Xbox Rips Off the Third-Party Band Aid, 'Expect Our Games to Show in More and More Places' 1
Image: Push Square

While it’s been obvious to anyone paying attention, Xbox is becoming increasingly platform agnostic.

A year ago, during its much-publicised “business update”, it talked carefully about four of its games going multiformat. They included first-party releases, like Sea of Thieves.

Microsoft stopped short of confirming any more games, but if you read between the lines, it was obvious more of its catalogue would transition to the PS5.

Since then, it’s announced DOOM: The Dark Ages, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and most recently Ninja Gaiden 4 for Sony’s system.

Subscribe to Push Square on YouTube166k

And in interviews, boss Phil Spencer is no longer being vague about the situation.

“We love our platform and our hardware but we're not going to put walls up where people can engage with the great games our studios are building,” he said on Gamertag Radio. “Whether it's cloud, whether it's PC, whether it's handheld, whether it's phone, whether it's PlayStation. Not just PlayStation, even Nintendo, we love what we do on Steam.

“So, expect our games absolutely to show up in more and more places.”

Spencer went on to explain that he believes the strategy makes Microsoft unique, and will empower creators who are eager to release on as many platforms as possible.

While that’s probably true, it does feel like business pressures have pushed the platform holder down this path.

When it initially purchased Bethesda, it immediately cancelled the PS5 versions of Starfield, Redfall, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Now it’s talking about removing barriers.

Spencer went on to talk about how excited his company is to support Switch 2, and there are lots of rumours of games coming to the Nintendo system, all of which will presumably launch on PS5 as well.

Among some of the releases touted include Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and more. It’s going to be a big year for Xbox Game Studios on PS5, we suspect.

[source youtu.be]