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Valve remains undefeated: Microsoft will seemingly wear Steam like a jacket with new "aggregated gaming library" on Xbox PC app, and "this is just the beginning"
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Microsoft has revealed a new "aggregated gaming library" that's coming to PCs and gaming handhelds this week for Xbox Insiders enrolled in PC Gaming Preview, and later this year for everyone else.
In an Xbox Wire post, Microsoft says the new centralized library will also be available on the recently unveiled ROG Xbox Ally this holiday season.
"With this new feature, your Xbox library, hundreds of Game Pass titles (membership required), and all your installed games from other PC game stores are always at your fingertips," said product manager Manisha Oza.
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When this feature becomes available, it'll let you view and launch all of your games from Xbox, Game Pass (provided you have a subscription, of course), Battle.net, "and other leading PC storefronts," all from the Xbox app.
Notably, Microsoft didn't explicitly confirm Steam as being included in that vague group of "other leading PC storefronts," but its exclusion would be a massive, conspicuous letdown.
And for what it's worth, The Verge is reporting that Steam games will indeed be available directly through the Xbox app with the launch of Microsoft's new library; we just don't have anything from Microsoft itself to independently confirm that that's the case.
The updated Xbox PC app will automatically show all available games from supported storefronts when they're installed in the 'My Library' tab, and you'll be able to go into settings and hide any storefronts you don't want to include.
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"And this is just the beginning," added Oza. "We'll continue rolling out support for additional PC storefronts over time."
Assuming Steam is ultimately included in Microsoft's updated app, this seems like yet another victory marker for Valve in the race to become the dominant PC storefront, which Valve has been winning pretty comfortably for years. Epic all but said its store kind of sucks earlier this month, and now it seems even the tech giant that is Microsoft can't keep pretending like Steam isn't the place to be on PC. If you can't beat 'em, host 'em?
After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.
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