The Internet has been with rumors that Microsoft will begin releasing first-party Xbox games on competing consoles. The company has promised that it will share more details about its “vision for the future of Xbox” soon and this is expected to arrive on February 15. Phil Spencer to share “Xbox activity updates”.
The episode drops at 3 p.m. ET and will also feature Sarah Bond, President of Xbox, and Matt Booty, Head of Xbox Game Studios. These are three big names, so this could be a real barn burner for a podcast episode.
We don't know what the team has in store for us, but all sorts of rumors have flooded the web, from Rush to Hi-Fi comes to Nintendo Switch for Star Field And appearing on the PS5. It's somewhat unusual for one of the big three to outsource first-party titles to competing platforms, but it's not uncommon. Sony offers many of its biggest games on Steam and there are already former Xbox exclusives on the Switch, like Ori and the Blind Forest and its sequel.
Many fans, however, have used these rumors to fuel wild speculation that Xbox is about to get out of the console business altogether. That's not likely, even though the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles underperformed compared to the Switch and PS5. The company held an internal general meeting last week and Spencer reportedly told employees that it had no plans to stop manufacturing consoles and that Xbox systems would continue to be a large part of its overall strategy. .
Additionally, Game Pass remains a huge selling point for Xbox consoles, with a May 2023 survey. subscribe to the service. There were more and this number has probably increased since then.
Microsoft isn't really in trouble, even if you take the games division into account. In fact, the company's gaming revenue increased by a mainly due to the A recent earnings report showed revenue of $62 billion (up 18% from last year) and profits of $21.9 billion.
However, even with these numbers, Microsoft's gaming division continues to lay off staff left and right. The company from its Xbox, Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax (aka Bethesda) teams. If it's looking for the constant growth that modern capitalism demands, moving some of its most popular titles to other consoles isn't exactly the worst idea in the world. Either way, we'll find out Thursday afternoon.