Xbox Play Anywhere leads to 20% more playtime activity, Microsoft says

Xbox president Sarah Bond notes that gamers are spending more time in games that are Play Anywhere, which has accelerated Microsoft's digital strategy.

Xbox Play Anywhere leads to 20% more playtime activity, Microsoft says
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Senior Gaming Editor
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TL;DR: Microsoft's Play Anywhere program boosts gamer engagement by offering one game copy for both PC and console, increasing playtime by 20% and player spending. This strategy supports Xbox's merged Windows-console ecosystem, enhancing game accessibility and driving long-term revenue through expanded Play Anywhere titles.

Play Anywhere is boosting playtime among PC and console gamers, Microsoft says.

Xbox Play Anywhere leads to 20% more playtime activity, Microsoft says 147
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Xbox is trying to boost two metrics right now: How much time and money that players spend in games. Subscriptions give direct revenue, and time spent is an investment that could lead to even more long-term sustained earnings down the line. To pull this off, and to prime its new plans for a merged Windows-Xbox PC-console ecosystem, Microsoft created Play Anywhere--a decisive deal that gives users access to both a PC and console version of a game for the price of one copy.

This gambit of giving out free game licenses is paying off. In a recent interview with Fortune, Xbox president Sarah Bond says that users are spending more money and a substantial amount of extra time playing titles that are Play Anywhere compared to those that don't support the promotion.

"When we actually looked at the player behavior of people who were playing XPA games, we saw that they were spending 20% more time. We said, 'okay, people actually really love this feature.'

"They actually spend more money in games and are more likely to play games that have this feature because they know they can take it with them across all devices.

"So based off of that, we started to invest more in XPA, amplifying the catalog, bringing gamers more things."

Microsoft is indeed amplifying the Play Anywhere catalog, having introduced a smattering of new games to the lineup in today's big Partner Preview showcase stream.

The pressing question is how relevant Play Anywhere will be once the new 10th generation Xbox hardware releases, considering reports say that the system will essentially merge game content libraries across Xbox consoles and Windows PCs.