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Every key detail from Xbox’s business update: new console, multiplatform games, and more

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Xbox's logo used during the Extended Games Showcase
Microsoft / .

Microsoft just released the latest episode of the Official Xbox Podcast, and it contained lots of crucial details on the future of Xbox. Microsoft addressed everything from how many games it will make multiplatform to the arrival of Activision Blizzard games on Xbox Game Pass to future Xbox hardware.

If you don’t want to listen to the full 23-minute podcast and want more details than what’s shared in the Xbox Wire post about the discussion, here’s a quick rundown of the biggest points made during the episode.

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Four Xbox games are going multiplatform

To kick things off, Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, addressed the multiplatform Xbox game rumors. “We made the decision that we’re going to take four games to the other consoles. Just four games, not a change to our kind of fundamental exclusive strategy,” he said. “We’re making these decisions for some specific reasons. We make every decision with the long-term health of Xbox in mind, and long-term health of Xbox means a growing platform, our games performing, building the best platform for creators, reaching as many players as we can.”

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Spencer declined to specify which games are going multiplatform, but implied it’s two community-driven titles and two smaller games — and that Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle aren’t included.

Game Pass isn’t coming to PS5 or Switch

While praising the strengths of Xbox Game Pass as a service, President of Game Content and Studios Matt Booty reassured Xbox players that Game Pass will stay an Xbox-exclusive service on console. “I think that we at first party can come back to some core principles,” Booty explained. “First, that all of our games will be on the Xbox platform. Second, all of our games will go into Game Pass on day one. And third, we know that Game Pass will only be available on Xbox.” Booty also emphasized the importance of maintaining crossplay and cross-save on Xbox games that do go multiplatform.

Diablo IV is coming to Xbox Game Pass next month

Speaking of Xbox Game Pass, President of Xbox Sarah Bond went on to confirm that Activision Blizzard games will start coming to the service. The first one will be Diablo IV, which will be added on March 28. “It’s all part of our commitment to make Xbox, the Xbox experience, and the games that we build as widely available as possible,” Bond said.

Diablo 4 Lilith
Blizzard Entertainment

Spencer wants Xbox to last for the next 20 years

Recent rumors got some people worried about the Xbox brand or hardware potentially going away. Spencer explained that he does not want that to be the case. “Many people know I’ve been on Xbox for over 20 years, and I want to make sure Xbox is in the best position for the next 20 years,” he said. “Our hardware is a critical component of that. The absolute best experience someone has on Xbox is hardware that our team builds and that people play on.”

Spencer addresses Xbox layoffs

While explaining Microsoft’s reasoning for this strategy shifting for Xbox, Spencer finally addressed layoffs, which have been rampant in the game industry in the past year and happened at Microsoft last month.

“What happens when an industry doesn’t grow? You end up with job eliminations, which we had. We had even our own hard decisions to make about building a sustainable business for ourselves, but in no way were we alone in that. When you think about a healthy industry, I want players who believe that they will find the best games on the platforms that they love. I want people who invest their careers in working here to feel like this is a place that they can be successful, and that is really down to being part of an industry that is growing.”

Xbox is seeing all-time-high user counts

Somewhat contradicting Spencer’s point about the lack of industry growth, Bond later shared that Xbox is seeing the highest number of users ever across several platforms. “We’re at the highest level of users on console, the highest level of users on PC, the highest level of users on cloud ever. We have double-digit growth rate on PC and cloud, places where we’re enabling creators to actually reach new players beyond the console ecosystem.”

The Xbox Series X and S compared.
Microsoft

Xbox is working on a next-gen platform

Bond affirmed that Microsoft and Xbox are not leaving the hardware game during the podcast. “There’s some exciting stuff coming out in hardware that we’re going to share this holiday, and we’re also invested in the next-generation road map,” Bond said. “What we’re really focused on there is delivering the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation, which makes it better for players and better for creators and the visions that they’re building.”

Game compatibility is important to Xbox

When asked about the preservation of digital content anid the rise of Xbox’s subscription services and cloud initiatives, Spencer praised Microsoft’s history of keeping up software compatibility with Windows over several decades and said he hopes to establish something similar with Xbox. He says that compatibility, maintaining player saves, and keeping cloud services up is all important, even going forward. “When we look at future hardware generations and what we’re going to support, making sure that we respect … the investments that people have made in Xbox going forward is fundamental.”

More than 10 Xbox first-party releases are coming in 2024

As the podcast concluded, Booty teased that there are “more than 10 releases” from Xbox first-party studios happening this year across all platforms. He specifically named Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Avowed, Ara: History Untold, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, leaving at least five of these new releases a mystery.

An Xbox showcase is coming this June

Building off the teaser of more than 10 third-party releases, Booty also confirmed that Microsoft will be holding yet another major showcase this year. “There’s more in development, which I think we’re going to be able to share more about at our June showcase coming up pretty soon, with podcast host and Xbox Head of Premier Broadcasts Tina Amini ending the discussion by joking that she needs to get to work on making that show.

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Tomas Franzese
Tomas Franzese
Gaming Staff Writer
As a Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
Xbox will reveal its future in a podcast this week. Here’s how to tune in
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The Official Xbox Podcast episode dropping later this week is going to be a big one. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, President of Game Content and Studios Matt Booty, and Xbox President Sarah Bond will finally address rumors that have been tearing the Xbox community apart for the past week. After leaks and rumors indicating that titles like Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, Starfield, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would come to Nintendo Switch or PlayStation 5 began to circulate, people got very confused about what this all means for Xbox as a platform going forward.

Well, it's clear that some significant strategic shift is in the cards following the Activision Blizzard acquisition in October 2023 and massive layoffs in January 2024. During the next edition of the Xbox podcast, we'll finally learn what Microsoft's current plan for Xbox actually is. It's a can't-miss announcement for Xbox fans, so you'll definitely want to tune in. To help, we'll let you know exactly where and when you can tune into the Xbox Podcast.
When is the Xbox business event?
Microsoft will release the next episode of the Official Xbox Podcast at 12 p.m. PT on Thursday, February 15. We don't know how long this podcast or the announcements within it will take. Historically, episodes of the podcast have lasted anywhere between 25 and 90 minutes
How to watch the Xbox business event?
This update will be available on all of the platforms the Official Xbox Podcast typically airs on. If you want to watch it, you can tune into the video posted on YouTube this Thursday. If you're content to just listen, then you'll be able to access the audio version of it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. Thankfully, being on all of these platforms means it will likely be available to watch or listen afterward if you can't experience it live.
What to expect
"Hear from Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty as they share updates on the Xbox business," the tweet announcing Thursday's podcast states. This follows a tweet from Phil Spencer last week stating that an impending announcement would include information "about our vision for the future of Xbox."

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These Activision Blizzard games need to come to Xbox Game Pass this year
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In October 2023, Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and by the end of the year, the latter company's CEO had departed. Now, this will be the year where we’ll see how Activision Blizzard functions when fully integrated into Microsoft. The most immediate change for those who play games will likely be Activision Blizzard titles coming to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription service.

Microsoft and Activision have explained that because of the tribulations the acquisition encountered, it was impossible to have Xbox Game Pass additions prepared almost immediately after the acquisition, as it did with ZeniMax Media. In the coming months, I expect we’ll finally start to see Activision Blizzard games trickle onto the service, even if we shouldn't expect it from this week's Developer_Direct. As Activision Blizzard is one of the oldest game publishers out there, having released hundreds of games, there are plenty of titles to choose from. I’ve cherry-picked the ones I want to see most.
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Every blockbuster reveal from the Xbox leak: new consoles, Bethesda games, and more
Xbox's logo used during the Extended Games Showcase

Unredacted documents submitted and made publicly available to view as part of the ongoing Microsoft vs. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) trial just led to what may be the biggest leak in video game history.
A flood of files have revealed deep secrets about Xbox's upcoming plans for the bulk of the decade, giving us unprecedented insight into what's on the horizon for the gaming giant. That includes information on upcoming hardware refreshes, next-gen consoles, and unannounced Bethesda titles, as well as a further peek into Microsoft's acquisition ambitions. It's a lot to trudge through, so we've rounded up five key revelations that you'll want to know.
A new Xbox Series X model is coming next year
https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1704121068519133313
The most shocking thing to leak as part of the trial is a new Xbox Series X model. Referred to as "Brooklin -- Xbox Series X Refresh" in the leaked documents, this is a diskless, cylindrical version of the Xbox Series X with 2TB of internal storage, a USB-C port, and smaller technical improvements to the system's Wi-Fi, PSU, standby mode, and more. An upgraded Xbox Series S code-named Ellewood may also be in the works and released before Brooklin.
If Microsoft still follows the plan laid out in this "Roadmap to 2030" document created in May 2022, it would release Brooklin in late October 2024 for $500. If Microsoft still plans to release Brooklin next year, it does contradict recent statements from Xbox chief Phil Spencer, who acted bearish on the idea of a mid-gen refresh in Gamescom interviews. It's possible Microsoft's plans have changed since these leaked documents were made, but if not, we now know what to expect in terms of Microsoft's console refreshes.
A new Xbox controller is in the works
https://twitter.com/charlieINTEL/status/1704088621475598345
Throughout that Brooklin leak, a new version of the Xbox Series X controller is also teased. The Xbox Series X controller is great, but lacks the unique features of controllers like the DualSense or Joy-Cons, so it makes sense Microsoft would want to change that. Referred to as "Sebile -- The New Xbox Controller," this controller can seamlessly pair and connect to the cloud.
It also will feature haptic feedback, an accelerometer gyro, quieter buttons, modular thumbsticks, a rechargeable and swappable battery, and the ability to wake just by being picked up. The same road map that lists Brooklin and Ellewood's release windows says the Sebile controller will launch sometime in late May 2024 for $70.
First details on Microsoft's next-gen console leak
https://twitter.com/AR12Gaming/status/1704102055206322389
It's hard to believe we're almost already three years into this console generation and that Microsoft is planning for its next major console release, but that is the case. Unfortunately for Microsoft, its current technical ambitions for the platform were included in this leak. A leaked document states that Microsoft's ultimate goal is to "develop a next-generation hybrid game platform capable of leveraging the combined power of the client and cloud to deliver deeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences." 
In practice, a list of technical improvements lays out that we can expect an ARM64 CPU that balances big and little cores, a GPU co-designed with AMD, and an NPU that balances "the desire for flexible, programmable ML silicon versus high-performance silicon for targeted workloads," as well as support for better ray tracing, global illumination, micropolygon rendering, and an ML-based Super Resolution. Microsoft also mentions a "thin OS" meant for cheaper consumer and handled devices, likely to play games via the cloud.
This next-gen console is currently slated for a 2028 launch.
Several upcoming Bethesda games leak

Enough about hardware -- several upcoming Bethesda games also leaked. A document from 2020 outlining Bethesda's game road map through fiscal year 2024 includes some games we don't know about. Alongside games we know of like MachineGames' Indiana Jones project, the list also includes several code-named projects, remasters of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3, a GhostWire: Tokyo sequel, Doom Year Zero, and Dishonored 3.
Another document also confirmed that The Elder Scrolls VI won't launch until at least 2026. Some of these games have missed the release windows listed in the documents, so it's very possible that these dates are no longer accurate and that some may not be released at all. Still, it lays out a clear picture of what was in development at Bethesda just a few years ago and provides insight into the lineup that enticed Microsoft to purchase Bethesda in the first place. 
Microsoft considered acquiring Nintendo and Warner Bros. Interactive
https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1704021807341203802
A leaked email from 2020 gives some insight into Spencer's acquisition ambitions at that point. Namely, it sounds like he'd love to acquire Nintendo as it would be a "career moment" for him.
"I totally agree that Nintendo is THE prime asset for us in gaming, and today gaming is a most likely path to consumer relevance," he wrote. "I've had numerous conversations with the LT of Nintendo about tighter collaboration and feel like if any U.S. company would have a chance with Nintendo, we are probably in the best position ... At some point, getting Nintendo would be a career moment and I honestly believe a good move for both companies."
Ultimately, Spencer didn't want to do a hostile takeover of Nintendo, so he settled for playing the "long game" when it came to acquiring it. This same email also reveals that Microsoft was interested in acquiring Warner Bros. Interactive around the same time as Bethesda, although the lack of any WB IP ownership was its undoing, Spencer is also as intrigued about acquiring Valve as it was Nintendo.
It's worth noting that this email is from over three years ago, and these acquisition ambitions might have been quelled following changing economic conditions and the rocky and expensive process of acquiring Activision Blizzard. 

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