Microsoft Weighs Skipping Steam for New Xbox Franchises

Microsoft is reportedly considering a major shift in how some future Xbox intellectual property reaches PC players. After moving many Xbox Game Studios releases to Steam as a default distribution path, the company is said to be weighing whether certain upcoming franchises could skip Valve’s storefront entirely—at least for brand-new entries—without making a full retreat from Steam.

What the rumor says: new Xbox IP might be kept off Steam

The idea, discussed by Jez Corden during the Xbox Two podcast, is that Microsoft could “reserve” some future IP so it doesn’t launch on Steam. At this stage, it’s not an announced policy change—just a possibility being evaluated internally.

The rationale would be to make the Xbox ecosystem on Windows more compelling. By directing newer releases toward Xbox’s own PC storefront and supporting services, Microsoft could encourage players to spend more within its platform rather than letting Steam capture a share of each sale.

Focus would likely be on completely new projects rather than every existing franchise.
New releases could be positioned as “Xbox content” in the Windows ecosystem.
Benefits would include stronger promotion for the Xbox app on PC and higher engagement with PC Game Pass.

Why Microsoft may want to push players toward its PC storefront

Many players currently buy Microsoft-published games directly through Steam. That distribution model gives Valve a cut of those purchases and, in practice, reduces how central the Xbox storefront and Xbox app remain for PC customers. According to the discussion, holding back certain future IP could help Microsoft increase the number of users who install or actively use its Windows offering.

The rumor also aligns with Microsoft’s broader messaging that exclusive or ecosystem-focused content can be used to accelerate Xbox growth. In this framing, selectively limiting where new games are sold would serve as an incentive—especially for users already subscribed to PC Game Pass—to keep value within Microsoft’s own services.

This doesn’t necessarily mean Steam loses everything

Nothing in the discussion suggests Microsoft plans to remove current Xbox releases from Steam or stop publishing major franchises there. Games with large communities on Valve’s platform—such as Forza Horizon, Halo, Age of Empires, and Sea of Thieves—would be costly to abandon entirely due to the potential impact on sales and reach.

Instead, the proposed approach appears designed to be selective: new IP could be treated as Xbox-first content on PC, while established franchises continue to show up across multiple stores. That would let Microsoft test whether newer titles are strong enough to pull players toward the Xbox app and PC Game Pass without forfeiting Steam’s audience for its entire catalog.

What players should watch next

Even if the idea remains only under consideration, it becomes more important because it targets a specific problem Xbox is trying to solve: growing both player numbers and revenue while strengthening its platform and turning major games into global franchises. The key question is how Microsoft balances that goal with a strategy that could limit availability of some launches on PC’s biggest storefront.

For now, there’s no official confirmation of any publication policy change on PC. The only clear detail is that the rumor centers on reserving certain upcoming IP for the Xbox ecosystem—potentially leaving brand-new releases off Steam—while not necessarily touching older, already-established franchises.