RUMOR: Xbox May Move Away From Steam

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One of the things I love about PC gaming is how open it is. For the most part, we are not forced to buy from a specific store and have multiple options for getting the games we want to play. Want to have the game on a launcher that has a bunch of features and integrated mods? Get it through Steam. Want to actually own your games and get copies that don’t need to be played through any DRM? GOG and Zoom Platform are the way to go. That’s one of the beautiful things about PC, but unfortunately, Xbox may be changing their stance a little bit.

During the latest episode of the Xbox Two Podcast, Windows Central editor Jez Corden mentioned that Microsoft has been talking about their PC plans, and that could include moving their games off of Steam. He mentioned that it isn’t confirmed, nor is it something that’s planned right now, but it is part of the conversation where they are leaving themselves a window open to do just that:

Microsoft has some plans with regards to how they show up on PC shall I say and I don't know what that pertains to with regards to steam. But the plans that I know about, and I've got to be careful here, plans suggest, it gives them a window to potentially pull out of Steam. So I would not be shocked if eventually we do see a universe where Microsoft, quits steam. But, I mean, we'll have to wait and see. I think it could go either way right now. I'm trying, I'm doing my research.

Jez Corden - The Xbox Two Podcast

With the new CEO of Xbox, Asha Sharma, there has been a big change in their strategy of making everything into an “Xbox.” Now, they are taking a more exclusive stance, moving games away from multiplatform releases and going back to exclusives for their console. This generally doesn’t include PC, but it sounds like there’s a possibility that they may restrict their PC games to only being available through their own storefront.

In a post on Twitter/X from @IdleSloth84_, Jez did comment that he thought this would most likely not happen at all. He mentions that they are just giving themselves a window to do so, but there’s so much money that would be left on the table that it may not be justified for them to actually change it.

I truly hope this doesn't happen, since I firmly believe having more choice and options is the best way to go. I can understand Microsoft's reasoning, especially with their new exclusives stance, but I would like to keep having options to keep all of my games on one platform.

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