Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment are the first Xbox games to launch on competing consoles, according to the edge.
Amid sluggish Game Pass subscriptions and weak Xbox console sales, Microsoft will soon announce the arrival of both games on “competing” consoles, The Verge said. Neither PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch were specified in the report, but we can assume that Sony and Nintendo consoles are in the mix.
The Verge added that Microsoft will release Rare's pirate adventure Sea of Thieves on non-Xbox platforms later this year. Other first-party titles are also said to be under consideration. Conflicting reports indicate that Bethesda's Starfield and MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle were at one point under consideration for a PS5 release, but more recent reports suggest those plans may have changed.
Xbox will reveal its vision for the future On a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast on Thursday, February 15 at 12pm PT / 3pm ET / 8pm UK. “Please join us for a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast,” the announcement read. “Listen to Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond and Matt Botti as they share updates on the Xbox business.”
Spencer reportedly reassured employees of this Microsoft plans to continue making consoles Amid questions surrounding Xbox's third-party strategy in the future. In January, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company could be “a good publisher on Sony, Nintendo, PC and Xbox.”
“We love games. In fact, Flight Simulator was created before Windows. But we were third and fourth. And now with Activision, I think we have a chance to be a good publisher — quite frankly — on Sony, Nintendo,” PC and Xbox. “We are excited to close this acquisition and I am glad we have done so,” Nadella said. In June, Nadella said that if it were up to him, the video game industry would move away from exclusive games entirely.
“Xbox's future will likely look very different from its past and present,” IGN host of the Xbox Unlocked podcast, Ryan McCaffrey, wrote in an opinion piece. “But in this present, we're watching a mass of the company try to 'rewrite the rules of real-time engagement.' That might work, but will Microsoft throw away 20 years of hard-earned brand loyalty in the process?
For more, see why analysts say so Xbox is changing the nature of exclusivityand keep an eye on IGN for all the news and reactions as the podcast arrives.
Tango Gameworks' Hi-Fi Rush and Obsidian's Pentiment both launched on Xbox Series
IGN's Hi-Fi Rush review gave it a rating of 9/10. We said: “Hi-Fi Rush marches to the beat of its own drum with stunning animation, lovable characters, and stylish rhythmic action that's only one note away.” Pentiment's review on IGN rated the game 10/10. We said: “Pentiment is a clever late medieval detective story with a wonderfully realized world that I can't recommend highly enough.”
Wesley is IGN's UK news editor. You can find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].