Microsoft's new 'PlayFab Game Saves' aims to boost cross-save compatibility between Xbox, Steam, and other platforms too

Microsoft's PlayFab platform is a collection of APIs, services, and tools that game developers can use to serve as a comprehensive backend for a variety of types of games.

PlayFab initially revolved around service-type games and online platforms, with robust toolkits for live operations, analytics, and in-game monetization mechanisms. Over time, PlayFab has expanded to include cross-network identity system features, automation features, content management, and offer legal frameworks so games can stay within compliance in an evolving global regulatory landscape. But it's not done yet.

Announced today, Microsoft is introducing PlayFab Game Saves, which could bring some massive benefits not only to developers, but also gamers — particularly those playing frequently across multiple platforms.

Microsoft's upcoming PC gaming handheld the Xbox Ally pushes Xbox Play Anywhere first, which represents a pool of games that are buy-once titles complete with cross-save and cross-progression across both Xbox consoles and the Xbox PC app. Many games, however, are avoiding publishing on Xbox PC, content to stick with Steam instead. The vast vast majority of games do not support cross-save compatibility in general, and even fewer support cross-save between Xbox, PS5, and Steam, but Microsoft's new PlayFab Game Saves aims to fix that.

For more than a decade, Microsoft has set the standard for player progression and reliability with Xbox Game Saves, powering the gaming experiences enjoyed by millions worldwide across console, PC and cloud," Product Lead Adam Skewgar explains. "That industry-leading foundation is now the launchpad for our latest innovation: PlayFab Game Saves. Drawing on years of operational excellence and feedback from game creators and players, we’re excited to bring these capabilities to cross-platform developers through PlayFab, starting with support for the Xbox and Steam ecosystems."

Skewgar explains that the "rapid growth" of handheld adoption has inspired Microsoft's newest PlayFab feature, emphasizing that the most engaged and spendy players are the ones who play across multiple devices and multiple platforms.

PlayFab Game Saves will allow players to sync their save files from Xbox console and Steam PC versions of games, promising to eliminate complexity for both developers and users alike. The system supports both online and offline play, and accounts for version conflicts and software dependencies. It also boasts "geo-aware" cloud storage solutions, which Microsoft describes as sporting "fast" synchronization. It will also in the future recover players who might end up with a poor sync state with version rollback support.

Microsoft says PlayFab Game Saves is available in a "limited" public preview now via the PlayFab Game Manager for developers. You can request access and join a waiting list if you have a title available as part of PlayFab, under the Progression tab. Microsoft is also encouraging devs to check out the documentation before going ahead.

Microsoft noted that PlayFab Game Saves will be available for free for any developer shipping their games on Xbox, even for versions not within the Xbox ecosystem. For games not shipping on Xbox, Microsoft says it will announce pricing at a later date.

For now, PlayFab Game Saves only supports the Xbox platform and Steam, but will doubtless hit other platforms too in the future.

Xbox Play Anywhere remains king, but cross-save is the next best thing

I wrote just this week about how many AAA publishers don't seem to see the value in Xbox Play Anywhere. Many recent AAA games launched on Xbox without Xbox Play Anywhere support, including the likes of Borderlands 4 — despite the fact these would be obvious candidates to play on the go via the Xbox Ally.

Xbox Play Anywhere is a guarantor of roaming progression, allowing you to take your Xbox or Xbox PC save files to consoles, to cloud, to PC — but it's primarily indie developers willing to support the system. Capcom, EA, Ubisoft, Take-Two, and many others refuse to participate. Even consumer-friendly developers like CD Projekt RED don't seem to be interested.

Many developers likely think there's an opportunity to sell copies of games multiple times, per platform. Fair or not, games like Baldur's Gate 3, Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and various others have home-grown cross-save solutions for those who want to take their games from PC to Xbox or PS5 and beyond. Building your own solution takes time, however, so maybe something like PlayFab could help bridge the gap.

The fact it's free for developers shipping on Xbox could also help Microsoft court favor with Steam-oriented indie developers who, so far, don't see any reason to ship on the Xbox PC store. Microsoft is notoriously far stricter than Valve when it comes to submitting products to its store front, but incentives like these can't hurt.

Ahead of the Xbox Ally and other OEM Xbox device launches I expect to see in 2026, Microsoft will be under increasing scrutiny for how well these devices "play nice" with the existing Xbox console library. The vast majority of Xbox console games today won't run on the Xbox Ally, although there are hundreds that will — complete with cloud saves on top. Closing the gap should be a top priority for Microsoft Gaming moving forward, in my view. It's a powerful differentiator over other platforms, particularly among those aforementioned highly-engaged players.