Despite recent confirmation that Xbox Game Studios’ Ori and the Blind Forest is headed for Nintendo Switch later this year, Microsoft has confirmed there are no further plans to bring existing first-party Xbox One exclusives to other consoles.
Talking to Gamasutra, Microsoft has revealed the port to Switch was in place prior to any exclusivity or acquisition deals. Consequently, the firm was keen to “honour” existing commitments” but had “no plans to further expand [its] exclusive first-party games to other consoles”.
“The past year has been an exciting time for us as we have more than doubled the internal creative teams making up Xbox Game Studios,” a Microsoft statement said. “As these new studios transitioned in, we were aware of some existing commitments to other platforms and will honour them.
“However, going forward these new studios will focus on making games for our platforms. We have no plans to further expand our exclusive first-party games to other consoles. We continue to believe deeply in cross-play and progression of games with the right flexibility for developers to ensure a fair and fun experience.”
The confirmation intimates that games from other Microsoft studios, such as the newly acquired Double Fine, will likely continue to develop first-party exclusives for Xbox. Microsoft announced it was acquiring Tim Schafer’s studio, Double Fine Productions, at E3 2019. The acquisition brought the total number of development studios now working under the Xbox Game Studios brand to 15.
Microsoft also recently added Obsidian Entertainment and inXile to its portfolio of development studios. Obsidian is behind fan-favourite role-playing games like Pillars of Eternity, Fallout: New Vegas, and South Park: The Stick of Truth, while InXile created Torment: Tides of Numenera, The Bard’s Tale 4, and Wasteland 2 and 3.
This comes on the back of other acquisitions Microsoft publicised at E3 2018 when it added no less than four new studios – Playground Games, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, and Compulsion Games – to its first-party lineup, as well as establishing new studio, The Initiative.
“With the addition of Double Fine, there will be a total of 15 unique, standalone studios that comprise Xbox Game Studios, including our newly-created Age of Empires studio headed by Shannon Loftis and our Publishing group headed by Peter Wyse,” Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty said at the time. “We are committing more resources and dedicated leadership to the Age of Empires franchise to ensure that its legacy on PC continues in service of the passionate community of faithful fans.”
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