Four Xbox Games Coming to Rival Consoles, New Hardware to Launch in 2024

Microsoft made its promised “Future of Xbox” announcements in the form of a podcast, with a number of interesting updates shared by Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, President of Xbox Sarah Bond, and Xbox Game Studios Head, Matt Booty. In the video, the three top executives not only addressed the speculation about exclusive games that has spread online in recent weeks, but also teased new hardware and discussed the reasons for the company’s recent layoffs. 

Starting with exclusives, Spencer confirmed that four currently exclusive Xbox titles will become available on at least one rival platform this year. They did not confirm the names of the games or which specific platform(s), though Sony’s PlayStation 5 and the Nintendo Switch (or its successor) are the most obvious choices, depending on game genre. They did, however, quash specific rumours that Starfield and the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would be among these four. 

The individual studios and teams behind each of the four titles will make their own announcements when the games are ready. Microsoft as a whole expects exclusivity to be a less important factor for gamers in the future, and the long-term health of the Xbox ecosystem and brand would be better served by opening up interoperability. The company now believes that attracting more players is a more sustainable strategy than trying to make the existing Xbox console user base keep spending more money. Two of the four unspecified titles are “community-driven” games, which could mean heavily multiplayer-oriented ones that would benefit considerably from having a larger pool of players. Sea of Thieves has also been rumoured to be losing its Xbox exclusivity, and that now seems even more likely.

A lack of growth in 2023 is what prompted Microsoft to initiate layoffs across its gaming operations, and making some games available to wider audiences is how the company hopes to prevent more job losses in the future. Spencer cited an expected decline in console gaming in 2024. Growth is key to the future success of the Xbox business. However, the company isn’t formally committing to ending exclusivity entirely, and there shouldn’t be expectations about games beyond the four that will be announced this year. While two of them will be going multiplatform because they are community-based, the other two are smaller “passion projects” which are likely to be popular.

Another major bit of news was the announcement that Diablo IV will be the first Activision Blizzard title to hit the Xbox Game Pass subscription service following Microsoft’s mega deal to acquire the studios. This is something gamers have been expecting for a while, and it will happen on March 28.

What more people will be interested in is the next generation of Xbox consoles, and while it’s too early in the Series X | S lifecycle for any announcements of that sort yet, the leadership team did state that “exciting stuff” will arrive near the end of 2024. No specifics were announced or even teased. A handheld device is more likely, this could also be a reference to a previously-leaked digital-only Xbox Series X refresh with a totally new design and 2TB of storage, and a new controller that can work with consoles as well as Xbox Cloud Gaming directly.

Contrary to rumours suggesting that Microsoft will ditch hardware altogether and turn Xbox into a multi-platform service, consoles will continue to be the “flagship experience” for gamers, and Game Pass will not be coming to other platforms, according to the company. Bond stated on the podcast that the next-gen Xbox console will be “the largest technical leap you’ve ever seen”, but it is not expected to launch before 2026. However, there could be a push starting this year to end physical game media and only support digital game libraries going forward. Spencer spoke about “making sure that we respect the investments that people have made in Xbox going forward”.