The Xbox Beta app on Windows 10 just got updated to version 28.28 (for comparison, stable is 27.28) and while there’s no big changes on the surface, there’s an interesting change you won’t see right away. When opening up games in the Xbox One section of the store, they would always open in the app. From there you could access the game’s hub, see clips, and purchase it. Going to the Windows 10 section and attempting to open a game would cause the Windows Store to open instead.
Version 28.28 unifies that, with both Xbox One and Xbox 360 games opening in the Windows Store. It’s been possible to open Xbox games in the Windows Store with the right command for a long time, but it’s never been possible – and still currently isn’t possible – to purchase them from there. That’s presumably going to change.
There’s no reason for Microsoft to unify the store for games on the Xbox One and Windows 10 without adding the functionality to buy them from there as well. Currently opening them in the Windows Store will tell you to open up the store page on a device the game will run on, making it impossible to buy games from the Xbox beta app for now.
If Microsoft ends up adding the functionality to buy Xbox games from the regular Windows Store, it’s a change that makes sense, and is another step in unifying the company’s platforms. However, it’s worth noting that as this is an announced change in a beta version of the Xbox app, Microsoft’s plans could change at any time.
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