Microsoft Has No Further Plans to Bring Xbox Exclusives to Nintendo Switch

Microsoft’s been doing something we haven’t really seen the company do much in the past: bringing it’s exclusive Xbox games to third-party consoles. The company first brought Studio MDHR’s Cuphead to the Nintendo Switch, and just announced it’s bringing Ori and the Blind Forest to the Switch as well. With all these announcements, Xbox fans have raised some concerns about Microsoft bringing more of its exclusive titles to other platforms.

And to stop fans from worrying, Microsoft has stated that the company has no further plans to expand its exclusive Xbox titles to other 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 insure a fair and fun experience,” a Microsoft spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz (via The Verge).

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Some of the game studios Microsoft recently acquired will still, however, release some games on the Nintendo Switch as part of their existing commitments. “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. As these new studios transitioned in, we were aware of some existing commitments to other platforms and will honor them,”  the spokesperson said. “However, going forward these new studios will focus on making games for our platforms,” the spokesperson stated, reiterating Microsoft’s focus on its own platforms.

This is obviously an interesting move from Microsoft, but considering the importance of exclusive titles in the gaming community, it’s a no-brainer. Microsoft will probably still allow gamers on consoles the PS4 and Nintendo Switch to enjoy its exclusive titles via xCloud, though.

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Conversation 12 comments

  • maethorechannen

    Premium Member
    21 August, 2019 - 7:16 am

    <p>I think this was more about the PlayStation than the Switch. I'm not even certain they view the Switch as a console – they could easily call it a "mobile platform" and it put it in the same category as Android and iOS (which is why they can say that they don't view Nintendo as a competitor).</p><p><br></p><p>Also, the Microsoft executive was specifically talking about newly acquired studios that had cross platform games in the works for other publishers. Cuphead, Super Lucky's Tale and Ori aren't from one of those studios.</p>

  • Ron Diaz

    21 August, 2019 - 7:18 am

    <p>I honestly don’t understand this.</p><p>If MS wants to make their games available on other platforms fine.</p><p>If MS does not want to make their games available on other platforms that’s fine also.</p><p>Seems to me they should just come up with a strategy and stick to it though.</p><p><br></p><p>These are the types of things that MS does that just seems so complicated and not well thought out.</p>

    • dontbeevil

      23 August, 2019 - 8:51 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#450714">In reply to Hypnotoad:</a></em></blockquote><p>you know its MS not apple or google, people here always will find something to complain</p>

  • Slvrgun

    21 August, 2019 - 7:53 am

    <p> trying to figure out what was the benefit to Xbox gamers.</p><p><br></p><p>They allow Cuphead on Switch</p><p><br></p><p>Banjo is in Smash but they refuse to make a game for it.</p><p><br></p><p>i don't get it </p>

  • William Clark

    21 August, 2019 - 10:45 am

    <p>The thing is, Microsoft doesn't have a portable gaming platform. So an exclusive for an Xbox doesn't do me much good when I travel or if I want to sit on the patio and enjoy the sunshine. Personally I don't play console games anymore unless it's on a portable device, ie Switch. </p>

    • rm

      21 August, 2019 - 1:35 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#450770">In reply to waclark57:</a></em></blockquote><p>Microsoft is releasing that soon, it is called xCloud for both Android and iOS. I would expect more arcade style games native on both Android and iOS at some point in the next couple of years that support Xbox live and achievements. Microsoft already had all of that working on Windows Phone, so it would not be hard to do again (especially on Android where there are a lot more open APIs available).</p>

      • William Clark

        21 August, 2019 - 7:03 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#450815">In reply to RM:</a></em></blockquote><p>xCloud is game streaming, right? While that's interesting I'm not so sure it's interesting for all mobile users. First, even thought WiFi is "everywhere" it's not always good everywhere. In fact most hotels, restaurants, coffee shops and airports have terrible WiFi. Game streaming is coming but my prediction is that it will struggle until there is ubiquitous, high-speed Internet at a low cost. </p><p><br></p><p>And using your cell phone has the issue that most carriers will throttle you after so many gigs of download which I'm sure high end video games will eat into. The Switch has the advantage of games on memory cards or downloaded to the internal disk. Maybe xCloud will have something similar (for downloads).</p><p><br></p><p>The Switch also has hardware controllers which would be an added expense for Andriod/iOS, especially if you have to buy 2 for multiplayer games. I have an iPad and I had to buy a BT controller to play online games. I didn't like the "touch" interface. The problem I ran into is that there doesn't seem to be a universal API for handling controllers in iOS. I have to open up a mapping tool and map controller buttons to screen touches. That wouldn't be so bad except you have to do it for every game since they all don't use touch in the same way. </p><p><br></p><p>I'm glad that Microsoft is dabbling in game streaming but I don't think that means they can't still release games for non-MS platforms. I think the Switch is going to dominate the mobile gaming market (outside of telephone games) so it would make sense to me to have titles on that platform.</p>

  • Brazbit

    21 August, 2019 - 1:04 pm

    <p>As important as exclusives are these days I do miss the days of publishers making games for all systems. And not simply making it for the lowest common denominator then porting it to the others but striving to get the best out of each so each system got the best version it could support given the tools and restrictions of the times (modern homebrews of those titles look better but have access to techniques and resources that programmers in the 80s could only dream about).</p><p><br></p><p>This not only got the publisher sales from all systems but gave the gamers a slew of different experiences from the same title as a game like Donkey Kong was wildly different on the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Atari 8bit, </span>Intellevision, Colecovision, Coleco Adam, C64, Apple ][, NES, Amstrad CPC, Famicom Disk System, etc… Sure that was a Nintendo title and not a first party but Coleco held the console rights and Atari the PC rights and either could have kept it just for their system but instead they both made it for all the most popular systems of the day and that was not uncommon from any of the console manufacturers with both licensed and original IPs.</p>

  • rm

    21 August, 2019 - 1:29 pm

    <p>This is great news! It keeps people using Xbox consoles and Windows PCs to play along with attracting more people to Xbox in the future. There are still plenty of good games being made for multiple game systems, but if Sony is going to take this approach, Microsoft should to.</p>

  • allaboutt

    21 August, 2019 - 3:03 pm

    <blockquote><em><a href="#450780">In reply to warren:</a></em></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Why release Ori and the Blind Forest on the Switch? It was always MS IP and was released back in 2016.</span></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • Jorge Garcia

    21 August, 2019 - 11:07 pm

    <p>It can't be too much longer before X-Box One quality hardware can fit into a handheld form factor, can it? Why the delay, MS?</p>

  • christianwilson

    Premium Member
    22 August, 2019 - 3:49 pm

    <blockquote><em><a href="#450780">In reply to warren:</a></em></blockquote><p>That isn't true of Cuphead and Ori, though. They were Xbox exclusives from day one. I don't know why they decided to release those on Switch but Microsoft and Nintendo are friendly with each other. I'm sure they worked out some kind of deal that benefits both companies.</p>

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