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With the recent announcements of Quantum Break (
launching on Windows 10 alongside Xbox One on April 5) and ReCore for PC, it’s pretty clear that Microsoft has modified its policy when it comes to bringing Xbox exclusives to the PC platform.
Admittedly, Xbox games have made the same jump in the past, with Fable – The Lost Chapters, Fable III, Gears of War, Alan Wake, Fable Anniversary and State of Decay being the most notable examples. However, there used to be an unwritten rule: these ports were mostly limited to secondary franchises and even when they weren’t, Microsoft only allowed it to happen after a certain period time had passed since the Xbox release, to avoid hurting its own console’s sales.
This is all changing in 2016, with Redmond’s giant bringing its heavy hitters to Windows 10 PC just like Head of Division Phil Spencer
promised it would.
- Killer Instinct – March 2016
- Quantum Break – April 5, 2016
- Fable Legends Open Beta – Spring 2016
- Gears of War: Ultimate Edition – Spring 2016
- Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition – Spring 2016
- Halo Wars 2 – Fall 2016
- ReCore – 2016
- Sea of Thieves – 2016
- Gigantic – 2016
Why is it happening, though? On one hand, we have Xbox One faring considerably worse than its Xbox 360 predecessor in terms of sales; on the other hand, we have Microsoft realizing the sales potential of the huge Windows 10 PC install base, particularly if it could develop traction for its Windows Store (despite
the current issues for games).
It just makes perfect business sense, then, and speculations have begun already on the next Xbox IP due to make the jump. Considering the current line-up, there are only two major franchises left for consideration: Halo and Forza.
From a business standpoint, it’s quite obvious which one should be chosen. While Halo is still a huge money making machine (Halo 5: Guardians
broke the record for the biggest Halo launch in history), Forza Motorsport 6 barely made it past the one million sales milestone, registering similar results to Forza Motorsport 5 and Forza Horizon 2. There’s literally no doubt that these numbers could be vastly improved with a release on Windows 10, even just by looking at Rise of the Tomb Raider
getting 3X digital sales on PC versus Xbox One.
Moreover, PC gamers have been interested in Forza titles for a long time and Microsoft is fully aware of this. Now, it looks like their wish might be about to come true.
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images...Eh_normal.jpeg Dan Greenawalt @dan_greenawalt
Off to Geneva tomorrow for the show. Keep an eye out for lots of news, across the entire
@ForzaMotorsport franchise, starting in March.
<time class="dt-updated" datetime="2016-02-27T18:45:52+0000" pubdate="" title="Time posted: 27 Feb 2016, 18:45:52 (UTC)">6:45 PM - 27 Feb 2016</time>
Turn 10 Studios’ Creative Director Dan Greenawalt tweeted a few hours ago that fans should keep an eye out for lots of news across the entire Forza Motorsport franchise, starting in March.