Xbox will publish four of its exclusive games on other platforms. This was announced by the company's top managers – Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond and Matt Booty – in an official Xbox podcast focused on the future of the business. This announcement has been a response to rumors that Xbox would stop having exclusives.
The CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, has made it clear: neither Starfield nor Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be launched on PlayStation 5. In addition, the company continues to bet on its traditional strategy with exclusive games and is working on a new console for the future generation. With these words, Phil Spencer has tried to calm the waters, later confirming that only four of his exclusives will be released on PlayStation and/or Nintendo Switch.
For now, it is an “experiment”. Those responsible for Xbox want to see what consequences it has to launch these four games on other platforms. But they are conservative and all their big franchises remain, in principle, on the Microsoft console and PC. “I don't think we should rule out games on other platforms, we focus on those first four games and we will learn from the experience,” says Phil Spencer.
Xbox has not confirmed which four games will come to other consoles. Although, following various rumors and using a little logic and intuition, everything indicates that they will be Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, Pentiment and Grounded. It is also not known which games will come out on PlayStation and which will come to Nintendo Switch.
Phil Spencer has emphasized that Xbox's strategy will remain the same: they are committed to having their own console, Game Pass and exclusive games. In fact, they have assured that, between 2024 and 2025, Xbox will launch 10 great first-party games, including titles such as Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, Avowed and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
On the other hand, Microsoft Gaming has also assured that Xbox Series X|S will have a successor since they are working on their next console. In addition, Game Pass continues to grow and has already reached 34 million users.
Another important news related to Game Pass is that all new Activision Blizzard games – this includes Call of Duty – will be published on the subscription service on launch day. Additionally, Diablo 4 will be added to the catalog on March 28. With all this news, Phil Spencer urges Xbox fans to pay attention to the event they will hold in July, during the traditional E3 dates.
Earlier this week, the president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Hiroki Totoki, announced in a meeting with shareholders that PlayStation will opt to launch its exclusives simultaneously on console and PC. “In the past, we wanted the console to become popular and that was the goal of first-party games. But now we see a synergy. “If you have solid first-party games, not only on our console but also on platforms like PC, first-party games can grow by becoming cross-platform and that can improve operational benefits,” Totoki said.
It seems that the sector is moving in the direction of blurring boundaries between consoles and platforms. At the moment, no large company has taken a firm step in this direction, but it seems that they are testing the waters. And it makes sense. Developing video games is increasingly expensive and launching them on other platforms serves to expand the potential audience and make it easier to make million-dollar investments profitable. We'll see where all this takes us.
