Microsoft will bring four first-party titles to PS5, but it’s refusing to name which. Said titles will not include Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which will remain exclusive to Xbox and PC, until circumstances change. Xbox bigwig Phil Spencer, however, has seen the success of Helldivers 2 – and is struggling to see the advantage of the PlayStation-published shooter not being available on Xbox.
Will Xbox publishing on rival consoles spark a Revolution? | Opinion
07.02.2024 - 20:39 / gamesindustry.biz / Will
Do you remember the codename for the Wii?
It was called project 'Revolution', which was a surprising moment of hubris for a company that had been soundly defeated (again) by PlayStation. Not only had Sony trounced sales of Nintendo's console for a second consecutive generation, but it had also extended its lead and Nintendo had fallen further behind. The house of Mario had been defeated.
Nintendo needed to pivot to something else. Sega, following the Dreamcast, had pivoted to third-party publishing. Yet Nintendo had other ideas. It looked at its competitors, specifically what they weren't doing and who they weren't catering for, and went after that audience instead.
The Revolution/Wii was a huge success alongside its Nintendo DS sister product. When iPhone came along and started to cater for this newly found casual audience (more effectively and on a greater scale), Nintendo pivoted again, bringing its IP to mobile and building a device that sat somewhere between smartphones and high-end consoles (the Switch).
Some fans still bemoan Nintendo's reluctance to invest in higher specs with its hardware, but it lost that battle, and since it gave up going head-to-head with Xbox and PlayStation, it's managed to release three systems that have each sold more than 100 million units (and notably, three systems that outsold the PlayStation equivalent at the time). It was through failure that Nintendo reached greater heights.
Just like Nintendo couldn't in 2005, Xbox cannot beat PlayStation. We operate in a business where people are locked into their ecosystems. PlayStation is where their trophies are, where their high scores can be found, it's what their friends are playing on, it's where their digital game library sits… the amount of time, effort and money required to convince people to abandon one platform for another in 2024 is simply too high. Xbox has also been defeated.
So what does Microsoft's 'Revolution' look like? Whereas Nintendo took a hardware approach to finding new audiences, Microsoft is going deeper into how games are distributed and paid for. It's about things like Game Pass, smartphones, PC and streaming. Xbox believes that investing in these areas will help it find customers that Nintendo and Sony are not reaching.
(Obviously, as with Wii Sports and the Wii, the games themselves will play the biggest part in unlocking new audiences).
This vision doesn't just allow for Xbox games to come to other devices, it requires it. It's just the platforms it has been prioritising are those where it can build its own ecosystem. It wants the regulators to force Apple to open up its system so Xbox can have its own a mobile store. It wants to have Game Pass on as many devices as would have it. If there's an Xbox
The website gametalkz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Top Authors
Popular Topics
gamesindustry.biz
16.02.2024 / 17:23
Multiplatform Microsoft and a very different future for consoles | This Week in Business
This Week in Business is our weekly recap column, a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a dash of opinion (sometimes more than a dash) and intended to shed light on various trends. Check every Friday for a new entry.
gadgets.ndtv.com
16.02.2024 / 15:30
Next-Gen Xbox Will Be the 'Largest Technical Leap' for a New Console Generation, Says Microsoft
Microsoft shared new details about its plans for Xbox hardware, teasing the next generation of Xbox consoles and providing updates about its gaming business in a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast Thursday. While the company confirmed that four Xbox-exclusive games would launch on PS5 and Nintendo Switch, it reiterated its commitment to developing Xbox hardware and exclusives titles on the platform. In the podcast, Xbox president Sarah Bond said that Microsoft was focussed on delivering the “largest technical leap” for a new console generation for the next Xbox.
videogameschronicle.com
16.02.2024 / 14:19
Xbox has reportedly considered releasing Flight Simulator and the next Doom on rival consoles
Xbox has reportedly weighed up the idea of releasing Microsoft Flight Simulator and the next Doom game for rival consoles.
gamingbolt.com
16.02.2024 / 05:52
Diablo 4 Will Not Release for Xbox Game Pass Core
With Activision Blizzard now officially part of Xbox, it was obviously going to be only a matter of time before its games started appearing on Game Pass. That process is set to kick off on March 28, with Diablo 4 being the first game to join the service– but though the action RPG is joining the service’s catalog, it turns out not all subscribers are going to be able to dive in.
gamingbolt.com
15.02.2024 / 23:47
Next-Gen Xbox Will Deliver “the Largest Technical Leap” in a Generation
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.
gamerant.com
15.02.2024 / 23:30
Xbox Confirms 2 Big Bethesda Games Will Remain Exclusive
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.
eurogamer.net
15.02.2024 / 22:29
Diablo 4 will make a hellish addition to Xbox Game Pass this March
Diablo 4 is coming to Game Pass this March.
gematsu.com
15.02.2024 / 21:47
Microsoft bringing four games to rival platforms; Diablo IV coming to Xbox Game Pass on March 28; and future Xbox hardware teased
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.
videogameschronicle.com
15.02.2024 / 21:43
Xbox says its consoles will remain the ‘flagship’ experience and the only place for Game Pass
Xbox has pledged that its consoles will continue to be the best way to play its games, and that access to those games will not be removed in the near future.
gamingbolt.com
15.02.2024 / 21:25
Diablo 4 Will be The First Activision Blizzard Title to Come to PC and Xbox Game Pass on March 28
Microsoft has announced that, following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, games developed and published by the latter will finally be coming to PC and Xbox Game Pass. Kicking things off will be Diablo 4, which will come to the service on March 28. The announcement was made in the latest episode of the official Xbox podcast where the company wanted to talk about the future of Xbox.
thegamer.com
15.02.2024 / 20:27
Starfield And Indiana Jones Will Not Come To Other Consoles
It's been an odd couple of weeks if you're an Xbox fan, with rumors flying that certain exclusives will be making their way to other consoles such as PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Pretty much every Xbox exclusive you can think was rumored to be jumping over at some point, with Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and Sea of Thieves being the three games fueling most of the rumors.