Xbox on PC has received several new updates today as it readies for the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally handhelds launching on October 16. These updates, however, will also be available on other Windows-powered handheld PCs, so the updates are not exclusive to the ROG Xbox Ally. The focus of the updates is to make it easier for users to launch and manage their games and apps in one place, regardless of storefront.
The new aggregated gaming library shows installed titles from multiple PC storefronts, including Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox library, Xbox Game Pass, Battle.net, and others. Any time a user installs a game from a supported storefront, it will automatically appear under “My Library” in the Xbox PC app, as well as the “Most Recent” list of titles in the sidebar. Naturally, users can control what they see in their library by toggling any listings they’d prefer not to see.
Users can find the aggregated gaming library under a new tab in My Library, so they can conveniently launch games from multiple locations without switching between apps. If you’ve been gaming on PC for years, you likely have games across several storefronts, like GOG and all the free games Epic Games Store offers each week. This aggregated library is ultimately one advantage over SteamOS. While you can install other storefronts on the Steam Deck, the process isn’t straightforward for some storefronts.
Xbox also announced that, with an update in late September, cloud-playable games and gameplay history will follow users across all devices. There will be a “cloud-playable” filter added to “My Games” so users can easily view their catalog of supported titles.
