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This is why there were no Windows PC games at E3 2014 

Microsoft had a far-brighter E3 than it did last year, but where were all the Windows PC games? Allow Xbox boss Phil Spencer to explain it to you.

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Speaking of Spencer, he just confirmed that this Microsoft destruction engine demo released in April was actually gameplay from Crackdown Xbox One. Go have a look, it's a bit nuts.

Speaking with Polygon, Spencer explained why there was a lack of Windows PC and Windows Phone games on the E3 2014 show floor, and during its conference.

"I'm head of gaming at Microsoft," he reminded us. "When we're doing gaming strategy, gaming focus inside the company, that's my job. I think in a lot of ways, you could argue gaming on Windows has never been more healthy in that the biggest of the big franchises, League of Legends, World of Tanks, those things dwarf a lot of what we're doing in this console space in terms of users and monetization. They're all on PC."

He added, "E3's a retail show. It's a retail show, it's a console show, so it didn't really feel like the right place for us to talk about Windows, but Windows and gaming on Windows is critical to Microsoft's success."

When asked where the right place would be for Windows PC games to be showcased, Spencer noted that games like League of Legends have their own championships and big eSports events. He suggested that there could be a platform at those fixtures to give Windows PC titles a chance to shine.

"For us, E3 is a console show and an Xbox show," he concluded, "and for us as Microsoft, Xbox is our gaming brand, and it's the thing we can fill an arena like this, we get millions of people to watch us on TV and we show our games and it's a brand that people care about."

Do you think that approach might work? Let us know what you think below.

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Dave Cook avatar

Dave Cook

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Dave worked on VG247 for an extended period manging much of the site's news output. As well as his experience in games media, he writes for comics, and now specializes in books about gaming history.
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