Microsoft is willing to let Xbox studios make multiplatform games in the future

Microsoft’s recent blanket of acquisitions may have been exciting for Xbox One owners that are hungry for exclusives, but the company may not be keeping these properties tied to the Xbox platform.

In an interview with Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty it was revealed that the company will release multiplatform ports when and where it “makes sense”.

In the interview, posted by Game Informer, transcribed by VGC, Booty explained how the company would handle ports of Xbox properties.

“I think we would. I think that the question is less binary about, ‘should it be on Switch, should it be on PlayStation?’ and more, ‘does it make sense for the franchise?” Booty explained.

“In other words, is it a kind of game where it would benefit from the network effect of being on a bunch of different platforms, or is it a game where we can best support it by putting resources and making sure that our platforms, things like xCloud and Game Pass and Xbox Live, are really leaning in to support the game?”

Microsoft is no stranger to multiplatform releases: while Mojang’s Minecraft could have easily shipped Xbox consoles as an exclusive, the sheer amount of money generated by a widespread release made more sense for Microsoft as a whole. Smaller games, like Cuphead or Hellblade, are different stories.

“With something like Minecraft, I think it was a no-brainer that we were never going to try and take anything from players that existed on those platforms, and certainly we’ve added platforms since that acquisition,” Booty said. “But then obviously we’re going to have our big franchises like Forza, Halo and Sea of Thieves, where those games are designed from the outset to really exist on Xbox, I think that will continue.”