Rumor: Xbox to Release Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment on Rival Consoles First, Sea of Thieves Later This Year - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 12 February 2024 / 3,993 Views
Microsoft earlier today announced it will be holding a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast that will feature Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, Xbox President Sarah Bond and head of Xbox studios Matt Booty giving an update on the Xbox business.
Sources familiar with Xbox's plans have told The Verge that Microsoft is looking to release a select number of Xbox console exclusives on the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch.
The sources claim Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment will be the first Xbox games to release on rival consoles, while Sea of Thieves will launch later this year on non-Xbox platforms. Other first-party titles are under consideration.
Hi-Fi Rush first released for the Xbox Series X|S and PC in January 2023, Pentiment released for the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC in November 2022, and Sea of Thieves released for the Xbox One and PC in March 2018, and for the Xbox Series X|S in November 2020.
There have been recent rumors that Microsoft is considering to release at least some Xbox exclusives on rival consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch.
"We're listening and we hear you," said Spencer last week. "We've been planning a business update event for next week, where we look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox. Stay tuned."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Sea Of Thieves is an amazing game. The more people playing it, the better. Still to this day, it offers the best looking water effects.
ok not end of the world.
So far 2 niche AA games, great games at that, and a 6 year old GAAS title........nothing really shattering so far. I wouldn't be surprised if other niche or smaller titles like Flight Simulator or Grounded make their way to other platforms.
That's the thing though. MS's own FTC documents showed that they were already considering AA and GAAS titles being the best candidates to go multiplatform. I wouldn't say it's set in stone until an actual AAA game goes multiplat. Once that happens, MS will start to see an exodus of players and GP subs. Also the Blade trailer is only on Xbox's YouTube channel, but with that game being out by 2027 at the earliest, who knows.
But people have to remember like 75% of GP subs are on console. If MS diminishes the value of their consoles too much, the number of GP subs will naturally decline as well. And I doubt Sony or Nintendo would allow GP to be on their systems even if Xbox goes third party.
Yep that's the thing. They were already considering it during a time when things weren't looking so bad. Now GP subs have stalled out and sub services in all industries have stalled. Xbox hardware tanked hard during this last year and Amy Hood predicted even more drops in hardware. That means the peak of Xbox was in it's first two years.
There's a leaker who already precited all this stuff happening. He even predicted when it would be announced but the leak got the date moved up from the end of this month to this week. He leaked Indiana Jones and the third person/first person view. He made a long list of predictions and literally hasn't been seen since. All of them have been correct so far.
On top of that it makes no sense to partially go 3rd party. People will just assume it's all coming eventually. Just like with playstation and PC. People think it's all coming even though PS still hasn't' released all their games on PC. I still see people saying just wait 1 or 2 years but there's been several games that go way past that and more that haven't even come.
Either way we will find out soon. Hopefully MS is clear about their plans and stops beating around the bush.
MS will have to fundamentally change everything about their business model then. Because there’s literally nowhere else they could put GP. We’ll be finding out soon enough.
It's still interesting to me of PlayStation games coming to PC. Sony just came off of an incredible console generation of 114 million units sold of the PS4, their games selling better than ever, PS5 off to a record setting start, and even Sony can't withstand having to spread to other platforms. To the point of a day and date PC release with Helldivers 2. It may be a reality eventually for all console makers to have third party offerings of some sort.
Yea it makes me wonder if they are giving up on GP in a way. There's been rumors that changes are coming to GP also but I find that hard to believe.
I think Playstation is just looking for every single way they can to increase revenue without hurting hardware. I think Nintendo can avoid it because their games don't cost nearly as much as what Playstation and MS are putting out.
Honestly I don't get your rationale on why there would be an exodus from Xbox/GP. All the same games are available on it. GP isn't available anywhere else it isn't now. Anybody majorly motivated by Playstation exclusives would already have it .
So I don't see how AAA going multiplat would be trigger of exodus, only a degradation of GP offering might cause that. Or potentially if MS is able to offer GP thru Playstation (possibly both). Even then I wouldn't really expect any "exodus", just a worse growth rate relative to Playstation (which is already playing out before all this news/rumors).
This seems more of a psychological hit for Xbox fans who believed in parity/turning the tables, but I don't think the brand actually depends on that dream. Sure, it kind of puts a cap on their growth, but EDIT: the Xbox console platform is still viable, and if anything with the extra money MS will be getting from cross-platform, they will be able to fund even more games which will all come to Xbox. Obviously there is a psychological role of "valuing things which others cannot have" (i.e. exclusivity in this case), and maybe this is the end for Xbox console warrior mentality, but objectively in terms of Xbox platform, I don't see any issue.
Interesting to see how it impacts broader gaming industry, with widespread layoffs/project abandonment currently. Partly if MS is less generous in GP financing but also a stronger shift to PS maybe affecting 3rd party deals there, or maybe PS 1st party getting more head space due to less 3rd party.
This will age well.
Regarding the logos for Blade, even if it's meant to be multiplat, they could still put nothing but an Xbox logo on it in the trailer. We saw that with Metaphor: ReFantazio from Atlus. Even on Atlus own Youtube channel, it only shows the Xbox logo. But when we go to the official website of the game, it shows logos for Series S|X, PS4/PS5, Windows, Steam.
Once u open the floodgates,
There is no stopping it.
When did Xbox open the floodgates? With Minecraft? With Ori? With Cuphead?
Minecraft was multi-platform before Microsoft bought Mojang. Ori and Cuphead are from third parties and Microsoft is just the publisher.
MLB the Show is also releasing on Xbox for a few years, hell even Gamepass day one, so will Marathon so the floodgates can still be controlled. On the other hand if gamepass itself is a big enough reason to buy xbox instead of Playstation, why not collect money from Playstation.
MS Tactic is to add some games that nobody is going to complain about too much, and if needed release some bigger games later on. It’s the Boiling frog tactic. Don’t fall for it,
Trying to catch up to to your competitors by releasing your own games on your competitors consoles is the dumbest strategy ever. You’re literally giving reasons for people to buy other console except your own. Xbox is a total clown show. What else can you expect with Matt Booty still there,
Hoping for physical copy on switch for hi fi rush
