In San Francisco last week, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer reaffirmed Microsoft’s commitment to bringing the biggest Microsoft Studios franchises to both Xbox One and Windows 10, and provided journalists, YouTube personalities and Twitch streamers hands-on time with Xbox’s most-anticipated spring games and platform experiences.
Kicking off with today’s release of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for Windows 10, the Xbox spring games lineup includes a wide array of fan-favorite franchises coming to both Xbox One and Windows 10, including Quantum Break, Forza, Killer Instinct and more.
“At Xbox we believe gamers should be able to play the games they want, with the people they want, on the devices they want,” Spencer said. “Making more of our popular games available for gamers to play on either Xbox One or Windows 10, each powered by Xbox Live, is another important step towards this vision. We are committed to delivering amazing gaming experiences for gamers who play on consoles, PCs or both.”
The Best Franchises are Coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 This Spring
Whether you enjoy hitting the race track in a gorgeous supercar, bending time to your will, or venturing deep into apocalyptic worlds, Xbox is delivering an amazing lineup of games this spring and beyond:
- Dark Souls III – Attendees enjoyed hands-on with new content from the third entry in the acclaimed Dark Souls series at the Xbox Spring Showcase. Launching Apr. 12 on Xbox One, Dark Souls III takes players through an apocalyptic, dark journey to unfold the secrets of the unique universe created by Hidetaka Miyazaki, FromSoftware and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment (additional details).
- Forza Motorsport 6: Apex – Arriving in the Windows Store this spring, Forza Motorsport 6: Apex is a free, curated standalone experience for Windows 10 that provides fans with a diverse tour of what Forza Motorsport 6 has to offer, including trademark innovations iconic to the Forza franchise, such as Drivatar™ opponents and Forzavista™ cars, as well as new ways to play and compete. The experience also takes advantage of DirectX 12, delivering breathtaking visuals at up to 4K resolution, and was playable for the first time at the Xbox Spring Showcase on an Intel Unleashed Custom (additional details).
- Forza Motorsport 6 (Porsche Expansion Pack) – Available today, the Porsche Expansion Pack for Forza Motorsport 6 on Xbox One spans Porsche’s 60-year history, giving players the chance to race and master 21 Porsche models, including nine new to Xbox One, in an all-new eight-hour Career campaign. The Porsche Expansion also features the debut of the Virginia International Raceway track, in both night and wet conditions (additional details).
- Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for Windows 10 – Available in the Windows Store starting today, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is playable for the first time on Windows 10, and was shown on Alienware Area 51 and iBUYPOWER Revolt 2 at the Xbox Spring Showcase. Remade from the ground-up, the game features amazing 4k resolution built with DirectX 12, unlimited refresh rates and controller and mouse and keyboard controls (additional details).
- ID@Xbox – ID@Xbox showcased two marquee titles:
- Pit People from The Behemoth is coming first to Xbox One, followed by Windows 10. Experience this fast-paced, turn-based co-op adventure in a closed Beta later this year (additional details).
- Below from Capy is coming to Xbox One. Below is a descent into the Depths. Explore. Survive. Discover. (additional details)
- Killer Instinct: Season 3 – Microsoft Studios and Iron Galaxy announced that eight new fighters are joining the arena in Killer Instinct: Season 3, available March 29 on both Xbox One and Windows 10. The team provided hands-on with the first four characters available on launch day – Kim Wu, Tusk, The Arbiter from the Halo franchise, and Rash from Battletoads – on Xbox One and an MSI Nightblade X2 Windows 10 PC (additional details).
- Minecraft with Oculus Rift support – Microsoft and Mojang are teaming up with Oculus to provide the first-ever demos of Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition with Oculus Rift support, shown at the Xbox Spring Showcase on Cyberpower Black Crow and Acer Predator G6. You can play Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition in Creative or Survival mode in full 3D while using the familiar Xbox One controller that ships with every Rift sold. Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition with Oculus Rift support will be available through the Windows Store and Oculus Store this spring.
- Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition – Microsoft Studios highlighted additional content for Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition, demoed at the Xbox Spring Showcase on Xbox One. The Definitive Edition enhances the award-winning original game release with new content, including new areas, abilities, more story sequences, multiple difficulty modes, fast travel between areas, and more. Available March 11 on both Xbox One and Windows 10 (additional details).
- Quantum Break – Remedy Entertainment debuted the DirectX 12-powered Windows 10 version of Quantum Break at the Xbox Spring Showcase, offering hands-on demos running on an Nvidia Z97 Carbide, Asus ROG G11 Series, and Acer Predator G6 (additional details). Anyone who pre-orders the Xbox One digital version through the Xbox Store, purchases an Xbox One digital token at participating retailers, or pre-orders an Xbox One Special Edition Quantum Break bundle, will receive the Windows 10 version of the game for free, downloadable from the Windows Store via redemption code when Quantum Break launches on Xbox One and Windows 10 on April 5.
- Tom Clancy’s The Division – Ubisoft treated attendees to in depth hands on time with the open beta content for Tom Clancy’s The Division, an immersive online open-world action role-playing game. Launching March 8 on Xbox One, players will team up with other Division agents to reclaim New York City from the chaos of a deadly pandemic (additional details).
DirectX 12 Showcase: Rise of the Tomb Raider, Ashes of the Singularity, King of Wushu – Square Enix, Snail, and Stardock showcased their latest DirectX 12 enhancements for Rise of the Tomb Raider, King of Wushu, and Ashes of the Singularity on Origin PCs, iBUYPOWER Revolt 2, and Maingear PCs. Ashes of the Singularity is taking advantage the DirectX 12 multi-adapter technology, allowing PCs to use multiple GPUs, even from different manufacturers. Rise of the Tomb Raider was playable for the first time at the Xbox Spring Showcase running DirectX 12.
New Features in the Windows 10 Xbox App and Xbox One – The Xbox team discussed new updates arriving soon on Xbox One and also in the Xbox app in Windows 10, demoing some of the new features on a top-of-the-line Razer Razerblade 14-inch laptop:
- Gamerscore Leaderboard in the Achievements section and Hero Stat Leaderboards in Game Hubs
- See Avatars in your Activity Feed if you’ve chosen to replace your gamerpic with your Avatar
- An updated “Featured” section spotlights games, deals, community events and more
- 16-person Party Chat is enabled across both Xbox One and the Windows 10 Xbox app
- Xbox 360 achievements will automatically post to your Activity Feed
- More interactive Game Hubs with web-linking
- Compare your Avatar with your friends’ Avatars
- Reputation interface changes, players with ‘good’ profiles will no longer feature a reputation gauge
Stay tuned for more exciting news and reveals at E3, including our full lineup of holiday exclusives as well as new innovations, features and experiences coming to Xbox One, Windows 10 and Xbox Live.