Over the past few years, there have been scattered hints Microsoft would like to bring their Xbox Game Pass service to rival consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Talk about this heated up in a major way recently, when Xbox CFO Tim Stuart said they want to get Game Pass on “every screen that will play games,” including PlayStation and Nintendo consoles. Juicy!
But perhaps we need to slow down a little. In an interview with Windows Central posted today, Xbox boss Phil Spencer poured some cold water on the notion of Game Pass on Sony or Nintendo systems, saying it’s “not in [Microsoft’s] plans.”
“I’ll start by saying we have no plans to bring Game Pass to PlayStation or Nintendo. It’s not in our plans. The thing I want to be focused on is how do we continue to innovate for people who’ve made the commitment to our [Xbox] hardware platform? And how do we continue to make sure that they feel great about their investment in what we’ve built.”
With Xbox Series X/S sales struggling, it seems Spencer is trying to avoid the impression Microsoft doesn’t care about the hardware. Spencer sees innovative features as a differentiator for Xbox consoles and promises there is a roadmap for new hardware, services, and even changes for achievements. Don’t expect one of these innovations to be a portable device though – Spencer would rather focus on supporting the current crop of portable PCs. As such, Microsoft is working to make sure their games are compatible with the likes of the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Legion Go, and hope to make cloud streaming of your regular library of games a reality in the future.
Getting back to Game Pass, Spencer reveals Microsoft spends “over a billion dollars a year supporting third-party games” coming onto the service. Despite that, the service is profitable and gives Microsoft the freedom to greenlight smaller, more niche games like Pentiment and Grounded. That’s good news for folks hoping Microsoft will dig into their back catalog more, particularly now that they own Activision Blizzard.
Spencer also has a word for folks perhaps frustrated by the way he sometimes teases classic franchises (he’s mentioned the likes of StarCraft and King’s Quest in the past, and name drops Banjo-Kazooie in this latest interview) – he’s not just teasing these things for the hell of it. He is the boss after all, so when he teases something, it usually happens…
“I want our fans and customers to know that I don’t bring up games just to tease to no end … if people have watched how we’ve teased things in the past. There’s usually some kind of reconciliation of those hints later on … I’m not one to lead people on. It might not happen on the timeline that people would love, but usually when I tease, there’s something there.”
What do you think? What do you expect from Game Pass and the Xbox brand going forward?
