Phil Spencer has just made an announcement that will shake up the video game industry. And not just a little! He stated that there is no “no red lines” preventing an Xbox game from being released on platforms like PlayStation ou Nintendo. Surprising! This means that the exclusives Xbox could well arrive on competing consoles. A turnaround for Microsoft which, until now, focused only on its own platforms.
It is thus a more open vision of the market. For what purpose? Reach a wider audience and not restrict yourself to the universe Xbox. This would mark the end of the closed exclusives that we know today. If this sounds crazy to you, Microsoft has already tested this approach.
Games like Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, et Grounded have already been launched on PlayStation et Switchand, according to Spencer, the results were more than positive. “I don’t see any red lines in our portfolio”he clearly declared. Microsoft therefore does not intend to limit itself to consoles Xbox.
But that’s not all. Spencer also discussed Microsoft’s ambitions in the mobile world. Xbox wants to diversify even more. As part of its partnership with Tencent, the company notably launched Age of Empires on mobile. The objective is to strengthen Microsoft’s presence in the mobile gaming sector. A market that continues to grow.
Furthermore, the question of Xbox portable was also raised. The Xbox boss suggested that the company is still considering developing a portable console. However, that would be in the distant future. Although this idea is still in its early stages, it clearly shows that Microsoft is exploring all avenues to diversify and not miss the next big market movement.
As for the future of exclusives, Spencer confirmed that as long as Xbox remains an attractive platform for gamers. The company will continue to produce quality games: “We are optimistic about the growth of our business on PC, in the cloud and in mobile games”. Clearly, Microsoft has no intention of slowing down its expansion.
All this to say that Phil Spencer et Microsoft are not there to go with the flow. They intend to shake up the established order, open their games to other platforms and diversify ever more. It can be said that the future of games Xbox no longer comes down to a simple question of consoles. The Redmond giant seems ready to do anything to reach more players, wherever they are, on whatever platform they use. A future full of surprises seems to lie ahead for Xbox fans.
