When Microsoft revealed its new strategy of bringing titles like Grounded, Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment to other platforms, there was discussion on those that weren’t included. Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle were some of the most hotly rumored. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said the industry shouldn’t rule out any titles on other platforms, but they seem unlikely.
However, that doesn’t mean they, alongside several other Xbox titles, won’t make the jump at some point. During the GI Microcast, GamesIndustry.biz founder Christopher Dring discussed how sales for Xbox Series X/S were dropping in Europe. Third-party developers were also reportedly skeptical about Xbox releases for their titles.
He added (transcription via VGC), “And with Xbox putting some of the games on PS5 – from what I understand the majority of them will be coming across at some point, assuming it progresses as Xbox believes it probably will – I think Xbox is in real trouble as a hardware manufacturer, and that was the thing that came out of GDC for me.”
“I thought it would be fine, but then I didn’t really factor in that some developers and publishers might just go, ‘yeah I don’t, you know, is there any point?’ And that is when you can lose it.” It’s not hard confirmation of more first-party Xbox titles getting a multi-platform release, but it’s seemingly under consideration.
In the meantime, Grounded is coming to PS5, PS4 and Nintendo Switch on April 16th, followed by Sea of Thieves on April 30th for PS5. Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment are available on PS5, with the latter also playable on Nintendo Switch.