Microsoft bringing four games to other consoles

Microsoft today addressed recent reports and rumors about a change to its first-party strategy in an Xbox podcast presentation, confirming that a slate of four titles would be released on non-Xbox consoles.

Xbox head Phil Spencer said that Starfield and Indiana Jones – two games that reports had named as multiplatform candidates – are not among the four titles, reassuring players that this is "not a change to our fundamental exclusive strategy."

Spencer said the individual game teams would make their own announcements about going to other platforms, but said two were community-driven titles, while the other two were smaller games "never meant to be billed as platform exclusives."

In either case, Spencer said they had reached their full potential on Xbox and PC.

"We don't damage Xbox and we can grow our business using what other platforms have to help us with that," Spencer said, emphasizing the need to grow the Xbox business and brand for the long run.

He added, "Looking forward, I think there is an interesting story for us of introducing Xbox franchises to players on other platforms to get them more interested in Xbox. We think there's a good brand value for Xbox there."

Xbox president Sarah Bond also appeared on the podcast to announce that Activision Blizzard games would begin to be added into Game Pass offerings, starting with Diablo 4, which will be added to the catalog on March 28.

She added that Game Pass now has 34 million members. Upon announcing a deal to acquire Activision Blizzard in January 2022, Microsoft said it had more than 25 million Game Pass subscribers. However, just three months later it had fewer than 22 million, according to internal documents released last September as part of the FTC's suit over the acquisition.

Bond also emphasized that Microsoft is still working on hardware for the future, saying the focus for the next generation is "delivering the largest technical leap you will ever have seen in a hardware generation."