Reports emerged this week indicating that the company is now considering launching some first-party games on competing platforms. There has already been speculation about Xbox's Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves releasing on other platforms, but early this week the internet crashed after new reports suggested that Starfield, Indiana Jones and the Golden Circle could be heading to PS5 – although… YouTuber Nate Hate, who corroborated the original report, now believes Starfield is not intended for other platforms.
Not long after those rumors spread, another report appeared indicating this Gears of War has also been considered for release on PlayStation.
We've also seen mass layoffs at Microsoft, which has cut about 1,900 jobs across Xbox Game Studios, Activision Blizzard, and ZeniMax. As part of these layoffs, it has been reported that Xbox has closed departments dedicated to bringing physical Xbox games to retail stores. We've also seen that these layoffs have hit the developers of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro Toys for Bob hard, with 86 employees laid off. The mass layoffs also caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which filed a complaint over the job cuts, saying they contradicted Microsoft's statements in court about how Activision Blizzard and Xbox would operate after the acquisition. Microsoft claims that layoffs were already planned at Activision Blizzard before the acquisition.
With so many rumors and so much speculation swirling around the internet – much of which is likely false – gamers are wondering what Xbox has in store in the coming years. So far, the only thing we've heard from the Xbox team has come from Phil Spencer, who said Microsoft will share its “vision for the future of Xbox” next week.
So, what are your thoughts on all this? Are you concerned about the future of Xbox? Let us know your thoughts by voting in the poll and discussing them in the comments below. Wishing everyone a happy weekend!
