Though a period of cross-gen releases is to be expected any time the industry is transitioning from one console generation to the next, that period has lasted longer than expected with the current generational transition, with the PS4 and Xbox One having continued to receive support from first and third party developers even up to this point. We are, however, finally getting to a point where studios are beginning to shift to developing for current-gen hardware exclusively, and that’s true for first party studios as well- at least on the Microsoft side of things.
That’s as per Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty, who told Axios in recent interview that Microsoft’s first party studios have “moved on to Gen 9” completely. That means that, barring studios who’re continuing to support ongoing titles that are also available on Xbox One – like Sea of Thieves, Halo Infinite, Fallout 76, and Grounded – as far as new upcoming titles are concerned, development is being focused exclusively on Xbox Series X/S.
According to Booty, Microsoft will “maintain support” for the Xbox One and its player base by allowing players to play titles that are not natively available on the console via cloud streaming.
We have, of course, already seen evidence of that in the first half of 2023. Though Minecraft Legends was a cross-gen game, other first party titles like Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall did not launch for Xbox One, while upcoming 2023 titles like Starfield and Forza Motorsport will also be current-gen exclusive. Moving beyond that, going into 2024, the likes of Avowed, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, and others won’t be releasing for Microsoft’s last-gen console either.