Which Xbox games are likely to come to PC?

Gears of War 4

There’s not much in the way of hard evidence indicating a PC release for Gears 4, but the biggest clue is the remastered release of Gears of War coming (presumably) sometime this next year. Why put out the first game, throw some marketing and money behind it, all for a remastered version of a game that didn’t even play out in full on PC? I’d bet it’s not strictly a friendly gesture, but a stopgap between the Xbox release of Gears 4 and eventual PC version.

Why it’d be best on PC: Unreal keeps looking better and better on the PC, and Gears 4 would no doubt follow suit. Throw in some long term support for a multiplayer mode and there’s potential to keep a player base longer than any console can.

Forza

Forza might have the haziest evidence. Back at GDC 2014, a DirectX 12 demo showed the ease with which games could be ported to the PC, and Forza was the guinea pig. It looked great, ran great, and sent everyone’s mind-rims spinning. We all leapt to the conclusion that Forza was coming to PC, and it’s not a completely unfair leap to make. If it’s easy to port, then why not port it? PR had to calm everyone down with Xbox exclusive incantations, and while there are no longer gobs of car hope rolling about, I’m still not convinced it’s impossible.

Why it’d be best on PC: Racing games do exceedingly well on PC, especially enthusiast racers that lean towards straight up simulation. Eccentric driving peripherals have a home on PC whereas on consoles they might not get official support. Give the fantasy PC version some cool car customization tools and watch the magic happen.

Quantum Break

Remedy Entertainment, renowned for Max Payne and Alan Wake, developed an exclusivity deal with Microsoft for their next game, Quantum Break. It’s no surprise why; the game was created in parallel with a TV series that later got assimilated into the game itself when Microsoft pulled the plug on its Xbox entertainment division. The game is a massive production, a risky, high concept narrative production and definitely needs the support it’s getting from Microsoft, it’s just that Remedy has roots planted firmly in PC gaming, and to see any game of theirs miss our favorite platform entirely would be a massive bummer.

Why it’d be best on PC:Quantum Break looks amazing. I’d love to see it in 2560x1440 at 60 fps. And even though I’m sure it plays just fine with a controller, just like Max Payne, it’s so much easier to pull of cool action movie stunts with the precision a mouse gives.

Crackdown

As per the Spencer quotes, putting Crackdown on PC seems in line with their new philosophy, just a bit late to the party. All we really have to go on is Microsoft’s changing philosophy, but it seems Crackdown would make a great PC game. Open world, destructibility, and mad modding potential. It’s hard to look at Crackdown and not think of Just Cause.

Why it’d be best on PC:Microsoft can’t ignore the lifespan an open world game like GTA gains from mod support on the PC. Though we’ve yet to see exactly what the new Crackdown will play like, we do know it’s going to be a destructible physics playground, which sounds like quintessential PC fodder.