Phil Spencer is back in the hotseat (Xbox/YouTube)
As Microsoft commits to its multiplatform strategy, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has discussed the decision to put Indiana Jones And The Great Circle on PS5.
While Microsoft’s multiplatform strategy clearly wasn’t going to stop in the wake of declining Xbox Series X/S sales, there was some uncertainty around whether it would impact upcoming Xbox exclusives like Avowed and Indiana Jones And The Great Circle.
During Gamescom Opening Night Live on Tuesday, Xbox confirmed the latter would launch on PlayStation 5 in spring next year, just months after it comes out on Xbox Series X/S and PC on December 9. That’s already after Microsoft released four Xbox exclusives on rival platforms earlier this year.
While Microsoft has previously said the issue of exclusivity will be judged on a ‘case by case basis’ (Doom: The Dark Ages will launch simultaneously on multiple platforms, for example), Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has discussed Indiana Jones specifically, during an Xbox stream from Gamescom.
‘Going to the PlayStation announcement, obviously, last spring we launched four games – two of them on the Switch, four of them on PlayStation – and we said we were going to learn,’ Spencer said. ‘I think at the showcase I might have said that from our learning, we’re going to do more.’
Spencer went on to claim the number of Xbox console players is ‘as high this year as they’ve ever been’, even though hardware sales are dropping significantly.
‘Our franchises are as strong as they’ve ever been,’ Spencer added. ‘And we run a business. It’s definitely true inside of Microsoft, the bar is high for us in terms of the delivery we have to give back to the company because we get a level of support from the company that’s just amazing in terms of what we’re able to go do.’
Translated from business-speak to English that means Microsoft is insisting Xbox turns a decent profit, especially after spending $70+ billion on new developers.
‘So I look at how can we make our games as strong as possible, [so] our platform continues to grow both on console, PC and on cloud, and I think it’s just going to be a strategy that works for us.’
Spencer explains there’s currently a lot of ‘pressure on the industry’, presumably alluding to the widespread layoffs and rising development costs. ‘It’s been growing for a long time and now people are looking for ways to grow,’ he added.
‘And us as fans, as players of games, we just have to anticipate there’s going to be more change in how some of the more traditional ways that games were built and distributed – that’s going to change for all of us.
‘But the end result needs to be better games that more people can play. If we’re not focused on that, we’re focused on the wrong things.’
Other than more Xbox exclusives coming to PlayStation 5 (and no doubt Switch 2) it’s not clear what he’s getting at here, but it sounds awfully like the way Sony talks about live service games.
Some Xbox players have taken issue with Indiana Jones coming to PlayStation 5 specifically because of past comments made by Spencer.
Earlier this year, he ruled out Indy and Starfield as one of the four games set to be released on other platforms, and while his comments were technically correct, as this is the fifth, some have picked fault with how it was framed.
The bigger issue for Microsoft might be convincing people to invest in an Xbox Series X/S in light of this strategy, especially since the PlayStation 5 annoucement encourages PlayStation owners to wait for that rather thaninvest in a new Xbox console to play the game at Christmas.
However, the chase for immediate growth, is clearly the bigger priority as Xbox, lines up its next generation plans, something Xbox president Sarah Bond has already repeatedly mentioned but never explained.
Indiana Jones hits PS5 next year (Xbox/Bethesda)
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