Xbox Play Anywhere Grew Substantially In October, With 60+ Games Added Last Month

This Play Anywhere stuff is funny. It's been around since 2016 and hasn't caught on. According to all reports, Play Anywhere won't even be a thing next generation because Microsoft is releasing a PC. There probably won't be a console specific version anymore for any of the games for it. Which makes Play Anywhere redundant.
They're just using it as a buzzword to make it seem like a good deal currently.

All the games I won't play anywhere.

Does Microsoft have to pay any money to these developers in order for them to allow a game to be bought on an Xbox but played on a PC, @Kezelpaso? Just seems to me that they are missing out on a potential second sale...

They want me to switch to PC,… don’t worry Microsoft, if I do, I rather spend my money with steam and game on Linux.

@Fiendish-Beaver They don't have to as far as I know and I don't think MS would or 'should' pay them - although could take less from sales (give the Publisher 80% instead of 70% for example) as an incentive.

From a Publishers perspective, there is also the view that you are supporting 'customers' who choose to buy games on an Xbox to allow them to play ANYWHERE within Xbox. Maybe they'll gain 'engagement' and potentially sell more MTX content if people are playing more. Its not as if they are giving away a Steam Key or Playstation Licence, its ALL Xbox.

If you look at it from a Consumers perspective, its very anti-consumer to charge again for the SAME game within that same 'Family' (like XB1 and Series or PS4 and PS5) - you buy the Xbox version, you expect to play it in the Xbox ecosystem.

From a Publishers perspective, it's not necessarily a LOST sale because that person has already purchased the game and can play it when they want/can. They maybe won't expect many, if any, to buy their games more than once so its not 'losing' a sale, but instead allowing their Fans, their customers to play within the 'Ecosystem' they bought the game from - they sold an Xbox Licence and that entitles the gamer to access the game from any 'Xbox' based platform - regardless of whether that's streamed to a TV/Mobile Phone, played on some Physical Hardware etc...

I want Sonic Racing Cross World to be added.

I get what you are saying, @BAMozzy, but if, like me, you have an Xbox console and a gaming PC, it just might be that you want to play a game on both systems. Play Anywhere allows me to do that without any additional cost, which is great for me, but had Play Anywhere not existed, and I wanted to play on both systems, then I would have been forced to buy it twice, which is great for the developer.

The other issue that comes to mind is that people credit Microsoft with this initiative, so if a third-party developer does it, it is Microsoft that is reaping the gratitude, and not the developer.

Basically, I don't see how third-party developers are being rewarded in this process, particularly so if they are not being paid by Microsoft, or receiving a discount on how much they pay Microsoft when their game is sold. They're missing out on the additional sale, and the credit for Play Anywhere...

@Fiendish-Beaver Most publishers don't expect to sell the game multiple times to the SAME person and expect them to 'choose' which platform they wish to play it on.

Instead they are letting their customers choose which 'ecosystem' to buy for and let their Customers who already bought their game to play it within the SAME family - like Steam with its Steamdeck Console or Windows based Steam on PC. As long as its all the 'SAME' family, its no different from say Back Compat that lets you play in that same family.

What you are not considering is that 3rd Party Publisher and their 'Fans' of their Products, their customers who buy their Games. Its not as if they are giving away ANY games at all with Play Anywhere, all they are doing is saying if you 'buy' on Xbox, Steam etc, you can play on any Hardware within that family - you still have to be a customer, purchase their Game and maybe you will 'choose' to buy on Xbox because you get the PC version too but the vast 'majority' won't be buying it once(let alone twice) regardless and so they are rewarding their Customers (or more importantly allowing them) to buy and play games anywhere within that ecosystem - you buy on Xbox, you can only play on Xbox, buy on Playstation, only play on Playstation, buy on Steam, only play on Steam etc...

I get what you are saying, @BAMozzy, but I stand by my point that it is Microsoft that are getting the credit, not the game developer. Microsoft are making a point of telling us that it is a Play Anywhere title, each month announcing each title. Microsoft are setting themselves out as to good guys here, when in fact that credit should go to the developers. It is why I am curious as to whether there is any financial incentive for developers to embrace this because people are not seeing them as the ones responsible for the fact that the game can be played anywhere...

@Fiendish-Beaver I could be wrong on this, but I believe that the incentive with play anywhere is the preferential terms of the MS store over the Xbox one, which I think is 88/12 rather than 70/30. Again, could be wrong, but that's what I'd imagine the incentive is

That would make sense to me, @Coletrain, and would also allow Microsoft to crow about it because they have enabled it to happen via financial incentives. With Microsoft taking the credit, I really don't see how third-party developers really benefit...

@Fiendish-Beaver As I said, I don't know if MS incentivise it for Publishers but it could also benefit them too as people are more inclined to buy rather than wait for bigger discounts or Sub services knowing they can play it anywhere within that family.

Yes MS may well be making the most noise, but that's also free Advertising on their Platform, going to appear in search results for 'Play Anywhere' games (my most used Filter option) so may get 'more' sales on 'Xbox' than they anticipated. It's not as if they are 'losing' as I said, they don't count on gamerrs buying the SAME game on multiple Hardware so it adds 'value' to their customers without really impacting their 'sales'. If people prefer to play on Steam/Steamdeck, they'll buy it there anyway or if they do pick it up a 2nd time, its generally when its heavily discounted and not Full Price with maximum Profit margins.