Earlier this year, Xbox brought some of its games to PlayStation 5 and Switch. Apparently that worked pretty well, as Microsoft’s CEO of gaming Phil Spencer says more of its games are coming to other platforms, and that might even include the Xbox’s crown jewels, like the next Halo game.
In February 2024, the first reports surfaced claiming Xbox was planning to bring some of its previously Xbox-exclusive games to other consoles. The news led to an Xbox fan community meltdown. Eventually, four games—Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Penteniment, and Hi-Fi Rush—made the leap to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. Then in August, Xbox revealed that the Bethesda-published Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would land on PS5 in Spring 2025, after being announced as an Xbox console exclusive. And if you thought that was the end of the Xbox games going multiplatform, you were very wrong.
In a November 13 Bloomberg interview, Phil Spencer talked about the future of Xbox and the company’s plans for a handheld Steam Deck-like device. In the the conversation, Spencer also said he was “pleased” with the results of bringing Xbox games to other consoles and confirmed any game could make the leap.
“I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say ‘thou must not,’” Spencer told Bloomberg. He also suggested that even Halo could make the leap, adding: ‘It’s too early to make any sort of decision on the next version of Halo.”
That’s not a yes, but the fact that he’s openly talking about Halo on PlayStation is pretty remarkable considering how important the franchise has been to Microsoft for over 20 years.
A report in May claimed that Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, was pushing for more Xbox games to make the transition to PlayStation and Switch. Reportedly, after buying Activision for $69 billion, the leadership at Microsoft was now watching Xbox very closely and wanted more growth. According to Spencer, “The Xbox business has never been more healthy.” But there’s always room for more growth and bigger numbers when you are part of a massive corporation. And if that means putting Master Chief on PS5, then that will happen sooner rather than later.
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