Xbox’s Multiplatform Plans & Starfield

It’s still just a rumour, but it has caused quite a stir. All of the internet we’ve seen reports of multiple games – one that are exclusive to Xbox at the moment – that are rumoured to be moving from an only-on-Xbox state to become multiplatform. Games like Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi have been discussed, which would be sad for people that want competition between consoles, but on some level the thinking is understandable; Sea of Thieves being an online game and the bigger the audience playing the better. But then things took a turn when rumours that Starfield would be moving to Playstation sometime in the future. To see a system-seller title like Starfield become multiplatform, a title that is supposed to be a reason to own an Xbox can only be disappointing for fans who invested in Microsoft’s newest console for just such games.

Back in 2019 Gamespot wrote up an interview they have with Xbox boss Phil Spencer, and he explained how he had to have a conversation with Satya Nadella (Microsoft CEO). During the discussion Mr. Nadella effectively asked why Microsoft was in the games industry:

‘I don’t actually know a whole lot about why we’re in gaming,’.

What we learned from this is that, regardless of what people in the Xbox division think of gaming, there has been a much more critical appraisal of Microsoft’s place in the games industry; Phil Spencer had to justify to his boss why the Xbox Series should exist. If people at Microsoft are a little suspicious of the financial benefits to the company from having a games division, especially in the context of having a large games based subscription service that wouldn’t necessarily need a console to be profitable, then it wouldn’t be any wonder of those same people came to the conclusion that moving some games to other platforms and other audiences might be a way to improve revenues.

Playing videogames, writing about videogames, considering videogames—that about sums it up. Videogames are the one hobby that I’ve kept since I was only little, zapping ducks on the NES or knocking out MR. X. And when I’m not enjoying classics from the bit generation of games or checking out those earliest of polygons, I’m probably playing something from today’s age of modern gaming: if I’m not complaining about it. Something I’m doing at the moment? Patiently waiting for the Polymega console that was purchased back in 2022.