Microsoft

Sea of Thieves is already proving to be a huge success story for Microsoft and Xbox, both in terms of retail sales and Xbox Game Pass uptake. While critical reception of the game has been polarizing (to say the least), millions of players are flooding into the game, and seem to be having a whale of a time. Sea of Thieves was atop Twitch in popularity during launch, and it still remains a strong contender a week later, beating Minecraft, Rainbow Six Siege, and various other hugely popular games at the time of writing. Whether that trend continues remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain – it's clear that Microsoft has a huge opportunity with Sea of Thieves — one it can't afford to squander. I have to give a shoutout to one of our stream friends DipDipPotatoChip for drawing this comparison, but I think it fits Sea of Thieves more closely than any other game in recent years to help explain the divisive nature of the game. In the carnage of Christmas morning, some … [Read more...] about Microsoft simply can’t afford to blow the opportunity that is Sea of Thieves

Microsoft Store developers can now distribute their apps to a select group of people thanks to a new "private audience" feature in the Dev Center. The feature, Microsoft says, is meant to address feedback asking for a way to test an app or game ahead of its release while keeping it invisible to anyone outside of the test group. "This new option is available now to all developers and allows you to publish an app or game that will be visible only the people you specify," Microsoft says. "No one else will be able to see that the product exists in the Microsoft Store, even if they somehow have a direct link to the Microsoft Store listing." The private audience can be found in the "Visibility" section of the "Pricing and availability" section of your app submission. From there, you can choose to make the app private or public. If you choose to keep the app private, you can create a group of users, who must be authenticated with a Microsoft account, who are allowed to see the app within the … [Read more...] about Microsoft Store gets ‘private audience’ feature for developers to test their apps

Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of Ready Player One debuts this week in theaters, but if you want to step into the virtual world of OASIS for yourself, you'll be able to do just that at a number of Microsoft Stores. HTC announced today that 65 Microsoft Store locations, along with additional VR arcade locations, will have HTC Vive stations set up with VR experiences based on the Ready Player One universe starting March 29. Players will be able to jump into three different experiences: Battle for the Oasis, Rise of The Gunters, and Gauntlet. Here's how HTC describes them: If you already own a Vive headset, you can jump into these experiences now via the OASIS beta. If you're planning to dive in at a VR arcade or Microsoft Store, however, you can find a full list of available locations at HTC Vive's store locator. … [Read more...] about HTC Vive Ready Player One VR experience headed to Microsoft Stores this week