MS Play Anywhere is Digital Only

[scotland]

Here is one Dave may not appreciate. MS is setting up Play Anywhere where some games can be purchased once, played on Windows10 or the XBOne, and have a single save file. All the better to get gamers into their ecosystem.

Difference here is its digital only. Nothing hampers having a physical game and an online save file (many phones autobackup files and photos online as a default), but its for digital purchases only.

This comes at the same time MS announces its games will be on Steam. Together, its more signals of a stronger digital focus from MS.

[Steve]

I had not heard this but upon seeing this post, I looked it up. Probably a little misleading the way it was announced but personally I don't see anything wrong with it. To be honest, I'm not sure it's going to be utilized that frequently and I know even though I'm not against buying a digital game, I don't have a PC that is capable of running most new games (despite buying a new laptop 2.5 months ago).

[VideoGameCritic]

Sounds to me like a solution looking for a problem. How many people playing a game on their Xbox One wish they could also play it on their PC?

It reminds me of when Sony marketed the Vita as a way to play your PS3 games on-the-go, which was a tremendous flop.

I doubt this will amount to anything, or further the case for digital distribution for that matter.