Summary
Microsoft seems to have confirmed thatXboxfirst-party games will continue to make their way to rival platforms PlayStation and Nintendo. A recent rumor claimed that the release cadence ofXbox’smultiplatform ports might have been slowed down or put on hold, but statements from Microsoft’s CEO supposedly suggest otherwise.
Ever since Xbox opened the floodgates with its multiplatform initiative in early 2024, there has been a barrage of rumors about which first-party games could make the leap to PlayStation and Nintendo. Speculation ranges from smaller Xbox games likeTowerbornegoing multiplatform to even the highly-anticipatedGears of War: E-Daylaunching on PS5. So far, four Xbox first-party games have made their way to PS5, and 2025 will bringDoom: The Dark AgesandIndiana Jones and the Great Circleto users on the Sony platform.
However, credible Xbox insider eXtas1s recently alleged that fan backlash toIndiana Jones' PS5 announcement apparently made Microsoftslow down future PS5 ports of Xbox first-party games. It seems that this rumor was quickly debunked, though, that too by Microsoft itself. In a newly-publishedannual letter from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadellaabout the company’s fiscal year 2024, he praised the success of the first four “fan-favorite titles” from Xbox’s multiplatform initiative, namelySea of Thieves,Grounded,Pentiment, andHi-Fi Rush, and interestingly concluded his quote with “we continue to extend our content to new platforms.”
Microsoft is Very Pleased With Xbox Games on PlayStation and Nintendo
This seems like a fairly clear indication that there won’t be any let-up in Microsoft’s plans to keep publishing Xbox first-party games on competing platforms. After the closing of the gargantuan $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard merger last year, Xbox is likely facing much heavier scrutiny internally for a return on investment.Sea of Thievesreportedly shifted one million copies on PS5, so Microsoft’s interest in further pursuing multiplatform ports doesn’t come as much of a surprise. However, there’s still the question of which Xbox franchises will remain closed off to PlayStation and Nintendo.
Finally, we brought four of our fan-favorite titles to Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation for the first time, as we continue to extend our content to new platforms.
Many will contend that the obvious candidates for multiplatform “red lines” areHalo,Gears, andForza, the first-party franchises most instrumental in popularizing the Xbox platform back in the 360 days. All of this depends on Microsoft’s belief in future Xbox hardware, though. If the tech giant reckons thatXbox’s rumored next-generation console lineupstill has a chance at mass-market adoption, it’d likely allow the prospect of walling off a handful of first-party franchises from PlayStation and Nintendo. Otherwise, Xbox may just be heading down the third-party publisher path.
Xbox Series X
Microsoft’s ninth-generation console, the Xbox Series X is a powerful machine that can support 4K resolution and 60 fps, depending on the game. Released alongside the Xbox Series S, the Series X has a Custom AMD Zen 2 CPU, a Custom RDNA 2 GPU, and 16 GB of RAM.
