Party Microsoft Games “Absolutely” Coming to Xbox Game Preview

Xbox Game Preview is Microsoft’s own spin-off of Steam’s early access, a program that lets preview members beta test unreleased Xbox One games for a fee.

Hardware and software game-related revenue has been declining Japan, as last year’s numbers were the lowest in the past 24 years, and Xbox One is at the bottom of the gaming console list.

Not only does the Xbox branded drive allow you to backup and play games from it, it installs easily and is pretty much plug and play.

Titles now available on via Xbox Game Preview include The Long Dark, Elite: unsafe and Sheltered. Xbox Game Preview will undoubtedly be compared to its PC counterpart, meaning Microsoft will have to take larger steps to avoid these known issues.

However, unlike Steam, Microsoft wants to make sure Game Preview remains a curated service, “that the games that are offered through Preview are just as high quality as will eventually ship on the platform”. The things we try to avoid are crashes and unfinished code.

Although Microsoft’s plans for these events are unclear, Bidness Etc believes that new and upcoming games may be demonstrated to excite gamers for the premium gaming console.

The part about being able to finish the early build is particularly interesting, as it implies that the games will have a definitive end or some kind of conclusion. We’ve been very clear with developers and gamers both that this isn’t a viable means of funding development. Indie devs everywhere are eager to have their games featured on one of the first major wide-scale early access programs for games consoles.

“This exciting new collaboration with Microsoft Xbox is an important milestone for Seagate that will help us to reach a new audience, which has an insatiable appetite for storage”, Seagate director of product marketing Jeff Fochtman said.

I’m guessing it’s too late for the next Gears of War, or for Halo 5 – but we may well see Microsoft’s next big Xbox games a little earlier than we’re used to.