Xbox has reportedly weighed up the idea of releasing Microsoft Flight Simulator and the next Doom game for rival consoles.
15.02.2024 - 21:08 / mmorpg.com / Phil Spencer / Sarah Bond / Matt Booty / Indiana Jones / Joseph Bradford
After weeks of speculation, and in some cases panic, by Xbox faithful, Microsoft officially addressed the myriad leaks that Xbox would be bringing some first-party titles to rival platforms. And, it looks like those leaks were indeed true.
On the Official Xbox Podcast, Xbox's leadership of Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty gave an update on the future of the Xbox business, addressing the leaks and giving a broad look at what changes are coming for Xbox fans. Part of this podcast recording was to address the leaks head-on it seems, but it also feels like the goal is to assuage fans who have started to question whether it's worth even buying into the Xbox ecosystem if future first-party exclusives aren't so exclusive anymore.
Starting right off the bat, Spencer addresses the idea of exclusivity, broadly saying that there hasn't been a major change to the «fundamental exclusive strategy,» but the team is planning on bringing four games to other platforms. Spencer declined to name the games, though rumors and leaks have pointed to Hi-Fi Rush, Starfield, Gears of War, Pentiment , and the upcoming Indiana Jones games as candidates.
Spencer does directly confirm that the four titles are not Starfield or Indiana Jones, so there's that at least.
«We're making these decisions for specific reasons,» Spencer said on the podcast. He continued, «We make every decision, really, with the long-term health of Xbox in mind. And the long-term health of Xbox means a growing platform, our games performing, building the best platform for creators, reaching as many players as we can.»
Via the accompanyingXbox Wire post, the company elaborated, stating that to «ensure long-term success for both Xbox and the industry as a whole, we must continue to evolve.»
«Today we announced that we will expand the communities we reach: we are currently in the process of bringing four Xbox games to other platforms. These are titles which have been available to Xbox players for at least a year, including hidden gems that deserve to be experienced more widely, and live service games whose communities will benefit from welcoming even more players. We will share more details on these titles soon.»
The blogpost also reiterates that, on the whole, there is «no fundamental change» to the company's approach to exclusivity.
What we do know about the games coming is that they will be live-service games, games that have «reached their full potential» on Xbox and PC and can have a chance to continue to grow outside those two ecosystems. This gives credence to the rumor that we could be seeing Sea of Thieves at least jump ship to PlayStation and Switch in the future, at least.
As far as how this affects future titles, Phil sort of addresses this
Xbox has reportedly weighed up the idea of releasing Microsoft Flight Simulator and the next Doom game for rival consoles.
A reliable Xbox insider has claimed that Gears of War, Flight Simulator, and the next Doom game to other platforms, although it seemingly hasn't made a decision about them just yet.
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.
Following today’s Official Xbox Podcast, Microsoft made its stance on first-party titles going multiplatform quite clear. While it will launch four titles on other platforms (rumored to be Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, Pentiment and Grounded), there’s no change to Xbox’s philosophy regarding exclusives. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer clarified that Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle aren’t among those titles.
In the new Xbox business update podcast, the company's leadership has confirmed that four of Xbox's ecosystem exclusives will be coming to rival platforms. The business update was a response to snowballing rumors of Xbox internally planning to go fully third party.
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!
During today's highly anticipated Xbox Podcast, Microsoft confirmed that while four Xbox games are going to other platforms, big titles like Starfield and Indiana Jones are remaining exclusive for now. Nevertheless, Xbox boss Phil Spencer believes that exclusive games are going to become much less important in the industry over the next decade.
It’s been confirmed that four games that were previously released as Xbox-exclusive titles are on the way to other platforms, although it’s not been explicitly confirmed which ones they are.
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.