Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has confirmed that four Xbox exclusive titles will be making their way to other platforms, with the latter likely referring to the Sony PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. However, he did not mention the specific titles or date just yet, but hints that the games in question have been on Xbox and PC for at least a year.
“A couple of the games are community-driven games, new games, kind of first iterations of a franchise that have reached their full potential, let’s say, on Xbox and PC — there’s always growth, franchises that we obviously want to continue to invest in,” Spencer said during the latest edition of the Official Xbox Podcast. “Two of the other games are smaller games that were never really meant to be built as kind of platform exclusives and all the fanfare that goes around that, but games that our teams really wanted to go build that we love supporting creative endeavours across our studios regardless of size.”
Rumours are suggesting that Halo, Gears of War, Hi-Fi Rush, and Sea of Thieves would be among those being ported over to the PlayStation 5 or even the Nintendo Switch. Prior to this, it was also speculated that Starfield and the upcoming Indiana Jones game would make the jump as well, but Microsoft confirms these two titles would remain as Xbox and PC exclusives at this time.
On that note, Spencer adds that Xbox isn’t going to commit to porting other titles to more platforms beyond those four games just yet, and noted that not every exclusive will follow suit. However, he did suggest that his team is going to take notes based on the impact of the initial four games first and will decide on future potential ports from there.
In its latest Xbox Wire blog post, Microsoft wrote that bringing these games to more players would not only expand the reach and impact of those titles, but will also allow it to invest in either future versions of these games or elsewhere in its first-party portfolio. The company adds that despite the shift, there is no fundamental change to its approach on exclusivity.
Meanwhile, Microsoft Studios president Matt Booty noted on the podcast that Microsoft will continue to release its first-party games on Game Pass on their release date. He also assured that the subscription would remain as an exclusive to the brand’s Xbox console.
