Microsoft will keep releasing games on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, according to its CEO

Over the past few years, Microsoft has ditched the concept of console exclusives, as it released a fair share of its games on the systems of its two main competitors: Sony and Nintendo. And it seems that the company will keep this new business model for the next few years.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently shared an annual letter on his personal LinkedIn page, where he gave a rundown of the company’s recent performance and its future evolution. In the “Gaming” section of the text, Nadella stated: “Finally, we brought four of our fan-favorite titles to Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation for the first time, as we continue to extend our content to new platforms”, further confirming that Microsoft plans to release even more games on systems of the competition.

Nadella reiterated this statement on the annual investor’s report posted on the company’s official website, where, among many other things, he said “We are focused on growing the platform and expanding to new ecosystems to engage as many gamers as possible”. This all means that Microsoft is looking to reach a new audience by releasing its games on other consoles, and that it doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

Has Microsoft completely stopped making Xbox exclusives?

The four games that Nadella is referring to are Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, Grounded and Sea of Thieves, which were all released on PlayStation 5 and/or Nintendo Switch throughout 2024. All of these titles were originally Xbox and PC exclusives, but they eventually made their way into the competitors’ consoles. As weird and unexpected as these ports were, gamers reacted positively to this decision, and most of these IPs definitely managed to expand their audiences on these new platforms.

Of course, this has left a burning question among Xbox fans: Is it worth buying an Xbox Series X if Microsoft won’t make full exclusives anymore? Right now, Starfield seems to be its last AAA exclusive since it’s only available on Xbox and PC, with no plans of releasing it on PlayStation 5. But Microsoft was not lying when it said that it plans to keep expanding the brand on other systems since the company already confirmed that it will also release some of its other games, like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle or DOOM: The Dark Ages on PS5. Maybe the age of the great Xbox exclusives is truly over, although you could argue that it ended a long time ago, considering Microsoft also launches all of its exclusives on PC via Steam.