Xbox Play Anywhere Program Launches Today With ReCore

The release of ReCore today on Xbox One and PC is not only notable because it's a new game from Mega Man and Dead Rising designer Keiji Inafune. The game is also the first title in Microsoft's highly touted Xbox Play Anywhere program, which brings console and PC closer than before.

Announced at E3 2016, Xbox Play Anywhere lets you buy a game (digitally) on Xbox One and get the Windows 10 PC version free or vice versa. Progress and achievements are shared across platforms, so you can start playing on system and switch to the other whenever you want without needing to start over. According to Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg, the Xbox Play Anywhere represents a "tremendous value."

Other upcoming Xbox Play Anywhere titles include Forza Horizon 3 (September 27) and Gears of War 4 (October 11), while 2017 titles in the program include Halo Wars 2, Sea of Thieves, and Scalebound. It's not just Microsoft-published games in the Xbox Play Anywhere program, as Ark: Survival Evolved and Cuphead are also featured.

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Not everyone has been so happy about Microsoft's efforts to bring console games to PC, something that Greenberg has already responded to. The executive went on to say that part of the reason why Microsoft is launching Xbox Play Anywhere is to catch up with what has been the norm in other forms of entertainment for many years now.

"If I buy digital entertainment content today, movies, music, et cetera, it streams across your devices. So we wanted to enable that for gaming, and that's a consumer benefit," he explained.

Microsoft may be going all-in on its console/PC unification strategy, but it appears Sony won't follow suit. PlayStation president Andrew House recently said he's unsure if people would be interested in that.

"Yes, there was a big emphasis from the folks at Microsoft on Xbox and PC cross-play. It remains to be seen whether there is latent large consumer demand for that," the executive explained.

In other news about Xbox and PC, Microsoft has said it might release more games on Steam.

For more on ReCore, check out GameSpot's review and what other critics are saying. You can also read GameSpot's interview with creative director/writer Joseph Staten about how it evolved from its anime roots.