Xbox to Bring Games to Other Systems

[Moonface]

Over the last few days numerous leaks and/or rumours have been coming out about various Xbox games going multi-platform, which could potentially include the following:

• Gears of War | Source: Jeff Grubb
  
• Halo | Source: New Job Listing
  
• Starfield | Source: Xbox Era / NateTheHate / Randalthor19
  
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle | Source: The Verge / Tom Warren
  
• Hi-Fi Rush
  

This slew of rumours prompted Phil Spencer to put out this statement today, which doesn't exactly put any of those rumours to rest:

We're listening and we hear you. We've been planning a business update event for next week, where we look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox. Stay tuned.

Source: Twitter

Responses to that statement are ranging from expectations that Xbox is taking a similar route to what Sega did when they used to be in the console business, to older and/or smaller Xbox titles going multi-platform in a manner similar to how select PlayStation games eventually make their way to PC. Whatever it is, this whole situation is definitely something to keep an eye on.


I definitely think they're going to go multi-platform to some degree here. If they weren't, they could have just come out and said that isn't happening while still announcing the update event for next week for whatever the news would be instead. I'm also going to assume the decision has been notably influenced by Microsoft execs who are looking to recoup the costs from the Activision acquisition, especially after Starfield didn't manage to shift the numbers that were expected of it by Xbox and Bethesda.

I'm not sure yet how I'd feel about Xbox going entirely third-party the way of Sega though. Nintendo isn't enough to keep Sony in check with things and we've seen Sony do some scummy stuff in the past when they got too cocky about being the market leader (and Xbox has been as bad with that infamous Xbox One reveal), and without Xbox there to make Sony consider their decisions in a competitive light I wouldn't trust Sony to not try and take advantage of being uncontested in the console space with stuff like shitty pricing models and whatnot.

I also wonder if the rumour about Xbox ditching physical copies of their games has any relation to this story too. There's little need for Xbox game cases on store shelves if Xbox becomes more of a publisher than a console manufacturer.

[Dragon Lord]

Whether or not these rumors end up being true doesn't really matter to me, since I'm not interested in any of the games involved, but man, watching the absolute meltdown Xbox fanboys are having on Twitter right now is hilarious. So many of them trying to rally fellow Xbox fans to message Microsoft/Phil Spencer and tell them that this doesn't need to happen.

If these rumors do end up being true, I can't wait to watch Starfield release on PlayStation just to flop for a second time.

[Moonface]

I can understand Xbox owners being concerned with the messaging of Phil's announcement, because there's such a wide range of outcomes that it could lead to and Xbox has a lot of players who have gone digital. It's really hard to tell what direction this is going with all of this to consider:

• How many games could be ported to other systems?
  
• Will games that get ported to other systems be older games, current games, and/or unreleased games?
  
• Are the games that get ported only going to be from Bethesda and/or Activision, or will IP's that were developed by other Xbox studios also be ported?
  
• Does Xbox intend to release another console like rumours as recent as two days ago continue to suggest?
  

[queenzelda]

Idk the writing has been on the wall for a while now. With a lot better games releasing to pc, Nintendo and Sony I didn't even see the point of owning an Xbox this gen when I can get any game from them, I want just on pc.

And don't get me started on gamepass, you're just renting the games digitally with gamepass, you own nothing. I think gamepass is a huge waste of money (for me). More so since there have been zero games coming out to gamepass that I don't care for. More so with games like Palworld that are just outright better on steam comparatively.

But yea, watching xbox fans crying over xbox basically giving up on exclusives is a bit sad, but in the end to them they would rather make the games available over a plastic box. So, whatever works I say.

[Dragon Lord]

I can understand Xbox owners being concerned with the messaging of Phil's announcement, because there's such a wide range of outcomes that it could lead to and Xbox has a lot of players who have gone digital. It's really hard to tell what direction this is going with all of this to consider:

• How many games could be ported to other systems?
  
• Will games that get ported to other systems be older games, current games, and/or unreleased games?
  
• Are the games that get ported only going to be from Bethesda and/or Activision, or will IP's that were developed by other Xbox studios also be ported?
  
• Does Xbox intend to release another console like rumours as recent as two days ago continue to suggest?
  

Well, if current rumors are to be believed, it will be every Xbox game. None of them will be excluded from being ported to other systems. There are a lot of rumors going around that even the next Halo game is going to be released on PS5 and possibly Nintendo Switch.

A newly found job listing and recent ongoing rumors suggest that the next Halo title might get released on all platforms.
The job listing for the role of Lead Game Systems Designer at 343 Industries explicitly states that The upcoming Halo title will be accessible "for all players, on all platforms."

Of course only time will tell if it will happen, but this job listing has Xbox fans melting down even harder than before.

[Moonface]

Well, whatever comes this coming Thursday it doesn't look like it'll be Xbox bowing out of the console race entirely, as Phil Spencer says Xbox is still committed to making Xbox consoles and told employees that Xbox's would continue to be part of a strategy that involves multiple kinds of devices. This came from an all-staff townhall meeting where Phil told employees that despite the rumors of games going to other platforms, it doesn't mean the company isn't committed to the Xbox console.

At this point it's basically all but officially confirmed that Xbox are going to port their games to other platforms. My guess is that Xbox's selling point now will be Game Pass alone rather than that plus exclusives. I just wonder how that will be sustainable though since reports are saying PS5 is outselling Xbox 2:1 and that's with Xbox still having exclusives to their console. Although I would love to see number comparisons for player counts on Xbox games that release day one on both console and PC to see whether that strategy has maybe been lowering the reason to buy an Xbox this gen.

[Moonface]

Xbox Business Update Details
The podcast for the business update announced last week for Xbox has taken place today, and finally clears up what is and isn't true from all of the recent rumours:

• Diablo IV will be the first Activision Blizzard game coming to Xbox Game Pass, which will be on March 28.
  
  
• More Activision Blizzard titles will come to Game Pass in the future, but what and when was not detailed.
  
  
• Four Xbox games will be going multi-platform, but were not named. However, each of those games have been available on Xbox for at least a year, "including hidden gems that deserve to be experienced more widely, and live service games whose communities will benefit from welcoming even more players".
  
  
• The goal of porting games to other platforms is to invest in future versions of those games or elsewhere in Xbox's first party studios, as well as expanding the reach and impact of the games that do get ported.
  
  
• There is no fundamental change to Xbox's approach to exclusivity.
  
  
• Game Pass will continue to only be available on Xbox consoles and PC.
  
  
• Xbox president Sarah Bond teased that Microsoft will deliver "the largest technical leap" with the next-generation Xbox.
  
  
• The next hardware for Xbox will be shared this holiday. This may be multiple devices as Phil Spencer said "[We're] really thinking about creating hardware that sells to gamers because of the unique aspects of the hardware."
  
  
• Xbox is invested in a next-generation roadmap.
  
  
• There is still a lot of work to do on the Windows side when it comes to handheld gaming PC's. Xbox is working with the teams at Microsoft who work on Windows to resolve this, but whether it ultimately leads to an Xbox handheld is unknown. It could just be for making Game Pass more appealing on PC to those who own handheld PC devices.
  

The full podcast and a more detailed statement can be read here: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/02/15/x...e-players/

---

I'm not sure why this needed a week to put together but it's significantly tamer than any of the rumours or week long wait were making it out to potentially be. Sea of Thieves is absolutely the live service game mentioned, and it would really benefit a game of that nature to be on more platforms than it currently is. Hi-Fi Rush is likely another game, and Starfield is bound to be one just to make back the development cost of that game, but I have no clue what the fourth title could be.

It seems pretty similar to Sony's approach to PC ports, except Xbox has to look at platforms other than PC due to already putting their games on it day and date with Xbox platform releases.

Note: I wrote the above before I found more details that were not written in the Xbox post but were said in the podcast, so if my words start to appear out of date anywhere that is why. I'd rather leave my original thoughts than edit them.

[Moonface]

I guess Xbox were waiting for yesterday's Nintendo Partner Direct to reveal the four games so that two of them could be announced within that Direct, and although the four games turned out to be what a lot of people expected and/or predicted here's what's coming to what platforms and when for anyone who didn't see all the news:

• Pentiment
  Coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch on February 22, 2024.
  
  
• Hi-Fi Rush
  Coming to PlayStation 5 on February 22, 2024.
  
  
• Grounded
  Coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch on April 16, 2024.
  Cross play will be supported across Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and PC.
  
  
• Sea of Thieves
  Coming to PlayStation 5 on April 30, 2024.
  Cross play will be supported across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.
  

I did initially wonder yesterday why Hi-Fi Rush wasn't announced for Switch, but rumors suggest it's being held back for Switch 2 because the game relies too heavily on stable performance due to the rhythm based gameplay and that couldn't be guaranteed on the Switch. I guess that's why it also didn't get announced for PS4 either and why it was never put onto Xbox One.

Seeing the cross play support, I immediately wondered if Sony were told "agree to cross play or don't get the games" because of how up their own arses they were about cross play back whenever that was a notable subject of discussion. That's probably not the case though.

Grounded coming to PS5 is nice though; I had interest in that game but doubted my laptop would run the game (I think I checked and it told me no). It getting cross play will be neat if @ShiraNoMai or anyone else gets a copy of the game, although I just realized I'd have to pay for PS+ again to make use of that whereas on PC it would be free...

[queenzelda]

I'm not much in to survival games, especially ones with huge spiders. o-o" No thanks. Still, none of the Xbox games releasing interest me but Hi-Fi Rush and I can just buy that on steam. 🤷‍♀️

[Moonface]

I'm not much in to survival games, especially ones with huge spiders. o-o" No thanks. Still, none of the Xbox games releasing interest me but Hi-Fi Rush and I can just buy that on steam. 🤷‍♀️

I know this won't sway you since the genre still won't interest you, but Grounded has an option to change the spiders into something else for those who suffer from arachnophobia. Looking it up to be sure, it turns out it's actually a slider that lets you choose how much spiders look and sound like spiders. If you put it all the way to max they become these weird little blob things that float around instead: https://gamerant.com/grounded-how-to-use...obia-mode/