author: Frozen
XONE Games Playable on Windows 10?
There are many suggestions that Microsoft intends to increasingly integrate its two main platforms – the Windows 10 Operating System and the Xbox One console.
At the beginning of February, Microsoft released the early build of the Windows 10 update number 18334, which was supposed to introduce new facilities for gamers, and those who tested it received a free copy of State of Decay. The title was released on PC and Xbox One, so everyone expected that as part of the test the volunteers would get a downloadable version for PC. As it turned out, these assumptions were wrong.
The first signs that something is not right appeared when you try to download the game. Instead of Microsoft Store servers (serverdl.microsoft.com), the title is downloaded from Xbox Live servers (assets1.xboxlive.com). The installer finds a .xvc format disk, which until now was used only by Xbox One, but Windows 10 does not see any problem - the file, as if everything is in perfect order, is installed on the system using the PowerShell utility. Once the process is complete, a classic DirectX installation window appears, which is not normally the case when installing games through the Windows Store.
Update 18334 also introduces a new application - Microsoft.GamingServices, which install two drivers on the computer: xvdd.sys, or XVD Disk Driver (Microsoft Gaming Filesystem Driver) and gameflt.sys, or Gaming Filter (Microsoft Gaming Install Filter Driver). The libraries xsapi.dll (Durango Storage API) and XcrdApi.dll (Durango XCRDAPI) are associated with them. One word is essential in this whole conundrum of libraries and drivers: Durango, the code name of the Xbox One console.
Everything seems to indicate that people testing the early build of the 18334 update downloaded the Xbox One version of the game, installed it and run it as if it was a normal Windows-based application. Microsoft strives to unify its platforms and to make their titles available in as many locations as possible (even with competitors). Thanks to the new feature introduced by the 18334 update, the company will no longer have to develop dedicated PC ports, as all Xbox titles will be automatically compatible with Windows 10. This way Microsoft will save money and the PC gamers will be satisfied. Especially if the change means that you no longer need to download games from the Windows Store.