Many rumours circled the future of Xbox, and today, Xbox leaders Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty reiterated Xbox’s focus on growing the platform to reach more players across devices while still delivering the best experience on Xbox consoles.
The Future of Xbox Exclusivity
While a lot was discussed during the 23-minute podcast, the big thing that was on everyone’s mind jumping into the stream was the future of exclusivity. Thankfully, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming wasted no time addressing the elephant in the room and dove into how the plans for Xbox had changed going forward. “We made the decision that we’re going to take four games to the other consoles,” Spencer outlined. “just four games, not a change to our kind of fundamental exclusive strategy.”
Going on to explain that, “I’m not going to name those games. The teams that are building those games have announce plans that are not too far away.” Even still, when pressed, Spencer did clearly state that it would not be Starfield or Indiana Jones, so anyone worried they would have their tentpole titles on other platforms can take a sign of relief.
Even still, it feels clear from the discussion that the dates of Xbox exclusives as the main selling point may be nearing an end. As Spencer explains, “I do have a fundamental belief that over the next five or ten years, exclusive games—games that are exclusive to one piece of hardware—are going to be a smaller and smaller part of the game industry.”
Growing the Xbox Brand
With several major game launches slated for 2024, Xbox aims to grow the gaming market after a flat 2023. “It was an amazing year with some great launches, but it’s an industry that didn’t really grow,” said Spencer. It all makes sense why the leadership at Xbox and Microsoft would be looking for ways to expand the brand, even if they are playing games on other platforms.
One thing that was made clear throughout the podcast is that Xbox Game Pass is key to the platform’s future, with that being the main selling point of the brand. This includes making sure all first-party games on Xbox Game Pass day one, now including major Activision Blizzard titles. “I’m excited to announce that Activision and Blizzard games are coming to Game Pass starting with Diablo IV on March 28,” Spencer announced.
Xbox is doubling down on cloud gaming and features like cross-play and cross-progression as the industry shifts towards games spanning multiple devices. “We fully accept that we’re going to have Xbox players across all kinds of devices,” said Spencer.
Cloud gaming has fueled double-digit growth for Xbox users on PC and mobile. “We have the highest level of users on console, PC, and cloud ever,” said Bond.
The Future of Xbox
Xbox consoles remain central for delivering the premier player experience and as an easy development target for game creators. “Our hardware is where you get the most flagship, seminal experience of Xbox,” said Bond, also stating, “There’s some exciting stuff coming out in hardware that we’re going to share this holiday, and we’re also invested in the next-generation road map. And what we’re really focused on there is delivering the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation,”
It looks like exciting new hardware launches are planned for the 2024 holiday season. While it is a good sign for fans of the platform, it also looks like Xbox leadership is not closing the door on more games making their way to other platforms.
Much like they do with their Surface range of laptops, while you can experience Windows on other brands’ laptops, the flagship experience remains with the Microsoft branded products. It remains to be seen how this unfolds, but it looks like Microsoft wants as many people as possible to play Xbox games, even if they don’t own an Xbox or a PC.
What’s Next For Xbox?
At the same time, Xbox aims to respect gamers’ existing investments via backwards compatibility and entitlements that span devices. “Making sure we respect the investments people made in Xbox going forward is fundamental,” Spencer commented. Even though this is mostly good news for Xbox gamers, there was some shade thrown at the world of consoles. As Spencer explained, “If you listen to Lisa Su, the AMD CEO, she’ll say that AMD-powered consoles are likely to decline in 2024. I think there’s an amazing set of games coming in 2024, but if we don’t get to growing as an industry, the industry will struggle.”
Xbox has 10 games slated to release this coming year, contrasted with PlayStation detailing they will have no new major franchise releases before April 2025; this could be a time for Microsoft to show what the brand can really do. As Head of Xbox Game Studios at Microsoft, Matt Booty, stated, “This 2024, the year coming up, we’ve got more than ten major releases coming up. Great stuff! Hellblade 2, we’ve got the Diablo expansion. We’ve got Avowed, Ara, the Indiana Jones game, and there’s more in development, which I think we are going to be able to share more about at our June showcase.”
Ultimately, Xbox is positioning itself as the gaming platform dedicated to players first, enabling creator success through game pass, cloud gaming, and new hardware innovation. With major games slated for 2024, Xbox aims to resume the gaming industry’s growth trajectory. We will have to wait and see how this all unfolds, but with PlayStation still dominating in 4K console sales and the Nintendo Switch dominating overall, this looks like a sign that Xbox is looking to shake things up, even if it does not mean direct Xbox console sales.
