Report: Microsoft's Goal is to Unify Xbox and Windows With a Universal Library - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 12 March 2025 / 7,469 Views
There was a rumor earlier this week that claims Microsoft is working with a PC gaming OEM on an Xbox-branded gaming handheld that will be "unmistakably Xbox" with an official Xbox guide button and a design with Xbox sensibilities. It is expected to be more PC-oriented and run a full version Windows with a focus on the Microsoft Store and PC Game Pass.
It has also been reported the next-generation of Xbox has been fully greenlit, which will include a premium successor to the Xbox Series X and Microsoft's own Xbox gaming handheld. The new consoles will reportedly release in 2027.
Sources have now told The Verge Microsoft plans to unify Windows and Xbox with a universal library of Xbox and PC games. The handheld that is rumored to release later this year is reportedly being manufactured by Asus.
The Asus handheld is one of the launch partners for Microsoft's new efforts. The Verge does speculate that with Microsoft's ongoing work to unify platforms it is possible timelines could change.
Microsoft is working on an Xbox UX framework that will ensure there is a common Xbox user interface across multiple devices to help combine Xbox and Windows.
The goal is to combine Xbox and Windows so there is a single store of games and an easier path for developers to release titles across consoles, handhelds, and PCs.
Microsoft VP of Next Generation Jason Ronald in January did reveal Microsoft is looking to combine the Xbox and Windows experiences together and to expect changes to come this year.
"I would say it’s bringing the best of Xbox and Windows together, because we have spent the last 20 years building a world-class operating system, but it’s really locked to the console," said Ronald at the time. "What we’re doing is we’re really focused on how do we bring those experiences for both players and developers to the broader Windows ecosystem."
He added, "We’re focused on really simplifying that and making it much more like a console experience. Our goal is to put the player and their library at the center of the experience and not all the [Windows] work that you have to do today."
"I think we’ll have a lot more to share later this year. I think it’s going to be a journey and I think you’ll see a lot of investments over time that you’re starting to see already, but we’ll have a lot more to share later this year."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Bluesky.
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i see there is a handful of people here that microsoft needs to hire so than can turn the company around.
That should have been their goal 5 years ago...
This sounds nice. If they unify Xbox and Windows, this means that PC games get playable on Xbox as well, so the reverse version of what MS did since 2016. That would mean i could basically play any game on Xbox including the PS games coming to PC. Sounds quite good for Xboxers and is a sad day for PC fan****. The only problem is that the handheld and the next Xbox will be 100% all digital, so whats the value in owning it?!
Its clear that MS will compete with these PC "Handhelds" in a nice market. I expect the same for Sony. They won't get to a sales level that Switch has. It will be teens that play with it in the schoolyard and talk about the latest steam games. Fartnite, COD, EA Football FC... will be the sales drivers. These "handhelds" will be part of the "i want to be different than the mass market" wave. The (lets call it) Xbox Mobile will have its market like the "PSP3" or "PSV2" but it will be far smaller than the Switch (2). It will be the question who will reach Nr.2 in this new console war. Will the Steam Deck remain superior or will Xbox surpass it? How will a potential new Playstation handheld perform? The Switch will stay Nr.1 alone because it will be the only handheld with physical games and real exclusives...
Next step: M$ will buy Valve, and they will convince the regulators once again.
Can’t even make a proper functioning pc store so I have my doubts about their ability to do this.
I'm curious to see if/how it is different from a steam deck. If it isn't then I don't see how this will make a dent.
Allegedly:
Merely a windows handheld made by Asus.
This device will not play your console games natively.
$599 (So a small subsidy from MS I am guessing, no idea on the power though)
Two SKUs
The next Xbox allowing you to install Steam and allowing multiple storefronts would be awesome, but if I really wanted an open platform to play my games I'd just... build a PC.
You can build a PC, this isnt a PC counter option, it's a console counter option.
I dont think this is about building an open platform. Thats what existing handheld pcs offer. This seems more about creating an Xbox user interface with integrated storefront that provides the same UI experience across multiple different devices. So this is less about the handheld and more about getting people enveloped in their ecosystem. Xbox wants to be an all encompassing UI thats hardware agnostic
Just build a PC.
Even there, nobody is going to abandon Steam for Xbox.
I've never understood this mentality... when I buy a game on GOG or Xbox or Epic I'm not abandoning my steam library. Its literally 1 click away.
Abandon?? Bro, it not that deep. People buy games on multiple platforms all the time. I bet most of the people who use PC Game Pass use Steam as well.
Not the same thing. Its not about having an open platform. This handhelds about demonstrating the benefits of a hardware agnostic Xbox UI through which they can sell their studios software through and make tons more money than the Xbox hardware business as it would eventually be on many more types of device. Mobiles, tvs, pcs and consoles. Thats what they want Xbox to become and to be embraced as.
A platform with the freedom to download any gaming app is the way to go.
So a PC?
This. Jack of all trades and master of none is what it will be
So PCs are the master of none?
The PC is, but the new Xbox would be more limited than standard PC as it would not be designed to run windows primarily.
But will allow the freedom to download all the PC gaming Apps.
Download yes.
Actually run, no.
The PC eco system has all the games. That's the point.
They’re pissing in the wind with this. PC users aren’t going to give up Steam. People that don’t want to game on PC will just keep buying Switch and PlayStation.
Maybe it’s time they accepted that the world doesn’t need a Microsoft storefront to buy games through.
The hardware allows for apps like Steam.. do you guys even understand the meaning of that?
Which means the hardware itself will need to make a profit, so I expect a pretty high price tag compared to Switch 2*, which will scare off casual gamers
Not if they are willing to eat the cost.
and why would they? without it being a walled garden there is little chance to make the money back.... They cannot be sold at a loss, if they allow steam on this thing.
Majority of consoles are always sold at a loss and Xbox will still provide their services like Xbox Store and GamePass. The more hands they have dipping into their system the better. GamePass is the value, if you can convince more PC owners to adopt GP, thats a huge chunk of customers. Xbox Hand-held will provide both services next to eachother.
Yeah, that's how it always worked: you sell hardware at a loss and then make money by selling software (first and third party), accessories/peripherals and more recently subscriptions.
This is changing too, because since the Switch no consoles had any price cuts, so Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are all profiting from the hardware as well.
If I could install Steam on any console that I own I'd just buy my games on that, and I wouldn't give Nintendo or Sony any money for the digital games I got lol
Get ready for a $500 "Xbox" handheld then!
Becuase if they wont make money on Digital Xbox games, they'll need to make it on the hardware
GamePass
For Gamepass to be a profitable business, Microsoft needed 100 million users by 2030.
How long do you think MS are going to keep an unprofitable system going for?
Source?
It was in the FTC Microsoft leak.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/264564-xbox-series-x/80766042
Where does it say they need 100m and are not profitable?
All I see is a projected target.
And what do you think the purpose of the projected target is?
Microsoft is a business and is there to make money. "Projected Target" is corprate speak for "Profitiable business model".
And they didn't even get close to half; the rest shouldn't need to be spelt out to you.
You have no clue what you are talking about.
Companies can aim as high as they like, that doesn't mean they are not profitable.
https://blog.exactbuyer.com/post/sales-projections-vs-sales-target-differences-explained
"Sales projections are estimates of future sales performance based on historical data, market trends, and other factors. They serve as a forecast of what a company expects to sell in a given period, usually a fiscal quarter or year. Sales targets, on the other hand, are the specific sales goals or objectives that a company sets for a given period. These targets are typically based on a company's overall revenue goal "
If you honestly believe GP isn't profitable because it doesn't have 100m subscribers, I don't know what to tell you.
Currently with 30+m subs, they are racking in roughly $3.6b a year.
At 100m subs, that's $12b a year. It doesn't need $12b yearly to be profitable lol
You've made the classic mistake is not including running costs an just looking at income.
What's your costing on lost sales? What percent of the Microsoft game studio cost are you factoring in?
But that's the point, it doesn't matter.
MS has one of the biggest ecosystems on the planet with all their combined networks. All they will be doing with this is creating a new branch for their existing ecosystem, another outlet if you will.
Sure I'm never going to buy anything from them hardware-wise, but there will be someone out there who likely will, and who actively uses the Xbox network over Steam.
Again, it's all down to maintaining the company ecosystem, so having multiple devices and services helps that system spread and net new/old users along the way.
What was the point of them buying up all that shit in the first place of all it amounted to in the end was rent-seeking?
I really don’t see a lot of people jumping ship to Xbox from much more successful ecosystems in either the console or PC worlds. The best thing they could do is just step back and let Nintendo, Sony, and Valve handle things. Their presence isn’t really needed.
They buy for control.
Well, duh. It's rent-seeking on MS's part, nothing more. They don't contribute anything meaningful. They should just shut up, make the Windows OS, and leave the games to the people who actualy know what they're doing. There's no reason I need a green X on any piece of hardware or software I own at this point.
What an odd response. Control also means their competitors can no longer moneyhat and butcher content like we have seen with previous CoD games.
And no one is forcing you to buy anything.
Because today's world has it's focus set on ecosystems, not sole dead ended products that need to be constantly rebranded every time.
Look at MS's past, they had Zune, they had Skype, but no one is using either, so they've instead focused on what they have that works, and in turn they've ended up partnering with others to extend their own reach with their own ecosystem (Xbox/Xbox Live) towards other ecosystems.
This is why Sony used Steam as a staging ground to later enforce PSN, to net what users they could round up on Valve's own ecosystem. Obviously that backfired due to their own issues, and PC folk tend to not want to sign up for every single service, let alone having to go back to a lifestyle of hundreds of launchers/clients (which is thankfully dying down).
I bought SoT on Steam, can you guess what that required?, it needed an Xbox account to play, which meant that their game I bought on Valve's storefront required me to dip my toes back into MS's Xbox ecosystem to be able to play their game. That's how ecosystems in the digital era work these days.
It doesn't matter if they don't sell a few boxes, what they want is people dipping their feet into their entry points into their pool, be it via Xbox, Windows, laptops, PC's, Consoles, mobile, business, etc.
The thing is, if you remove competition like MS, you also see their properties going elsewhere and competition can get complacent over time, and we're already seeing that with the safe played Switch 2, Nintendo charging for online, taking away e-shop discount features, etc.
The fact Nintendo got away with the Drift con issue still gets me to this day.
They all did, and then some. Nintendo got away with their world-wide Joycon stick drift issue, despite all it's faults, and me needing to buy 2 sets that STILL failed me within months of use from one another.
But the main point is that these companies learn not to repeat the same mistakes, or keeping on the same bad track & path.
This is why barely anyone is focusing on the closed-box system, and more focus has now been put into ecosystem growth. This isn't just in the games industry either, it's happening across all other industries, from clothing, alcohol, tobacco, cars, fabrics, etc (Which is why we now see "cross-promotion" and cross-platform collaborations being performed per industry).
All PC handhelds can already do all of this. It's funny, grab an Asus Ally and put a bit of green on and Xbox fans go nuts. I will guess it will be priced at least $599.
Your hatred for Xbox is hilarious.
pc handhelds can play an xbox library??? Which one?
There is but majority don't like molding and work arounds. People mainly buy for convenience.
Won't be possible to Unify Xbox and Windows with closed platforms, so going forward Xbox will be an open platform
Yes, that's the point. Why would you want a closed platform?
So you are forced to buy from one store only? Makes no sense for a console to be an open platform
Forced? You will have the freedom to buy from anywhere, that's what an open platforms means.
You are currently doing the very thing you hate, and thats being forced to buy from one store front.
You misunderstood me. I was saying that from Sony's perspective you'd want a closed platform because it forces you to buy from their store only. While that may seem bad, it's what allows Sony to launch PlayStation's cheaper than desktops and laptops. That's why I'm Ok with it.
Yet isn't Sony getting sued for some digital monopoly for price gauging?
If a customer has multiple choices to buy their games, that pushes companies like Sony and Xbox to provide better software deals.
Why do you think Steam has been so popular? They always tend to offer the best deals so customers gavertate towards them.
Not always.... often steam is more expensive than other places, however people pay that extra, because they like steam, and want all their games 1 place, instead of spread around for best price.
Base prices maybe however Steam has sales on more regularly and doesn't take long to see a game on discount in that eco system.
Steam is able to win people over due to this, and that's the benefit of having other stores compete. It pushes more big sales to leverage an edge. Closed ecosystems there is no pressure to have sales, just when they feel like it.
Yeah but that is exactly what is getting an issue for Sony, the closed platform strategy created the rise for lawsuits like the new Dutch one against the monopoly from PS and its digital games pricing. We have to accept that in the 'near' futue Sony has to open their platform, this could mean the ability to buy digital keys from other stores, to full fledged third party stores on PS.
