Microsoft To Discuss Future Of Xbox Amid PS5 Rumors This Thursday

Microsoft will share "updates on the Xbox business" on February 15, the company has confirmed, in the wake of ongoing rumors and reports of Xbox shifting strategy to release games on competing platforms.

The event will take place this Thursday as a podcast featuring Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and other Xbox executives including Sarah Bond and Matt Booty. The podcast will air on YouTube and everywhere else podcasts are available at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET.

Bond is Xbox's new president and Booty is the Head of Xbox Game Studios, so, together with Spencer, this should make for a good panel to speak to the economic and creative considerations at play in this situation.

It recently came to light that Microsoft might be shifting focus and executing on a new strategy to bring some of its first-party games and franchises to rival platforms from Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft has not commented on these reports as of yet, so the podcast interview will surely be one to tune in for.

Microsoft has been saying for years that it wants to make its games available to more people, in more places, and on more devices, and releasing some games on PlayStation and Nintendo could be a way to do that.

Reports have suggested that Microsoft is considering bringing Gears of War, Starfield, Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to PlayStation. Some have wondered if Microsoft could leave the hardware business with PS5 outselling Xbox 2:1, but Microsoft has reportedly assured its staff that this won't be the case.

Developing...