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 accompanying Xbox 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 without really addressing it in the podcast, by saying that the approach hasn't changed to exclusivity. This goal of reaching players anywhere they might be is unwavering, and it sounds like based on this statement that future first-party and other Xbox Studios games could make the jump to rival platforms.
What we do know definitively is that Game Pass, and the chance to play first-party titles on day one on Game Pass, will only ever be an Xbox platform exclusive. So while we might see games migrate over to Sony or Nintendo's devices, Xbox and Game Pass PC players - there are now 34 million of them out there - will always get the first crack at them.
"First, all of our games will be on the Xbox platform," Xbox's Matt Booty says when asked about the future of first-party and game pass. "Second, all of our games will go into Game Pass on day one. And third, we know that Game Pass will only be available on Xbox. So there's a starting point for us."
As to how this isn't a fundamental change to the overall Xbox strategy, Spencer points back to how the company has talked about getting their games to players wherever they are, and how it's part of a strategy that goes back a decade. From Play Anywhere, which allows Xbox games to be played on Xbox and PC without having to repurchase it on each device, to its investments in xCloud and more, this is just the next step in that process.
For those who worry about the future of Xbox hardware, Sarah Bond explained that the hardware is where you get the "most flagship, seminal experience of Xbox."
"It also represents a developer target. Our developers can build for the specs of our hardware, and we invest to make sure when they do that the games are going to run great on our hardware, but they're also going to be able to be accessed across any screen because of all the other investments we make."
You can check out the full podcast in the embed above to head the team's full thoughts. What are your thoughts about the future of Xbox? Let us know in the comments.
