Microsoft names first 12 Xbox Play Anywhere titles

The first batch of games confirmed for Microsoft’s Xbox Play Anywhere initiative have been named.

All of Microsoft’s big E3 first party titles are included – Crackdown 3, Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3, Sea of Thieves, Scalebound, Recore and Halo Wars 2. Also incoming are the E3 show-stealing We Happy Few, Cuphead, State of Decay 2 and Early Access hit Ark: Survival Evolved. Killer Instinct, which is already available on both platforms, rounds off the list.

Xbox Play Anywhere means that buying a compatible game on either Xbox One or PC grants a user the right to download a copy on the other machine. That applies to Season Passes, add-ons and DLC, too.

There are restrictions, though – it only applies to digital purchases, and only to purchases made through the Xbox Store or Windows Store, or via authorised codes from retailers.

Users can only be logged into one copy of the game at a time. Progress is saved in Microsoft’s cloud, and can be accessed from either device. Achievements (a single set of) are also persistent across both platforms.

There does seem to be a certain amount of variation on a title-by-title bases. Dead Rising 4, for instance, is a Microsoft exclusive for a period, but is not covered in the scheme – despite being a Windows 10 exclusive for 90 days, during which time it will be kept well away from Steam.

Third party title We Happy Few, however, is available on Steam day one, but is also included in Microsoft’s program.

Cross-platform play also varies by title, and even then sometimes be mode.