Microsoft suggests Windows 8 apps may come to Xbox One
"Xbox One has two engines, it's got a gaming engine and it essentially has a Windows 8 engine."
Microsoft has suggested that Windows 8 apps may come to Xbox One.
During Microsoft's Build conference, designed to showcase Windows 8.1 to developers, Steve Guggenheimer, vice president of Microsoft's Developer and Platform Evangelism group, suggested the next generation console may support Windows 8 apps eventually.
"Xbox One has two engines, it's got a gaming engine and it essentially has a Windows 8 engine," Guggenheimer said, as reported by The Verge.
"Nothing to announce today, but when I talk about that common core you're seeing that common core in action, being able to target other devices over time that run the Windows 8 engine."
Guggenheimer showed a web app running on Xbox One before suggesting developers develop Windows 8 apps in order to build Xbox One apps.
"If you want to know about how to get a head start about thinking about developing for Xbox One, the logical thing to do is go build Windows 8 applications," he said.
Last week Microsoft announced it had signed a deal with the Unity game engine, popular with independent developers, that means any Microsoft Studios-published Xbox 360 and Xbox One games will have access to Unity for free.
But unlike Sony and Nintendo Microsoft does not allow studios to self-publish on the console. If Windows 8 apps do work on Xbox One, developers may have a way onto the console's marketplace without the need for a publisher.
Game-related Windows 8 apps include Skulls of the Shogun, Fruit Ninja and Cut the Rope.