Xbox Will Be 'Honest & Transparent' About Platforms In Future Showcases, Says Phil Spencer

I wonder how strictly that policy will be applied?

In other words, if a game has the PlayStation logo on it when it is revealed, does this mean it is a day one release, or 6 months later? Conversely, if a game is going to be released on the PlayStation 6 months after it's Xbox release, will it get the logo in the reveal trailer?

Does transparency include admitting that a game is always planned on going to the PlayStation, or does transparency not go that far...?

Good. Glad to hear it. Not only will people be informed in what we already know, but it should help to dispel the whole "oh this game now" "oh great that game too?" rhetoric at scattered points in a year. Clean and open communication from the get go is key. Good for them.

Though I get the feeling people will cling onto this as gospel, and continue to write the guy off when he says the Xbox hardware and platform are still central to the brand 😅

Im surprised there hasn't been some kind of regulation about this. All three platforms have been presenting multiplat games as only available on their platform for years. Great decision.

There is of course no obligation, so doing this then strategic not doing it ill be fun. “Honestly, we hadn’t decided at the time!”

It makes sense and transparency is good, but it also needs some context as mentioned in previous comments. Like, are first party games releasing simultaneously on other platforms or will they be timed exclusives for Xbox?

I also wonder how they will market the next Xbox console in regards to all this. Best place to play Xbox games with gamepass is given but whats the extra incentive to get one when there are no exclusives. A new console is expensive and the return of investment even with gamepass will take a long time. It will be interesting.

Would love it to be the other way around too. I always have to check which Playstation games come to Xbox.

It's a good thing; it will prevent false speculations. This way, players will know, OK, this game is exclusive, or OK, this game is multiplatform. It changes from the State of Play where 99% of the games are multiplatform and Sony tries to make you believe they are exclusive, which is dishonest! Well, it's a practice that everyone did, but not at the same level as PlayStation, which has always played a lot on ambiguity. Glad that Xbox, once again, is setting a good example!

I just want all of this to be totally transparent from here on in.

No more marketing fidgey-widgeyness, it just stops us all making informed decisions.

@fatpunkslim you do realise that during MS shows they often stopped any mention of it coming to Sony/Nintendo for upto 48hrs after showing the trailer.

Both companies can do ***** things. Both do timed exclusivity. And it’s fine to admit that. You don’t have to defend every decision.

@fatpunkslim im interested as to how the level was different when Xbox events only say Xbox and ps events only say ps? I mean, to me, it seemed exactly the same on both sides of the coin. Curious to understand how you thought one was more so.

Honest and transparent with everyone BUT Xbox owners lol

Would have appreciated that “honesty and transparency” to Xbox core fans last year in the now infamous business update.

We could’ve been told back then “there’s no red lines” as to what it’s going to be ported to competing consoles instead of lying to our faces saying “it’s just 4 games”.

@Weebleman I didn't say it's already in place, but in any case, I see that you are very quick to defend PlayStation! lol! We all know very well that PlayStation has played its marketing on third-party games much more, whether with marketing exclusivity contracts with Call of Duty back in the day or with GTA 6. For them, it's a very important strategy to make the average player think that a third-party game is exclusive. Otherwise, why pay some publishers to prevent them from advertising on other platforms, even though the game is multiplatform? Don't be naive, it's just manipulation of the ignorant. Xbox is content with only displaying its logo on trailers like everyone else, it doesn't go further, or at least not as far as PS. As already said, for now, this willingness for transparency is not yet there, it's simply a pious wish for now, and we'll see if they apply it or not, but I think it's a good idea, that's all!

@IOI Always with the doom and gloom. When did he lie? He said that for now, it was just 4 games, that it was a test, and they would see what they do based on the results of these tests! They never said it would just be 4 games forever! He also said not to believe that these 4 games meant everything would arrive, and that's indeed the case; there are very few games that have been ported compared to the exclusive games. There is always a balance that is maintained. The result of the test is that only Sea of Thieves really worked on PlayStation, which is why we see other service games being ported after several years like FH5 or Age of Empires, for example. I'm not talking about historically multiplatform games

Good for the silly discourse that has been happening over the last 4 years.

But I find it incredibly stupid for the long-term image of the brand not having any game exclusives, besides what came/is from past consoles.

It's almost like that Xbox brand is frozen in time and the new Xbox brand is a "3rd party game making hardware having platform/store for game entitlements" brand. Don't dislike it really but it makes me not interested in their future.

This is the beginning of something not the end. Microsoft is likely to see huge profits from this new direction, Sony is already putting their biggest games on PC, and Nintendo is Nintendo (although I expect them to come up with their own way of doing something similar).

The days of games being locked on one plastic box are ending. It's a good thing.

The guy is a habitual liar and after 5 years of promises of ‘the games are coming’ I no longer listen to his BS. The games are coming………. to playstation. Goodbye xbox, hello microsoft gaming(again)

I have already mentioned this on a different thread - big thumbs up to Microsoft for aiming to be transparent with their multiplatform strategy.

On a different topic, so now the PlayStation fans want an Xbox centric* site to publish all platforms XGS games will release on besides Xbox and PC, even though they are members of the Pushsquare community were any snippet of Microsoft games going to PS is a big-ish(?) headline😅😅.....

All this talk about the 'end' of Xbox due to them choosing to release 'some' games on Playstation.

Right now, we only know of a couple of games that will/have released Day 1 on Sony - Doom, Minecraft, CoD and Outer Worlds 2 - none of which were ever 'exclusive' on Xbox anyway. All the rest are either full or at least timed Exclusives - games like Starfield, Redfall, Forza Motorsport, Halo, Gears of War, Perfect Dark, Fable, Indiana Jones, South of Midnight, Hellblade 2, Clockwork Revolution, State of Decay 3, Avowed etc are all 'exclusive' (or expected to be right now) on Xbox - regardless of whether they'll eventually release elsewhere or not. That is a LOT of Exclusive content on Xbox hardware and I would expect that MS will 'continue' to release games on other Platforms after they have released on Xbox hardware - much like Sony do with their PC ports - although 'some' may also end up Day 1 on PC too if it's advantageous to the games Success. MLB and Destiny continue to release on Xbox Day 1 too...

@fatpunkslim I’m not defending anyone bud, you said…

‘ Well, it's a practice that everyone did, but not at the same level as PlayStation, which has always played a lot on ambiguity.’

And I was just curious how you landed at that when they both do exactly the same. I’m not fussed what the games on as I have them both, so it literally holds no bearing to me as I can play any game I want regardless of the box that runs it. I was just trying to understand your logic is all.

Edit: you also mention marketing for COD. Didn’t Xbox have the previous marketing agreement prior to Sony. Xbox also had timed exclusivity for dlc maps. Again, they both do the exact same thing.

Also, GTA 6 isn’t out and no marketing has been announced.

Thats great news.

If you see a logo of PS/N - its a day 1 release.
If you dont - timed (or rarely permanent exclusive).

People on other platforms who are looking for specifc games now can expect these announced games.
People who are interested in xbox studious games to start with and dont want to keep guessing - buy pc/xbox or go xcloud.

Any transparency is better

@Fiendish-Beaver I think if a logo is revealed its a day 1 release. If not - timed xbox exclusive

Good, it’s about damn time Xbox started being transparent about this. Should’ve had this honesty last year too, instead of all the misleading damage control, but better late than never.

Next step is for games that does not have ps/n logo is to announce how long is xbox exclusivity.

But honestly if you really care about exclusivity I would look for other platforms and mostly to nintendo.

@IOI yep Phil said back then that there’d be no fundamental change in their exclusivity strategy (and everyone trusted him and took him at his word at the time), which is blatantly untrue because he just admitted that they no longer aim to convert any PS5 users into XSX users. You can’t have a more fundamental shift in strategy than that, that’s the only reason why exclusives exist after all! Instead he gradually shifted the goalposts with every interview he gave in every subsequent month.

@mac_da_man yeah new console is expensive so you can buy xbox + GP and be covered pretty much. Money saved via GP can be allocated to buying more games on a release or if you are an active player you can allocate the savings towards another platforms and their exclusives as secondary platforms

@Cakefish i think he lied about shift in strategy. He was like “no shift, no shift” and now everything is different lol.

I do think tho last year they did not have a definite decision about being multiplat. Maybe if those 4 games flopped on Ps they would not do it. We kinda new that they are likely to make a buck. We can blame sea of theves lol which was top seller on Ps

@Millionski I’d be very surprised if there are any new Xbox exclusives announced going forwards. Now they have stated that they no longer wish to convert any users of other platforms into becoming Xbox owners, what possible reason could they still have to do another Xbox exclusive ever again? When you think about it there really isn’t one.

@Cakefish i personally expect 0 exclusives next gen. And I am still buying an xbox on release.
I have PS and switch for exclusives only

@Millionski maybe, but he shouldn’t have said such a clear-cut statement as ‘no fundamental shift in our exclusivity strategy’ if he was already aware that there was a high chance that such a statement would age like milk - which it definitely has!

@Millionski I agree I also expect no exclusives next gen. I’d be very surprised if there’s any in 2026 too and honestly I’m not expecting there to be many for the remainder of 2025 even (I strongly suspect Fable will be confirmed as full multiplatform in the June showcase).

That's really all I want as an Xbox fan is honesty and transparency

If the transparency extends to telling us exactly how long we will have to wait for an Xbox game to land on the PlayStation, then I personally would be happy. If, as an example, we are told E-Day will release on the PlayStation six months after it releases on the Xbox, then I can make an informed decision as to which consoles to buy. If games are day one on both consoles, or 6 months is the average, then chances of my buying the next Xbox is minimal because I can wait 6 months. If E-Day, as an example, is completely exclusive, or is going to the PlayStation a year or more after the Xbox release, then that will give me cause for thought, and the Prime becomes more tempting. My issue there though is that I do have a very capable gaming PC that I can use instead. Problem is that I don't actually enjoy gaming on a PC.

Tis a proper conundrum, and some clarity from Microsoft would be greatly appreciated. Thing is, they've never been transparent before, and we have seen them say one thing and then a few months later do precisely the opposite. Honestly, I'd be shocked if we really learn just how long a game will be exclusive to the Xbox before being ported to the PlayStation. I'm sure they will have some arbitrary line that says no PlayStation logo on a games reveal where it won't be going to the PlayStation day one, or three months later, or... well you get the idea. I doubt Microsoft actually knows the meaning of the word transparent...

@Fiendish-Beaver it really doesn't matter in the long run as timed exclusives won't be around for long, this is a short phase on the road to everything on PS day 1.

Totally agree, @Jenkinss. I said before that this is the PC situation but on steroids. Where it took a few years to go from release on PC months afterwards, to then day and date, within this year it will likely be everything day and date...

@Lup Really!, I wouldn't of thought it would be very difficult, Sony only release One First Party AAA exclusive game a year which they have done for years now, so unless you are interested in that one title it shouldn't be to difficult.

@Rog-X

Wasn't talking about first party. Not interested on those.
But when some asían game like Tides of Annihilation shows up you can't be too sure.