Microsoft appears to have shifted to a multi-platform strategy for first-party Xbox games in 2024, with more and more exclusive games launching on rival platforms. The company is decoupling its content offerings from its hardware – a move Microsoft highlighted at its “This is Xbox” event in November. At Microsoft’s annual shareholder meeting, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella doubled down on this approach, saying that players can enjoy Xbox games on their favorite devices.
Satya Nadella talks Microsoft’s gaming strategy
Nadella’s comments, first spotted by Game File, came in response to a question from Microsoft’s vice president of investor relations Brett Iverson at last week’s conference about the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, the return on early investment, and the progress of Microsoft’s overall gaming strategy over the past year.
“If I think about it, we picked a long-term growth category in entertainment, which we thought was gaming, and said, let’s double down on that, let’s — that’s been Microsoft’s passion ever since,” Nadella said during a Q&A session.
“In fact, I think Flight Simulator even came out before Windows or Office, so it’s like one of the company’s oldest franchises. So we said, let’s take the fun of gaming everywhere. That’s why now even with these ads on Xbox, we’re redefining what it means to be an Xbox fan, and it’s about being able to enjoy Xbox on all devices,” he added.
Nadella’s response appeared to be a reference to Microsoft’s “This is an Xbox” advertising campaign launched in November, which refers to any Xbox-enabled device — whether it’s an Xbox console, a PC, a Samsung smart TV, a handheld device, a phone, an Amazon Fire TV or a Meta Quest headset — as an Xbox. Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can play Xbox games on their preferred supported device through Cloud Gaming or the Xbox app.
The Microsoft CEO said he “feels very, very good” about the company’s position in gaming and praised the successful launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Nadella also said that Microsoft’s strategy for Activision content is now “fully implemented.”
“We’re very pleased with the progress we’ve made. More importantly, I think, long term, as a company we can leverage AI innovation, cloud innovation, console innovation, PC innovation to build the best games that gamers around the world can enjoy,” he said.
Microsoft’s approach to developing exclusive games
In addition to being able to play Xbox games on PC and other supported devices via the cloud and the Xbox app, more Xbox first-party games will be coming to Sony PS5 and Nintendo Switch in 2024. Microsoft has begun a shift toward launching exclusive games on rival consoles, with the company announcing four games for PS5 and Switch in February. Several new and upcoming Xbox games, such as Indiana Jones and the Big Circle, Doom: Dark Ages, and The Outer Worlds 2, are also scheduled to be released on PS5.
Windows Central’s Jez Corden also revealed Microsoft’s exclusive strategy in a series of responses on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday. In response to a user question about exclusivity for upcoming first-party Xbox games, Corden said, “There will be no exclusivity on Xbox going forward. Everything will be timed exclusivity at best.”
“If some games are exclusive, that’s haphazard at best, and the ‘case-by-case’ argument is generally multi-platform, timed, and may have some (few) outliers,” he added in reply to another user.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer told Bloomberg last month that he was pleased with the results of Xbox games launching on PS5 and Switch, and said the company would release more first-party games on rival platforms. Spencer said he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of any games from Microsoft’s stable moving to PS5 or Switch.
“I don’t see a ‘you can’t do this’ red line in our portfolio,” he said at the time, but added that it was too early to make any decisions about the next version of Halo.