Summary
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has chimed in with his thoughts onXboxfirst-party games showing up on competing platforms like PlayStation and Nintendo.Xbox’sexclusivity strategy underwent a major change last year as the platform holder began porting its first-party titles to rival consoles, and the scope of this multiplatform pivot is set to expand further in 2025.
The first batch of Xbox first-party games to receive the multiplatform treatment consisted ofGrounded,Sea of Thieves,Pentiment, andHi-Fi Rush. Of these four initial titles, Xbox saw the greatestsuccess withSea of Thieveson PS5as the game reportedly sold one million copies on the Sony platform. Later in 2024, Microsoft announced thatIndiana Jones and the Great Circle,Doom: The Dark Ages, andThe Outer Worlds 2will also make their way to PS5 in 2025, with the latter two games being day-one releases.
Aside from what’s confirmed, rumors suggest that tentpoleXbox franchises likeHaloandGearscould go multiplatform in 2025as well. Many Xbox fans are understandably disappointed with the brand’s growing multiplatform initiative, but Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer believes it’s a good thing. In a recent interview with Gamertag Radio,Spencer advocated for Xbox’s multiplatform push, remarking that the platform holder won’t “put walls up” for gamers who want to engage with its first-party titles on other platforms.
Microsoft Gaming Boss Phil Spencer Supports Xbox First-Party Games Going Multiplatform
According to Spencer, “every creator out there” wants to build games that reach as many players as possible. However, with platforms like PlayStation and Nintendo still following the paradigm of console exclusivity, Spencer wants tobreak the mold with Xboxby allowing players to experience it in “different forms,” such as cloud, PC, handheld systems, and mobile phones. He then capped off his statement by confirming that more of Xbox’s first-party games will “no doubt” show up on PlayStation, Nintendo, and Steam in the future.
Spencer’s comments definitely lend further credence to the notion that Xbox is all-in on relinquishing console exclusivity. EvenXbox’s recent Developer Direct 2025 presentationshowed off just one upcoming Series X/S console exclusive -South of Midnight- with every other featured game confirmed for a PS5 launch. Interestingly, the Developer Direct also mentioned “PS5” explicitly under the available platforms forDoom: The Dark Ages,Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, andNinja Gaiden 4, which didn’t really happen in any prior Xbox presentation. The future increasingly looks to be multiplatform for Xbox, and only time will tell what it means for the brand’s next-generation hardware.
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.
