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As we touched on last week, there are now over 1000 developers utilizing Xbox Play Anywhere (XPA) for their games, bringing their amazing experiences to players across a variety of devices they own. If you've never heard of XPA before, let us give you a refresher: when you buy a digital game that supports XPA through the Xbox Store or the Windows Store, it's available to play on your Xbox console, Windows 10/11 PC, and supported handheld gaming devices at no additional cost. Even better, your progression comes with you across all platforms.
While the benefits of XPA for players are clear, we wanted to show you how developers have embraced this feature for their games. At this year's annual ID@Xbox Showcase event at GDC, we chatted with the teams behind upcoming XPA games Clair Obsur: Expedition 33, Detective Dotson, and Towerborne to learn more about what influenced their decision to implement this feature and what benefits it may hold for their gaming communities.
"I mean, I think for us it's all about discovery," says Detective Dotson Director Shalin Shodhan. "Making a game is hard enough, but selling a game in 2025 is super hard. This just gives us all the surfaces that Xbox and Microsoft have as a common access point to sell our game." In chatting more with Shodhan, he cites that being able to connect with players across multiple platforms is a key benefit in supporting Xbox Play Anywhere. Having all types of players access their game, and know that it can be played on multiple owned devices, is important for them because it widens the surface where people can access it—and thus share it.
The upcoming Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, launching day one with Game Pass on April 24, will also support Xbox Play Anywhere at launch. Again, allowing a variety of gaming communities on different platforms to come together thanks to XPA was seen as a tremendous benefit, especially for a new studio.
"Forming new friendships with players who are discovering our game is really the most we can hope for," explains Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Producer and Studio Co-founder François Meurisse. "Having players able to play our game on different devices they already have at home is ideal. This helps them discover the game and feel a link with the universe, to the characters, and maybe even follow-up [for] future games (we make)."
Other teams I talked to had Xbox Play Anywhere on their mind from the get-go. In talking with Towerborne Game Director Daniel McLaren, whose game is focused heavily on co-op, implementing XPA was necessary so anyone could join their community, whether they're on PC or Xbox.
"We have built a game structured around playing together. From couch co-op to online co-op, or even just sitting by yourself with someone next to you telling you how to play. We needed to implement Xbox Play Anywhere so that anyone could join our community, whether they're on PC or Xbox," says McLaren. "No matter how you access your Xbox, be it through Game Pass or direct purchase, it was important for us to make sure we had the maximum number of players able to sit down anywhere, anytime, and just be able to play together."
And it's not just about utilizing XPA to connect with their gaming communities. As players themselves, these developers are also huge fans of what it means to play games they own with their friends and family, then taking that learned experience to implement into their games. In chatting more with McLaren, having XPA as an option to play across platforms is a huge benefit both personally and professionally.
"Well, the fact that I don't have to segregate my audience [is what I like most about the Xbox Play Anywhere feature]. When trying to build an online game, It [would be]'s absurd that I can't sit down at my PC on some games and play with my buddy, who is not a PC person at all, who only has an Xbox console, it just boggles my mind. So, being able to do this… I don't understand why everybody wouldn't do it," McLaren says.
Shodhan also looks at it from a player perspective. "This is how it should be: If I own a game and several devices, the developer will want me to play their game on as many devices as possible without paying each time or having to go through different store procedures. So, I think that's the ideal player experience, and that's why I'm happy to support this for our players and make it a great experience."
"As a player and a Game Pass member, I really enjoyed the experience," says Meurisse. "I haven't got a Steam Deck yet but being able to play games on my iPad (with Xbox Cloud Gaming) while in bed is fantastic. The bigger screen of the iPad, combined with a controller, makes for an enjoyable gaming experience."
Xbox Play Anywhere offers incredible convenience to players and a strong benefit to developers in fostering a cross-platform community for their games. And only having to purchase a game once to play it on both Xbox and PC is a huge perk for playing on Xbox, wherever you are. When you're a developer, at the end of the day, you just want more people to play your game—XPA is here to help make that happen.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
While the benefits of XPA for players are clear, we wanted to show you how developers have embraced this feature for their games. At this year's annual ID@Xbox Showcase event at GDC, we chatted with the teams behind upcoming XPA games Clair Obsur: Expedition 33, Detective Dotson, and Towerborne to learn more about what influenced their decision to implement this feature and what benefits it may hold for their gaming communities.
"I mean, I think for us it's all about discovery," says Detective Dotson Director Shalin Shodhan. "Making a game is hard enough, but selling a game in 2025 is super hard. This just gives us all the surfaces that Xbox and Microsoft have as a common access point to sell our game." In chatting more with Shodhan, he cites that being able to connect with players across multiple platforms is a key benefit in supporting Xbox Play Anywhere. Having all types of players access their game, and know that it can be played on multiple owned devices, is important for them because it widens the surface where people can access it—and thus share it.
The upcoming Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, launching day one with Game Pass on April 24, will also support Xbox Play Anywhere at launch. Again, allowing a variety of gaming communities on different platforms to come together thanks to XPA was seen as a tremendous benefit, especially for a new studio.
"Forming new friendships with players who are discovering our game is really the most we can hope for," explains Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Producer and Studio Co-founder François Meurisse. "Having players able to play our game on different devices they already have at home is ideal. This helps them discover the game and feel a link with the universe, to the characters, and maybe even follow-up [for] future games (we make)."
Other teams I talked to had Xbox Play Anywhere on their mind from the get-go. In talking with Towerborne Game Director Daniel McLaren, whose game is focused heavily on co-op, implementing XPA was necessary so anyone could join their community, whether they're on PC or Xbox.
"We have built a game structured around playing together. From couch co-op to online co-op, or even just sitting by yourself with someone next to you telling you how to play. We needed to implement Xbox Play Anywhere so that anyone could join our community, whether they're on PC or Xbox," says McLaren. "No matter how you access your Xbox, be it through Game Pass or direct purchase, it was important for us to make sure we had the maximum number of players able to sit down anywhere, anytime, and just be able to play together."
And it's not just about utilizing XPA to connect with their gaming communities. As players themselves, these developers are also huge fans of what it means to play games they own with their friends and family, then taking that learned experience to implement into their games. In chatting more with McLaren, having XPA as an option to play across platforms is a huge benefit both personally and professionally.
"Well, the fact that I don't have to segregate my audience [is what I like most about the Xbox Play Anywhere feature]. When trying to build an online game, It [would be]'s absurd that I can't sit down at my PC on some games and play with my buddy, who is not a PC person at all, who only has an Xbox console, it just boggles my mind. So, being able to do this… I don't understand why everybody wouldn't do it," McLaren says.
Shodhan also looks at it from a player perspective. "This is how it should be: If I own a game and several devices, the developer will want me to play their game on as many devices as possible without paying each time or having to go through different store procedures. So, I think that's the ideal player experience, and that's why I'm happy to support this for our players and make it a great experience."
"As a player and a Game Pass member, I really enjoyed the experience," says Meurisse. "I haven't got a Steam Deck yet but being able to play games on my iPad (with Xbox Cloud Gaming) while in bed is fantastic. The bigger screen of the iPad, combined with a controller, makes for an enjoyable gaming experience."
Xbox Play Anywhere offers incredible convenience to players and a strong benefit to developers in fostering a cross-platform community for their games. And only having to purchase a game once to play it on both Xbox and PC is a huge perk for playing on Xbox, wherever you are. When you're a developer, at the end of the day, you just want more people to play your game—XPA is here to help make that happen.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
