Xbox to keep multi-platform course, Phil Spencer confirms

More Xbox games will come to other platforms

Microsoft

Microsoft pulled off what was probably its best showing during the annual summer gaming event season yet, presenting a Xbox Games Showcase filled to the brim with exciting titles and even a few hardware announcements. However, Xbox chief Phil Spencer soured the triumph a little bit – at least as far as Xbox fanatics are concerned. During a talk show appearance, Spencer said the current course of formerly Xbox-exclusive games coming to rival consoles will continue: “You are going to see more of our games on more platforms.”

Earlier this year, Microsoft brought four Xbox titles to PS5 and Nintendo Switch, among them Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush. Greeted with enthusiasm by owners of these consoles, the move has proved to be unpopular among Xbox fans, who fear that a lack of exclusives will eventually make the entire platform obsolete.

Spencer did not go into any detail on which games he was talking about, nor the conditions for these ports, i.e. whether he meant games launching on multiple platforms simultaneously or a variety of older titles getting brought to other consoles. 

Xbox rival Sony is currently playing with multi-platform launches as well, trying out simultaneous releases on PS5 and PC for live-service titles like Helldivers 2, but keeping its single-player titles as timed exclusives for its own console with PC ports down the line.

Freshly announced Bethesda shooter Doom: The Dark Ages will be coming to PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5 on Day 1, as was confirmed during the latest showcase, indicating that Microsoft won’t make the same strict differentiation between live-service and single-player releases. Black Ops 6, the next entry into Activision’s Call of Duty franchise, will launch on all platforms at the same time and with feature parity – that was one of the big promises Microsoft made during the Activision Blizzard acquisition.

The big draw into the Xbox ecosystem, Microsoft seems to hope, is the availability of all the games on Xbox Game Pass, allowing people to play them without making extra purchases – as was hinted at by Spencer, who emphasized people would have the option to “buy or subscribe.”