After a number of high-profile leaks suggesting Xbox is looking into porting a number of first-party titles to other platforms, Phil Spencer has taken to Twitter to clear the air. The head of Xbox tells fans that they should look forward to a “business update event” next week, though he did not provide details on exact timing or the nature of the updates. Considering the widespread coverage the rumors of Xbox games going to other platforms have gotten, it’s likely that this event will officially announce the news.
The full tweet from Spencer is as follows: “We’re listening and we hear you. We’ve been planning a business update event for next week, where we look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox. Stay tuned.”
The rumors in question include reports from The Verge that MachineGames is “considering” a release of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on PlayStation 5 sometime after the game launches on PC and Xbox. Other reports from XboxEra alleged similar plans for a PlayStation 5 port of Starfield that will release sometime after the Shattered Space DLC.
Xbox and Game Pass had a great 2023 thanks to an impressive line-up of games and bigger acquisitions. While many have theorized that acquisitions would lead to more exclusives, it seems likely that Xbox is actually planning on expanding the platforms where fans can play Xbox games. Going forward, Xbox could become more of a device-agnostic platform than a specific console ecosystem. By leveraging the library of Game Pass, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and the Xbox Series consoles, Microsoft makes it easy to play on Xbox—but not entirely necessary. Exclusives releasing at a later date on competing consoles just opens up another revenue stream for the company. Whatever Xbox has in store for us next week, it seems clear that the console wars as we knew them are a thing of the past.