Xbox Play Anywhere unites Xbox One and PC gaming

New hardware wasn't the only major announcement at the Microsoft briefing today. Ever since Quantum Break for the Xbox One was said to come with a PC copy of the game, people have speculated that this would become a staple of the Xbox platform. Today, that became a reality.

While showing off some gameplay of the upcoming Gears of War 4, Microsoft announced a new initiative, called Xbox Play Anywhere. If you purchase a game that is Xbox Anywhere compatible, you will be able to play it on both your Xbox One and PC. One of the first games to have this feature will be Gears 4.

Other games that have been announced to be XPA compatible include Forza Horizon 3, Halo Wars 2, ReCore, Scalebound, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, and We Happy Few.

Gears of War 4 was also announced to be cross-play compatible. This means you'll be able to play with your friends, regardless of which platform that they choose to play on. The only catch is that only the co-op modes will be cross-play compatible. Any competitive modes will not be cross-play, no doubt to keep keyboard and mouse players separated from those with controllers.

So far Microsoft is working hard to unite both the Xbox and Windows platforms. It has been a long time coming, but it looks as though this push will only continue over time.