buy a better PC rig to cope with the big games.
Regardless I still love gaming on the couch and the Xbox One is still by far my preferred platform. My PC will only handle the minimum specs for Quantum Break (Quantum Break PC requirements) so I’ll still be playing this game on my favourite platform: the Xbox One.
What do you think of this latest move by Microsoft? Feel free to leave your comments below.
The Late Night Session 
I suppose we could see this as a means to solidify Xbox Live as a platform on PC too – no one is going to follow Microsoft into the fray again after Games for Windows Live unless they put the effort in themselves. Xbox One still serves its purpose in bringing a console experience to gamers but those who want the absolute best and have the hardware can play it on PC.
The other thing to consider is though Alan Wake was a brilliant game, it was a real slow burner in sales (and did well once it landed on PC) and MS might be wanting to give Quantum Break every opportunity to bolt out of the gate so giving it multiple platforms at launch could help that.
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Solidifying Xbox Live does have some debate online at the moment too. A lot of Xbox One users are feeling potentially a bit hard down by because we pay $79 a year for Xbox Live while PC users get it for free. I know we have Games with Gold and get two free games a month for paying for the subscription but still, is it enough to justify the Xbox Live price tag on the Xbox One?
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I bet MS have already been thinking that… and with Satya Nadella already stirring things up in the company over services and pricing I reckon we may see free XBL in the future. Either because the platform picks up steam (no pun intended, maybe) on PC or as a means to have parity across platforms and give PC devs incentive to use its services.
But Games that with Gold freebies are still a nice thing to have… maybe a price cut to undercut Sony?
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