After Xbox's promising showcase over the weekend, head honcho Phil Spencer took to the stage with IGN's Ryan McCaffrey to talk about the Xbox business, recent studio closures, and future hardware.
Following on from the release of Grounded and Pentiment on the Switch, Spencer reiterated Xbox's plan to release more of its catalogue on other platforms. Now, you might be thinking "Well yes, we know this", but it's interesting that he's being so open about the plan now compared to his relative caginess some months back.
Here's exactly what he had to say:
"You are going to see more of our games on more platforms and we just see that as a benefit to the franchises we're building and we see that from players and the players love to be able to play."
This is certainly an intriguing prospect for Switch owners right now, but our attention is admittedly turning toward Nintendo's next major hardware. We've already seen the likes of DOOM: Eternal and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus on Switch, but can you imagine DOOM: The Dark Ages launching on Switch 2? How about Perfect Dark? Halo?
We know that Call of Duty will be coming to Nintendo platforms soon, but we suspect that Microsoft is holding off until it can utilise the more powerful specs featured in the Switch 2. It does seem, however, like the floodgates have been well and truly opened.
Spencer also touched upon the heavily rumoured Xbox handheld during the interview, confirming that while the showcase was mostly focused on games, the firm will talk more about the platform itself at a later point. He concluded by stating "I think being able to play games locally is really important", perhaps indicating that a hypothetical Xbox handheld would not be reliant on streaming technology.
Which Xbox games would you like to see on Nintendo's platforms? Do you think we'll see more on the Switch itself or its upcoming successor? Let us know with a comment.
[source youtube.com, via purexbox.com]
Comments 90
I'll believe it when I see it when it comes to Xbox. Haven't touched my game pass in forever even though there's cool games there.
If that is true then give us Killer Instinct and Perfect Dark for Switch 2. Bring them all to Switch 2 or PC so I won't have to buy them on Xbox and PS5.
I love how you guys at Nintendo Life keep assuming its a "Switch 2" in your articles.
I'm only interested in HiFi Rush. So hopefully that comes!
Halo pretty please?
Waiting for Halo
How do they expect to sell Xbox consoles with no exclusive games?
@abbyhitter Considering that's what (almost) everyone else seems to calling it at the moment, might as well stick with "Switch 2" until we get official word on what it's actually going to be called. In the meantime, feel free to call it whatever you want... I call it the Knob.
As far as the article in question is concerned, I'll let things play out and see where it goes.
I’m not Phil but I genuinely don’t know why Xbox and Sony are doing this. Wouldn’t that decentivise people from buying those systems?
Rare replay would be nice. Aegis Wing was fun co-op multiplayer. Age of Empires 2 would be cool to have portable on switch with the new control scheme. WoW would be interesting with keyboard support, just so players could take the switch on the go when on vacation or to more easily start a lan party. Psychonauts 2, maybe, as Microsoft's best 3D platformer.
A lot of Microsoft's newer stuff isn't as family friendly, unfortunately.
I don’t expect a lot of games from yesterday’s showcase on the Switch but Switch 2 will be closer to Series S in power so I could see a few being ported there.
Don’t think I’ll be playing them, they just all look so bleak and black and brown. I saw only 1 game logo on their infographic that had any color, FragPunk, the rest were basically just white words on black squares. Not for me. 🤷🏻♂️

I don't trust anything involving Microsoft
The whole point of having your own console platform is to have console specific games, i.e. those exclusive to your own platform which in turn makes consumers buy it. If MS this keeps up, there's going to be no point in owning an Xbox as everything people will want to play will be on other systems. They'll end up putting themselves and the Xbox brand out of business
I would love for MIXTAPE to make it to Switch 2
@jedgamesguy Because games cost money and they want to recoup their investment. Sony have been releasing ports of their biggest franchises on a Microsoft platform (i.e. Windows PC) for years already. It's only logical for MS to return the favour.
For Sony and MS, consoles no longer make enough money, since they're sold at a loss and there's little room for price cuts anymore, like there was during previous console generations. PC is where the money is.
Nintendo is the laughing third here.
@obijuankanoobie
Boy have I got some bad news for you...
@westman98 Why? It can't be ported by another studio?
Xbox's Phil Spencer Reiterates Plan To Put "More Of Our Games On More Platforms"
Me : Thank you. More reason for me to NOT buy XBOX Series X and beyond.
Useless machine.
Also...
Microsoft still hate making their kids games exclusively for XBOX.
They really hate kids games.
They keep pushing their agenda with disgusting rated 18+ AAA games that I will always hate them.
Well, I'll continue playing my Nintendo and PlayStation games.
@Yosti
I guess it's possible but it'll be a lot harder since Tango can't supervise or provide any assistance.
Tango's closure also means Microsoft no longer has a Japanese game studio which means there may be language-barrier-related complications for another (presumably western) studio to handle a HiFi port.
@Anti-Matter Microsoft doesn't hate kids games. They are just nog overly fixated on kids games like you do.
Gears of War on Super Switch confirmed
@Anti-Matter I think in fairness, Sony puts out their fair share of 18+ rated games as well. Possibly an equal amount. Each to their own. I'm not interested in a lot of it myself but appreciate others like these genres and that's ok with me.
In addition I'm not a huge fan of your gaming choices but as before each to their own. Everyone can enjoy what they want.
Please just get halo 1 on the switch. 🤞
@Yosti
They only have 3rd party kids games that also available on PlayStation / Nintendo.
I don't need their 3rd party kids games that I can get easily from PS4 / PS5 / Switch
Also, they keep pushing agenda by going digital all is cool.
Nah...!
Digital all is stink !
And the way Microsoft keep bringing their exclusives to PlayStation and Nintendo, I was thinking that XBOX CEO was really not smart and have no passion in gaming.
He just only care for the money, zero passion in gaming unlike Nintendo.
And that's why XBOX brand is dead in my country Indonesia.
@JH64 That's literally makes them scary strong. No exclusive and still selling 21 million is stronger than Wii U with exclusives.
@rjejr I watched the whole Showcase and it had some good games. People underrated Xbox IPs but a lot of them focus on gameplay.
@Duncanballs
PS4 & PS5 have a lot of 3rd party kids games that I can add more and more such as the kids games from Outright Games, My Universe games by Microids, Harvest Moon games, Cooking Mama, Smurfs games, etc.
My PS5 games collection so far are 99.99% 3rd party kids games with only one game from 1st party Sony: Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart.
I'm a different gamer anyway.
A lot of cute, rhythm and life sim games filled in my head as my gaming forte.
@jedgamesguy It actually makes them strong because they can sell consoles on multiplats alone.
@abbyhitter At least, «Switch Pro» rumours are ceased to exist.
@TheFatPlumber I see it the other way round. They are weakening Nintendo IP with casual games that hide behind an adult story. If they can sell more units then a Wii U with only third party, then it only shows Nintendo is in need of catching up.
@TheFatPlumber Both Sony and MS are selling their consoles at a loss.
That is why MS is pushing so hard with GamePass. That's what is making them money.
Sony has come to this realization too and started following suit with their PS Plus Premium subscription.
They also started releasing PS exclusive games on the PC platform in recent years, to increase their profits.
The whole console exclusive race (that Sony hypocritically started 20 or so years ago) has been bad for everyone and they also shot themselves in the foot, as it has been depriving them of potential sales on the other platform.
That is why Activision (example) has been laughing their asses off for years with the crazy sales of the CoD franchise, maximizing profits by selling their games on all platforms... raking in Billions each year. Profits both XBOX and Sony can only dream off.
@Jeronan I disagree. Where are you getting that the consoles are sold at a lost? Its not been this way since the PS4. You can search up how much the parts cost and retail for. Most of Sony's profits actually come from hardware in their own reports.
Let's face it, Microsoft's future is Game Pass and PC. Anyone who can't read the Xbox writing on the wall needs glasses.
@Burning_Spear Microsoft is probably in a stronger position then Nintendo was with the Wii U. Minecraft for example is now one of the world's biggest games. Selling hardware on multiplat alone actually makes them scary as hell. Can you imagine if Nintendo released no games and still sold 25 million Wii U units in 3 years? Now imagine them porting most their games to the Wii and getting 60 million like Sony. They're pulling insane numbers by doing little.
@Cut3Panda-SNES64DD Why keep referencing the Wii U? Microsoft is also in stronger position than the Virtual Boy and the Dreamcast. But it's miles behind Nintendo today and still chasing Sony. The point remains: If MS is moving former exclusives to other consoles, the Xbox creeps toward irrelevancy.
@Burning_Spear Because you're missing how strong their IPs are especially now that they own Bethesda and Activision Blizzard. Literally CoD sells as much as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe over 2 to 3 platforms. Yeah, it required more platforms but if Mario Kart is huge, they're even bigger. Access is a big part of what's makes IP strong. Imagine if they one day decided, let's not make CoD multiplat after the game expanded to 100 million gamers per game.
If they really keep on with this strategy then most likely Game Pass will be their main focus for Xbox, their consoles will be just machines dedicated to that for those who want such a thing along with having games on other platforms for those not interested in either.
Anyway, as someone who will keep on having mostly if not exclusively Nintendo systems (at most I'd get a Steam Deck) I absolutely welcome this!
all i want on switch 2 is doom dark ages that game looks sick especially piloting a mech to fight a titan.
Some they are multiplat devs that makes sense but I do hope they also focus in house exclusives. I know sales are not doing well against PlayStation but I really don’t want Sony to be the only bleeding edge game in town.
That being said I am likely going to switch to PC/Nintendo next gen so perhaps I won’t notice.
@Cut3Panda-SNES64DD doesnt really matter if microsoft has bethesda and activision ips they are still way behind nintendo wen it comes to sales and games.
The one thing I wish MS would do, is stop making their female characters look so damn fugly. The Fable protag was one thing, but look at what they did with my girl Joanna Dark!
@locky-mavo did they change her name? 😉
So are you saying that the Xbox handheld has essentially been confirmed? If so, it'll be on my radar
@locky-mavo Shouldn’t they make the male characters look more boy band like first then? If glow ups are needed start with the predominantly created characters. Fair is fair.
Perfect Dark must release on Switch!!!!!!! That was the most legendary N64 achievement! And it got famous thanks to N64, so I am sure this game would sell far better to Nintendo fans.
@Cut3Panda-SNES64DD Each Call of Duty main game sells between 15-20 million and that's across all platforms, so it's still a ways off what Mario Kart 8 has sold. You would need to combine the last 4 Call of Duty games sales to reach Mario Kart.
@Cut3Panda-SNES64DD Also those IP's are strong because they were on multiple platforms and primarily Playstation, make those IP's exclusive to xbox and they then become weaker as most players won't migrate over to Xbox. Imagine Minecraft exclusive to Xbox, it wouldn't be as big as it is today let's just say that, it would lose the Asian market it has for a start.
@jedgamesguy but they still make money selling games on other systems
@DoorToMundane I think the poke is more about the articles assuming third parties to consciously tout and tease games for a platform that literally hasn't even been announced yet. There's plenty in Xbox catalogue that can land on the very existing Switch for its eye-watering userbase instead (which only entrenches my wishes for Dishonored trilogy every Direct😜) - in fact, it's the successor I'm not holding my breath about getting any particular Microsoft sharings (outside the contractually obligated CoD) until a few years into its lifetime just like Switch itself. Meanwhile, re-releasing games like Lost Odyssey or Infinite Undiscovery on a platform estimatedly owned by every fourth Japanese might just be Microsoft's only viable opportunity to make some belated bank on those games at all.
I can see Microsoft sharing there games (like they have done) and then making them exclusive to there game pass service and then people will do need to have it to play the next game or particular franchise. Build up a following on rival platforms first then entice them to your service afterwards. It's good personal business, but not good for the industry as a whole in the long run. Anyways I see gaming in future to be very much just a streaming service on PC. If that happens, I'm out.
I'll take Gears of War collection 1-3, Halo Collection 1-3, & Doom The Dark Ages on cartridges at 1080p 60fps with gyro in handheld mode on the next gen Nintendo system please.
@Anti-Matter Nintendo and Sony have M-rated games too, so I guess to be consistent you have to give them up.
Lego Halo Adventures coming soon to Nintendo Switch
@rjejr Plenty of those titles are neither bleak nor brown. Hell I wasn't expecting much from the showcase and was pleasantly surprised. And I despise bleak games myself.
While their showcase was good, we have to remember that people thought Redfall would be good until previews came out and that Starfield would be good until reviews came out.
I won't wear sackcloth and ashes asking for a Perfect Dark reboot which was made by all different people than the original. I do want the Xbox 360 remaster though with a passion. Just not a passion enough to get an Xbox.
I'm surprised this article (and its comments) didn't mention that Doom will come to PlayStation because the studio head said he would like it to be everywhere and because of the original Doom notoriously being playable on everything. So that one we will likely get on Switch 2.
Can't way for a game to come out of nowhere, take the world by storm, earn countless accolades and praise from both critics and audiences.. then have its studio shut down but this time it'll have had a multiplat release
@Anti-Matter They have Ori though.
Phil cares more about opening the floodgates to the unemployment line.
My next gen systems will be Switch 2 & PS6. No need for Xbox.
@HotGoomba
And the Ori also on PS4 & Switch.
@Anti-Matter It's still an Xbox Game Studios title. Also it's not on PS4.
@axelhander
But, I can scoop out a lot of 3rd party kids games from both Nintendo & PlayStation machines.
I have more than 60 kids games on PS4, more than 60 kids games on Switch, more than 80 kids games on Wii, more than 20 kids games on Wii U, more than 65 kids games on PS3, etc.
The 3rd party kids games on Switch are a lot.
The 3rd party kids games on PS4 & PS5 also a lot and that's why I bought PS5, for playing 3rd party kids games only with a few of Teen games.
If I compared my kids games (rated E and E10+) with my teen games (rated Teen), the ratio of kids games and Teen games are more like this = 96 : 4
I also played rated Teen games like Final Fantasy games, Street Fighter, the beat em up games, The Sims, etc but I have very very few collection of rated Teen games as I prioritize more kids games than Teen games.
Totally expect games like Indiana Jones and Doom Dark Ages to eventually make their way to Switch 2.
@HotGoomba
Oh, sorry.
I misread the PS4 version of Ori from the screenshot I saw quickly from Google image.
It have physical version on Switch as well.
But, I'm not interested with Ori for being 2D platformer metroidvania style games even on Switch.
I prefer life sim games, farming sim games, cute girlie games, rhythm games, etc that I can find a lot on both Nintendo and PlayStation, even PlayStation have Cooking Mama games, LOL Surprise, Jojo Siwa, Barbie games, etc.
Btw, XBOX was used to be good from OG XBOX for having DDR Ultramix 1 - 4 & XBOX 360 for having DDR UNIVERSE 1 - 3 + Kinect games, but XBOX now started from XBOX ONE until Series X are terrible.
@Anti-Matter Cool. Your pogrom against the Xbox showcase is still dumb. Why did you even watch it if you know you won't be interested?
@axelhander
I didn't even watch XBOX showcase.
I saw the picture of the XBOX games announced from user rjejr on his post #11 and quickly I said nothing interesting from XBOX showcase.
@Cut3Panda-SNES64DD Thanks. If they come to Switch 2 I'll look into them, but I had my dalliance w/ an Xbox 1 for about 6 months and that was enough for me. Right now I'm mostly looking forward to "Plucky Squire", "Astrobot" and "Lego Horizon". Did they have anything like that I should look into? I feel like they have kind of forgotten about fun colorful games like Viva Piñata and JRPG like Blue Dragon. I do read good things about Fable but it's all brown to me, I'm more of a Toriyama Dragon Quest guy.
Not that I blame them, we all know who their target audience is.
@axelhander Yeah that's pretty much what the cute panda said, thanks. If they come to Switch 2 or PS5 I'd check them out, just don't have any plans for an Xbox or a gaming PC.
Considering that ****-eating grin he always has he’s ready to open the floodgates to the septic tank and feast away, maybe Microsoft’s next acquisition will be a sewage treatment plant, Phil will happily lay off all its workers because this is one job he can do by himself.
@rjejr you too huh? I think that's one of the reasons I stuck with Nintendo all my life, I have an Xbox 360 and I have all the Sega consoles and all the Nintendo consoles, but I have never wanted to get a Sony console as all the games looked dark and depressing to me
@Thomystic are you talking about the perfect dark N64 remaster on Xbox 360? If so it's amazing, you really should find an old Xbox 360 while you can still buy the Xbox 360 software. I wanted to like the newer perfect dark that was on Xbox 360, but it was just too slow and laborious, I ended up playing three or four levels and then stopping.
@rjejr That's fair.
They’re slowly going the SEGA route. Third-party baby!
@Danrenfroe2016
Hello...
I have tons of 3rd party kids games on PlayStation machines, from PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5.
@Danrenfroe2016 Yes. Then I could sell my N64.
@Cut3Panda-SNES64DD They make a little profit after some years, when economy of scale and parts costs go down a little, but the majority of income was always with selling games and now they push for subscription services like GamePass and PS Plus Premium.
@RiasGremory Not really. Minecraft has sold 300 million copies and the game only came out 2011. Call of Duty has sold 425 million since 2003 which makes it as big as Super Mario series which is @ 430 million but started in 1985. And that's just 2 IPs. You have hits like World of Warcraft which currently has over 7 million subscribers, Starcraft which is big in eSports, etc. They are far ahead of Nintendo in terms of broadness and scope. Underestimate them would be Nintendo's peril.
@rjejr Unfortunately no. They had a few new IPS with fun gameplay but it looked pretty much your generic fantasy game. I'm like you and like really bright games but I also enjoy games with good gameplay. Plucky Squire and Lego Horizons are definitely on my list of to get games.
This was what was in the showcase:
Games:
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Doom: The Dark Ages, State of Decay 3, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, METAL GEAR SOLID Δ: SNAKE EATER, Microsoft Flight Sim 2024, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, FragPunk, Winter Burrow, MixTape, Avowed, Atomfall
DLC:
Starfield Shattered Space, FO 76 Skyline Valley, World of WarCraft The War Within, Seat Of Thieves: Season 13, Diablo IV Vessel Of Hatred, ESO Online Gold Road
Things I found at least mildly interesting:
Expedition 33, South of Midnight, Flintlock: The Siege Of Dawn, Age of Mythology Retold, Perfect Dark, Fable, Life is Strange: Double Exposure, Mecha Break, Wuchang Fallen Feathers, Gears Of War E-Day
@rjejr As for RPGs, I'm into really niche stuff back from the SNES and PSP days. Star Ocean, Trials of Mana, Tales of Berseria, The 3rd Birthday, Valkyria Chronicles, Valkyrie Profile, Chrono Trigger, The Legend of Heroes, Trails in the Sky are just some of my favourites.
Could never get into Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy or even Kingdom Hearts.
@jedgamesguy I don't think Sony and Microsoft are doing it the same way, Sony are putting some of their games on PC and not really putting stuff on other consoles. Most research indicates that people tend to own a PC along with a console to play games on.
Microsoft are making all of their games available elsewhere and that includes other consoles too.
Sony are not handing the keys to the castle out, but they are allowing free tours, Microsoft on the other hand gets visitors to sign a deed actually owning the damn house.
I can see what Microsoft are trying to do here, they're trying to create a Netflix for video games the only problem is, it's been nearly 10 years and it hasn't worked at all and in fact it's actually costing Microsoft billions upon billions.
I doubt Activision Blizzard is worth even half of what it was when Microsoft purchased them. With all the layoffs and what happened to Bethesda recently (many of the studios under Bethesda ownership got axes by Microsoft), I would be willing to bet money that Activision Blizzard is not far off the same fate.
I think this approach is backfiring on Microsoft in a big way and I think the money people at the top of Microsoft are starting to get fed up (probably why we saw a shake up at Bethesda).
As a business, Microsoft should license what they have to other developers, do the publicity and marketing behind said games and outside of that, Microsoft needs to exit video gaming. Just become a publisher and leave everything else alone.
@Cut3Panda-SNES64DD While Microsoft now owns some very strong IPs (they pretty much have always had strong IPs since the 360 generation with Halo, Gears and the Rare catalog) they've never been in a position to capitalize on it or keep a certain level of consistency with them. The fact that Halo Infinite crashed and burned and the really mixed reception around Gears 5 really shows the cracks in Microsoft's management.
Bethesda has been struggling with audiences in recent years and was not in a position to capitalize on the Amazon series success, not even with a Fallout 3 or New Vegas remaster. And while yes Id kills it with Doom, but Rage and Wolfenstein still struggle with audiences and critical reception.
Activision is a beast of a publisher, but we once again come to the issue of capitalizing on legacy IPs that are not CoD. The lack of Crash and Spyro games despite the huge numbers the remakes brought in is concerning. That and the disaster around Overwatch 2.
While I think Microsoft put out an amazing show with some amazing games, let's not pretend that Microsoft does not have an extremely spotty track record with asset management. The fact they closed down Tango Gameworks after the smash hit that was Hi-Fi Rush should be a massive example of this. Or even the criminal treatment of Arkane Austin which was tossed into development hell with Redfall and never given a chance to fallow-up on the critical smash hit or Prey is another highlight of IP mismanagement.
Even though I knew it was going to happen the mass layoffs and studio closings still over power the Xbox for everyone marketing drivel. Microsoft, while still a huge market for developers, has personally lost its appeal starting with Win10. While I still keep machines for assembly interpolation development I am mostly using VM’s on Linux and Mac now. I do not see going back as an option based on this current cycle.
@Danrenfroe2016 " but I have never wanted to get a Sony console as all the games looked dark and depressing to me "
My all time favorite game was Jak & Daxter and my favorite console was PS2, despite what it did to Squenix and their obsession w/ graphics. Their last few gen have gotten more brown but I like the main characters of Nathan Drake, Kratos, Ratchet & Clank, the 1st Infamous guy, not so much the 2nd, so I guess for me what they lack in graphical color they make up for w/ colorful characters.
It does still bother me that the last well voice acted game on a Nintendo console was "Starfox Adventures" on the Gamecube. Ok that's kind of a joke, but I hate the fake voice sounds they use in most of their games. I'm ok w/ Link not talking, silent protagonist is something I understand, but not the noises instead of voices.
But if you can get by w/ just a Nintendo console, more power to you. I probably shouldn't have purchased a PS5 when I did but between myself and my 2 kid gamers we get our use out of it. Have barely touched our Switch in like 2 years, just Wonder, as I go thru my PS4/5 backlog. Switch 2 will probably be my last console, can't see needing a PS6, I'm done.
Maybe they’ll add Halo 5 and Halo Wars 2 on Steam as well. One can only hope.
Removed - trolling/baiting; user is banned
I just hope that means Bethesda games personally. I love Skyrim on the go and would love starfield or TES6 if it could run. Or Fable. I think that xbox as a publisher has a really nice window to put some of their old exclusives on the only major hybrid platform in gaming. I would certainly replay the fable series on switch.
@SOJIA What are you talking about Nintendo is nowhere close to dominating like they did in the 80s. Of course you wouldn't be saying that if you were around back then.
@Cut3Panda-SNES64DD " Trials of Mana "
I'm looking forward to Visions of Mana, still need to play Tales of Arise first though, the disc is just sitting there waiting. Currently scheduled for release in August on PS4/5 but I've read maybe also to Switch 2.
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/06/very-promising-action-rpg-visions-of-mana-adventures-to-ps5-ps4-in-august
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