Xbox boss Phil Spencer has addressed lingering questions around the company stance on physical media following last year's leaks of an «adorably all-digital» Xbox Series X refresh, saying Microsoft continues to be «supportive» of the medium, and insisting «getting rid of physical, that's not a strategic thing for us.»
Phil Spencer Isn't Happy With Helldivers 2 Skipping Xbox
16.02.2024 - 14:05 / thegamer.com / Stephen Totilo / Sony
If you're not happy with Helldivers 2 skipping Xbox, you're not alone. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has suggested that he wants the popular shooter to be released on Microsoft's console too, saying that he's "not exactly sure who it helps" for Helldivers 2 to be a PlayStation 5 console exclusive.
This comes as Helldivers 2 enjoys an incredibly successful launch on PS5 and PC, amassing so many players that it strained servers. Being a Sony-published game, we're unlikely to get an Xbox port, especially not anytime soon.
Spencer was asked about this console exclusivity in an interview with journalist Stephen Totilo, as spotted by IGN. Here, he's clearly not pleased with the PvE shooter skipping Xbox.
"I will say, when I look at a game like Helldivers 2 - and it's a great game, kudos to the team shipping on PC and PlayStation - I'm not exactly sure who it helps in the industry by not being on Xbox," says Spencer. "If you try to twist yourself to say, like, somehow that benefited somebody somewhere."
"But I get it," he adds. "There's a legacy in console gaming that we're going to benefit by shipping games and not putting them on other places. We do the same thing."
I'm not exactly sure who it helps in the industry by not being on Xbox
With all of that said, Xbox certainly does have the capacity to launch exclusives like Helldivers 2. Even ignoring all of its previous acquisitions, it now owns Activision Blizzard and all of the studios that came with it. While it isn't able to make Call of Duty an Xbox console exclusive thanks to the various deals it made to share each new instalment with Nintendo, Sony, and others, that wouldn't stop it from keeping any new IPs to itself, or even any of the other preexisting IPs that Activision Blizzard owns.
Instead, Xbox is increasingly moving away from making games exclusive as part of its ongoing strategy. Yesterday, it was confirmed that four Xbox games would be ported to rival platforms. While it didn't confirm what games will be included, it's widely assumed this means we'll see ports of Hi-Fi Rush, Grounded, Pentiment, and Sea of Thieves.
Xbox isn't sharing all of its games, however. It was also confirmed that it would be keeping Starfield and the upcoming Indiana Jones game to itself for the foreseeable future, despite rumours to the contrary. Still, it seems to be more open to sharing games than Sony is right now, and that doesn't look set to change anytime soon.
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