PC gamers should be very familiar with the state of launchers on the platform. While the craze has died down in recent years, almost every major publisher has tried to offer alternate launchers and apps to show off their games as an alternative to the king of the bunch: Steam. This includes EA, Ubisoft, Epic Games Store, and of course, Microsoft with its Xbox app. According to a new report, and a suspicious image from the company itself, it seems the Xbox App is attempting to be more of a universal launcher in the future.
Spotted by The Verge, Microsoft had used an interesting image recently featuring the Xbox UI, seen below. The image has Microsoft's Xbox Series X|S consoles, as well as a Windows laptop, a handheld PC, and mobile devices on display, but when you zoom in on the UI on display, it features a "Steam" button right next to "Game Pass."
The blog post with the image had been one discussing how Microsoft is "opening a billion doors with Xbox", a recent write-up by Leo Olebe, VP of Global Partnerships for Game Developers Conference 2025. When The Verge had reached out to Microsoft regarding the mysterious Steam button, the company had quickly replaced the image with a different one entirely.
While obviously a mockup (with the same buttons appearing multiple times), the original image's suspicious UI is seemingly a teaser of what's to come, according to The Verge.
Per sources speaking with the publication, Microsoft is working on an Xbox App update for PC that will introduce the ability to see all installed games on the machine, including big hitters like Steam and Epic Games Store.
This is a feature seen in third-party launchers like Playnite as well as the GOG store's Galaxy launcher. Steam also offers the option to launch 'non-Steam' titles, but it's a manual process to add games and apps.
The ability to see all PC games is reportedly still in the early stages of development, according to the report. There is also a chance of it never seeing a release on the full version of the Xbox app. As with any report, take this one with a grain of salt until something official appears out of Microsoft.
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