According to Windows Central, Xbox’s “Play Anywhere” strategy, which allows gamers to buy a game once and play it across Xbox consoles, PC, and cloud with shared saves, is facing a critical lack of support from major third-party publishers. The issue was highlighted when previews for the upcoming Resident Evil Requiem incorrectly stated it was coming to the Xbox PC store, a claim that was later retracted. This follows Ubisoft adding its Ubisoft+ Classics library to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in late 2023, a move that justified a 50% price hike, yet none of those games support Play Anywhere cross-saves. Xbox President Sarah Bond has stated that the platform’s five-year vision is to be “truly seamless across devices,” but as of 2026, support remains spotty and often tied exclusively to Game Pass deals.
The Game Pass Tax
Here’s the core problem: for most big publishers, supporting Xbox Play Anywhere or even just launching on the Xbox PC storefront seems to require a Game Pass bag. Capcom is the poster child for this. They just put Resident Evil Village on Game Pass with full Play Anywhere support, and then immediately turn around and skip the Xbox PC platform entirely for the next game, Requiem. The message is brutally clear. The support isn’t about building a library for players; it’s a transactional fee paid by Microsoft’s subscription service.
And it’s not just Capcom. The article points out that Ubisoft’s big Game Pass addition doesn’t support the feature, which is just wild. They used that catalog to justify a huge price increase, but didn’t bother enabling the key ecosystem feature that makes Xbox unique now? It makes you wonder if these companies see any value in the Xbox platform beyond a one-time subscription payout. If the economics of selling games directly to Xbox PC users were good, they’d do it. The fact that they don’t suggests that audience might just be waiting for everything to hit Game Pass.
A PC-First Future on Shaky Ground
This is a huge strategic problem because Microsoft’s next move is reportedly an “Xbox PC-first” next-generation console. The whole idea is that the library and the seamless experience across devices is the draw. But if AAA publishers can’t be bothered to put their $70 games on the Xbox PC store today, why would they suddenly support the next box tomorrow? You’d think they’d be building their presence now.
So what’s the hold-up? It could be discoverability, or the backend tools being a hassle for publishers. But it probably boils down to simple math. The Windows Central report draws a parallel to the Epic Games Store: massive user growth, but low conversion rates because users are trained to show up for freebies and subscriptions, not to open their wallets. Xbox may have accidentally curated an audience on PC that refuses to buy games retail.
First-Party Can’t Carry This Alone
Microsoft’s first-party studios will, of course, support Play Anywhere. That’s a given. But they can’t be the entire AAA lineup. A platform lives and dies by its third-party support. When the biggest games like Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, and now Resident Evil Requiem skip your store, your “seamless” vision starts to look pretty threadbare. The promise is to take your saves anywhere, but that’s meaningless if the games you want to play aren’t part of the program.
Sarah Bond’s five-year vision sounds great. A high-powered console you love, and you can take those games anywhere. But right now, that “anywhere” is heavily restricted to games Microsoft pays for. For this to work, the value proposition for publishers has to change. Either the store becomes a place people actually buy games, or Microsoft accepts it will forever be paying a “Game Pass tax” to rent a rotating selection of AAA titles. Neither is a great foundation for the future.
