TECH NEWS – This essentially confirms the rumor that Microsoft‘s next-generation console is essentially a PC.
In an interview with Game File, Steve Allison, the head of the Epic Games Store, said that his company is in talks with Microsoft about launching on the console. Allison discussed the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X handheld PCs, which launch the Xbox app and provide access to other stores, such as Steam, GOG, Ubisoft Connect, and Battle.net. Currently, these handheld PCs link to the Epic Games Store but take players to the PC version rather than an app specifically designed for controller support.
Allison said the plan is to add a dedicated Epic Games Store app to the device. He added that the necessary apps have not yet been developed but emphasized that the company’s current priority is developing the store and launcher, followed by creating apps for handheld PCs. The topic then turned to the next-gen Xbox console, which many believe will be a hybrid system capable of running both Xbox and PC games, including access to other stores. Allison replied that, according to current plans, the Epic Games Store will be available on the new Xbox console on launch day as a native application providing access to the PC game library.
“We definitely plan to be on the new Xbox hardware because they are telling us they’re going to welcome that, unless their policy or stance on it changes. We’re going to be there on day one. That will probably require us to build whatever software they require to support it,” Allison said.
In October, the YouTube channel Moore’s Law Is Dead released a video discussing the next-gen Xbox APU (codenamed Magnus), which we also covered. In the video, the host speculated that Microsoft is positioning the platform as a hybrid system capable of running not only games found in the Microsoft Store but also PC games from other stores. A few days later, Sarah Bond, the president of Xbox, suggested that the new console shares the same concept as the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X handheld PCs, presumably favoring its ability to access other stores. Bond told Mashable that the next-gen Xbox will be a premium, high-end, curated experience. We’re starting to see some of the concepts Microsoft applied to the Asus ROG Xbox Ally pair, but Bond didn’t want to reveal everything.
The only question is how expensive the hardware will be.
