“ So let's address the issue of exclusivity, because I know it's on a lot of people's minds. The community gives us feedback, and that's important to us. We therefore made the decision to offer four games on other consoles, only four games, without fundamentally changing our exclusivity strategy. “, explains Phil Spencer. “ We made this choice for specific reasons. We make every decision with the long-term health of Xbox in mind. And the long-term health of Xbox means a growing platform, great games, building the best platform for creators, and reaching as many gamers as possible », he adds.
As this podcast was not initially scheduled, at least not for this day, Microsoft did not wish to confirm the identity of the games concerned. A bit of a shame to stop there, as the names of Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Grounded and Sea of Thieves have already come back insistently and stick to the description given by Microsoft, namely that these four games are a mix of ” nuggets that deserve to be discovered more widely ” and of ” service games whose communities will benefit from welcoming a greater number of players “.
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We at least know that neither Starfield nor Indiana Jones and the Elder Circle will be part of this first wave of deserters. The new beneficiary platforms are not named either, so we will have to wait for the individual announcements from each studio to know if we are talking about PlayStation 5 and/or Switch for this or that game. Only Hi-Fi Rush already seems sure to taste the joys of both PlayStation and Nintendo, thanks to unequivocal datamining.
“ And as they have reached their full potential on Xbox and PC, we see an opportunity to use other platforms as a way to generate more commercial value from these games, allowing us to invest in future iterations of these games or just other games of this type in our portfolio », adds Phil Spencer. In other words, it will be easier for Microsoft to justify the production of a sequel to Hi-Fi Rush if the latter sells well on PS5 and Switch. Which in return would also benefit Xbox players.
Actually, realistically, if you look at the addition of Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax, we are one of the largest game publishers on PlayStation. We're one of the biggest publishers on Nintendo Switch, especially when you add Minecraft into the equation. And now we are also one of the largest publishers on mobile platforms.
Another argument from Microsoft in favor of these ports is that of arousing players' curiosity about the Xbox platform. Especially since, this is obviously important, the Game Pass subscription is in no way envisaged on new platforms. “ When we don't damage Xbox and can grow our business using the other platforms to help us, we will. And that's really the story of these four games. The last thing I'll say about the future is that I think it's interesting for us to introduce Xbox franchises to players on other platforms to get them more interested in Xbox. So four games, no promises beyond that. So if you're on these other platforms and you see these four games coming, don't take it as a sign that everything is coming. This is not the case. And we will learn.”
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A simple market test, really?
So, 4 games and that’s it? For now, Microsoft is therefore presenting this strategy to the public as a sort of market test, but it is difficult to believe that the brand is taking the risk of making such a delicate announcement if it is not to go further. At the microphone of The VergePhil Spencer doesn't really know what to do when we ask him if games like Starfield And Indiana Jones will be able to free themselves later from the Xbox ecosystem. “ I think we should never rule out a game being released on another platform. We are focusing on these four games and learning from this experience. But I don't want to create false expectations on these other platforms by thinking that these are the first four to cross the barrier and the barrier will open and everything else will happen, that's not what is planned Today. We are launching these four games and we are very excited. We're excited about the announcement and everything else, but we'll see what happens for our business », replies Phil Spencer.
His lieutenant Matt Booty takes over. “ I think we can boil down the notion of first party to a few fundamental principles: first, all of our games will be on the Xbox platform. Second, all of our games will be included in Game Pass from day one. And third, we know that Game Pass will only be available on Xbox. »
Xbox Game Pass gained 9 million subscribers in 2 years
Like the obvious facts that Matt Booty feels obliged to hammer home, the report of the podcast appears to be a rather perilous balancing act in terms of damage control. On the one hand, we must explain to the most tribal fans why 4 in-house games will lose their exclusive status and on the other hand, strongly insist on the fact that the Xbox ecosystem will always be the ideal place to indulge in these titles. : because there is backwards compatibility, because there is crossplay, because there is crossave, because there is Game Pass, obviously.
A Game Pass which, incidentally, now has 34 million subscribers compared to 25 million two years earlier. A progression of 9 million subscribers which does not seem more impressive than that, even if we assume that this figure does not include Xbox Live Gold members who were automatically requalified in the Game Pass Core subscription. Microsoft also took the opportunity to announce that Diablo IV will open the way for ActiBlizz games in the subscription with a release on March 28.
The final word is obviously for Phil Spencer:
“ The best experience anyone can have on Xbox is the hardware our teams build and our players use. But this won't be the case for everyone. We have fully accepted the fact that we will have Xbox players on all kinds of devices. »
- Also read | Xbox wants to offer “the biggest technical leap ever seen” with its next generation of consoles