Xbox One support for Universal Windows 10 apps arriving in summer 2016

Microsoft says that Xbox One owners will be able to run Universal Windows 10 apps on their consoles starting summer 2016.

Xbox One console unveiled

Microsoft has officially announced that Universal Windows 10 apps are coming to Xbox One in “summer 2016” at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. We previously heard about the plan of UWP apps coming to Xbox, but the company didn’t share any information on when this was going to happen.

This is a big news for developers as well as for customers. The move will let developers to target more apps and games across all devices running Windows 10, which now includes desktop, tablet, phone, and game console. And customers will be able to extend the functionality of the console with all kinds of apps — not just games –. Something that will certainly help the company to extend the lifespan of Xbox One, as customers will have more reasons to choose and use Xbox One over another game console.

Microsoft is also planning to merge the Windows Store with the Xbox Store, once the Universal Windows apps arrive to the game console.

Microsoft Xbox Advanced Technology chief Jason Ronald on a statement to Business Insider said: “First off, the Xbox One is going to get the ability to run those Windows 10 UWP apps later this summer, with the Xbox Store and the Windows Store getting merged into one. Furthermore, UWP apps are gradually going to open up over the course of this year to run the more advanced graphics settings that PC gamers demand.”

There are a lot of changes happening on Xbox One. In addition to Universal Windows apps support, the company has already added native support for cross-platform play to allow Xbox One and Windows 10 PC gamers to play together on Xbox Live. And even more exciting, Microsoft recently announced that developers now can also enable cross-network play. This means that Xbox One and Windows 10 gamers will also be able to play with players on other networks — primarily with players on the PlayStation Network, which is something Sony is also interested on implementing –.

It’s all possible thanks to the New Xbox One Experience (NXOE), which Microsoft rolled out last year and brought the game console operating system from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10.

Microsoft’s Build developer conference is happening on March 30th, and we’re expecting to hear more about the Xbox roadmap during the conference.

Source Business Insider

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.