Microsoft Weighs Launching Some Games, Including Indiana Jones, on the PS5 (theverge.com) 15
An anonymous reader shares a report: Bethesda's upcoming Indiana Jones game is also tentatively set to launch on Sony's PlayStation 5 console. We got our first glimpse of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle during Microsoft's Xbox Developer Direct event last month, where it was announced for Xbox and PC. A source familiar with Microsoft's plans tells The Verge that Bethesda is also considering bringing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to PS5.
A new multi-platform approach for certain Xbox games is emerging inside Microsoft, we're told, with the company weighing up which titles will remain exclusive and others that will appear on Switch or PS5 in the future. Indiana Jones appears to be part of this new wave of multi-platform games. While Bethesda will launch its Indiana Jones game first as an Xbox console exclusive, it's currently set to have a rather short period of exclusivity we're told. A release for PS5 is being considered for some months later, with Bethesda tentatively targeting a December 2024 launch for the Xbox and PC versions.
A new multi-platform approach for certain Xbox games is emerging inside Microsoft, we're told, with the company weighing up which titles will remain exclusive and others that will appear on Switch or PS5 in the future. Indiana Jones appears to be part of this new wave of multi-platform games. While Bethesda will launch its Indiana Jones game first as an Xbox console exclusive, it's currently set to have a rather short period of exclusivity we're told. A release for PS5 is being considered for some months later, with Bethesda tentatively targeting a December 2024 launch for the Xbox and PC versions.
Could make sense. (Score:3)
With proprietary hardware becoming less of a thing and media-brands being largely platform independent such a move could really make sense. These days I really see no real benefit to console-centric releases. The Playstation wouldn't loose large numbers of customers if they made the Horizon series available on XBox but they likely would make money reaching out the XBox crowd. For MS this might just be the same. Halo is an XBox tentpole and Sea of Thieves and Forza are neat but besides that there is little incentive to buy XBox for the exclusives. I see a similar situation for the Playstation.
However, MS could make some neat money offering servies and games to Playstation and it would be a good thing too if they opened up a little more for cross-platform.
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It makes a ton of sense, I would guess the publishing and development studio section of XBox is way larger and more profitable than the hardware division.
Also the fact that XBox has always struggled in Japan with PlayStation (and PC recently) with a much larger share of the market.
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All About Game Pass (Score:3)
Maybe not entirely crazy. I play mostly on XBox nowadays and it has everything to do with Game Pass and nothing to do with exclusives. XBox "exclusives" always go to PC anyway, so it's not like it would do that much damage to send them to PS5 as well.
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Game Pass is only on Xbox consoles, and console gamers don't want PCs. Putting their games on the competition could make the next Xbox DOA.
Mate, you should give PC Game Pass a search some time.
Missing the point (Score:3)
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Bethesda games have been cross platform since at least 2002. The only news here is that Microsoft decided to not be evil?
I don't see it as Microsoft trying not to be evil, rather it's Microsofts new version of evil.
Microsoft owns a lot of major publishing houses and are trying to acquire Activision-Blizzard. This is getting a lot of attention from US and in particular, European legislators who remember Microsoft from the 90s... So I suspect this is talk to try to avoid any talk of anti-trust which may scupper the acquisition.
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Microsoft is a business (Score:2)
If a game isn't going to sell consoles, there's no reason to leave money on the table by not making it cross-platform.
If a game is going to sell consoles, have an exclusivity window.
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I'm almost certain it's about not leaving money on the table. Microsoft's Xbox division makes money, but their hardware division loses money.
I'm also sure the difficulty they had with the Activision acquisition probably inspired them to consider porting their software to other platforms. And potentially just end the Xbox hardwar
They need to learn from Office. (Score:2)
They need to learn that the killer app isn't about making the killer app. It's about making the app as accessible and available as possible. As much as people like to hate on Office, it's available on every platform. Be it on the PC or on a Mac, it's no longer different versions and it's the same version how ever you choose or want to use it. Even the browser version is good to use and for those that don't need the goofy specialized functions of office, the web browser is more than plenty to use and integra