Microsoft hopes to boost Xbox sales, which have lagged behind Sony’s PlayStation console
San Francisco, U.S:
Microsoft shocked the video game world on Thursday by announcing that it would make some of its once-exclusive Xbox video games playable on rival consoles.
Xbox head Phil Spencer didn’t specify which games would expand beyond Xbox, but The Verge cited unnamed sources as saying they would be Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment,” Sea of Thieves, and Grounded.
“In the next five or 10 years, a game that’s exclusive to a hardware is going to be a smaller and smaller part of the gaming industry,” Spencer said in the podcast.
But he said Xbox would not change its “basic exclusivity strategy” and “makes no commitment” to releasing more games.
“So if you’re on other platforms and you see these four games coming, don’t take that as a sign that everything is coming. It’s not.”
The move comes as Microsoft looks to boost Xbox sales, which have lagged behind Sony’s PlayStation console, and increase subscription revenue from its cloud gaming service.
By throwing its weight behind software and subscriptions, Xbox may try to match the success of TV streaming giant Netflix.
Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo have long competed for console choice, releasing hit games exclusive to their respective studios or in partnership with other game makers.
In contrast, outside studios typically seek to attract the broadest possible audience of gamers with big-name games that can be played on all consoles and Windows-based computers (PCs).
“If the only thing worth reporting is that four small games are coming to multiple platforms, why does Xbox wait a week and bring the entire community to its knees?” wrote one Reddit forum member dedicated to Spencer’s podcast.
Another member of the forum believes this is just the beginning of Xbox games heading to PlayStation and other competitors.
“This is a big deal,” the forum member wrote.
“When they started porting games to PC, they said there would only be a handful of games, and look at it now.”
PlayStation Challenger
Mat Piscatella, executive director of video games at Circana, said Xbox is continuing its strategy of expanding access to games, especially those with larger and more profitable online player communities.
Piscatella warned that releasing smaller Xbox games in a similar fashion wouldn’t shake up the industry if big hits like Microsoft’s “Minecraft” and “Call of Duty” are still playable on a range of platforms.
U.S. spending on video game content, hardware and accessories will reach $57.2 billion in 2023, according to market tracker Circana.
According to Circana, video game hardware spending was $6.6 billion, with PlayStation 5 sales offsetting declines in Xbox and Nintendo Switch purchases.
Hogwarts Legacy is available on multiple platforms and was the best-selling game in the United States last year.
Serkan Toto, chief executive of Tokyo-based consultancy Kantan Games, said Microsoft’s Japanese gaming rivals Sony and Nintendo were unlikely to make similar moves in the short term.
“I don’t think Sony is under pressure to bring its exclusive hits to rival Microsoft,” Toto told AFP.
“Sony is already a multi-platform developer in a way because you can play several of their PlayStation blockbusters on PC.”
Forget that Mario or Pokemon ever came to PC or PlayStation: “Nintendo will never give up their exclusive games because their own games are absolutely crucial to the company’s image,” he said.
“Economic pressure has prompted Microsoft to bring its first Xbox games to other platforms… Microsoft has been the third-biggest player behind Sony and Nintendo for years, and now they’ve decided it’s time to make a big move.”
Sales of Xbox content and services grew 61% in the last three months of last year, according to quarterly earnings data, largely due to Microsoft’s acquisition of “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft launched a blockbuster acquisition in January 2022, which made it the third largest gaming company in the world by revenue.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
