Microsoft won quite a lot of hearts when they announced the “Xbox Play Anywhere” feature coming to future titles, which would allow the user to play a Microsoft Studio title on both the Xbox One and their Windows 10 PC, while purchasing the game only on one platform. They would get access to the game on the other platform for free.
Now, as the original announcement said, “Every upcoming Microsoft Studio title will have the Xbox Play Anywhere feature”. But recently, Microsoft made a stealthy edit to their announcement post, which now says,”Every new title published from Microsoft Studios that we showed onstage at E3 this year will support Xbox Play Anywhere.” Way to be subtle, Microsoft.
Now this may some sense from the company’s point of view. If they start releasing games for both platforms, sales of one are surely to be affected. When the next Halo title comes out, it’s possibile for Microsoft to want to keep it exclusive at least a certain amount of time in the beginning. Moreover, Phil Spencer did clarify during the E3 that their goal was not the complete unification of the Xbox and Windows platform. But the Xbox Play Anywhere capability gave players the freedom to buy the game on one platform and enjoy it on the other for free while keeping all their saves and achievements. And considering that this feature was the cause for excitement for a lot of fans who have been missing out on the Xbox exclusives all these years, Microsoft is surely to face some backlash for this change in the announcement. A few words can indeed make a lot of difference.
