Microsoft has just published the much-feared and much-discussed official Xbox Podcast in which the company's leadership discussed the future of the platform.
Following over a week of over-the-top rumors and heated discussion, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, Xbox President Sarah Bond, and Head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty revealed some interesting news, but perhaps not as Earth-shattering as some expected.
Microsoft will deliver 5 formerly exclusive titles to other platforms. 2 of them are smaller games that were, according to Spencer, never built with the idea of driving exclusive console sales, and two are community-driven games.
While these games have not been named, and Microsoft will give the respective teams further time to get to the big release, we do know that they have all been out for at least a year and Spencer confirmed neither of them is Starfield or Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
According to Spencer, releasing the two community-driven games on other platforms will bring more players and enable Xbox to continue investing in them, while the smaller games will take advantage of other platforms to drive more business value, allowing Xbox to invest in possible sequels or other similar titles.
He also added that making these games multiplatform won't damage the Xbox brand.
If we don't damage Xbox and we can grow our business using what other platforms have to help us with that, we're gonna do that
The executive also said that there's "an interesting story" and brand value in releasing games on other platforms to get their users more interested in Xbox.
Spencer then mentioned that players on other platforms should not take it as some signal that all Xbox games will be coming, because it's not. That being said, he mentioned Microsoft will learn from the experience. He added that there is no fundamental change to how Xbox thinks about exclusivity.
In the meanwhile, Booty promised that first-party games will continue to be released on day one on Xbox Game Pass and Game Pass will remain exclusive to Xbox on consoles.
Speaking of Game Pass, Activision Blizzard games are coming to the service following the $68.7 billion acquisition. Diablo 4 will be the first on March 28.
Spencer explained that this isn't a change in the strategy for Xbox, as the platform has been all about letting players play the game they want anywhere they want for quite a while. He would also like to see the entitlement to multiple platforms when you purchase a game apply to more platforms.
He added that Xbox wants to reach the most players, as proved by the investment in cloud, Minecraft, and now Call of Duty, and this has been the company's strategy for the last decade.
It's not games in services of the device, but the devices that people want to play on that should be in service of making the games as big and popular as they possibly could be, because really, a healthy creator community on Xbox, a healthy creator community in gaming as a whole is the thing that all of us as game players should be voting for, because that's what will lead to long-term success and growth in this industry.
Bond explained that Xbox hardware will remain where players will get the most "flagship, seminal experience of Xbox." There are more creators building games for Xbox right now than ever before, and the executive teased that there is some "exciting stuff" in the field of Xbox hardware that will be announced in the coming Holiday season.
Bond added that Microsoft is also "invested in the next-generation roadmap" teasing the "largest technical leap ever seen in a hardware generation."
