Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox is spreading the wealth by rolling out a handful of its previously Xbox-exclusive games to Sony’s (SONY) PlayStation and Nintendo’s (NTDOY) Switch. The announcement came in the form of a podcast hosted by Xbox chief Phil Spencer, Xbox president Sarah Bond, and Xbox studio head Matt Booty.
During the announcement, Spencer said Microsoft will be bringing four titles to other consoles, though he stopped short of giving the names of the games, saying that he wanted to leave it to the individual developer studios to announce them.
He did, however, say that two of the games are over a year old, community-driven, and franchises that have reached their peak on Xbox and PC. The other two games are smaller games that were never really built to be platform exclusive.
Spencer also said that neither Xbox's upcoming "Indiana Jones" game nor the existing "Starfield" will be going to other consoles.
The idea of moving first-party Xbox titles to other platforms riled up Xbox fans, who feared that it would be a death knell for Microsoft's gaming franchise. But according to Spencer, that's not the case.
"[This is] not a change to fundamental exclusive strategy. [We're] making these decisions for some specific reasons. Every decision with the long-term health of Xbox in mind," Spencer said.
Importantly, Booty said that Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass gaming subscription service will not be going to other consoles. And according to Bond, Game Pass is getting an upgrade with the addition of Activision Blizzard games, starting with "Diablo IV."
First-party console exclusives have been a staple of the gaming industry for decades and serve as a lure for console makers to draw potential customers to their boxes. Sony has a long history of successful first-party titles, including the “God of War,” “The Last of Us,” “Uncharted,” and the “Horizon” series, while Nintendo has its “Super Mario Bros.,” “Zelda,” “Metroid,” and “Mario Kart” series.
Microsoft also offers its fair share of first-party titles, including “Halo,” “Forza,” and “Gears of War,” but they aren’t the kind of console movers that Sony and Nintendo have on deck. As a result, the Xbox has generally been locked in third place in terms of sales behind Sony and Nintendo.
In its latest earnings release, Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) said Sony and Microsoft sold 77 million so-called “9th generation” consoles, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, as of Dec. 31, 2023. While Microsoft doesn’t provide console sales figures, Sony does.
In the company’s latest earnings, Sony said it sold 50 million PlayStation 5 consoles from its launch in 2020 through Dec. 31, 2023. That leaves Microsoft, which launched the Xbox in 2020, with roughly 27 million units sold. Nintendo, meanwhile, has sold a staggering 139 million Switch consoles since it debuted in 2017.
Spencer, however, doesn't seem concerned about games' exclusivity, saying it's a shrinking trend.
"Over the next five to 10 years, exclusive games are going to be a smaller and smaller part of the games industry," he said.
Microsoft’s gaming division has become a juggernaut since its $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard sent the business soaring. In its most recent quarter, the tech giant reported total revenue of $62 billion. Some $23.9 billion came from Microsoft’s server products and cloud services, while $13.5 billion came from Office products and cloud services.
Roughly $7 billion came from gaming, while $5 billion came from its Windows products.
And although Microsoft hasn't been as successful in terms of its collection of first-party titles, it has done exceptionally well with its Game Pass service. According to the company's latest numbers, 34 million games across PC and Xbox subscribe to Game Pass, which costs $9.99 for the standard version and $16.99 for the Ultimate version.
Daniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. He's been covering the tech industry since 2011. You can follow him on Twitter @DanielHowley.
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