Xbox
Xbox is bringing 4 of its exclusives to PS5 and Nintendo Switch
One of Microsoft’s big plans is expanding its reach beyond Xbox consoles, and that starts with 4 of their games coming to other consoles. And no, it’s not Starfield or Indiana Jones. Yet
The future of Xbox has finally been unveiled, and it’s not as massive as rumors had it. Forget about the console going away, or something more fatalistic for the company: Xbox is planning to bring their games to PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch, starting with 4 as-of-yet-unmentioned titles.
“We’ve made the decision that we’re going to take four games to the other consoles,” said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer during the long-awaited Xbox Podcast where he and the other heads of Xbox discussed their plans for the future of the gaming division.”I do have a fundamental belief that over the next five or ten years exclusive games, games that are exclusive to one piece of hardware, are going to be a smaller and smaller part of the game industry.”
But what does this actually mean for Xbox exclusives? So far we don’t have any details about which games will be brought to other platforms but Spencer did specify two very important points:
It’s neither Starfield nor Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
The first games they’re bringing have all been released over one year ago, generally successful but with smaller (yet powerful) communities behind them. At least some of these titles are “service games”, which means the possibilities narrow down.
What we know is that Xbox and Microsoft want to ensure long-term success for both themselves and the industry. Therefore, this is their plan: expanding the communities by letting more players enjoy their games. The official blog post on Xbox Wire revealed that these are titles that 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.
While they did say that current releases are not part of this specific wave of games, Spencer didn’t rule out that it might happen later in the future. “I don’t think we should as an industry ever rule out a game going to any other platform.”
The most obvious choices for these games have then become some of the most wanted titles fans have been clamoring for in recent weeks: Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush are both beloved by Xbox fans. Besides that, we can only dream of what else might come to PlayStation, Nintendo, and whatever their consoles might be in the future. Here’s hoping that Rare Replay finally gets to escape the depths of Xbox so we can enjoy some classic Rare games again.