Xbox is going to bring exclusives to PlayStation and Switch, starting with four titles

Just as promised, today Microsoft uploaded the official Xbox podcast, with Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond and Matt Booty all sitting down to discuss ‘updates on the Xbox business'. Ignoring how odd it is to see something like this from a console maker like Xbox, we do get some much needed clarifications on recent rumours. Kicking off with the games exclusivity discussion, Spencer confirms that four first-party Xbox games will be going to PlayStation and Nintendo. 

Unfortunately, those four games that are going multiplatform have yet to be named as according to Phil Spencer, that would ‘take away' from title-specific announcements. However, sources speaking with The Verge have confirmed that the first two games going multiplatform will be Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment. Then later in the year, Rare's Sea of Thieves and Obsidian's Grounded will also head to PlayStation and likely the Nintendo Switch too.

Right now, Microsoft is just focused on these four games, but during the podcast, Spencer does also state that he has a “fundamental belief that over the next five to ten years, exclusive games are going to be a smaller and smaller part of the game industry”. It is worth noting that Sony itself has noticed a shift and is planning on bringing games to PC to boost first-party game sales too.

If this initial experiment goes well, Microsoft will no doubt consider bringing more games to multiple platforms but for now, the message is that Xbox will still have tentpole exclusives and for now, there are “no promises” about any other games going multiplatform.

KitGuru Says: I think the biggest games that will benefit from this are Sea of Thieves and Grounded. Both are fantastic multiplayer games and while they do have decent audiences on Xbox and PC, the boost from PlayStation and Switch owners could bring a huge boost. 

Become a Patron!