Microsoft’s new ‘PlayFab Game Saves’ aims to boost cross-save compatibility between Xbox, Steam, and other platforms too

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PlayFab, from Microsoft, provides game developers with a complete backend solution – offering APIs, services, and tools to support many different kinds of games.

PlayFab started as a platform for online games, providing tools for managing live games, tracking performance, and handling in-game purchases. It’s since grown to offer features like unified player accounts, automated tasks, content management, and legal support to help games comply with changing global rules. And they’re still adding more!

As a tech enthusiast, I’m really excited about what Microsoft just announced: PlayFab Game Saves! This could be a game-changer for both developers and us gamers. Imagine being able to seamlessly pick up your progress on any device – PC, console, mobile – it’s a huge benefit, especially for those of us who play across different platforms.

Microsoft’s new Xbox handheld, the Xbox Ally, is designed to work seamlessly with Xbox Play Anywhere games – titles you buy once and can play on your Xbox console *and* on Windows PCs, with your progress saved across both. However, many game developers are choosing to release on Steam instead of the Xbox PC app. Generally, most games don’t allow you to save your progress across different platforms, and even fewer support cross-saving between Xbox, PlayStation 5, and Steam. Microsoft is trying to address this with its new PlayFab Game Saves service.

For over ten years, Microsoft’s Xbox Game Saves have been the industry leader in securely storing player progress and ensuring a smooth gaming experience for millions on consoles, PCs, and cloud platforms. Now, building on that success, we’re launching PlayFab Game Saves. This new service, informed by years of experience and feedback from gamers and developers, brings those same reliable saving features to developers working across different platforms, initially supporting Xbox and Steam.

According to Skewgar, the increasing popularity of handheld gaming led Microsoft to develop its latest PlayFab feature. He notes that players who use multiple devices and platforms are typically the most active and spend the most money.

As a gamer and tech fan, I’m really excited about PlayFab Game Saves. It’s going to be a game-changer for cross-platform play! Basically, it lets you seamlessly sync your game progress between your Xbox and Steam versions – no more starting over or dealing with complicated transfers. What’s cool is it works whether you’re online or offline, and it automatically handles any issues with different game versions. Microsoft is also building in some really smart cloud storage that’s supposed to be super fast at syncing everything. And if something *does* go wrong with a sync, they’re even planning to roll back to a previous good version, which is awesome! It’s all about making things easier for both players and developers, and I think they’re hitting the mark.

PlayFab Game Saves is now available in a limited preview for developers using PlayFab. You can request access through the PlayFab Game Manager, under the Progression tab, and join a waitlist if you have an existing PlayFab title. Microsoft recommends reviewing the documentation before getting started.

Microsoft announced that PlayFab Game Saves will be offered at no cost to all developers who release their games on Xbox, regardless of where else those games are available. Pricing for developers who don’t publish on Xbox will be revealed soon.

Currently, PlayFab Game Saves works with Xbox and Steam, and we expect it to expand to other platforms soon.

Xbox Play Anywhere remains king, but cross-save is the next best thing

I recently discussed how some major game publishers aren’t fully utilizing the Xbox Play Anywhere feature. Several new, high-profile games released on Xbox don’t support it, even titles like Borderlands 4 that would be perfect for playing on a handheld device like the Xbox Ally.

Xbox Play Anywhere lets you continue your games where you left off, whether you’re playing on your Xbox console or PC, and saves your progress in the cloud. However, it’s mostly smaller, independent game developers who support this feature. Major publishers like Capcom, EA, Ubisoft, and Take-Two don’t participate, and even developers known for being player-friendly, such as CD Projekt RED, haven’t adopted it.

Many game developers see potential in selling their games on multiple platforms, and some, like those behind Baldur’s Gate 3, Witcher 3, and Cyberpunk 2077, have already created their own systems to let players continue their progress across PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. While building these systems from scratch can be time-consuming, services like PlayFab could offer a helpful shortcut.

Offering the service for free to developers who publish on Xbox could encourage independent developers who currently prefer Steam to also release their games on the Xbox PC store. While Microsoft’s store approval process is generally more demanding than Valve’s, this kind of benefit could make Xbox more appealing.

As Microsoft prepares to launch devices like the Xbox Ally and other similar products in 2026, they’ll face growing pressure to ensure these new devices work well with existing Xbox games. While many current Xbox games won’t be compatible with the Ally, hundreds will be, and will even offer cloud save support. I believe making these devices fully compatible with the entire Xbox game library should be a key focus for Microsoft. This compatibility is a significant advantage over competing platforms, especially for dedicated Xbox players.

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2025-09-18 02:40