Today, Head of Xbox Division Phil Spencer made some announcements during Microsoft's Build Keynote. We've already reported that there will be a Universal Store across all Windows devices, but there's a lot more interesting information for gamers.

Cortana will debut on Xbox One soon, for instance. The gaming community really wanted to know Microsoft's plans on the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) though, and Spencer delivered the following speech.

Through the Universal Windows Platform, our plan is to deliver games that will run better on Windows with more predictable performance, more robust install/uninstall and servicing capability through a modern application platform and greater safety for users through a protected Runtime environment. We have heard the feedback from the PC gaming community loud and clear. We're working to ensure Windows 10 has a great game experience. We will be enabling the ability to disable VSYNC and adding support for GSYNC/FreeSync in May. DirectX 12 added support for new mGPU scenarios which work today for both Windows32 and UWP games. We're committed to ensure that we meet or exceed the performance expectations of full screen games as well as adding additional requested features, including support for overlays, modding and more.

Unfortunately, that means we'll be stuck with forced VSYNC at Quantum Break's release, scheduled for April 5 on both Windows 10 and Xbox One. On the upside, it looks like both overlay applications and modding should be eventually available on UWP games.

Spencer then proceeded to showcase a Desktop App converter which can transform any existing game package to a modern desktop application. This has been demonstrated on stage with popular games such as Age of Empires II HD and The Witcher III: Wild Hunt.

Microsoft clearly wants both developers and consumers to embrace their vision for a unified ecosystem. We'll see in the next months if their gamble will pay off.