Microsoft’s head of gaming promises PC gaming is now a key priority for the tech giant

Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s executive vice president of gaming and former Xbox top dog, has confessed that Microsoft could be doing more with Windows to help PC gamers.
Speaking to PC Gamer, Spencer held his hands up to several missteps in the PC gaming ecosystem, but revealed that addressing these issues is now a key priority for Microsoft: “First priority is delivering a new Store experience for games that factors in all of our learnings from past challenges on the PC,” says Spencer.
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“At E3 this year, and throughout 2019, you’ll begin to see where we’ve been investing to deliver across Store, services, in Windows and in great games. It’s just the beginning.”
For many PC gamers, the Windows Store, which holds all of Microsoft’s first party exclusives and a few Xbox exclusive console titles too, has attracted a lot of ire. Because mega-franchises like Crackdown and Forza are only available to purchase or play on the Windows Store, the dated interface and user experience have brought criticism to the tech giant.
Whether this will change, and we could see Microsoft’s biggest and best titles coming to other digital storefronts, isn’t mentioned, but improvements to the Windows Store experience would be welcomed. We could also see an improvement to the Xbox companion apps that run on Windows for party and game management, but we’ll have to wait until E3 2019 in June to find out exactly what changes could be coming.
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We’ll see some changes to the way games are handled in April, as the software outfit tests out a new way of installing games to PCs. We’ll know more about that soon.
Are you struggling with the Windows Store with your gaming? Just want to buy Crackdown 3 on Steam or the Epic Games Store? We’re on Twitter at @TrustedReviews, so tell us your thoughts.