Surprise: Msoft Not Keen On Porting Xbox One Exclusives
Hey everyone, did you hear? There's a new Xbox! It's a prequel set 359 years before the current one, starring hip new actors, gratuitous explosions, and a patchwork quilt of nostalgia held together by your frayed heartstrings. Also, a man with "beautiful arms". Wait, no, that's the new Star Trek. For some reason, though, Microsoft's calling its new machine the Xbox One, and with shiny hardware comes fresh hope. Maybe this time, PC and console will finally bound through a field of competitors together, hand-in-hand. Mayb- nope. Sounds like Microsoft is hoping to keep the two even more separated than ever, based on some comments from Redmond Game Studios general manager Matt Booty.
The Xbox One is set to get 15 exclusives over the course of its first year. But what of PC versions? Last time I checked, Xbox and Windows were playing for the same team, so why not? Here's what Booty told Shacknews:
"The Windows 8 gamer is certainly going to participate in some of that content... We have got everything from very, very casual games, like our very much improved and reimagined Solitaire, all the way to graphically complicated games like The Harvest."
The Harvest was originally a cell phone game.
Shacknews immediately pointed that out, but Booty's follow-up didn't inspire much confidence.
"We're talking about console games, but there could be some franchises that also end up with a PC game. When I think about more connected experiences across those platforms, it's things that show up within that family of devices where we've got Xbox Live, like Windows Phone and Windows 8... not what you might consider a more traditional desktop PC game."
So basically, more stuff like The Harvest, or other smaller mobile/XBLA games that scale up. PC versions of bigger titles "could" happen, but that sounds like it'll be the exception - not the rule. And that certainly stings, but it's not terribly different from Microsoft's approach to PC during Xbox 360's lengthy reign. Second verse, same as the first, only they've given the song a new name. It's a shame (especially now that Microsoft's seemingly decided we're some negligible offshoot of mobile), but we've been a-okay without them for years. Better than ever, actually. So yeah, oh well. Life goes on.