Microsoft to Discuss Xbox Business Updates on February 15th on Official Xbox Podcast

Xbox has reportedly weighed up the idea of releasing Microsoft Flight Simulator and the next Doom game for rival consoles.

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.

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 just released the latest episode of the Official Xbox Podcast, and it contained lots of crucial details on the future of Xbox. Microsoft addressed everything from how many games it will make multiplatform to the arrival of Activision Blizzard games on Xbox Game Pass to future Xbox hardware.

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!

Xbox president Sarah Bond has said the next-generation Xbox will mark the biggest jump in hardware capability we've ever seen from one console generation to the next.

Well, Xbox most definitely isn't exiting the console business any time soon, with today's business update absolutely squashing any speculation that Xbox Series X would be Microsoft's final gaming console.

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. 

Microsoft will release four games for rival platforms, two of which are service-based and the other two “smaller games that were never really meant to be built as kind of platform exclusives,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in a business updated-focused edition of the Official Xbox Podcast.

Microsoft today addressed recent reports and rumors about a change to its first-party strategy in an Xbox podcast presentation, confirming that a slate of four titles would be released on non-Xbox consoles.

Now that Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard is fully over the line, and its games now fall underneath the Xbox umbrella, questions have been raised as to when we can expect the publisher's titles to be added to Game Pass. Xbox made it clear that all of its first-party titles will be available to play on Game Pass from the day of launch, and Activision Blizzard and its studios are now considered first-party developers.