Microsoft begins its quest to absorb every PC storefront you know and love into one app

While Sony and Nintendo continue the console wars, Microsoft's mission has changed. Once a big fan of exclusive titles, the company has shifted gears and wants to bring its games and libraries to as many devices as humanly possible, even its competitors'. The best bit? It seems to be working.

Well, now that Microsoft has the console side all tidied up, it has its eyes set on the PC market next. There's just one problem: PC gamers are already fragmented among different storefronts such as Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG. So, Microsoft wants to solve that by making the Xbox app the one-stop shop for all of your storefronts.

Microsoft rolls out a new storefront feature to the Xbox app on PC

In a post on the Xbox Wire, Microsoft discusses what gamers can expect from the new Xbox app. It states that, when you install a new game on your PC, including from "your Xbox library, Xbox Game Pass, Battle.net, and other leading PC storefronts," the Xbox app will automatically detect it and add it to its library. Now, instead of digging around your PC to open all the different storefronts you have installed on it, you can open up the Xbox app and grab it from there instead. The feature will appear on both your Windows PC and handhelds.

There's also a new feature Microsoft is working on that should make continuing your game on the go a lot easier:

Coming later in September your cloud-playable games and game play history will follow you across all your devices.

To find out which games are cloud playable, select the “cloud playable” filter in “My games” to view your catalog of supported titles.

Once this feature is released, look for the “Jump back in” list on the Home screen of your console, PC, or handheld to find your recent play history and pick up where you left off.

Microsoft is likely adding these features to make Windows a better choice for handheld gamers. After all, with SteamOS now making the rounds, Microsoft has to put up a real fight to prevent Windows 11 from becoming an afterthought in the handheld market. Some may even argue that it's too late; we have an article on how SteamOS outperforms Windows by up to 75% and an opinion piece from one of our writers who switched from Windows 11 to SteamOS on their Asus ROG Ally, and they couldn't be happier.