Enterprise, start your Xbox: 'You will be able to run Office' on games console, says Microsoft

Universal Apps may be more universal than we thought, with an Xbox One store to come

The Universal Apps version of Microsoft Office will run on Xbox One, and the console is due to feature its own expanded, developer-led app store, Microsoft has told Computing.

Speaking to us at Microsoft's Build 2015 developer conference in San Francisco today, senior director of Windows developer marketing Emilio Salvador Prieto confirmed that the Xbox One platform stands to benefit more fully from Universal Apps than many had thought.

Xbox One can look forward - when fully outfitted with Windows 10 runtimes - to its own app store as well as, by the sound of it, a version of Microsoft Office.

"Some of the demos you've seen today show - while we haven't given a date yet - that yes, Xbox is running on Window 10, it uses the Universal Windows platform and then you'll see a Windows Store - One Store - also on the Xbox. So Universal Windows apps will run on Xbox," confirmed Prieto.

Computing asked if, theoretically then, any app a developer created could be pushed straight to Xbox One.

"That's correct. Any Windows Universal App will run on Xbox," replied Prieto.

However, it's important to note that - of course - no Win32-based apps will work with an Xbox One.

"You will be able to run Office as the Universal Windows platform version, but not a classic one," said Prieto.

However, as Computing dug deeper, Prieto admitted that there is no absolutely confirmed plan to run Office on Xbox One, as he backpeddled slightly:

"Office will have the capability to run on Xbox, but I cannot comment on other business groups' intentions," he said.

"At the end of the day, it's up to the developer."

But, asked Computing, isn't Universal Apps and this shared API set supposed to unlock the whole ecosystem of hardware to the development community?

"It's not what Microsoft is intending to do - it's now a reality," said Prieto.

"All form factors, multiple devices. A few years ago we only knew what a phone was, or a tablet. I think now those lines are burred. You can have an 8-inch phone and a 7-inch tablet, and all of a sudden there are sim cards everywhere."

Not entirely conclusive, perhaps, but if a Microsoft marketing man is willing to promote that possibility on record, it might be worth keeping an eye on the Xbox One app store.

Computing has been championing the productivity potential of the humble living room games console for some time now, and it seems - certainly in terms of the Microsoft story - that the chance of doing a day's work in front of the TV was never closer.