Microsoft’s Much-Anticipated Xbox Business Update is Coming on February 15

Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, promised last week that Microsoft would soon address the rumors about some Xbox exclusive games going to other consoles, and this is finally happening. This Thursday, February 15, Phil Spencer, Xbox President Sarah Bond, and Head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty will discuss the future of Xbox during a special edition of the official Xbox podcast at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET.

Since last weeks, reports about Hi-Fi Rush and other Xbox exclusive games like Sea of Thieves possibly coming to PlayStation 5 have caused a great deal of confusion – and sometimes anger – among Xbox fans. It also didn’t help that these reports came just a couple of days after an exciting Xbox Developer_Direct event where Microsoft showed Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and 3 upcoming Xbox exclusive games.

Please join us for a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast.

Hear from Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond and Matt Booty as they share updates on the Xbox business. pic.twitter.com/TxwWJVUbgx

— Xbox (@Xbox) February 12, 2024

“We’re listening and we hear you. We’ve been planning a business update event for next week, where we look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox,” Phil Spencer posted last week in reaction to the online drama. The podcast format and the roundtable with two other Xbox executives is an interesting choice, even though this may not be how Microsoft was planning to deliver the news in the first place.

Back in November, Tim Stuart, Chief Financial Officer for Microsoft’s Xbox and Gaming division probably teased the new direction the business could take. Speaking at the Wells Fargo TMT Summit, the exec said that he wanted to bring Xbox content and services “to every screen that can play a game,” including rival consoles from Sony and Nintendo. This would be consistent with Microsoft’s global strategy to bring its apps and services on most platforms. However, the software giving more of its Xbox exclusive games to competition is probably not going to help console sales.

We’ll see what the company has to say on Thursday, but according to a recent report from video games journalist Shannon Liao, Phil Spencer recently told Xbox employees that the company has no plans to discontinue Xbox hardware.