All the Xbox News from Their Latest Official Podcast

A few days ago, Xbox hosted a podcast where the company’s key figures came together to share news about the brand’s future. It was published on their official YouTube channel and is also available on Spotify. Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Sarah Bond, President of Xbox, and Matt Booty, Head of Xbox Game Studios, brought us all the latest updates about the platform. Below is a summary of the highlights from the discussion.

4 Xbox Exclusive Games Coming to Other Platforms

Although Phil Spencer didn’t reveal the names of the four titles that will no longer be Xbox exclusives, stating he prefers the studios themselves to make the announcement, he did offer some hints. These are games that have been on the market for at least a year; all of them are first installments and community-driven games. Two of these are Games-as-a-Service (GaaS), while the other two are smaller titles that were never intended to remain exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem.

Phil clarified that this doesn’t represent any significant change in direction, as some have speculated online. Instead, it’s a test, and if successful, the list of exclusive games released on other platforms could be expanded. When asked, he confirmed that there are currently no plans to bring Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny or Starfield to rival consoles. Nonetheless, there was a strong emphasis on Xbox’s growing role as a publisher and how bringing their IPs to competitor hardware strengthens its business model.

Diablo IV Coming to Game Pass in March

After a lengthy legal battle, Microsoft successfully completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, and it can now add ABK’s IPs to its subscription service. The rollout starts with none other than Diablo IV, which will arrive on Game Pass on March 28, 2024. This will be the first in a long list of games to join Xbox’s subscription service, which already boasts over 34 million users.

News About Xbox’s New Hardware and Next Console

Sarah Bond revealed that there are “exciting things” in development regarding hardware, which will be shared this holiday season. She also mentioned that investments have already begun in the roadmap for the next generation of consoles, which they aim to make the most significant technical leap in gaming history. From this, we can infer that these announcements might refer to a possible portable Xbox console, a mid-generation update to enhance the Xbox Series’ performance (similar to the Xbox One X in 2017), or even a slim version of the current consoles.

Over 10 Major Xbox Releases for 2024

Toward the end of the discussion, Matt Booty revealed that their first-party studios will release more than 10 major titles this year. Among the highlights are Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Avowed, Ara: History Untold, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, among others.

All Xbox Purchased Games Can Be Played in the Cloud

This update didn’t come from the podcast but rather from Twitter. However, it’s so significant that we decided to include it. Back in June 2022, Phil Spencer announced, just days before the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, that all games purchased for Xbox Series, Xbox One, or backward-compatible titles from earlier consoles would be playable via streaming. Nearly two years later, while Game Pass Ultimate subscribers enjoy an increasing number of cloud titles, many games are still unavailable in Xbox Cloud Gaming.

For this reason, a user decided to ask Phil directly in the Xbox chat when they would be able to play their purchased games on Xbox Cloud Gaming. The CEO firmly responded, “It has to be this year.” Screenshots of this chat spread across social media within hours.