Microsoft has confirmed multiplatform release plans for four first-party titles.
12.02.2024 - 22:28 / gamerant.com / Phil Spencer / John DiCarlo / Will
Xbox has announced that a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast will air on Thursday, February 15 at 3 PM Eastern Time. During the podcast, Xbox will address recent rumors that many of its exclusive titles will be going cross-platform in the future.
The surprising Xbox rumors have made shockwaves throughout the gaming community over recent weeks, as titles like Starfield, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Hi-Fi Rush, and more are rumored to be making the jump to competing consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Insiders speculated that the new strategy is due to Xbox's struggling hardware sales and the massive price of upkeep for Xbox's popular Game Pass subscription service. Xbox apparently hopes that the new cross-platform strategy will create a major new revenue stream for the platform, but it's important to note that this is still speculation at this point. However, the speculation will soon be confirmed or denied when Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer reveals the company's future later this week.
In a tweet, Xbox confirmed its Official Xbox Podcast for Thursday, which will include president of Xbox Sarah Bond and head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty, in addition to Spencer. Spencer previously stated that this week's update will share Xbox's «vision for the future.» It seems highly likely that the rumors are true, but the extent of the new strategy is still unknown. Fans may only see a couple of Xbox exclusives or a long lineup of them going cross-platform. Some worry that the new strategy will significantly devalue Xbox consoles due to other platforms, like PlayStation, keeping their first-party titles exclusive. The rumored shift in strategy seemed drastic enough that some wondered whether Xbox would stop making consoles altogether. However, Spencer allegedly addressed this possibility during a recent company town hall meeting.
According to a leak, Spencer confirmed to employees that Xbox will continue making consoles in the future. It's unclear whether this topic will also be addressed during this week's Xbox podcast. Rumors surrounding the development of a next-gen Xbox have been spreading as well recently.
An insider claimed that the design of Xbox's next-gen console has been assigned to Microsoft's Surface team. This possibility lines up with other claims that the future generation of gaming devices will include two products, a handheld device and a more traditional console.
Xbox's rumored handheld device followed rumors of a similar PlayStation device, both of which are likely some years from being released. It seems that the two companies' next generation of gaming devices will place much more emphasis on portability and cloud gaming, a trend that is rapidly taking off.
Wit
Microsoft has confirmed multiplatform release plans for four first-party titles.
During Wednesday’s Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase, we learned about two of the Xbox Game Studios titles that are going multiplatform. The games in question are Obsidian Entertainment’s Grounded and Pentiment, and the latter will launch tomorrow on Nintendo Switch.
Pentiment and Grounded have both been confirmed for a Nintendo Switch launch.
Starfield’s latest update has added support for AMD FidelityFXTM Super Resolution 3 and Intel Xe Super Sampling.
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.
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.
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!
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.