Resident Evil 7 supports cross-buy on Xbox One and PC

Resident Evil 7 biohazard is officially the first high-profile game not published by Microsoft to join the Xbox Play Anywhere program.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer finally confirmed our suspicions yesterday in a quick tweet:

RESIDENT EVIL 7 biohazard confirmed for @Xbox Play Anywhere – buy once, play on both Xbox One & @Windows 10 PC. https://t.co/yhcwjEnjla

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 18, 2017

Suspicions first arose in the gaming community back in November when developer and publisher Capcom confirmed that the game featured cross-save functionality, meaning that you could save your game on your Xbox and then go pick it up from there on your PC.

Building up a library

Resident Evil 7 joins Microsoft-published titles like Forza Horizon 3 and Gears of War 4 as well as a few indie games – Everspace and Astroneer – in the Xbox Play Anywhere program. You’ll be able to sync saves and DLC purchases between PC and Xbox One. This only applies to digital purchases, not physical, and only to purchases made through the Xbox One or Windows 10 digital storefronts. That means picking up a disc or buying it on Steam won’t net these benefits.

Microsoft is hopefully wooing other developers to follow Capcom’s suit this year. In doing so, they show a commitment to PC gaming and give gamers a reason to use their storefront over the countless other options out there. An Xbox gamer could find themselves pulled into PC gaming by their growing library of incidental PC games, while a PC gamer could eventually see an Xbox One as a why-not purchase since they have so many games they already like ready to play on it. It’s an idealistic view of a program that’s seen a few stumbles, but I love getting two games for the price of one, even if they’re the same game. I want to see more of this kind of thing.

Meanwhile, Resident Evil 7biohazard hits PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on January 4.