Poll: How Important Is The Xbox Play Anywhere Program To You?

Console only for me.

I play all of my games at home because they’re home Games experiences.
Play anywhere is just PR sham to turn everything into digital where your consumer rights don’t exist.

It’s a great option. Know many people who game on both PC and Xbox and having to only purchase once is sweet. It’s not that important to me but it definitely is for others.

I bought Forza Horizon 5 for Xbox, but when I put the disc in my PC it doesn't work.

It's very important to me. I've been playing in the Xbox ecosystem for years, I love its achievement system... However, I built a PC with a 5070ti a year ago, and the difference between this PC and any console is huge. It's an infinitely better experience to play on a PC.

That's why I look for games with PlayAnywhere. It's difficult for me to go back to a console because the difference in technology is huge, but I don't want to lose my Xbox profile and Xbox achievements.

I only game on my console in front of my tv so the feature is a complete waste of time for me personally.

PA has been highly important to me since its inception. It isn't a new feature.

Zero interest, zero influence.

Of course, my Series X is basically a BC box at this point. Hasn’t been turned on except to earn those daily points for a few months.

Extremely important. Sometimes I just prefer a handheld night, even if it's on the same sofa as where the TV is. Can't wait to play ff7 remake hybrid style, and metaphor too when I get to it

They are only pushing this so hard to move us Xbox gamers to PC, that’s the only reason this is being done. Their next gen console is a desktop app, that’s it. Xbox is dead.

I literally just game on Xbox but in the future this could become more useful for me?

I don't really play on anything besides Xbox, PS5 and Switch 2 so I couldn't care less tbh

It's not a big deal at all, they've had Play Anywhere since 2016 and people on PC play on PC and people on console play on console.
This is just them leaning into buzzwords and trying to make it appear like it's some huge pro consumer thing.
THE PROBLEM is, if the next Xbox can play console and PC games anyway, what's the point of Play Anywhere after this generation?

@GameOverScreen TRUTH!

@RiverGenie DITTO!

If its not play anywhere then I am most likely buying the game on Steam.

For all xbox sales, I filter for play anywhere and as far as I'm concerned those are the only games on sale.

Play Anywhere is absolutely irrelevant to me. I invested in a top of the line television and each console, along with the plushest and comfiest of furniture. My minifridge is within arm’s reach and a plethora of USB connections are at hand to charge all my devices. I am ensconced. Think Mojo from the X-Men and you’re not far off.

In other words, I have less than no desire to play anywhere else, so ‘Play Anywhere’ is nothing but an afterthought, an unutilized addendum to the core experience of gaming.

It would have been important a few years ago but I no longer have the console and only play their games on PC, so now it doesn't matter. That said I would like it if more than just a dozen of my 130 plus games were available for me to play on PC

I have a Series X and a Xbox Ally X (as well as a gaming Laptop too) so I will only buy games that Support Play Anywhere so I can literally play Anywhere on whatever hardware - both now and in the Long term too as PC's will continue long after 'Consoles'.

I think the next Xbox will be a 'Windows PC' with built in Xbox Series Backwards Compatibility. Every game will essentially be 'Play Anywhere' - inc 3rd Party Published games as they'll just be the PC version sold on MS's 'Xbox' store anyway. There probably won't be Xbox Console version made so I'd rather start building up my 'PC' Library.

The next Xbox will likely play last gen 'Xbox' Console games (and all the BC games on Series Hardware) via some form of emulation so it can bring that history forward, but I'd still rather have a 'native' PC version than play an 'emulated' Console version.

It makes sense to focus on one Platform for game development - and PC makes the most sense. Therefore MS will only need to make the game for 'PC' as it will be playable on their next Hardware and at most, port down to Series Hardware or to 3rd Party Consoles. Their 'PC' game would be the same game on their own platform or sold on 3rd Party Platforms like Steam - but as their hardware will likely be fixed Spec, will have optimised settings for their PC hardware.

It may ot be 'useful' if you ONLY play on Console today, but if the next Xbox is a PC, its much more useful...

If I could access the pc versions without having to install windows on my Steam Deck (or if I had a Rog XAX instead), then I would make the majority of my purchases either on the Xbox store or ms store.

Never seen the point in it personally as I have been console / PC for years so just buy each game where I feel it plays best. Being able to play the same game using the sub par option just seems pointless.

I play on Xbox and PC. Mostly PC but Xbox in the bedroom and living room for lazy lounge sessions. I always always always check to see if a game is a Play Anywhere title for nearly a decade now. Gears 4 was my first play anywhere title. I will happily pay full price for any game I'm interested in that's play anywhere, but almost always wait for sales otherwise so I can buy a copy for both platforms I play on.

Totally wasted on me I’m afraid.
I’m consoles under the TV chap.

Would be interesting if this was a survey on the general public from ages say 10 to 50 year olds.
I guess this would then be an extremely niche product.
And not being funny, most would say what’s play anywhere and also probably Xbox, yeah I remember them and the 360.

Important, not because I utilize it a lot. But for the long term of the brand and ecosystem. I know console gamers just want to play a plug and play console but this is something, along with cloud streaming that needs constant investment to see the payoff down the road. People thinking they are still buy consoles are living in the past. You are buying access to the ecosystem you've invested in. That became true as soon as you started bringing your games forward with you.

There are people who utilize the windows store to buy games, there are now people buying games just to stream via cloud through the Xbox ecosystem. It's small base, but will continue to grow.

Even if you don't use the service, it's important that Microsoft keeps investing in it and growing it for the betterment of the brand.

More users, regardless which format they use, leads to higher engagement and more games for all of us.

The gains from these types of investments won't be seen for long time to come, but have to make the investment now to see the future success.

If a game I want is play anywhere I would buy it on Xbox. Most of the games I want aren’t play anywhere so I buy them on Steam.

With the likelihood of Xbox not being a "true" console in the future I appreciate having access to my games on PC but I'm also kinda meh on Play Anywhere simply because it doesn't support the vast majority of my library isn't part of it and probably won't be.

Next-gen Xbox being backwards compatible and Microsoft being the best at this make me buy any Xbox game I like, but Play Anywhere is essential for gaming handhelds, so I can see myself enjoying the feature if I get one. It's a very nice bonus. Most likely, next-gen games will all be "Play Anywhere", since there will be one version for Windows and Xbox.

Play Anywhere definitely influences whether I get a game through the Microsoft store or not. I mean, if you could buy a game once and play it on multiple devices that are normally separately priced, wouldn't you?

I'm still a physical games buyer, so it's not important to me. Actually I'm pretty screwed if the next Xbox has no disc opportunity.
Besides that, I'm not really a PC gamer.

I play PC and Xbox. Play anywhere is pretty big. If I’m on the fence but I can get it for both it helps push me over the edge edge

If you had asked me 2 months ago id have said it meant nothing.

The ally xbox x has changed that to a mist have.

Still some issues of course, primarily with the xbox store not having games at all, but I pretty much wont buy a title now unless its play anywhere since I dont really pc game, but i love my new handheld. Being able to carry over without any issues from the portable to the series x|s is a huge quality of life improvement. Almost on par with quick resuming multiple games.

I'm glad they're embracing it more. I play on PC primarily, but I still have a Series X. It's just nice to have options ownership or not.

For me it's definitely a factor to decide if I buy a game on Xbox or Steam.
If the price is somewhat the same and Xbox has Play Anywhere I will buy it there.
Really enjoy being able to play Turtles Shredders Revenge on the Xbox in the living room and also on the PC connected to arcade cabinet when friends are over.

I ride a subway and two busses to work so I’m def a fan of Play Anywhere…once I’m back at home I pretty much exclusively rock the couch/console combo tho sometimes I’ll use a handheld laying in bed

There are some games I might use it, like Age of Wonders 4, but they don't have it. So it hasn't benefitted me at least yet.

To me this is all about choice. I travel a lot... Play anywhere helps me play on the road and on all the different devices I own. You may or may not use it, but it is to me a very important feature as I play on PC, XB, and my ROG Ally X.

@NeoRatt I'll say similar... Although I don't travel much, except to go fishing/camping & I am not gaming then... Being able to play on PC is all about future proofing my purchase. I play on Series X|S, ROG Ally & PC. Plus the writing is on the wall for xbox. I have GPU stacked for another 1.5yrs. That largely takes me to next gen console/PCbox. So content I buy now must take the future into account, it better be playable on PC since I doubt next gen Microsoft console/PCbox is going to be subsidized, it will not be cheap. I might just end up on a gaming PC for next gen.

I play on both. I'm really frustrated that Sonic Racing Cross World, which I've been hooked on lately, doesn't support Xbox Play Anywhere.

probably I'm the minority here, but I do support Steam whenever I can so I buy there.
BUT I'm very glad Microsoft has this business plan: when I bought a gaming PC, with my surprise I discovered many games I already owned on Xbox where ready to play on my PC Xbox App, thanks to this program.

It’s a really nice bonus to have but if I buy a game on Xbox it’s because I want to play it on Xbox. My PC is for: games that don’t come to Xbox (so Sony first & third party exclusives as well as some indies), games that can’t run at 60fps on XSX (Plague Tale Requiem, Hellblade 2, Keeper etc.), and games that were designed for mouse & keyboard (Stellaris, Cities Skylines etc.). These games I always buy on Steam, unless they happen to be on Game Pass. So while I’m very supportive of Play Anywhere it’s not really influencing my purchasing decisions to be honest. Xbox is already my default platform.

I wish there was a way for me to play Balders Gate 3 with a mouse and keyboard with the copy I have already paid full price for. It’s bad that the Xbox version doesn’t support it but as it doesn’t support play anywhere I don’t have an option of using GeForce Now for a while. (Whereas the PC version supports both options seems stupid to me Xbox doesn’t). It’s very unusual for me to not want to use a controller but this game is an exception.

@kmtrain83 To be honest, I have no idea - its pretty much going to depend on the games and whether or not there is enough on a Platform to justify the costs of porting that game to. If it costs $100k to port, but maybe only get $80k in sales, it doesn't make sense.

Microsoft started in gaming developing games for their Windows PC platform exclusively, choosing to neglect that to chase 'Mainstream' Console success and establish Direct X as the Gaming API of choice on Windows as well as Devs would have to use it for their Console. 25yrs later, PC's are more mainstream now and DX is well established, as is their Xbox brand. Their MS OS's (Windows and Xbox) are driving the vast majority of gaming Hardware and it would seem that the next Xbox will be a Windows based device so that it will play 'Windows PC' versions of games - meaning that NO publisher 'needs' to port and optimise for 'anotherr' platform - inc MS who currently need at least an Xbox PC and Xbox Console version.

Would anyone have accurately predicted when cross-gen releases will end on ALL last gen Hardware? I think most expected 2-3yrs at most, but as games are very scalable and enough people remain on last gen hardware to make it financially viable to port games to, then Publishers will release games to increase their sales revenue.

Even if a game can't be ported, or runs so badly on Last gen hardware, you can still play their games via Cloud Streaming. Take FH5 which does run on an XB1S, but at less than 1080p and only 30fps, but Streaming it maybe 1080/60 and higher graphical settings too making it look and play better than native. So even if ES6 doesn't release on Series Hardware for example, you don't 'need' to upgrade, just like XB1 owners can play Starfield. Its not as if you will be 'forced' to upgrade (unless of course you want to play 3rd Party Published games not available on Game Pass to Stream).

The point is that the next Xbox will be a 'PC' platform and so ALL 'Windows PC' games, past, present and future, should run on it so that Publishers only need to make a PC version for their 'Xbox' Platform. Whether they also decide its 'worth' porting to last gen depends on the 'market' on last gen and Series Hardware isn't the most populated. There has to be a financial benefit to releasing on that system, potential to make enough revenue to justify the cost first and foremost. So it depends on how 'popular' last gen Hardware remains as much as it does that games will scale down to that hardware...

Thank you for the poll, @FraserG! I have to say I am surprised of its importance to so many people.

It is of no interest to me whatsoever however, and that is despite me owning both a Series X and a gaming PC. Both systems are hooked up to my front room television, and as I really dislike gaming on a PC, I only ever actually game on my Xbox.

I guess it's good for those that game on a PC or on the go too, but my only concern is whether it might push up the price of games in the future if third-party developers seek to minimise the losses involved by selling one game instead of two. Time will tell on that I suppose.

Honestly though, I can see the possibility that Microsoft are doing this to effectively futureproof their games for when they bring out their PCBox, as the OS might be different then...

It's 'Buy one get one Free' and also included in Ultimate Gamepass titles, who can not want that option at No extra cost ?

I’ve been contemplating for a while that with all the drama surrounding Xbox constantly, the lack of trust in leadership, and the apparent disregard for their most loyal customers that Xbox was going to do something to make it easy to leave. Then they raised the game pass price, and that was the final straw for me. I’m still around because it is my favorite console, I have a lot invested in the ecosystem, and I really loved Xbox yet I’ve decided for now that I’m not investing any further in the ecosystem.

I have a rog ally x and play anywhere was a huge incentive because I could play games on that and my Xbox and seamlessly switch between the two. Now I am slowly migrating over to steam.

I have a launch day ROG Ally with a 2TB drive in it, so Play Anywhere games are the lifeblood of my gaming life, Switch 2 aside. I LOVE the program, though I do get a bit confused at how some publishers deal with it - looking at you, Square. Why are they so inconsistent? Either way, I give Play Anywhere credit with my having finished quite a few games in the past year: Keeper, South of Midnight, and several others.

I fully admit that I think twice before buying anything that doesn’t have Play Anywhere.

I think for older gamers stuck on console, it is not important, but for the ever-increasing cohort of younger gamers who play across console, mobile, PC, Cloud, and handheld, it is great to only have to buy one version of the game. I really hope Sony implements something similar in the future if it ever does a PC launcher.

I love the idea that all these games can come with me to a PC or Windows-based handheld, depending on where I want to play.

The next-generation Xbox console will be a hybrid PC-console with full-screen gaming windows containing the entire console library and backwards compatibility, merging with the PC library via "XBOX Play Anywhere." The PC Game Pass tier will merge with Ultimate, making it the only tier with day-one releases. Also, the XBOX hybrid will include Steam and all of the other stores that are already available on the XBOX ROG ALLY X.

I like the Play Anywhere program. My Xbox is heavily used as the TV hub so if my other half is watching stuff, I can just jump on the PC and carry on. It's quite handy & a bit of a game changer for me.

yeah it has. I am slowly trying to phase out my consoles and move toward PC. But my PC at the moment is average at best. So it's great to be able to buy games and play them on console now, and have them for PC later when my rig is a bit more capable. Plus, if the future Xbox is a hybrid, then all Xbox games going forward are going to essentially be PC anyway.

As a feature I think it's great, the roll out happens when it can/whoever wants to apply it to their games.

Options are always nice.

I also prefer a box and controller with software/hardware gimmicks so to me 'playing anywhere' doesn't interest me if the games aren't design I care for in the modern era usually anyways and the software/hardware features like quick resume aren't appearing in TVs or my phone and the Impulse triggers may be there with an Xbox Controller or the Ally X but may phase out over time and that will be sad.

I used Vita remote play less, never used the remote play on Xbox, never used smartglass on 360/One either. I loved Wii U and Vita remote play, I sometimes use my Switch in tabletop/handheld but even then the screen and the HUD elements don't help. To me PSP or DS made the elemtns better. Even Borderlands 2 on Vita the HUD is so made for TVs it just doesn't work.

So many Switch games don't scale well to the handheld screen and are just like 'eh go for TV and if it's small don't even bother offer good hud scaling settings at all. Yeah thanks devs for being that lazy. It's ridiculous.

Screens may get bigger but I don't want bigger screens or bigger handhelds. I enjoy the scale of laptops being thick yes but at the same time phones aren't using screens for games but scale fairly well content but games can't do that due to how they work versus apps or content that doesn't matter how it scales but devs want those pixels and screen space to offer how they do versus a video app and scaling or text in apps/web pages around their design.

Using it however, no I don't at all. It's not me going oh I am attached to my box it's just I am not playing the games it's applied to for 1 and 2 I just don't need a feature like it.

But I respect iit being there, same as cloud, remote play, whatever.

I have research devices with such features of PSP PS2 Outrun 2 cross save to all sorts of things over the years.

I respect the options of a screen/app and a device compatible or capable. But I never use it because I don't need to or I jump between old and modern consoles based on game design I'm not playing these big scale or small scale games and don't care.

I buy between Switch/PS4 also so that also factors in. Otherwise i"m buying and playing disk based 360 games instead.

Haven't used my Xbox One in months because haven't needed to.

Same as having a music source I have on my phone, I can use it on my Xbox but I don't really want to.

Or lack of Xbox TV TV TV 2013-2017 the picture in picture there is gone, so I can't do that and just use a console and phone for music/videos to watch at the same time while playing a game without a story to focus on or if I don't care for the story just the gameplay to play it as I understand it enough anyway.

Usually a racing game or an action adventure game, a puzzle or visual novel I want to pay more attention to what it said or what puzzle mechanics they are testing me on.