What you need to know
- Microsoft has acquired a lot of studios in recent years.
- A lot of first-party games like The Outer Worlds are also coming to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.
- The company has "no plans" to bring additional first-party titles to other consoles.
- Existing commitments like Minecraft will still be supported.
Over the past few years, Microsoft has acquired a lot of studios in order to boost its first-party lineup. However, as is the case with any acquisition, past commitments have to be honored. Titles like Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, The Outer Worlds, and others are still coming to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 alongside Xbox One.
Apart from that, Microsoft and Nintendo have been working closely together. Cuphead and now Ori and the Blind Forest are both parts of the Nintendo Switch catalog. While both of these games aren't first-party titles, there has been speculation that Microsoft is planning on bringing first-party games to other platforms.
In a recent report by GamesIndustry, the outlet managed to get a statement from Microsoft which revealed that the company has no plans on bringing first-party games to other platforms. The team just had to honor existing commitments like Minecraft, The Outer Worlds, and more. You can read the statement below.
The past year has been an exciting time for us as we have more than doubled the internal creative teams making up Xbox Game Studios. As these new studios transitioned in, we were aware of some existing commitments to other platforms and will honor them. However, going forward these new studios will focus on making games for our platforms. We have no plans to further expand our exclusive first-party games to other consoles. We continue to believe deeply in cross-play and progression of games with the right flexibility for developers to ensure a fair and fun experience.
While Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 owners may be disappointed with this answer because Microsoft now owns franchises like Psychonauts, The Outer Worlds, and Pillars of Eternity; Microsoft already has access to hundreds of millions of consumers who use Windows 10. The fact that every Microsoft Exclusive will release on PC opens up each title to countless gamers. PC is by far the biggest platform to be on.
It's unclear if this will always be the case because the gaming industry is a volatile place. Competition is about to get even fiercer with companies like Google and possibly Amazon coming out with their own game streaming services. Only time will tell if this policy holds because anything can happen a decade from now.
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