Xbox wants to bring Game Pass and ‘first-party experiences’ to Nintendo and PlayStation
And every other "screen that can play games"
Xbox’s chief financial officer, Tim Stuart, has been speaking about the company’s future goals, including its "mission" to eventually bring its subscription service, Xbox Game Pass, to “every screen that can play games.” That includes devices from rival companies, like the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation.
According to GameSpot, Stuart mentioned this while speaking at the Wells Fargo TMT Summit this week. Acknowledging that “it’s a bit of a change of strategy” from what the company has done before, he said: “Not announcing anything broadly here, but our mission is to bring our first-party experiences [and] our subscription services to every screen that can play games.
“That means smart TVs, that means mobile devices, that means what we would have thought of as competitors in the past like PlayStation and Nintendo."
Xbox hasn’t previously been shy about discussing expanding onto the Nintendo Switch. Last year, it was confirmed by the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, that Microsoft has “entered into a 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo” following the acquisition of Activision. He also said that “Microsoft is committed to helping bring more games to more people – however they choose to play.”
Furthermore, in October this year, Spencer reiterated that he wants Call of Duty players on PlayStation - and “in the future, on Nintendo” - to “feel 100% part of the community.” At the same time, he claimed that following the Activision acquisition, parity across all platforms will apply to future Call of Duty launches and content.
Back to Stuart’s latest statement though, and it’s worth noting that he specifically stated that he was “not announcing anything broadly,” so there’s no guarantee that Xbox’s ideal plans will come to fruition.
If you’re an Xbox fan looking for something new to play, you can find some brilliant recommendations on our list of Xbox Series X games. Be sure to check out what's releasing for the rest of this year and beyond with our upcoming games roundup.
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Catherine is a News Writer for TechRadar Gaming. Armed with a journalism degree from The University of Sheffield, she was sucked into the games media industry after spending far too much time on her university newspaper writing about Pokémon and cool indie games, and realising that was a very cool job, actually. She previously spent 19 months working at GAMINGbible as a full-time journalist. She loves all things Nintendo, and will never stop talking about Xenoblade Chronicles.