As Xbox moves away from exclusive games, studio boss Phil Spencer has said he is “not trying to move [PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch players] all over to Xbox anymore”, and wants to “allow more people to play” the company’s titles on other platforms.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer is no longer “trying to move [PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch players] all over to Xbox anymore”.
As the studio continues to move away from exclusive titles and launch its games on other platforms – such as ‘Indiana Jones and The Great Circle’, ‘Forza Horizon 5’ and ‘Hi-Fi Rush’ – the Xbox head has said the company now wants to “allow more people to play” Xbox titles on other systems.
During an appearance on the XboxEra podcast, Spencer said: “There are people – whether it’s their libraries are on PlayStation or Nintendo, whether it’s that they like the controller better, they just like the games that are there – and I don’t want to then look at that and say, ‘Well, there’s no way that we should be able to build a business there, [or] find fans of our franchises there’.”
The studio boss added that while Xbox would only recoup 70 per cent of game sales on rival platforms, moving its titles onto PlayStation and Nintendo Switch would help “build great portfolios” for its franchises.
He added: “I’m not trying to move them all over to Xbox anymore. We’re all so invested in where our games are, let’s just allow more people to play.
“And yes, the 70 per cent that we make on games on other platforms is helpful to us being able to build great portfolios, like we showed at Developer Direct, and I hope this will continue to show through the rest of the year.”
Even so, Spencer emphasised this shift in strategy didn’t mean Xbox would be moving away from producing hardware.
He said: “Obviously we make more on our own platform, it’s one of the reasons that investing in our own platform is important.”
Xbox head Phil Spencer ‘not trying to move PS5 and Nintendo Switch players all over to Xbox anymore’
