Xbox had announced that they were going to sit down for a Business Update Event on the official YouTube channel and discuss some upcoming decisions, planning, and obviously the releases. On February 16th, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer, President Sarah Bond, and Vice President Matt Booty sat down to discuss everything that Xbox is going to do going forward.
There have been reports floating around for quite a while that Xbox has decided to make some of their exclusives into multi-platform games. This topic came up almost instantly, which speaks volumes about its importance for them to cover. CEO Phil Spencer admitted that it should be discussed at the earliest, citing that they have read the pulse of the fans who are eagerly waiting and speculating about the games that are going to go multi-platform.
He can be heard mentioning the number of games that are going to be multi-platform, which is 4. Spencer was asked about the names or titles of those games, but he dodged the question, stating that the team working on that aspect should be the one to decide when and how they want to do the announcement. It is confirmed by Spencer himself that the games will not be Starfield or Indiana Jones. Another thing to consider as confirmation is that, out of those 4 games, 2 will be established titles from the service-based games catalog. The other two will be smaller games that Xbox might want to support and promote to reach a larger audience and, in the process, generate revenue.
It is being speculated that the move has come after Sony’s similar decision to make exclusives go multi-platform. Sony’s President, CFO, and COO, Hiroki Totoki, announced earlier that Sony has taken the decision to turn exclusives into multi-platform games to increase revenue and overall economic performance. Sony’s decision follows reports indicating a significant decline in PlayStation 5 sales. Additionally, they announced that they are not going to release any new games from already running franchises in March 2025, which appears to be another reason. Helldivers 2 is seen as Sony’s first step towards this decision, as it was released both on PlayStation and PC with an option for owners of both systems to play with each other.
Similarly, Spencer hinted at a similar reason for this multi-platform decision, saying that they have made this decision keeping in mind the “long-term health of the Xbox”, which can easily be deciphered as monetary reasons.
He further provided insights into the minds of the gaming industry in general, which will undoubtedly spark more discussions on this topic. He estimated that in 5 or 10 years down the line, exclusives might be a thing of the past, and every major player in the industry will be making games that are multi-platform.
Looking at both major gaming giants opting for this decision makes it obvious that these giants are facing some concerns over their finances, and they want to steady the ship already.
How it will appear to die-hard fans of particular consoles is still to be seen. For the larger community of gamers, it will be a positive development, as it allows owners of any console to play exclusives from other consoles.
Activision Blizzard Announcement
Activision (Blizzard) is one of the major gaming creators and developers in the gaming world. In November 2023, a deal was made between Activision and Microsoft, which meant that Activision would come under the banner of Microsoft and Xbox. For the gaming community, it meant that the Call Of Duty franchise would be Xbox exclusive now. It is not the first time that Xbox has acquired a top game creator in the world. In March 2021, Xbox merged Bethesda under their umbrella. Bethesda is famously known for games like Fallout 76, The Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, The Evil Within, and many more. Mojang Studios is responsible for the game that has become a household name, Minecraft. Xbox has claimed that they have the biggest catalog of games than any of the console companies at the moment. Looking at the number of gaming studios bought by Xbox/Microsoft, they might not be wrong about that claim at all.
Earlier, it was announced by Spencer that Xbox would not be bringing any of the Activision games into the Game Pass spectrum for now, but I guess it has changed now.
Contrary to Spencer’s previous statement, Xbox President Sarah Bond announced during the event that Activision’s one of the biggest recent hits, Diablo 4, will be coming to Game Pass in March.
Diablo IV, properly written as Diablo 4, is an action-RPG game released in 2023. It quickly became a hit, and since the Diablo series has been around for a long time and loved by fans, this move is definitely a giveaway that Xbox is surely going to utilize the bonding right off the bat.
Xbox Working On New-Gen Hardware
While speaking on the podcast, Sarah said:
“We’ve got more to come. There’s some exciting stuff coming out in hardware that we’re going to share this holiday. We’re also invested in the next-generation roadmap. What we’re really focused on there is delivering the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation, which makes it better for players and better for creators and the visions that they’re building.”
It seems that Xbox is already looking ahead and working on next-generation hardware, which in their words will be the “largest technical leap” ever seen by people.
There are a lot of speculations as to what that hardware could be. One possible answer could be that they are working on a handheld device. While speaking to The Verge reporters, CEO Spencer said that he is proud of the work their hardware team is doing. He specifically said that the company is aiming to create a “unique” hardware that will unleash the creative capability of their hardware team.
The Verge reports that the device or hardware in question could be a handheld device. Suspicions are growing after Spencer’s activity on X social media platform. He has been liking posts on X that point to handheld gaming devices.
Apart from this, reports suggest that they might be enhancing the overall Xbox experience by introducing other hardware such as consoles or newer versions of the Xbox console as well. However, these are just speculations for now.
Backward Compatibility
Sarah and Spencer both were touching upon the subject of backward compatibility that is being looked into and worked upon. Spencer, in particular, stated they are inspired by the backward compatibility of PC. He stated that the PC system can play games of past eras and generations, and it is not easy to replicate that on the Xbox. But they are hoping to solve this issue and are aiming for a system or an update which can allow gamers to play their favorite games of the past. How they are going to do this is still to be seen.
So, these were the major topics discussed, and some hints dropped at the Xbox Business Event Podcast.
Keep tuning in for more updates on Xbox activities right here at our corner!
