Xbox May Strengthen Its Brand by Putting First-Party Games on Other Consoles

Xbox Boss Phil Spencer has a new position in the company, and according to a recent Wall Street […]

November 9, 2017, 4:42pm

Xbox Boss Phil Spencer has a new position in the company, and according to a recent Wall Street Journal article (via ResetEra), he may be using his new position as an opportunity to project a new vision over the Xbox division of Microsoft. In an attempt to elevate the brand ever-higher, we may see first-party games eventually make their way to other consoles.

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The most notable part of the article states that Spencer’s new position will “give him more latitude to reach gamers on any device, rather than using gaming to make Windows more successful.” In other words, the focal point is no longer the Universal Windows Platform; the focal point is now fantastic games funded by, or created by, Microsoft.

According to the article, this new focus could one day result in Microsoft’s first-party games showing up on other platforms. This, apparently, is straight from the mouth of Spencer himself, who mentions the iPhone specifically, and even PlayStation 4.

Before You Get Too Excited…

Before you go telling your friends that Xbox is no longer making console exclusives, keep in mind that Spencer if very likely thinking of second-party, internal studios. It’s very unlikely that we’ll ever see anything like Halo or Forza show up on PlayStation 4.

If you want to see some potential candidates, think more along the lines of Minecraft. Minecraft is now owned by Microsoft, and it’s a huge game worth unfathomable sums of money, yet Microsoft made a point to get that game on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and mobile. Likewise, we could see games like Rare Replay, and Cuphead, which received publishing help from Microsoft, make its way to other consoles.

Sure it’s not Halo Reach on PS4, but it is a start, and it’s still a very big deal. Note that Spencer did not mention any specific timeline for Microsoft’s software outreach (that has a warm and fuzzy ring to it, doesn’t it?), so we’ll be sure to update you as soon as we learn more.