Microsoft has confirmed multiplatform release plans for four first-party titles.
09.02.2024 - 10:15 / polygon.com / Phil Spencer
“We’re listening and we hear you,” Xbox head Phil Spencer wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, without being specific about what he’d been hearing. “We’ve been planning a business update event for next week, where we look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox. Stay tuned.”
There are a few things Spencer could have been talking about. These are turbulent times for Microsoft’s gaming arm, which in the past few months completed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the biggest game industry deal ever, and then announced 1,900 layoffs.
However, Spencer was certainly addressing mounting disquiet among Xbox fans after a series of leaks said that console-exclusive Xbox games made by Microsoft-owned studios would go to competing platforms.
The news cycle began early in January, with a rumor that Microsoft was set to release an “acclaimed” first-party game on a rival system. Consensus quickly settled on Hi-Fi Rush, Tango Gameworks’ lively rhythm action game, coming to Nintendo Switch. Swift on the heels of this came reports that Microsoft had considered releasing Rare’s knockabout pirate sim Sea of Thieves on PlayStation, and perhaps Switch.
The Xbox community was in an uproar at these reports, but this was just the start. On Feb. 1, files on cosmetics datamined from a Hi-Fi Rush update appeared to confirm that the game was indeed coming to both Switch and PlayStation. Then, over the next weekend, there was a deluge of reports about much higher-profile Xbox games going multiplatform. Starfield, the Bethesda space epic and last year’s marquee Xbox game, was said to be coming to PlayStation 5. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, probably this year’s marquee Xbox title, might also come to PS5 after a relatively short Xbox exclusivity window. So, unthinkably, might Gears of War, a series more closely associated with the Xbox brand than any other bar Halo. (There have been unsubstantiated rumors of the latter going to PlayStation, too.)
Xbox fans were upset, to put it mildly. Several Xbox influencers publicly pulled their support and posted pictures of themselves buying PS5s or singing eulogies (though it wasn’t always clear how serious they were being). It became imperative for Microsoft to respond, hence next week’s announcement, which is said to have been moved up from an original later date.
There’s no smoke without fire — certainly not this much smoke — so Spencer is expected to talk about Xbox’s broader platform strategy regarding first-party games. But it’s still worth setting expectations for this “business update.” Going by current reporting, Hi-Fi Rush is the only one of these titles that might be locked in for a multiplatform release. All the
Microsoft has confirmed multiplatform release plans for four first-party titles.
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Four Microsoft first-party games will launch on Sony's PlayStation 5 and the Nintendo Switch, the company confirmed late Thursday after weeks of speculation over its exclusive titles releasing on rival platforms. The announcement came on the Official Xbox Podcast from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, who also shed further light on the reasons behind Xbox's business decision and confirmed that the next generation of Xbox consoles were in development. Microsoft has not yet revealed the four Xbox exclusives coming to PS5 and Nintendo Switch, but The Verge reported that said games would be Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves and Grounded.
The last 10-days-or-so have been quite the roller coaster for Xbox fans. Team Green was thrown into turmoil earlier this month by rumors that everything from Starfield, to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, to even Gears of War may be going multiplatform. Granted, some of those rumors were later walked back, but still, the spectre of a third-party future for Xbox was raised.
If it weren’t enough that Microsoft detailed its plans for bringing first-party titles to other platforms (which doesn’t include Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle), it also discussed its next-gen hardware. Xbox president Sarah Bond promised the “largest technical leap” in a hardware generation.
Microsoft finally gave its fans an update on the future of its gaming business during the Official Xbox Podcast today. It clarified some of the speculation around its first-party games going multiplatform, explaining that this move only applies to four titles.
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Xbox's Phil Spencer has confirmed that two major Bethesda titles, Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, will not be going multiplatform. The announcement comes after recent rumors that the Xbox titles would be released on competing consoles.
Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty have hosted the latest official Xbox Podcast which was trailered to announce an “Xbox Business Update”. This follows days of speculation that many Xbox exclusive games might be going multi platform, such as Sea of Thieves, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Starfield. There were even suggestions that Xbox legends such as Halo could be heading to PlayStation!
Seemingly speaking to Xbox devotees worried by rumors that the core platform is getting thinner, Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer has committed to future hardware generations that "respect the investments that people have made in Xbox."
There was quite a bit of uncertainty for the Xbox brand last week. I’m sure you saw the nonstop flood of rumors suggesting that Xbox would see many exclusives leave the brand for other platforms. That also left concerns that we might see Microsoft’s gaming division imploding. We even had rumors that Activision Blizzard games might not even be coming to Xbox Game Pass. But that is not the case as Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty clears the air.