'Final Fantasy Tactics' highlights the lack of organic growth for Xbox Play Anywhere and the Xbox PC store

If there's one thing I love about the current Xbox ecosystem, it's Xbox Play Anywhere.

"This is an Xbox," the marketing slogan rings out. Microsoft's goal is to bring your content to any device you're currently using. PlayStation gamer? No worries, here's Forza Horizon 5 and Gears of War. Steam gamer? No problem at all. Here's Diablo 4 and Halo Infinite. Xbox gamer? You get to buy your games once, and also play them on PC with the same save files, with no extra cost! Awesome. And that feature is called Xbox Play Anywhere, and it's one of the main things keeping me within Microsoft's ecosystem.

There are now over a thousand Xbox Play Anywhere games, with the vast majority of that effort falling on indie game developers. Bigger publishers have joined the program too here and there, which is great to see. The problem is ... those big publishers have been incredibly inconsistent. And as a customer, it's incredibly frustrating.

Publishers really don't want to give away two licenses of their games

Despite Microsoft's assertions that Xbox Play Anywhere titles get played 20% more than those that aren't in the service, it doesn't seem like publishers are buying it without some kind of kick back from ye' olde team green.

Square Enix, for example, put the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster collection into Xbox Play Anywhere as part of an insertion into Xbox and PC Game Pass last year. As a result, I practically spent all of last Christmas playing through those games, making it all the way to Final Fantasy IV so far. I played them on my Xbox console on the TV, I switched over to Xbox Cloud Gaming when I was visiting relatives during the holiday season, and used my Lenovo Legion Go when I was travelling. All with the same save files, and the same license entitlement — a vision of Microsoft's gaming ecosystem future laid bare in all of its glory.

Naturally, when Final Fantasy Tactics remaster was revealed — an entry in the series that I've not yet experienced — I was hopeful that it would also grab the Xbox Play Anywhere treatment. Alas, it seems that it won't even be available to buy on the Xbox PC store.

As of writing, you can preorder Final Fantasy Tactics for $49.99 on the Xbox Store, PSN, and Steam, but Xbox PC is left out of the lurch.

Indeed, when it comes to the Xbox PC store, organic uptake seems almost non-existent. Microsoft is offering PC game developers a far more favorable cut than Steam, at 12% to Steam's 30%. But for whatever reason, AAA game developers just seem eager to sidestep Xbox PC completely, in favor of Steam.

Without a Game Pass deal, it's almost unheard of for a game developer to actively choose to put their games on the Xbox PC store to buy outright, and the exact reasons as to why aren't exactly clear.

In terms of footfall, the Xbox PC store can't be terrible considering the reported growth of PC Game Pass per Microsoft's SEC filings. But, perhaps user behavior revolves more around borrowing games via PC Game Pass as opposed to outright purchases. The 12% cut is far more generous than Steam, but we've all heard stories about Microsoft's store policies being more restrictive and strict than Steam's, causing headaches for developers.

Microsoft claims that Xbox Play Anywhere games are played more than games that don't support the feature. I also doubt there's a significant market for people willing to buy games twice — and even if there was, it's not like Final Fantasy Tactics is going to allow me to take my save file with me to other platforms without Xbox Play Anywhere integration. There are a few games on Xbox PC that let you buy them twice and maintain save file synchronicity between platforms, like Warhammer 40K: Boltgun, but those games are also very few and far in between. If you can even find them, that is. It's not like the store filters are particularly good with regards to clarity over what features games have.

There have been a couple of wins, though. I was surprised to see Metaphor Re:Fantazio hit Xbox Play Anywhere without a Game Pass deal originally. There are of course mountains of Xbox Play Anywhere and PC Game Pass titles to play in my back log too. But it's just incredibly frustrating when a game comes along, like Final Fantasy Tactics, that would be perfect for Xbox Cloud Gaming or PC gaming handhelds, for them to simply say "nah."

Can Microsoft convince developers to support Xbox Play Anywhere organically?

I frankly have no idea why a developer wouldn't want to support Xbox Play Anywhere at this point. It's a zero effort value-add for your game, that allows you to take advantage of Xbox's near term future ecosystem features. Being able to access your game on cloud or on PC gaming handhelds easily is going to boost visibility and engagement for your titles.

I appreciate if developers don't want to simply "give away" a "free" additional license, but even then, why not let me roam with my save file at the very least? It's not like these games are even giving me the option to buy them twice, and play them anywhere.

This is another instance where SteamOS has an absolutely huge advantage over Windows 11 and Xbox right now. Steam, out of the box, does let me use my single Steam PC license on any other device with Steam. I can play my Steam games on my laptop, a desktop PC, and on a Steam Deck. Often, even via NVIDIA GeForce Now as well. Whereas, with Xbox, you're locked to the box for 99% of the games that have launched on the platform.

Microsoft is playing retroactive catch up here. The obvious play in my mind would have been to follow through with a genuine Xbox handheld, that used my console licenses. However, that effort seems to now be dead.

And yes, I've used Final Fantasy Tactics to illustrate the point here. It's just one game. But it's one of many hundreds of games that have launched this year without even considering Xbox PC as a viable option — letalone Xbox Play Anywhere.

Why is that? And what can Microsoft do, if anything, to fix it? Time will tell.