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Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Responds To PS5 Rumors For Starfield, Gears Of War

The Xbox head says there will be a business update on the team's "vision" next week.

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Microsoft might be dramatically altering its Xbox console exclusivity strategy in the near future. To address new reports, Xbox head Phil Spencer has confirmed a "business update event" for next week. It comes after we've heard Microsoft may be considering bringing games like Gears of War, Starfield, and the upcoming Indiana Jones to PlayStation. [Update: The Xbox business update is coming on February 15 in the form of a podcast.]

On X (formerly known as Twitter), Spencer announced his plans and acknowledged he's heard the discourse about these reports. "We're listening and we hear you," he said. "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."

Earlier today, Jeff Grubb of GameSpot sister site Giant Bomb mentioned that Microsoft was reportedly planning to reveal its new game-release strategy at the end of February, though it could be moved up. That apparently looks like that's the case.

In January, there were separate rumblings about Sea of Thieves launching on Playstation as well as Hi-Fi Rush heading to PS5 and Nintendo Switch. A recent leak also adds fuel to Hi-Fi Rush going multiplatform in the future.

Last year, Spencer talked about exclusives on a "case-by-case basis" before Microsoft officially acquired Activision Blizzard. Keep in mind that the reports haven't mentioned other big-name exclusives from Xbox yet, like Halo Infinite or the upcoming Avowed.

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StickEmUp

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Edited By StickEmUp

Well, he didn’t deny it. Historically, when rumors about what Xbox is planning haven’t been true, he has denied them. I’ve been saying the only way for them to make these multibillion dollar acquisitions make sense is to sell these games on PlayStation. There simply are not enough Xbox owners. Making these games exclusive was never going to bring enough people over to Xbox. PlayStation has outsold Xbox by 2:1, again. Even amongst all the Xbox owners, they’re not buying these games, because they’re playing them on Game Pass. Phil is always talking about not wanting games to be exclusives anymore. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s once again being disingenuous and just trying to look like the nice guy.

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Xikaryo

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Xbox fans are having a complete mental breakdown on Twitter with lots of them posting proof that they just sold their Xbox. Crazy times but also not exactly as surprising as some people might think considering we’ve been saying for years that Microsoft’s Xbox failures were going to lead to them going third party just like Sega, but Xbox fanboys would just reply with salt and anger.

PS5 outsold Xbox by over 3 to 1 in 2023, and Game Pass is no longer sustainable as the subscriber count is not increasing and games development is too expensive to offer them for so little, so they’re also going to announce very big changes that will lead to lots of people mass canceling Game Pass.

I also think Microsoft dug their own graves here because Xbox players don’t buy games anymore, which means software sales will somehow keep dropping on Xbox and Game Pass subs will drop now too.

It’s over.

It just sucks that Phil is such a coward he’s going to make Sarah Bond make the announcement so that she can take the fall.

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silkylove

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It will be interesting watching Phil walk back everything he said about exclusivity and shipping games on platforms where gamepass exists.

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strrckshn

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Alfred Hitchcock Presents..The Wait To Melt Down..

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MoogleStar

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Edited By MoogleStar

I feel like if the rumors weren't true he'd just deny it right off the bat. Damn 😌

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Xikaryo

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@mooglestar: Yep, remember all the instant damage control they did when Redfall released to atrocious reviews? They wasted no time. In this case, they didn’t even bother denying it, it’s all true.

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MoogleStar

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@xikaryo: Maybe we'll get Redfall on PS5 now 🤩

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mogan

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mogan  Moderator

@mooglestar: Maybe that would encourage them to improve it. : \

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gatsbythepig

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Edited By gatsbythepig

@mogan: Experienced, enlightened Mogan. This is why I'm excited for the change. Either they improve it, or we choose if we want to continue being customers.

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MoogleStar

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@mogan: Perhaps 😬

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Xikaryo

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Edited By Xikaryo

@mooglestar: Redfall was the true 2023 GOTY 🔥

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MoogleStar

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Edited By MoogleStar

@xikaryo: Right!? Holding off on buying an Xbox has finally paid off 🤤

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gatsbythepig

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Edited By gatsbythepig

"We're listening and we hear you"

-this is what people say when they actually don't care... if you hear this at work, you're about to get fired

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Gifford38

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xbox can't ignore the fact how many ps5 are out there.

also proves selling it for 70 bucks = profit.

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Just1MoHr

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Reference to "case-by-case basis" will mean 75-80% of their library based on their proven greed!

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