What you need to know
- Following weeks of speculation, Microsoft Gaming executives held a "business update event" for Xbox on the Official Xbox Podcast.
- During the podcast, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirmed that four Xbox console exclusive games are coming to other platforms. Two of the games are community games, and two of the games are smaller titles.
- Xbox president Sarah Bond noted the team is working on next-generation Xbox hardware right now.
- President of Game Content and Studios Matt Booty reaffirmed that all Xbox first-party titles are continuing to arrive day one on Xbox Game Pass.
The most hotly-anticipated episode of the Official Xbox Podcast is here.
During the podcast, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirmed that four Xbox console exclusive games are headed to other consoles. Spencer noted that Xbox is attempting to reach more players than ever before, and while it's possible future games go multiplatform, not every game will, with multiple exclusive titles still on the way this year. Spencer also namedropped Starfield, saying it is not one of the four games headed elsewhere.
Some of the games headed to Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC as console exclusives this year include Avowed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2.
While the games going multiplatform aren't named in this podcast, Spencer shared that two of the games are smaller titles that have stopped selling, while the other two are "community" titles with live-service elements. You can check out the full podcast below:
Why is Xbox adjusting its strategy like this?
Spencer indicates that these decisions are being driven with the goal of long-term health for the game creators in mind.
"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," Spencer says, adding that there's value in exposing a franchise to players on other platforms so that they might be more interested in Xbox as a whole.
Is Xbox Game Pass changing?
During the podcast, president of Game Content and Studios Matt Booty confirmed that all first-party Xbox games are continuing to arrive day one on Xbox Game Pass. Additionally, Xbox Game Pass will continue to be exclusive to Xbox consoles and Windows PC.
Activision Blizzard King games are going to be rolling out on Xbox Game Pass this year. The first title being added is Diablo 4, which is coming to the service on March 28, 2024.
As another bit of interesting information, Xbox Game Pass now has over 34 million subscribers, the first milestone update for the service since the team confirmed there were over 25 million subscribers while announcing the plan to acquire Activision Blizzard King on Jan. 18, 2022.
Is Xbox getting out of hardware?
Xbox president Sarah Bond shared that Microsoft is "really focused" on the next-generation roadmap for future Xbox hardware, with the team working to deliver the "largest leap" ever for a console generation. Bond also teased that there's some "exciting stuff" coming for hardware later in Holiday 2024.
When the topic of game preservation came up, Spencer added that he was incredibly proud of the team's work on backward compatibility, and that the team has compatibility in mind as a "tenet" when building future hardware generations in order to "respect" the investments players have made in Xbox consoles and game libraries.
