Phil Spencer on Microsoft games appearing on Steam and PC game releases on the Windows Store


In an interview with Giantbomb, Xbox boss Phil Spencer revealed some interesting information about Microsoft’s future plans regarding the Windows store. Phil Spencer claimed that some of Microsoft’s games will find their way on Steam, something that will definitely please a lot of PC gamers.

As Phil Spencer told Giantbomb:

“I look at Steam today, it’s on an incredible growth trajectory. It’s a massive force in gaming; a positive force. I think it will be bigger a year from now than it is today. And five years later it will still be bigger again. I look at Valve as an important [independent software vendor] for us on Windows. They are a critical part of gaming’s success on Windows. I don’t think Valve’s hurt by not having our first-party games in their store right now. They’re doing incredible well. We will ship games on Steam again.”

Before jumping around like crazy, do note that this is not a confirmation of Microsoft’s first-party games coming to Steam. Yes, Microsoft will release some games on Steam, however it still plans to compete with Steam.

“There’s going to be areas where we cooperate and there’s going to be areas where we compete. The end result is better for gamers.”

Basically, this sounds more like this: “We will release some games but the first-party triple-A games will remain exclusive to Windows Store.”

Regarding the reception of the recently released PC games on Windows Store, Phil Spencer had this to say:

“They all haven’t gone swimmingly. Some of them have gone well. Forza 6 Apex did well. Quantum Break wasn’t our best PC release. Killer Instinct did well on PC. Gears of War Ultimate Edition was OK–we definitely learned there.”