As Microsoft builds towards ROG Xbox Ally and a more ‘open’ approach to its gaming ecosystem, it’s begun talking about allowing users to access multiple storefronts on its devices, rather than just being locked down to the Microsoft Store. Well, that approach is being further realised in a new update for Xbox Insiders this week.
The team is introducing a new ‘My Apps’ feature for PC (and soon-to-be ROG Xbox Ally) users that brings wider games and apps together in one place. You’ll be able to see and access other stores like GOG, Steam, Epic Games etc. all together – as is evidenced in the image up above.
“Starting this week, Xbox Insiders enrolled in the PC Gaming Preview will be the first to experience the new “My Apps” feature in the Xbox PC App on Windows 11 PCs and handhelds. You can conveniently access your games and essential third-party applications, such as browsers, gaming utilities, or storefronts, all within the Xbox PC app.
My apps is a new tab within the Xbox PC app’s library that allows players to locate, view, and download third-party applications and most commonly used storefronts. By consolidating gaming apps in one location, this feature supports the new aggregated gaming library, making it more straightforward to find, download, and launch games from multiple locations.”
This will be a particularly useful feature when ROG Xbox Ally launches this October. With the system booting straight into gaming mode rather than standard desktop mode, accessing multiple stores would be a more involved process – but this new My Apps location will bring everything together in one place for more seamless switching between storefronts and ultimately, the games within them.
It also generally showcases Microsoft’s new vision of bringing everything together, whatever ‘Xbox’ device you’re playing on. We just saw the team implement its new ‘Play History’ feature as well – which brings up Xbox, PC and cloud gaming titles in your recently played games list across multiple devices.
