I recently purchased Forza Horizon 4 because it was about to be delisted from all digital storefronts. I bought the game despite the fact that I don't own an Xbox or a gaming PC. The fear of missing out on one of the best racing games of the last decade forced my hand, though a massive sale meant it was a small investment to secure the ability to play Forza Horizon 4 in the future.
But after making that purchase, I thought to myself, "this is silly. I just bought a game to make sure I can play it in the future... why don't I just play it now." I'm not rolling in cash, but I'm in my mid-thirties and have a stable job. I can set aside some money to game. It's not like you have to get a 4K OLED ultrawide monitor and a $2,000 gaming machine to play games these days.
We're all spoiled for choice when it comes to gaming right now. Just about anything with a screen seems to be an Xbox, at least according to Microsoft. There are also excellent gaming handhelds, regular consoles, and affordable gaming PCs aplenty. Throughout 2025, I plan to test different platforms and form factors to see which ones work best for me. I'd also love to chat with you all throughout the process to help me know if I should pick PC, Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch as my primary platform.
Gaming on Windows 11
Henry Cavill makes a strong case for PC gaming, the case being that Cavill prefers PC gaming.
Since I've covered Microsoft and related tech for over a decade, the first platforms I'm going to look at are Windows 11 and Xbox. I research them extensively, write about them regularly, and have colleagues who know more about gaming on those platforms than just about anyone. Why not take advantage of that to try things out?
While I don't own a gaming PC, my primary laptop is capable of gaming. It has an 11th Gen Intel Core i9 and an NVIDIA RTX 3060 laptop GPU inside, which are more than enough for the types of games I enjoy. Considering I don't have a gaming monitor at the moment, I don't think a more powerful PC would make much of a difference.
To be completely honest, my laptop probably could serve as my gaming PC. It certainly runs the games I've installed so far. But I'm hesitant to use a laptop for extended gaming sessions at my desk over a long period of time. My plan is to use this laptop to test gaming on Windows 11 and then if I choose to stick with PC gaming, I'll get a dedicated gaming desktop with better cooling (and a glass side with some RGB lights maybe 👀).
Steam vs Microsoft Store
So, with my laptop being my first foray into modern gaming, I had to decide which storefronts to use. I know I can use as many as I'd like to ensure the best deals and get the versions of each game that I'd like, but I'd prefer to not be spread out too thin. If I can keep my game library within one or two stores, that will be ideal.
Considering I bought Forza Horizon 4 already, I decided to try it first. That meant using the Microsoft Store. Ah yes, the ever-controversial Microsoft Store. Surely it could not be as bad as people have said. Or could it? My first time using the Microsoft Store for a AAA game in years did not go well. Downloading the game took forever, the first installation of Forza Horizon 4 failed entirely, and I had to do a bunch of clicking to get the game going. After the first installation failed, I had to organize installing all the DLC content manually. The initial installation gave the option to install the entire game and all of its DLC with a single click, but that wasn't the case the second time around.
After several hours of installation and reinstallation, I was able to get Forza Horizon 4 to run on my PC. It ran smoothly, was fun to play, and I caught myself immersed in a LEGO world within a virtual replication of the United Kingdom.
I'm currently testing a game controller, so I wanted to try the gamepad with a variety of titles. One of my favorite games of all time is Tales of Vesperia. I played it on the Xbox 360 and played it again on the Xbox One when the Definitive Edition came out. Sadly, Tales of Vesperia cost much more on the Microsoft Store than on Steam, so my dream of using one store has already come to an end. But at least for now, there's a chance I can stick with two stores, the Microsoft Store and Steam.
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition was only £6.99 through Steam. It's not a new game, so I imagine it will stay inexpensive for a long time. My first time using Steam for a real PC game was a much better experience than my time with the Microsoft Store. I did all of the following in less time than it took to install Forza Horizon 4 through the Microsoft Store.
- Install Steam
- Buy Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
- Install Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
- Find a save file online at the progression point I wanted to hop into
- Install that save file
- Play my new game for several hours
I'm aware that Forza Horizon 4 is a much larger game than Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition, but the process on Steam was just so much smoother than similar steps done through the Microsoft Store. I'll have to test more than two games, but Steam has taken an early lead.
Do you prefer PC or Xbox gaming?
I plan to keep gaming on my PC for a while, since I don't think I can pick a platform based on a couple games and a few weeks. But I can already tell that gaming of any kind will be a slippery slope in the budget department. I can already hear myself thinking, "I wonder how this game would look on an OLED gaming monitor." I suppose that's normal for gamers my age.
At some point I'll also look into Xbox gaming. I'll probably borrow an Xbox from a friend who has multiple or pick up an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S while they're on sale and then sell the console if things don't work out. In the meantime, I'd love to hear from you about which gaming platform you prefer. Why do you like your platform of choice? Are there common pitfalls I should avoid when getting into gaming? Is the Microsoft Store truly awful or was my experience an isolated incident? Please reach out to me on social media (@seanendicott.bsky.social on Bluesky). I'll dive in to learn from you all and shape my next piece.
