Over the past 24 hours a bombshell set of rumors has dropped, indicating Microsoft may be planning to bring everything from Starfield, to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, to the Gears of War franchise to PlayStation and other platforms. It sure sounds like Microsoft may be going full-on third party, or if not that, at least radically changing up how their Xbox business is conducted. That said, until now, it’s all been rumors – Microsoft itself hasn’t made any official announcements.
Well, that’s set to change next week. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has officially stepped into the fray, posting on X that next week they’ll deliver a “business update event” which will see them share “details […] about our vision for the future of Xbox.”
“We’re listening and we hear you. We’ve been planning a business update event for next week, where we look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox. Stay tuned.”
Well, there you go – while we have to wait for the fine details, that seems to more or less be confirmation of the rumors making the rounds. If the plan was the stick with the status quo – of Xbox as a distinct gaming brand with its own exclusives – I assume they would have refuted the rumors. While Spencer’s statement is a brief one, there’s plenty to potentially be surmised from its tone. A “business update event” sure doesn’t sound like it’s going to be the usual hypefest. It sounds like an event that may deliver what some may consider bad news. But we’ll see – I’m sure there will be more rumors in the meantime.
Frankly, it’s felt like this has been coming for some time. As a wider company, Microsoft is increasingly all about the cloud, about providing services for other companies, and I suspect they see more value in being able to do that for Sony and Nintendo (and maybe getting Game Pass on their platforms) than running their own third-place entertainment platform.
Once again, what do you think about all of this? What might next week’s “business update event” entail?
