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Windows 10 UWP games arriving on Xbox One this year

By JC Torres/

Prophets of doom who bemoaned Microsoft's nefarious plans to unify its two gaming platforms was just given some ammo by no less than Microsoft itself. At its Windows Developers Day event, Redmond boasted of its progress on its Universal Windows Platform or UWP, some of which will already be experienced in the upcoming Creators Update. One aspect, however, might take a bit longer but will send ripples in Microsoft's gaming spheres. Sometime later this year, you will be able to install and play the UWP games you have on your Windows 10 PC right on your Xbox One.

On the one hand, this was really a long time coming and doesn't come as much of a surpise. Microsoft has long been pushing Windows 10 as a universal platform that powers its devices, from PCs to phones to HoloLens to, yes, the Xbox. The point of its Universal Windows Platform anyway is to allow developers to write an app once, more or less, and have it available everywhere. And what is true for regular apps will also be true for games.

But games are a very special kind of software, with its own context and culture. While mostly welcomed in the apps sphere, Microsoft's UWP push has been met with some resistance and criticism in gaming circles. In particular, critics of UWP point to the platforms imposed limitations on how software uses hardware resources, which is critical to games. There are also worries that Microsoft will use its clout to stifle the somewhat open competition among gaming platforms and distributors.

For now, however, those are still mostly theoretical worries. Microsoft might hate to admit it, bit its selection of UWP games is almost neglible. Most, though definitely not all, fall under what most would categorize as casual or mobile games. UWP games on the Xbox One do give game developers added incentive to use the platform to target as many players as possible, but it will take more than UWP to bridge the chasm between PC and console.

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