More Xbox Games Are Reportedly Going Multi-Platform

gamerant.com:

Many more Xbox games are planned to go multi-platform, according to a new report that emerged from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2024. Microsoft's ongoing multi-platform push is understood to be coinciding with some third-party publishers losing faith in the Xbox ecosystem.

Following weeks' worth of rumors that stirred up quite a lot of drama among its fans, Microsoft confirmed that it's bringing four Xbox games to other platforms in mid-February. Those titles were promptly revealed to be Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Pentiment, and Hi-Fi Rush. The latter duo already had their multi-platform debuts, while the former pair is scheduled to reach select Xbox rival platforms in April. Some industry watchers also count As Dusk Falls in this wave of releases, because while it wasn't developed by a Microsoft subsidiary, it was published by Xbox Game Studios in 2022 before making its way to PlayStation consoles in March 2024.

Those titles won't be the end of Microsoft's plans to strengthen its competitors' content catalogs, according to Christopher Dring of GamesIndustry.biz (via VGC). During the latest episode of the GI Microcast podcast, Dring said he understands that «the majority» of modern Xbox games will be coming to the PS5 «at some point.» The company's commitment to more platform-inclusive publishing arrives at a time when its own ecosystem is falling behind its rivals. Dring said that Microsoft appears to be particularly struggling on the Old Continent, having characterized Xbox sales as «flatlining» in Europe, citing two publishers who chimed in on the matter during GDC 2024.

Some third parties are now understood to be becoming disillusioned with the entirety of the Xbox ecosystem as a result of its ongoing struggles to grow its installed base. Looking to illustrate that point, Dring recalled a GDC conversation with a «major company who released a big game» on Xbox in 2023, stating that its representative bluntly said «I don't know why we bothered supporting it»