It’s been confirmed that four games that were previously released as Xbox-exclusive titles are on the way to other platforms, although it’s not been explicitly confirmed which ones they are.
The news was revealed during the latest Official Xbox Podcast episode today (February 15), in which head of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, president of Xbox, Sarah Bond, and head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty, gave an update on the future of the business. This came after weeks of rumors of various Xbox games being considered for PlayStation and Nintendo Switch releases.
“So, we made the decision that we’re gonna take four games to the other consoles - just four games, not a change to our kind of fundamental exclusive strategy,” Spencer said. “We’re making these decisions for some specific reasons. We make every decision, really, with the long-term health of Xbox in mind. And long-term health of Xbox means a growing platform, our games performing, building the best platform for creators, reaching as many players as we can.
“We’re always looking to learn as a leadership team and to grow, and we think this is an interesting point in time for us to use what some of the other platforms have right now to help grow our franchises. So we’re gonna do that.”
Spencer didn’t name the four games in question, but confirmed that the teams behind them have “announced plans that are not too far away.” He also clarified that the lineup doesn’t include Starfield or Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - two games which were previously rumored to be in consideration for a multi-platform release.
Continuing, Spencer said that Xbox had looked at games that are "over a year old," and a couple of them are “community-driven games, new games, kind of first iterations of a franchise that have reached their full potential, let’s say, on Xbox and PC.”
Two of the other games, he said, are “smaller games that were never really meant to be built as kind of platform exclusives, and all the fanfare that goes around that.” These games reaching other platforms will “drive more business value” and allow the company “to invest in maybe future iterations of those, so sequels to those, or just other games like that in our portfolio.”
Spencer explained: “When we don’t damage Xbox and we can grow our business using what other platforms have to help us with that, we’re going to do that.”
He also added that there’s “no promise” of any other exclusives becoming multi-platform beyond the four games that have been planned, and asked players not to “take it as some signal that everything’s coming - it’s not.”
Looking for more games to play? Be sure to check out our recommendations for the best Xbox Series X games, as well as the best PC games for some top-tier choices.
