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.

Posted: Feb 28, 2016 5:03 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: http://wccftech.com/forza-xbox-ip-bound-windows-10-pc/