Xbox releasing four exclusives as multi-platform releases

And Phil's not naming them.

Four Xbox exclusives will be released as multi-platform releases on PS5 and/or Switch, Xbox head Phil Spencer declared.

“I’m not going to name those games,” Spencer said, frustratingly, citing that he “didn’t want to take anything away” from the development teams planning announcements.

Spencer did confirm that Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are not planned for release outside the Xbox ecosystem.

Continuing on, Spencer said the four titles had already had a period of exclusivity on the Xbox platform, and that players on PS5 or Switch shouldn’t take this as a sign that more titles will be released outside Xbox.

“We looked at games that are over a year old,” Spencer said. “They’ve been on Xbox and PC for a while. A couple of the games are community-driven games, new games, first iterations of a franchise that have reached their full potential, let’s say, on Xbox and PC. There’s always growth.

Spencer added that the titles — from what he’s describing, likely Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves — are “franchises that we obviously want to continue to invest in.”

Spencer also said that “two of the other games are smaller games that were never really meant to be built as platform exclusives”.

Assisting Spencer, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty said that games are now larger than a platform, citing examples including Fortnite and Roblox. He asserted that some Xbox titles will be playable only on Xbox in the future.

“To ensure long-term success for both Xbox and the industry as a whole, we must continue to evolve,” Xbox’s Jeff Rubenstein added on Xbox Wire.

“Today we announced that we will expand the communities we reach: we are currently in the process of bringing four Xbox games to other platforms,” Rubenstein continued. “These are titles which have been available to Xbox players for at least a year, including hidden gems that deserve to be experienced more widely, and live service games whose communities will benefit from welcoming even more players. We will share more details on these titles soon.”

As part of the recorded event, Phil Spencer admitted this announcement has been in planning since December, and was meant to lead with details of Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty took to the Xbox Podcast to make the announcements.