Xbox going third party

[weirdfeline]

So rumors started popping up recently about H-Fi Rush coming to other consoles and now evidence has been found of ingame t-shirts clearly referencing Switch and (less clearly) PlayStation.

When it first was rumored it was alongside rumors of Sea of Thieves also going multiplat.

Today it's being reported that Starfield is coming to PS5 and that Indiana Jones will launch on PS5 shortly after it does on Xbox. Other prominent names in the world of Xbox leaks and rumors have stated to not be surprised if Halo and Hellblade II show up as well.

Seems like there will be a lot of developments on this throughout the year so I figured a thread to discuss it makes sense.

[kamikazekeeg]

It's still all very rumory, so I wouldn't put much stock into it yet until something more solid shows up.  I personally think it would be nuts to see them put specifically mainline Xbox games onto Playstation, like Halo, Gears, that sort of stuff, but I think it makes more sense to bring something like Starfield, which probably hasn't had as good of sales numbers as they wanted, or something like Sea of Thieves which is an 8 year old game at this point.  It also makes sense to bring non-Microsoft branded stuff such as Indiana Jones over.  This might be a good way to make up for some losses they've taken by doing the buyouts and haven't earned back quick enough.

Not that I personally mind either way, console wars are pointless.  That being said, if this could lead to me being able to get Rare Replay on Switch (Switch 2), or PS5, I'm on board with that.  I just want to easily play the Banjo-Kazooie games without having to haul out my Xbox 360 from the closet lol

[dhaabi]

There's no reason to expect this, but I think it'd be quite funny if Sony's response to Microsoft wanting first-party games—especially longtime exclusives like Halo, Gears of War, and Forza—published on Sony systems was no. Nah, we're good.

[Cartagia]

Honestly, it looks like Microsoft has already picked up on what all the streaming services are finally figuring out - subscription fees (Game Pass) aren't enough to make the games profitable.  Especially big expensive titles like Starfield.  They need the full sales price.

[telekill]

I'm interested in the rumor of getting Indiana Jones on PS5, but I'm also hoping they put a 3rd person perspective in the game. As a first person game, it doesn't look like it's matching its potential and will be mediocre. Granted, this is all rumor based so we probably won't see it on PS5 anyway.

[weirdfeline]

It's still all very rumory, so I wouldn't put much stock into it yet until something more solid shows up.

Granted, this is all rumor based so we probably won't see it on PS5 anyway.

It's really easy nowadays to track which rumors are legitimate. The Verge isn't going to publish a report this big without evidence. If you follow leaks you'd recognize that many big names in the scene that have been proven right time and time again are standing behind this.

The Verge report doesn't exactly take the hard stance that other people are with Indiana Jones in particular and Xbox could see the backlash and reverse course still but it's definitely being considered.

If people were putting their names behind rumors that are made up and always turn out to be false then people would just stop listening to them obviously.

[telekill]

I'm now seeing rumors that even Gears of War is potentially being considered for a PS5 port. I'd actually pick that one up as it was fun back in the day. (God I feel old).

[kamikazekeeg]

It's still all very rumory, so I wouldn't put much stock into it yet until something more solid shows up.

Granted, this is all rumor based so we probably won't see it on PS5 anyway.

It's really easy nowadays to track which rumors are legitimate. The Verge isn't going to publish a report this big without evidence. If you follow leaks you'd recognize that many big names in the scene that have been proven right time and time again are standing behind this.

The Verge report doesn't exactly take the hard stance that other people are with Indiana Jones in particular and Xbox could see the backlash and reverse course still but it's definitely being considered.

If people were putting their names behind rumors that are made up and always turn out to be false then people would just stop listening to them obviously.

Eh, The Verge isn't above the rumor mill, I can look up that they were dealing with Switch Pro rumor stuff a few years back, it's still not something you want to get all behind until there's serious info to support it, even if some bigger names are willing to go out there for it.  Like I could believe Indiana Jones, Starfield, and some other games would show up on other systems, but I'm less likely to believe Halo, Gears, Forza, specifically iconic Microsoft games, would show up on other hardware.  If they do that, I feel like that's the end of Microsoft in the console hardware market. 

*EDIT*
With Phil coming out to say this, to me, that puts more actual credence to the possibility of something like this happening lol

https://www.destructoid.com/xbox-head-promises-update-on-future-of-xbox-next-week-amid-exclusivity-rumors/

[telekill]

I've got to be honest. If Xbox goes third party, I'll have never seen that coming. I expected them to stay in the race till the bitter end after the crazy amount of money they dropped on acquisitions over the last few years. Maybe it's all that money spent that had investors and shareholders holding them over a fire to earn that money back.

[dhaabi]

I've got to be honest. If Xbox goes third party, I'll have never seen that coming. I expected them to stay in the race till the bitter end after the crazy amount of money they dropped on acquisitions over the last few years. Maybe it's all that money spent that had investors and shareholders holding them over a fire to earn that money back.

If the rumors are true, why do you think that it implies Microsoft is dropping out of the race, so to speak? Their sights are on cloud gaming across all sorts of devices, and this is the first step in that direction. Microsoft may be out of the console market, but they're definitely invested in software still.

[telekill]

If the rumors are true, why do you think that it implies Microsoft is dropping out of the race, so to speak? Their sights are on cloud gaming across all sorts of devices, and this is the first step in that direction. Microsoft may be out of the console market, but they're definitely invested in software still.

I was primarily speaking of the hardware market. Them pulling a Sega is not what I had envisioned.

[kamikazekeeg]

I was primarily speaking of the hardware market. Them pulling a Sega is not what I had envisioned.

Yeah I was thinking that they would do more of a "go till they crash" sort of deal too.  Not that I think they are gonna come out and say "We are done, we are pulling a Sega", but if stuff like Halo and what not come to other systems, they'll play it off more as "expanding their brand and audience" and then probably just keep things on track for the Series X until this generation is done.  They might not even get out of the console market afterwards entirely, they could instead move into a cloud based system at the most.  Not that I would be interested, but could be an option for them.

[weirdfeline]

I guess Phil Spencer was joking when he mentioned wanting to bring back Activision IP's instead of just Call of Duty.

Toys for Bob (developer of Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Crash 4 and last year's flop Crash Team Rumble) got their studio seemingly cut in half and I'm thinking it was likely the half making Crash and Spyro and not the CoD support studio but as of right now it's not clear.

[sworddude]

[telekill]

To be fair, if it was reversed and Playstation was putting their games on Xbox instead, the backlash would be just as severe if not more so. Same for Nintendo. Imagine them putting Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong Country on Playstation and Xbox. The blowback from fans would be swift.

My original thought process is such... if a company decides to release its exclusive titles on other platforms, then it takes away a major reason to buy that hardware. This has always been the case.

My current thought process is such... the gaming industry as a whole has faultered in delivering software I give a damn about on a regular release basis as they used too. Even Playstation for the PS5 generation have been very lackluster in what they're churning out, and that's coming from someone that has been a Playstation enthusiest since 1996. For all intents and purposes, gaming as we once knew it, is dead. Sure, there is the occasional release that's a diamond in the rough, but the industry as a whole is a shadow of its former self. The industry is consolidating because they can't keep up with release schedules anymore to justify owning multiple systems. We've entered an era of SaaS and where AAA games are few and far between. System Sellers are going the way of the dodo.