Microsoft relies on some sort of whitelist database that appears to cross-reference the name of the executable at least to determine whether Auto HDR is enabled. For example, Outer Wilds supports Auto HDR on Game Pass but doesn't appear to on Steam. They are different software versions but I suspect it is mainly because the Game Pass executable is named Outer Wilds.exe while the Steam executable does not contain a space. I do not think it is possible to change a Steam executable file name without it being immediately repaired before launch so I cannot confirm but there are other reports agreeing with this.
Anyway, we should really specify which storefront or game version is supported because this isn't the only game doing this.