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Microsoft’s Xbox chief hints at PC gaming announcements for E3

Microsoft’s Xbox chief hints at PC gaming announcements for E3

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Store changes are being prioritized

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Microsoft’s Xbox and gaming chief, Phil Spencer, has previously admitted the company has a lot of work to do on Windows for PC gamers. Whether it’s a poor Windows Store (Microsoft Store) experience, or Xbox party chat and game management through the Xbox app, Spencer has pledged to work on both the store and Xbox app for Windows 10. It now looks like E3 2019 might be when we start to hear about Microsoft’s planned fixes.

In an interview with PC Gamer, Spencer reveals that Microsoft is prioritizing fixing its store for PC gamers. “First priority is delivering a new Store experience for games that factors in all of our learnings from past challenges on the PC,” says Spencer. Part of the problem is that Microsoft’s own first-party games are tied to mostly being exclusively distributed through the Windows Store, instead of being available on Steam and elsewhere. Spencer doesn’t commit to changing this, but he does say “I expect us to share more details on our plans here soon.”

E3 the beginning of a PC focus for 2019

Those details and more seem to be coming at E3 in June. “At E3 this year, and throughout 2019, you’ll begin to see where we’ve been investing to deliver across Store, services, in Windows and in great games,” says Spencer. “It’s just the beginning.”

Spencer’s comments come just as Microsoft is making some interesting changes to Windows under the hood. The software giant has been testing some new game install changes it’s making to a Windows 10 update due in April. Thurrott reports that the changes include new services and drivers that could allow Windows 10 to install Xbox games at some point. At the very least, the changes move the distribution of PC games over to Xbox infrastructure and services.