After lots of long talk about further merging Windows and Xbox, it looks like the two platforms are just about ready to take a big step forward together.
The most recent big step was the Xbox becoming a Windows 10 device last November. This brought an improved user interface and some new features like streaming your Xbox to a PC. But the games and apps on your Xbox are still distinctly separate from your Windows PC. The next big step in Microsoft’s plans is to enable Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps to run on Xbox One and to merge the Windows Store with the Xbox Store.
This step has been expected to come with the next big update of Windows 10, the Anniversary Update (codenamed Redstone). And we are also expecting there could be some specific details of how this will all work mentioned at the upcoming E3 Xbox Briefing.
Now it looks like this feature is indeed on the verge of rolling out with the Anniversary Update for Windows 10 and Xbox One, as a Redditor posted he was able to get Windows 10 UWP apps on his Xbox One after installing the most recent Xbox One preview build.
The first waves of the latest Xbox One preview build started going out two nights ago, so it is still fresh for most insiders and not many have had the chance to play around with everything yet. But Redditor p4n0pt1c0n noticed what when he installed certain apps on his Windows 10 laptop (running the latest Redstone build) he got a popup on their Xbox One saying the app was ready. He tried running the app, and it wouldn’t open. Instead of opening it just got stuck on the loading screen.
There were no screenshots to back-up their post, but if true the cross installation shows that at least behind the scenes there are some significant linkages in development between Windows 10 PCs and Xbox One.
Amidst a slew rumors released by Kotaku last month, it was mentioned that Microsoft does have an overarching strategy, codenamed Project Helix, to keep merging Xbox and Windows in significant ways. Hopefully, we will be hearing more about the merging of Xbox One and the Universal Windows Platform at E3 and what that means for the potential future of combining PC and Xbox gaming.
