Last August, Cognosphere and Microsoft surprised everyone when they revealed that Genshin Impact was coming to Xbox. They even made a deal to bring it to Game Pass, to play on console, PC, and even cloud streaming.
On one end, Microsoft is known to have struggled to get support from game developers from Japan. That seemed to have expanded to include China in recent years, but generally, Xbox has struggled to make inroads in East Asia, between both the gamers and game developers in the region.
But on top of that, Sony had a hand in the development of Genshin Impact. They had not announced that there was an exclusivity deal, but it did take three years before the game came to PlayStation’s competitor.
And many remember when the developer, miHoYo, said they wanted to bring the game to the Nintendo Switch, but no one takes that as a serious promise anymore.
As reported by Windows Central, miHoYo’s and Cognosphere’s latest game, Zenless Zone Zero, is rumored to also be coming to Xbox. In fact, it may be coming as soon as the arrival of update 1.4, scheduled this December 18.
Windows Central’s Jez Corden went on to speculate that if this rumor is true, Microsoft could make the announcement as soon as in this year’s The Game Awards.
But there’s an interesting proviso to this rumor. When Sony announced that Zenless Zone Zero is coming to PlayStation, they clearly indicated that the game would be platform exclusive for six months. We reported that and took it to mean that the game was exclusive until January 2025. The trailer where Sony made this exclusivity announcement was dated for July 12, 2024.
Based on Sony’s announcement, Zenless Zone Zero can’t come to Xbox or Nintendo’s platforms until January 13, 2025. So, have we already debunked this rumor already?
As Jez Corden pointed out, after the Genshin Impact deal, gamers and press could see that it was highly likely that Zenless Zone Zero could follow onto Xbox too. That deal also included a big marketing push for Genshin Impact paid for by Xbox.
So, the specific details in this rumor may prove to be incorrect, but we may still expect a port anyway. Alternately, this rumor’s source, a Zenless Zone Zero fan using the handle Flying Flame, could have accurate information, and something changed in that original Sony deal from July.
If this all proves to be true, Microsoft seems more willing to throw money around to be more competitive against Sony in the console gaming market. That’s welcome news for Xbox owners who were worried about Microsoft’s push as a third-party publisher. It seems this time, Microsoft won’t let their loyal fans feel that they are missing out anymore.
