Forza, along with other first-tier exclusives like Halo and Gears of War in the Microsoft camp, is considered a “system-seller”. Sony has Uncharted, Ratchet & Clank, and of course, Gran Turismo. These games help move hardware: it’s no coincidence that the highest-selling title in Gran Turismo history (GT3) was bundled with the best-selling home console.
This makes Microsoft’s latest move towards cross-buy all the more interesting. Quantum Break, an upcoming third person action title, will provide XB1 players with a free copy for PC when they purchase the game come April. When asked about whether this approach would be unique to first-party games, XBox head Phil Spencer had this to say on Twitter:
@Nahkapukki @MSFTY @Nicodemus9 @DCNationSlade We'll make it a platform feature. We think it's good for gamers.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) February 11, 2016
It’s hard to argue with Spencer’s comment. Games being locked to specific consoles can make it harder for players to access them, forcing them to choose a side. Expanding the XBox library to PC opens up the titles to more players, including those that would’ve otherwise passed the games by. While this could result in slightly lower sales numbers for XB1 titles, as PC players skip the console version for a PC experience, it could also lead to higher overall totals across the board for a previously-exclusive title. PC gaming has seen a steady rise in popularity over the last few years, and isn’t viewed as a direct competitor to consoles.
Cross-buy isn’t new, of course. Sony has experimented with the concept with the Vita as Crossplay, offering players the ability to play on the handheld in addition to PS3 and PS4 versions of games. To say the feature is rare is an understatement, however: Microsoft adopting Cross-buy (and cross-save) in a widespread nature would be much more ambitious in scope. With the news that the PC version of Quantum Break will be a Windows Store exclusive – and not available on Steam – it certainly looks like the company is pushing Windows 10 as a gaming platform in its own right, to complement the XBox brand.
The news follows on the heels of backwards compatibility arriving on the XBox One last November, as another step towards appeasing gamers after the PR disaster that was E3 2013.
With so-far-unconfirmed rumblings that this year’s Forza Horizon 3 could be the first in the Forza series to arrive on the platform, we’ll be keeping our ears open about further developments.
See more articles on Xbox One.
If the sales of Assetto Corsa are any indication, which is in the neighbourhood of 300k units, there isn’t exactly a ton of money to be made on PC (on the Microsoft scale) but I don’t really think there is much, if any, risk of losing console unit sales because this game is on pc.
I can’t see it happening..the Flagship Exclusive title on the XBox suddenly not becoming exclusive anymore? Personally, I would be pleased if it did happen as I have never even seen a Forza game on a real-life screen, much less played it…never saw the point in shelling out for another console brand purely for the sake of one game. While it may shift a lot more copies of the game and, thus, create profits for MS, would it be enough for MS to consider it worthwhile, especially when it may affect X1 sales
Gotta love PC propganda:
1994: CD ROMs sell millions of games worldwide, including the likes of the 1st NFS and Indy Car racing
1995: 486 PC’s we are at the limits of MHz! we’ll never see faster!
1996: Pentium at last! I think we reached maximum transistor count,
1997: New Pentiums, but PC industry is dying,
1998: rinse and repeat above, the PC industry is dying,
1999~2009: rinse and repeat above, PC industry is dying, Intel & Microsoft make 400 trillion dollars in a dying industry though.
2010: we best push laptops, no office in their right minds wants clunky PC’s anymore, says every magazine ever
2011: Steam takes PC library by storm, Gabe Newell nets over 10 billion in royalties.
2012: Did we hit that transistor count limit yet? oh we did eh, then let’s make the smaller anyhow.
2013: PC is dead, all the graphs are pointing to it! Distribution nets over a trillion in PC sales for the quarter.
2014: new consoles, but PC Master race is on!
2015: where is GT7??
2016: Microsoft Forza: we need to get on PC… apparently it’s never going to die.
me: I’d buy 50 copies for my office.
Forza on pc? I’m in.
It wouldn’t be an exclusive if it made it on pc.
I’d buy it.
I would love to buy all the older Forzas as well. I would buy 1-4 in a heartbeat on PC.
I agree, the sound was fantastic in 2 – The Carrera RS in particular.
Sorry, but I thought Halo was originally released on PC?
As far as criticizing Forza:
I can not give an honest appraisal of any Forza game. I’ve only played them on X-BOX display systems in various stores. From that brief exposure, with only a controller to use I found them on the arcade side of reality. Then again I’ve never driven a race prepped Porsche or McLaren GT3 car. So my view of real is based on some of the cars I’ve driven on tracks at amateur track days. Basically modified street cars.
I long ago decided that I would never buy an X-BOX (Red Ring of Death) or something like that put me off. But I do not hate on X-BONE users or what they feel about Forza.
I suspect there are plenty of folk who have driven real race cars who like Forza and it physics.
It’s all down to personnel choice and opinion. Nothing to get into a row about.
Putting any popular console based game on PC can represent a boost in available options in graphics and features not possible given some of the restrictions (GPU/MEMORY/DISC ACCESS SPEED) of console. Resisting a port and building the game again from it’s core could result in a game that everyone would gravitate to. I wish Polyphony Digital would consider rebooting Gran Turismo in such a manner. That would take care of the standard car issue and give PD/KAZ the chance to put the final reality touches on their game.
Even though Kaz has said that developing on the PS4 is easy as compared to the previous console platform Sony had.
Give PD or Microsoft the chance to utilize the resources available on the PC platform, and I think they would produce really serious racing “SIMS”. Because they have the financial backing to do the job.
PD cant even finish making Granturismo games. And you say they have financial backing, ha. Funny. Like i said PD needs help.
They said on ISR once that if they would make it for another platform it would be from the ground up. No port. They want to use the full potential of the hardware they work with.
doubt it, they have already been caught using pcs at events showing the game in a vastly superior state then on the xbox for example aliasing wasnt a problem
That would be badass but I have a very hard time believing it.
They would sell more games but it just seems like it would cannibalize the Xbox brand too much. Maybe it would be smart if they made future Forzas timed exclusive on Xbox. Chumps like me would probably douple-dip even.
If it came to PC i would buy it.
Me too. In a heartbeat.
Lets hope this happens, as a T300, G27 and DFGT wheel owner I have always been frustrated having not been able to use my investment with the Forza series. PC would open the door to multi wheel compatibility, sim vibe, telemetry, triple screens etc. . Could even influence the decision makers at PD ?? :-):-):-)
I’d love it if Horizon 3 went to PC. I’m not a fan of the main forza series, terrible physics still hold it back from being fun/sim for me but Horizon is a more casual racing game that I can play on the side. Liked the first 2 a lot.
and another good thing about Forza going to PC is those of us with PS4 wheels wouldn’t have to buy separate wheels just to play forza.
Forza physics is miles and miles better than GT ever will be,thats why very big chink of ex gt players playing Forza and not gt
Terrible physics? IMAO – thats probably funniest try to troll i saw on these forums.
If you like casual racing games – stay with them,leave sims to those who have skill.
I heard NFS soon will be on pc,enjoy ;)
I wouldn’t say one physics is miles and miles better than the other but I must say Forza has a better car roster and Horizon’s career mode is pretty fun.
EA has killed the NFS series for me, how greedy must a company be to charge their costumers for having extra garage spaces? that is ridiculous.
@cfc
“Forza physics is miles and miles better than GT ever will be,thats why very big chink of ex gt players playing Forza and not gt”
…this is almost impossible to defend, is just as outrageous as saying ‘Forza has terrible physics’, and completely discounts those people (like me) switched from Forza to GT and will not likely ever go back.
“If you like casual racing games – stay with them, leave sims to those who have skill”
…again, not a reasonable statement in any way. I for one cut my teeth on Forza, GT, Project Cars and am very much looking forward to Assetto Corsa coming out on console, but I thoroughly enjoy games like DriveClub, for example, simply because they don’t take themselves to seriously and are more focused on allowing the player to have fun.
@ tombrady. not every racing games have as good of physics like NFS. Too bad huh?
@TomBrady / @cfc Set the handling physics to Simulation in Forza 6. Your car won’t feel as front heavy, but sway it too much and you’ll spin out almost guaranteed.
Normal physics in Forza games starting from Forza Motorsport 4 are the equal of limited.
Not only that but setting ’em to Simulation will give an extra few credit %, Just my 2c.
There are no different “handling physics” only different steering options that remove or add some handholding while cornering/steering. The underlying physics is the same with all steering options.
If it comes to PC, I might play it ;)
Now THAT, is something I would want by any means possible…
If they do so, I hope it would be properly ported.
I’d prefer the effort went into cross platform online gaming.
Clearly not console exclusives, but given the similar architecture Project Cars could easily be a single online environment.
Doing this I think would really help give value the longevity of certain games with less server coats and and bigger single communities.
It would take the sting out of console choices too.
If Forza comes to PC oh boy… :D
I’d love to have Horizons in PC as I’m not eager to buy any more consoles from M$
Yes. Please.
Whoa….
Not gonna lie, GT is the only game holding me back from getting an Xbox One! Microsoft’s exclusives are just too good imo! If these come to PC, then that’s a different story lol
Do it. Who says you can’t enjoy FM and GT both equally as much? Plus, there’s Halo MCC, which is awesome. :)
Too good? You must be confused about what’s exclusive. Other than Halo, Xbone has nothing basically.
TomBrady – you must be confused by PS4 “remakes” – dont mix PS4 remakes with proper exclusives,im yet to see any other XBOX1 game on PC.Even (EVEN!) if they come they will be exclusvely for Windows Store and for Windows 10,but then again your posts shows you have little clue why its good ;)
Trying your hardest,but failing like ever.
TomBrady – plz enlighten us what proper excl has PS4 (except remakes and those who wasnt released/will be released on pc)?XB1 miles ahead here.
My PS4 is literally collecting dust,because Sony promised tons of exclusives,and after 3 years there is no even news about new GT,all they do is releasing remakes of old games from PS3.
Other thna Uncharted (which even not yet released) there is nothing.Hell,new Tomb Rider is way better than that Uncharted (cuz U is just copy of TR anyways).
Still waiting for some worthy game on PS4 ;)Im not gonna mention GT,cuz probably there will be no GT on PS4 at all LOL
PS4 ahead of sales only because MS fck up with XB1 release,but as alternate gaming platform to PC is way ahead of ps4.
Good try tho,sadly no facts from you,just trolling
@cfc
I’m not interested in defending @TomBrady, but please re-examine your definition of trolling. Additionally, facts he may be without, but ‘Im not gonna mention GT, cuz probably there will be no GT on PS4 at all LOL’ is, for example, not in any way a fact.
All either of you are doing is making unjustifiable, unprovable, opinion-based statements about whichever game or platform you prefer. As such, stop making these statements and just go play whichever game you prefer.
Killzone. That’s the only exclusive for the PS4 that I can recall. There is maybe one more. Say something else and maybe I’ll remember another one. But PS4 exclusive games available on PC isn’t a bad thing. A games console sharing anything with the PC community is good. That didn’t happen as plainly with the PS3. Is it at all difficult to decipher why that was the case?
I’ll be getting FM if it’s made available on PC if the steering wheel I own is supported. I can’t see why it wouldn’t be. That’s what I thought before (console game) developers weren’t supporting older steering wheels.
@another_jakhole
IGN has a whole list of PS4 vs Xbox One exclusive games on their website. I learned that DriveClub is exclusive to PS4. I have it, I just assumed it was on Xbox One as well. But overall there are plenty of games exclusive each console.
haha It’s possible. Either way, people will find a way to try and defend the irrational.
And there is the entire argument in two posts… ;)
Still wouldn’t play it. From all I’ve seen and read the physics are atrocious, and I suspect a console port wouldn’t make use of PC architecture like triple screen support.
Physics in FM are pretty good, but it feels odd.
They are. Horizon is actually fun as an open world racer but the main forza series is just awful. It’s more about customization than actual driving since the physics are so bad.
LOL – what are BS nonsence,probably thats why very big chunk of GT players jumped in Forza huh?
You seen and read,yet didnt played and making conclusion? Thats probably just another unhappy GT boy trolling –
TomBrady – you are clearly complete anti Xbox troll,your post just shows that you actually have no clue about Forza physics,no they driving model,which is miles and miles better than any other current console racing game.
Actually no, I’m definitely not a “GT fanboy”, I left GT a very long time ago and now drive in PC sims such as Assetto Corsa.
Forza is a game designed for anyone to pick up and play. I’ve read enough about it and seen enough videos to know it is too arcadish for me. It’s common knowledge. Not bashing it or people who get enjoyment from playing it at all. I just know it
Isn’t for me. (Hit submit early by mistake)
The physics are far from atrocious. I’ve noticed that the people who complain about the physics are usually the ones that have never tried it. It actually simulates just as much, if not more, than GT. Scaff has went into great detail about this in many threads, so the work is all there.
I’d ask you what you think is bad about it, but it’ll be hard to have a discussion with someone on a game they never played, that they are already judging things as important as this off videos. These things need to be tried out first hand before being damned.
It’s not an arcade game, but at the same time it’s not the full fledged simulator like those available to PC users.
LOL @ punknoodle & TomBrady. You guys are funny. Forza is as much as a sim as GT….lol
Lol @ wastedtime – I don’t think GT is much of a sim… Just wait until Assetto Corsa comes out for your console. You’ll see what I mean.
@Punknoodle
Agreed
That’s the problem, @punknoodle. You’re making a comparison saying “wait for so and so” yet you haven’t even been able to play the game that you are talking about in regards to the comparison.
Arcadish is the totally wrong word to use in this comparison, and seems more like an unnecessary dig based off second hand information, rather than an opinion based off fact from trying a product.
While we are waiting, what is it that Forza is failing to do?
However, that’s not to say that I’m not waiting for AC. Quite the opposite really!
I played Forza for years. Got a 360 and FM4 when it came out. Played it clean through Horizon 2 and 6 (which I periodically play still – it wore off in two weeks).
I still prefer GT to Forza. Does thay mean Forza’s physics are crap? No. Does it mean GT’s physics are crap or the best ever? No. I just like the feel that GT gives. It’s easier for me to predict what a car is going to do in GT, compared to Forza. It also feels a bit more accessible for me.
All in all, both franchises have pros and cons. It’s really a matter of personal preference.
AND – personal preference does NOT entitle anyone to put down the other game or its player base. Or harass them, for that matter, such as what cfc has been doing. And Punknoodle for that matter.
Anyways, make peace, not war.
I remember when I relied on people that never played Forza for my Forza info, man was I a jackass for that. My opinion is the FM experience over all is much better than GT. so much so I’ve ditched GT completely
Select Driving Assists -> Cornering -> Simulation.
Your car will corner faster but sway it too much and you’ll end up spinning out.
I have no desire to purchase an XBox One, but I might just play Forza if it comes to PC.