Microsoft thinks UWP apps will help its mobile gaming plans

We are seeing more and more UWP (Universal Windows Platform) apps being released that can work, in theory, on a variety of platforms such as Windows 10. Windows 10 Mobile and the Xbox One. That "one app fits all" idea is something Microsoft hopes will boost its standing in the mobile gaming space.

In a new interview at PC World, Mike Ybarra, Microsoft's director of program management for Xbox, stated:

"I think what it starts with is what [we] call the UWP [Universal Windows Platform]. We're going to start with our strengths—there are millions of [Windows] devices out there, but it's not the hundreds of millions of devices that iOS has, and I don't know how many Android has—but it's a big number, right?""We can get UWPs on the PC and on the console—by definition the platform developers can very easily get it on the phone. And that's kind of the vision: Don't think about where you're at, build your game, do a couple of tweaks and you're going to see it run. Will you see Halo 18 run on this [phone]? No, so you gotta be smart about that. But we'll invest in the mobile space as well."

Ybarra also stated Microsoft's vision for mobile gaming also might extend to non-Windows platforms:

"And frankly, with Xbox, I want to focus on the gamer. So when I think about bringing Xbox Live to other platforms, we have Xbox Live on iOS and Android right now. Those are areas we want—if our gamers have those devices, we want them to be able to engage with our gaming platform, too."

Source: PC World

John Callaham