Microsoft have adopted a very non-traditional approach to several things in recent years (and will clearly continue doing so in the future), but seeing Xbox first party titles being released for the Switch has been quite surprising, with the likes of Ori and the Blind Forest and its sequels having come to Nintendo’s platform.
Microsoft have, of course, suggested in the past that those releases don’t indicate similar long-term plans for Switch support. But it’s worth noting that after they said that, Ori and the Will of the Wisps ended up coming to the Switch. So going forward, what exactly should we expect to see from Microsoft as far as Switch releases are concerned?
Speaking in an interview Kotaku, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that continuing to consider Switch releases for Microsoft games on a game-by-game basis “doesn’t feel sustainable”, adding that Microsoft would rather support devices that have full Xbox ecosystems in place.
“In order to really support it, I would want a full Xbox ecosystem somewhere,” Spencer said. “And that probably means things like Live and Game Pass and stuff.”
This falls in line with similar recent comments by Spencer, who remarked some time back about how competing platforms weren’t interested in having full Xbox ecosystems on their devices.
There are other things to consider as well, of course. For instance, Bethesda has been an active supporter of the Switch ever since the console released. They are now owned by Microsoft, of course, who have said that whether or not future games made by Bethesda will come to the Switch (or even PlayStation) will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
