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How Xbox Could Help Microsoft and Windows 10

How Xbox Could Help Microsoft and Windows 10

By Nick Wingfield, The New York Times | Updated: 21 January 2015 11:10 IST

Microsoft has a lot of work to do to win over developers of mobile apps. One of its best hopes for mounting a comeback may be its Xbox game console.

Xbox will be an important part of an event that Microsoft is set to host Wednesday at its Redmond, Washington, headquarters. The event is dedicated to Windows 10, its latest operating system, which is expected to ship later this year.

Windows 10 isn't a typical update to a Microsoft operating system. It's designed, Microsoft has said, to run on any device - PCs, phones, game consoles and even the tiny embedded computers that make up what's called the Internet of Things.

Applications written for Windows 10 on one of these devices can, with some modification by developers, run on the others. Exactly how much modification is a matter of some debate among developers, partly because Microsoft hasn't yet revealed enough detail on the process. There is a fair amount of developer skepticism that an app written for a PC, with its mouse and keyboard, can easily be tweaked to run on a tablet, which relies on a touchscreen.

If the company can deliver on this vision of universal apps that run across different devices, games could be one of the most intriguing tests of its plan. Games are an area where Microsoft, through Xbox, has a lot of expertise and credibility among developers of consumer software. Games are also the biggest category of apps for mobile phones and are historically one of the big drivers of consumer purchases of new PCs.

Imagine the Windows 10 pitch to game developers: Write a game for Xbox and, without having to reinvent the wheel, offer it on phones and PCs, at least in some form. Players might be able to continue playing portions of an Xbox game on a Windows Phone when they leave the home. Or they might be able to use a traditional game controller to play a first-person shooter game, one originally designed for Xbox, on their phones.

On Wednesday, Microsoft will share more specifics about how this will all work. Last week, Phil Spencer, the head of its Xbox business, said that he would speak at the event.

"We remain committed to gaming on console, but we now we have fans who play games on PCs and phone," he said in a video. "It's important that we build out the features we have, learning from what we've done on console and helping make Windows 10 the best operating system we've ever created for gamers on PCs."

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