Some “heavy-hitting Xbox first-party experiences” are headed to Steam in the coming months, it is claimed.
According to Windows Central’s Jez Corden, Microsoft will soon bring some major Xbox first-party “experiences” to Steam. He mentioned, “I’ve heard some heavy-hitting Xbox first-party experiences, presently not on Steam, will show up there in the coming months.” His statement suggests that Minecraft may be set for a Steam release sometime soon. It’s the only Microsoft first-party title that qualifies as a “heavy-hitter” and has yet to be available on Valve’s digital platform.
Corden argued that Microsoft is aware of a steady migration of core gamers toward Steam, and is adjusting its plans accordingly to ensure Xbox remains relevant. At the core of this strategy is the idea that the “next Xbox” will effectively be a PC. As he puts it, “The next Xbox is a PC, and the publishing platform will become more PC like along with it.” Rather than a closed console in the traditional sense, the next-generation Xbox is expected to resemble an OEM Windows device, similar to a Razer laptop or Lenovo Legion Go, running full Windows while maintaining backward compatibility with the existing Xbox console ecosystem.
However, Corden also highlighted challenges beyond hardware and storefront access. He notes that Microsoft is currently “an incredibly unpopular company,” and that this sentiment may influence how developers view the Xbox ecosystem. While money and technical parity with PlayStation help, Xbox and PlayStation are described as “near neck-and-neck” in real-world developer engagement, with goodwill and ease of use still mattering.
Corden was also critical of the current state of the Xbox PC app, particularly its poor discoverability for non-Game Pass titles. With Xbox Game Pass heavily front-loaded, retail games are often buried, tagging is weak, and the app sometimes even promotes games users already own.
