Microsoft Briefly Shared Xbox UI Mockup With Steam Integration

Microsoft just did something that’s driving more speculation about the possible integration of Steam games on the Xbox platform. Yesterday, the company published a GDC-themed blog post on its Game Dev blog that included an image of a new Xbox UI with a “Steam” label.

The company quickly removed the image from the blog post after The Verge asked Microsoft what it meant, but you can see it below. It shows a new Xbox UI appearing on a TV screen, a gaming handheld, and a tablet.

If you zoom closer, you can see the “Steam” label between the “Game Pass” and “Owned” buttons. The Owned and Action Adventure labels actually appear twice, which suggests that this is just a mockup image with some errors.

While Microsoft was quick to pull the image from its blog post, The Verge’s Tom Warren is reporting that Microsoft is working on an update for its Xbox app for PC that will make the game launcher display PC games from other stores like Steam and the Epic Games Store. “I’m told Microsoft is still in the early stages of this Xbox app update, so the company might never ship the feature to list all your Steam games, but this mocked up image shows how they might show up eventually,” Warren explained.

A game launcher like Steam already lets gamers add non-Steam games to their libraries, so Microsoft wouldn’t be doing something new here. However, Steam users need to add these non-Steam games manually in the app, and maybe Microsoft is working on a solution to automatically add games from other stores in its Xbox app for PC.

Regarding the possibility of Microsoft making Steam games available on Xbox consoles, you probably shouldn’t get your hopes up right now. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer previously suggested that the company may allow other game stores on Xbox, but it’s not clear how that would work in practice. First of all, it would threaten Microsoft’s 30% cut on all purchases on its Xbox Store. It’s also not clear how Microsoft would be able to continue locking multiplayer for paid Xbox games behind a subscription when this has always been free on PC.

The blog post that included this mockup image is titled “Opening a billion doors with Xbox,” and it didn’t mention Steam at all. It detailed the company’s efforts to deliver “seamless experiences across all screens.”

This commitment can be seen with Xbox Play Anywhere games, which can be purchased once and played across Xbox consoles, PCs, and gaming handhelds. Microsoft said that there are now over 1,000 games Xbox Play Anywhere games in its store with cross-save and cross-progression, and the company said that these games get 20% more play time than non-XPA games.

If Microsoft’s Xbox app for PC may soon make it easier to launch Steam games, the company seems ready to double down on its Xbox Play Anywhere initiative and its new “Stream Your Own Game” service, which lets Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers use Xbox Cloud Gaming to stream select games they own. “The initiative has seen impressive adoption, particularly in Latin American markets like Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, presenting significant opportunities for developers to expand their audiences,” the company said.