Game news Starfield, Indiana Jones, the Xbox bombs on PS5, can we believe it? We settle the question!
This weekend, Microsoft’s ears were ringing badly. Several journalists claim that Xbox exclusives will soon arrive on “adverse” gaming machines. A strategic choice that is certainly surprising but which does not come out of nowhere either. We sort out the truth from the fiction for you.
Updated by Indee, February 06, 2024 at 09:11:25
During the night from Monday to Tuesday, Phil Spencer, boss of Xbox, announcement on x one “business update event” for the next week. “We look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox,” he explains.
Pardon ? Indiana Jones and Starfield coming soon to PlayStation? And could other Xbox exclusives (Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush) follow on Sony and Nintendo consoles? You read correctly. This first weekend of February was marked by the shocking revelations of several journalists whose reliability no longer needs to be proven. On the one hand, in the columns of The Verge, Tom Warren indicates that Bethesda plans to bring Indiana Jones and the Elder Circle to PS5 “a few months after its release on Xbox and PC” (based on a familiar Microsoft source). For its part, the site XboxEra – whose credibility we can further question – writes that Starfield is in the same situation. It should arrive at Sony “later this year” after the release of Shattered Space, the first major addition of RPG content in space. In the past, sources who have already proven their seriousness have also mentioned the study of the pirate title Sea of Thieves and the action-musical game Hi-Fi Rush on PS5-Switch.
What should we think about it?
But then, does this story hold up? We must already remember that Xbox has always claimed to want to go “where the players are”, whether on consoles, PC or mobile via “xCloud”. After all, the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King gave rise to an agreement which stipulates that Call of Duty, now owned by Microsoft, will be released for another ten years on PlayStation-Switch (even if Sony’s opposition campaign there is probably for something). And then, in the past, the American giant has already offered its exclusives to the competition. Ori and the Blind Forest and its sequel, although published by Xbox, were eventually released on Nintendo’s hybrid console. Ditto for As Dusk Falls on PS4-PS5.
In short, in a context where sales of Xbox consoles are lagging and where services – especially Game Pass – are doing like a charm, the answer seems obvious for Microsoft… Specializing in game publishing (with a monster portfolio since the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard) and therefore, logically, to ensure that its games are accessible on as many media as possible.
Moreover, Tim Stuart – financial director of Xbox – described not long ago a “change in strategy” where Game Pass would be available on “all screens on which you can play a game”. Man puts connected screens, mobiles, tablets, PlayStation in the same bag | Switch, which does not mean that there will no longer be any games 100% exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem! Obviously, this will be a case by case matter – but in a much broader perspective than in the past.
Rumor more and more credible
“A new multiplatform approach – for certain Xbox games – is emerging within Microsoft” notes Tom Warren. “The company is weighing the pros and cons of which titles will remain exclusive and others which will arrive on Switch or PS5 in the future”! Even if the journalist from The Verge mentions a strategy which is “not yet finalized”, a public announcement would be planned this month (as part of the PlayStation-Switch versions of Hi-Fi Rush). According to XboxEra, Microsoft has purchased PS5 development kits, fueling a sort of “general annoyance” internally.
Yes, in the premises of the American giant, this famous multiplatform philosophy would not be unanimously accepted! The Verge and XboxEra evoke an “intense”, “fierce” debate. “Microsoft senior management reportedly discussed various benefits | disadvantages of publishing a greater part of its exclusives elsewhere”, affirms the specialized media. “Not everyone is necessarily happy, but the argument that money is left ‘on the table’ by not releasing Xbox games on other platforms has arguably won out.”
Wouldn’t these be traces of the “console wars”? Probably not in the mouth of Phil Spencer, boss of Xbox, who until recently advocated a common path for all the major players in the industry. “Our plan is to contribute to the growth of the industry and, of course, to take our share of this growth” he explains on the microphone of the Guardian last June, right after the Xbox Showcase 2023. “If we’re just growing and Sony is shrinking, that doesn’t help anyone. Maybe if all we care about is Xbox’s success versus Sony’s success – but in industry terms, that doesn’t help Electronic Arts, or Ubisoft or Fortnite. It doesn’t help anyone if all we do is swap one client for another on a different console. The tone is set…