Xbox Early Access-style Game Preview will support first-party games

Looking to the future, Microsoft stressed that all cross-buy plans will be formulated on a game-by-game basis. It’s become far more community driven and far more incremental.

In fact, Loftis goes on to explain that if a game were having trouble reaching final release, as many Steam Early Access titles have, they might step in to help out, ensuring gamers a finished product.

Currently, Game Preview only houses games from indie developers.

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. Loftis said as much, adding that this will be one way to “extend the beta experience and also support development a little in the process”.

“We are curating that program very much with an eye for making sure that the games are high-quality games”. I think it’s important for us to engage. We’ve been very clear with developers and gamers both that this isn’t a viable means of funding development. Though, the internal storage gets filled very quickly if you’re an avid game and install a few heavy duty games. And then we have third-party publishing, Which is George Peckham’s organisation, we have ID at Xbox. Best Buy right now has an incredible Back to School deal that includes an Xbox One and a 40-inch Samsung Smart HDTV that are being sold together at a shockingly low price. Xbox Game Preview will undoubtedly be compared to its PC counterpart, meaning Microsoft will have to take larger steps to avoid these known issues.

This post originally appeared on Kotaku UK, bringing you original reporting, game culture and humour with a U from the British isles.