Since Microsoft snapped up Activision-Blizzard and its entire network of development studios, it’s positioned itself—and Xbox—as the biggest third-party game publisher the industry has ever seen. Xbox head Phil Spencer’s recent comments in an interview with Gamertag Radio that future Xbox games might appear on other platforms like Nintendo and PlayStation have stirred quite the conversation. But when you think about it, it all adds up.
In the chat with Gamertag Radio’s Danny Peña and Parris, Phil Spencer was pretty clear: “I want people to enjoy the games we create and the services we provide across as many devices as possible.” He also said, “We obviously love our own console and hardware, and that won’t change for us.” This twenty-six-minute interview is packed with industry insights and a trip down memory lane, reminiscing about the glory days of the original Xbox and the Xbox 360.
Now, for those who might wonder why these statements are causing such a hullabaloo, let’s take a quick dive into console history. You remember Sonic the Hedgehog, the movie character? Well, he originally hailed from a series of classic video games that were exclusive to Sega consoles until Sonic Adventure 2 made its way to the GameCube. Sega’s final console, the Dreamcast, couldn’t keep up with Sony’s powerhouse, the PlayStation 2, and this shift ultimately pushed Sega into the realm of third-party developers—a space swiftly filled by Microsoft’s Xbox.
In the early days of developing the “DirectX Box,” which eventually grew into the first Xbox, there was some backward compatibility with Sega Dreamcast titles. This was partly because the Dreamcast had Windows CE compatibility. Although the final Xbox version didn’t retain this feature, it did see releases of several Dreamcast-era follow-ups, like Jet Set Radio Future, exclusively for Xbox.
Initially, Spencer’s remarks might seem like the last gasp of a struggling console maker, but Microsoft is a much bigger player than that. With Xbox now the top third-party game publisher, their strategy is more about getting games in as many hands as possible rather than locking players down to Xbox alone.
In Spencer’s words, “We want everybody to be able to play on Xbox and it does mean more of our games shipping on more platforms, not just PlayStation. We love the work that we do with Nintendo, we love what we do with Valve on Steam, and that’s going to continue.”
So, does this mean Xbox is heading down Sega’s path? Definitely not. Microsoft’s hefty resources have ensured they stay well within the game. However, as new Xbox consoles emerge, they’ll need to present unique offerings to lure gamers, especially with others like the rumoured “Switch 3” likely focusing on hybrid portability and PlayStation 6 pushing powerful exclusives, as is the console tradition.
While Microsoft’s vision for Xbox expands beyond just being a hardware platform to a broader ecosystem of games and services, they’ll need to tread carefully to maintain their identity. Because, as the saying goes, “When everybody’s on Xbox, no one will be.”
