Microsoft may soon enable Xbox games to run on Windows 10

Windows 10 already has support for the Xbox Live service, and, since the Xbox One X integrates hardware that resembles modern gaming PC builds, users of both platforms have been asking for a grand unification that would let them play Xbox games directly on Windows 10 PCs. It looks like Microsoft is finally making a move in this direction, as the latest Insider Windows 10 builds include testing instructions for a special edition of State of Decay. The game is already available on both platforms, but Microsoft actually wants us to test the possibility of downloading and installing it directly from the Xbox distribution servers.

According to testers that had firsthand experience with the latest Windows 10 Insider builds, Microsoft is planning to add a new app called Microsoft Gaming Services that would facilitate the unification of both platforms. The Xbox infrastructure appears to now be integrated with the new Gaming Services app, as the games are downloaded from the Xbox distribution servers rather than from the MS Store. The game packages come with .xvc files that are specific to the Xbox One OS, plus there are two new drivers called Microsoft Gaming Filesystem Driver and Microsoft Gaming Install Filter Driver that offer access to specific Xbox APIs.

Ars Technica reports that the preview for the 2020 version of Windows supports a special Xbox Direct3D API layer that should add extended compatibility between Xbox games and Windows 10. Currently, the Insider build still require testers to install a separate DirectX package, but the 2020 version may streamline the process by allowing seamless game installs from the Xbox servers. Similarly, game developers could soon have access to a unified platform dubbed GameCore that would enable an easier porting process for Windows games.