Summary
Xboxhas announced that a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast will air on Thursday, February 15 at 3 PM Eastern Time. During the podcast,Xboxwill address recent rumors that many of its exclusive titles will be going cross-platform in the future.
Thesurprising Xbox rumorshave made shockwaves throughout the gaming community over recent weeks, as titles likeStarfield,Indiana Jones and the Great Circle,Hi-Fi Rush, and more are rumored to be making the jump to competing consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Insiders speculated that the new strategy is due to Xbox’s struggling hardware sales and the massive price of upkeep for Xbox’s popular Game Pass subscription service. Xbox apparently hopes that the new cross-platform strategy will create a major new revenue stream for the platform, but it’s important to note that this is still speculation at this point. However, the speculation will soon be confirmed or denied when Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer reveals the company’s future later this week.
In a tweet, Xbox confirmed its Official Xbox Podcast for Thursday, which will include president of Xbox Sarah Bond and head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty, in addition to Spencer. Spencer previously stated that this week’s update will share Xbox’s “vision for the future.” It seems highly likely that the rumors are true, but the extent of the new strategy is still unknown. Fans may only see a couple of Xbox exclusives or a long lineup of them going cross-platform. Some worry that the new strategy will significantly devalue Xbox consoles due to other platforms, like PlayStation, keeping their first-party titles exclusive. The rumored shift in strategy seemed drastic enough that some wondered whether Xbox would stop making consoles altogether. However, Spencer allegedly addressed this possibility during a recent company town hall meeting.
Xbox to Address Rumors of First-Party Titles Going Cross-Platform
According to a leak,Spencer confirmed to employees that Xbox will continuemaking consoles in the future. It’s unclear whether this topic will also be addressed during this week’s Xbox podcast. Rumors surrounding the development of a next-gen Xbox have been spreading as well recently.
An insider claimed that the design ofXbox’s next-gen console has been assigned to Microsoft’s Surfaceteam. This possibility lines up with other claims that the future generation of gaming devices will include two products, a handheld device and a more traditional console.
Xbox’s rumored handheld devicefollowed rumors of a similar PlayStation device, both of which are likely some years from being released. It seems that the two companies' next generation of gaming devices will place much more emphasis on portability and cloud gaming, a trend that is rapidly taking off.
Microsoft Xbox Series X
The Xbox Series X boasts the fastest CPU and GPU configuration currently available for a current-generation console while offering 1TB of fast SSD storage for users out of the box.It comes with an Xbox Series S|X controller, a power cord, and documentation along with a trial for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in the box.
