Four games previously released as Xbox exclusives have been confirmed to be on their way to other platforms, although it hasn’t been explicitly confirmed which ones they are.
The news was revealed during the latter Official Xbox Podcast episode today (February 15), in which Microsoft Gaming Head Phil Spencer, Xbox President Sarah Bond, and Xbox Game Studios Head Matt Booty provided an update on the company’s future. This came after weeks of rumors that several Xbox games were being considered for PlayStation and Nintendo switch releases.
“So we decided that we’re going to bring four games to the other consoles – just four games, no change to our fundamental exclusive strategy,” Spencer said. “We make these decisions for some specific reasons. We actually make every decision with the long-term health of Xbox in mind. And Xbox’s long-term health means a growing platform, our games performing, building the best platform for creators, and reaching as many players as possible.
“We always want to learn and grow as a leadership team, and we think this is an interesting time for us to use what some other platforms have now to help grow our franchises. So that’s what we’re going to do.”
Spencer didn’t mention the four games in question, but confirmed that the teams behind them “have announced plans that aren’t too far off.” He also clarified that the lineup does not include Starfield or Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – two games that were previously said to be in consideration for a multi-platform release.
Furthermore, Spencer said that Xbox had looked at games that are “over a year old,” and a few of them are “community-driven games, new games, kind of first iterations of a franchise that have reached their full potential, let’s say, at Xbox and PC.”
Two of the other games, he said, are “smaller games that were never really intended to be built as kind of platform exclusives, and all the fuss surrounding that.” These games reaching other platforms will “generate more business value” and allow the company to “invest in maybe future iterations of that, so sequels to that, or just other similar games in our portfolio.”
Spencer explained: “If we don’t hurt Xbox and we can grow our business using what other platforms can help us do, we’re going to do that.”
He also clarified that there is “no promise” that other exclusives will become multi-platform beyond the four planned games, and asked players not to “take it as a signal that everything is coming – it isn’t.”
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