Well as one can expect, Phil Spencer did an interview with PC Gamer where they put the question about Quantum Break and Scalebound going to PC and obviously the world suddenly soiled themselves. Like with Sunset Overdrive, the developer stated that a PC version was not off the table but since then they officially confirmed that it was not even being planned. Since 2013, several Xbox One exclusive titles have been the envy of the gaming world. Ryse Son of Rome and Dead Rising happened to move to PC in the past. We’ve seen several petitions and requests from the gaming world for Microsoft to port over all Xbox One exclusive games including Halo.
During the interview when asked the question Phil Spencer replied with:
“In the case of things like Scalebound or Crackdown or Quantum Break, you know, just to be completely honest with you, we started those games before we really looked at expanding into Windows in the way that I wanted to bring as part of becoming head of Xbox.
“Going to those teams mid-cycle and saying: ‘Hey, by the way, I want to add a platform,’ didn’t really feel like necessarily the best way to end up with the best result for the game. They had a path that they were on. It’s not to say those games could never come to Windows, but right now we’re on the path to finish the great games that they’ve started, and I want that to be the case. These games are on a path, whereas with, like, Halo Wars 2 I had the opportunity from the beginning, when we’re sitting down with the studio, to say, ‘Here’s the target. Here’s what we wanna go do.’
In the case of Scalebound, Crackdown, and Quantum Break Phil stated that these games were developed before they were into the whole Xbox everywhere push. Asking developers to build a PC version of said games would be counter intuitive and would distract the developers from building a decent game, he doesn’t want to release a broken game. Basically there are NO PC version planned for any of these franchises, however he didn’t deny that these games will never go PC (he didn’t confirm it either). Microsoft owns these franchises, unlike with Ryse which was owned by Crytek and they rolled out a PC version after a set period of time so the same principle does not apply. Like with Gears of War Ultimate Edition we might see a PC version in the future, but it won’t be anytime soon if ever.
In the case of Halo Wars 2 and Fable Legends, he pushed the Windows 10 and Xbox One versions through as these games were being developed during their new Xbox everywhere Windows 10 model. Games in the future (2017 onwards) will be going to Windows 10 and Xbox One although there may be Xbox One exclusive titles. Xbox is becoming a serviceable brand, which means that gamers on all Microsoft platforms will get the same experience. This does not diminish the value of your Xbox One or Windows 10 PC in any way. The Xbox One is still the best living room gaming experience when compared to a Desktop PC and will continue to sell regardless.
So basically the world is over reacting and reading into things that do not exist. So nothing is news here.
Bottom Line: Games from 2017 onwards have a slight chance of being multi-platform (Windows 10 and Xbox One), games releasing this year or next will not be, unless they were explicitly developed and marketed as such. If you feel that you can get a better experience on a desktop system you built yourself, you’ll still be able to enjoy the games and features of Xbox wherever you go. If you want a cheap and efficient gaming system that won’t have to be upgraded here & there, you’ll buy an Xbox One. Microsoft and Xbox wants to accommodate you wherever you are. If you don’t like this future, you might want to re-evaluate gaming what the big 3 are doing together.