There are suddenly console games showing up in the PC app

The Xbox PC Launch Project: A Virtual Demo of how Microsoft Integrated Games Store, Game Bar, and Game Bar into the Xbox Full-Screen Experience

This effort also involves making certain that games from the Games Store are visible in the PC app library. Microsoft accidentally revealed mockup images showing Steam games in the Xbox PC library earlier this year, and at the time sources familiar with the company’s plans told me Microsoft was working on an Xbox app update that will show every game you have installed on your PC.

I don’t believe this is a simple bug, but more the result of Microsoft’s plans to more closely combine its Xbox and Windows stores. I wrote about this effort in March, when I revealed in Notepad that Microsoft is working with Asus on a Project Kennan handheld. I wrote about it at the time and it was part of a larger effort from Microsoft to unify both Windows and Xbox into a universal library of games.

Microsoft has begun referring to the Xbox PC app as “Xbox PC”, because it has been working on making the app the home of PC gaming over the past year. This new branding first showed up in Microsoft’s announcement of Gears of War: Reloaded, and a new gameplay trailer for MIO: Memories In Orbit also shows off the Xbox PC branding and logo that we’re going to see whenever Microsoft wants to let PC players know the game is available on its Microsoft Store.

We haven’t been able to try it out yet, but it was a virtual demo that Microsoft showed us earlier this week. It all starts by booting directly into a new Xbox full-screen experience on these ROG Xbox Ally devices that focuses on the Xbox app and Game Bar, alongside being a launcher for all your PC games — yes even Steam ones.

Roanne Sones says that the device that galvanized those teams and got everybody marching and working towards a moment that they’re excited to put into the hands of players.

The updated Xbox app will work with all of your PC games, and you will still be able to interact with Windows app and those other launchers in the full-screen experience. Sones says Microsoft is “working closely with leading storefronts to have them optimize their full screen experience,” to make it easy for everyone to play a full library of PC games from Steam, Epic Games Store, and elsewhere.

You can still exit this full-screen mode and launch the full version of the Windows desktop, but by default it will by hidden away. “We’ve reduced many notifications and pop-ups, and we will continue to listen to feedback from players to make continued improvements,” says Sones.

What Drives the Xbox Ally Devices to Open the Game Bar, and How to Activate Windows Task Switcher, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

The improvements to the Game Bar over the last year are what drove the device, according to the principal software engineering lead at Xbox. A short press on the Xbox button on the Xbox Ally devices brings up the Game Bar interface, and you can use this to access device settings like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, Asus’ Command Center interface, and even Microsoft’s new Gaming Copilot. To get a more handheld-friendly task switcher, you will need to long press on the Xbox button.

Microsoft is confident that this isn’t just lipstick on top of Windows, and will be able to give me a feel for the changes here. “This isn’t surface-level changes, we’ve made significant improvements,” says Potvin. In some of the initial testing with components we have turned off in Windows, we get about 2Gb of memory going back to the games.

“If you’re booting your device into the full-screen experience and you’re putting it down and it’s going to sleep, it draws one third of the idle power draw than if it was booting the same device into the [Windows] desktop experience,” claims Potvin. Microsoft is still focused on battery life and power efficiency for this full-screen mode, so we might even see further improvements before devices ship later this year. Microsoft has also made improvements to the Windows lockscreen, so you can now use a controller to log in using a PIN code, or navigate around in this part of Windows.

“The aggregated gaming library within Xbox on PC will be available for all Windows 11 devices,” says Sones, so you’ll soon be able to see all of your Steam games within the Xbox app on any PC.