Jez Corden has outlined what he believes to be Microsoft’s current line of thinking when it comes to their multiplatform strategy for their video game business.
Replying to some fans on Twitter, Jez made these statements:
“They’re still doing exclusives, just they’re no longer banning ports once a game has totally sold all it can on x/pc.
You’ll get some day and date multiplats but you’ll still see some games launch on Xbox and PC first for the foreseeable (future).
i know some devs would just rather focus on one platform at least initially and Microsoft will let them do that.”
Microsoft’s multiplatform strategy has been a point of contention for some time, but we need to recognize the situation the company is in. As a prerequisite of their acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, Microsoft has committed to keeping delivering the games Activision already makes outside of Microsoft’s own platforms.
It’s a unique double bind, as, for example, every copy of Call of Duty sold on PlayStation now makes a lot of money for both Microsoft and Sony. Sony may be satisfied with helping make Microsoft money, but they may also wish they could do the same thing.
However, when Microsoft brought four of their former console exclusives to PlayStation 5 and the Nintendo Switch, they had to reckon with the reputational damage. So far, it seems that Sea of Thieves had a very successful launch on PlayStation 5, even appearing in Sony’s financial report earlier today.
Before all of this happened, of course, Xbox was already perceived as a lesser game console brand, compared to both the PlayStation 5 and the Nintendo Switch. So, it is entirely possible that Microsoft decided taking these risks would be worthwhile, not because they don’t care if it hurts their reputation, but because they didn’t have that much to lose.
This is an interesting turnaround from Jez’ earlier reporting suggesting that there was no red line on what game Microsoft could bring to rival platforms. We don’t know what criteria Microsoft will use to decide which games stay exclusive, and which ones become multiplatform, but it certainly seems like Microsoft is paying more attention to what their developers need to make the best games they can.
