Xbox official multiplat announcement - Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, Pentiment and Grounded [Geoff Keighley - The first 4]

At Xbox, we strive to create games that inspire, entertain, and connect players from around the world. As a publisher and platform we are committed to meeting players where they are, by bringing more games, to more people, and on more devices. And at the heart of all we do are our players, and the vibrant communities that they build around the games they love.

Today we are announcing that four fan-favorite Xbox games will be coming to Nintendo Switch and Sony platforms this spring. The studios that built these celebrated games have drawn on their multi-platform experience to open the worlds they created to even more players and communities.

• Pentiment from Obsidian Entertainment, a truly unique, critically acclaimed, and award-winning narrative adventure game with a striking visual style inspired by history itself will be coming to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch on February 22.

• Hi-Fi RUSH, the award-winning and beloved rhythm-based action game where the world syncs to the music from Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks will be coming to PlayStation 5 on March 19 at midnight UTC, with pre-purchase available on PlayStation 5 digital storefronts on February 21.

• Grounded – also from Obsidian Entertainment – a co-op survival adventure phenomenon that has welcomed 20 million players into the backyard, will be coming to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch on April 16. Cross play will be supported across Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and PC.

• Sea of Thieves, the shared world adventure game from Rare, will be coming to PlayStation 5 on April 30 – and will be available to wishlist by PlayStation 5 players starting tomorrow, February 22. Having built a passionate community of more than 35 million players from around the world, the support of cross play for Xbox, PlayStation and PC will allow players to experience epic pirate adventures with friends on more platforms.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/02/21/new-platforms-new-players-xbox-games-switch-playstation/

On this day, Sony officially welcomes Xbox into the Playstation family. Not with games that were already on the systems, but games originally developed for the Xbox platform. Today is the day the Berlin Wall of gaming dissolves, as the console wars become no more. Playstation has now become the bearer of both first party development communities. Long live the king.

These are the first 4 according to Geoff Keighley

now question is are they 70 bucks or are they added to ps plus?

The first 4. Wonder what the next batch will be.

Sea of Thieves - Rare's first ever PlayStation title. Though it makes me wonder if Sony tried to Court them during the PSOne era.

Fun fact: This will marked Rare's first ever published game going to Sony's platform for the first time in Rare's gaming development career. What a history this is for Rare when they released Sea of Thieves.

@nintendoboy16: That is an interesting question. I wonder if Sony ever did reach out.

Microsoft leading the way to brighter future for gaming and giving access to more games for gamers. Love to see it.

This would break a 29 year streak. Never thought I'd see the day

Might see another soon. I thought the last of the four titles would come by the end of the year, not April.

Crazy how the leaks were accurate.

MS has bowed to Sony, confirmed. This literally ends the console war.

I would imagine that's up to Sony as they pay to have the games show up on the service.

@X_CAPCOM_X: It's worth a thought, given how many companies Sony DID court from Nintendo at the time (most notably Square). Though I can't imagine games like Banjo, Conker, Goldeneye and Perfect Dark would've been the same. Lol

First 4? LOL. What? MS and Sony have been porting games to multiple platforms for years.

I hope there will be physical versions.

Actually, there are. From Limited Run Games.

@BenjaminBanklin: Awesome, I just saw that news on IGN.

First 4 as long as we don't count PC.

While this is actually very good for gamers, it does reinforce the notion that MS has well and truly lost the console wars. Also why should anyone buy an Xbox?

Microsoft developed Minecraft Legends for PS and Nintendo. Microsoft developed Minecraft Dungeons for Nintendo and PS. Microsoft ported Ori to Switch. Microsoft developed Psychonauts 2 for PS. Microsoft is developing all the new Elder Scrolls Online expansions for PS. Microsoft developed Golden Eye 007 Remaster for Nintendo. We should also add all their ports to the PC platform as well.

This ain't no "FIRST 4" lol. This is "latest 4". First 4 is console war bait from Geoff "Sony" Keighley.

There are hundreds of millions of us gamers that want nothing to do with PC. Same reason PS players are buying a PS instead of PC.

Won't be surprised if Avowed, Redfall and Starfield come sometime later this year into early next year.

I still won't ever believe it even if I see Halo, Gears of War or Forza on PS5 with my own eyes.

Unlikely. Here is what Phil has said and planned all along.

Minecraft is a franchise that's already committed to the Nintendo and PS platforms though. Psychonauts 2 was already in development for PS4. ESO is already established on PS platforms, it's not like they're taking the expansions away. This is different. These are legit XGS games coming to Playstation and Switch. It's a waving of the white flag, the console war is done with this action.

Xbox gamers will always have Xbox consoles to play on in the future. Those will be for the hardcore. But, as it stands, this is the future. This is the first 4 in the current MS strategy. Their consoles alone can't cut it anymore.

Yeah. I'm not surprised at anything at this point, and Phil ruled nothing out. Game Pass isn't growing, so these games are capped in revenue. They really need to bury Redfall though and pretend it never happened.

Minecraft, the OG game was committed, yes. Spin-offs never were. That said, it shows MS' commitment to going multiplatform for MANY years now, not just the first 4 this month. Same with ESO and the expansions. MS could have canceled Psyconauts 2 for PS4 like they canceled Starfield for PS5. It's no different, it shows MS' commitment to bringing their games and supporting their games on multiple platforms outside of PC and Xbox for the past decade and now the future decade. Nothing changed.

But I agree, consoles can't cut it. Same for PS as well, with their new focus on going multiplatform. Record LOW profits have forced their hand.

Xbox was never that committed outside of games already contractually obligated or established to the platform. Phil had always said at the beginning of his tenure that he wanted to win this console war, MS top brass had a different view apparently. Anyway, these games are slowly rolling out now. I don't see Sony needing to give Xbox anything in return as Phil isn't expecting it. Xbox isn't a healthy enough platform obviously, and Sony already has games on PC. Sony's margins will only grow as Xbox continues to obscure theirs.

Great news. Sony fans were longing for these games.

Hi Fi Rush is probably the only title from Xbox, I am interested in getting.

Sony margins are at a record low right now. No big first party games at least until April of 2025, and the only announced game is Wolverine, which was leaked from official documents as being a 2026 game.

When MS is getting 70% of every Call of Duty sale on PlayStation (to PlayStation's 30%), the Xbox division is only going to grow, as are their profits.

I wouldn't be surprised if Helldivers 2 hits Xbox later this year.

Microsoft just tweeted this

"The biggest games will be more than just one platform"

Yup! They love Microsoft Windows PC for gaming!

MS hasn't released a single platform game for over 7 years.

Thats true when you think about CoD, Fortnite, Minecraft, etc.

Also, what tweet are you talking about? This one?

"This all means that the biggest games in the world will be available on Xbox, with continued Game Pass day one releases, a multi-year hardware roadmap, and a commitment to a player-first platform. We are here to help game creators reach the largest audience possible. The biggest games are larger than any one platform."

@nfamouslegend: Easy answer, not many gamers like PC, so there's plenty of reasons to buy an Xbox console if you don't have a gaming PC.

But, at least Sony has margins. MS keeping theirs a mystery the entire time while spending 80 billion in acquisitions caught up to them, fast. Sony's margins likely wouldn't grow much by bringing games to platforms they're outselling 2.5 to 1, they want people to have access to their store. Especially to a userbase that's not used to paying full price for games anymore.

That's a big part of why this is happening in the first place. MS needs customers that will full pay full price for their games, somewhere.

Welp. That's that.

Not to play them though.😂

I'd buy a physical release of hi-fi rush, but limited run games charge a lot in shipping; well, i guess i'll see how much it is this time.

But Xbox is doing better margins than PS. So not only does Xbox have margins, they have better margins. And Game Pass is already profitable as well, and is only 10-15% of their business at Xbox.

Sony has determined that their Store isn't cutting it for them, so they need to spread their games to more platforms. That is according to Sony just this past week, again.

True, Sony fannies don't like playing games.😎

I guess the Cow mantra of "Just wait" is back.

We went from Xbox is dead to Just wait in the span of a week.

how's your obsession going?

@me2002: Odd, you responded to my comment?🤭

The more people that get to play these games, the better. It helps create a healthy market and pumps some life into the economy.

and you didn't answer my question.

@me2002: I have no idea what you are talking about but you are free to elaborate.🤷‍♂️

😉

What's your source on that? The COVID bubble burst and everyone's feeling the pinch. Xbox had only been keeping afloat for this long due the parent company. They're wanting results now. They have to do better than pasting Activision's revenue to theirs.

Xbox fans don't like buying or playing games. Hence, here we are. 😁

@BenjaminBanklin: Last I check Sony is releasing games on PC 🤷‍♂️

Yep, not on Xbox though. Which is what makes this a milestone. I'm glad your happy for MS's current change in strategy. They appreciate your support. 😁