Last week,rumors surfacedthat Microsoft allegedly planned to release many Xbox exclusives on competing platforms. This rumor was further buoyed by theannouncementthat Forza Horizon 5 was headed to the PS5 in the spring of this year.
While Xbox fans might not like the direction the company is taking, one former PlayStation executive sees how Microsoft can succeed with this move and compares it to SEGA.
Xbox Game Pass Revenue Achieves New Quarterly Record and Grows PC Subscribers by 30%
The success of Call of Duty and Indiana Jones helped Xbox Game Pass post record revenue.
Xbox’s Multiplatform Move Is A Strategy Against The Rising Cost Of Game Development
Appearing on theKiwi TalkzYouTube channel (viaVGC), former PlayStation CEO and former chairman of Sony Interactive America, gave his opinion on Microsoft’s multiplatform plans for the Xbox brand.
“Multiplatform is a strategy, particularly in a world where the cost of development is increasing so dramatically,” Layden notes.
Layden adds, “What does it do to their brand? It makes the conversation harder to create the FOMO (fear of missing out) you’re trying to do that by bringing everyone to your platform by saying, ‘if you’re not here you’re missing out,’ but if it’s available on all platforms, that’s one of your marketing tactics you can’t use.”
Continuing with this, Layden compared what Microsoft is doing with SEGA, a former console maker that transitioned to software after the Dreamcast failed to match up against the PS2, Layden states, “We’ve seen it before. I was in the business when Sega brought their Dreamcast titles to PS2, in time then Sega became a software-only company, and have had a great transformation in that sense,” Layden continued. “So it does have historical precedence.”
10 Forgotten SEGA Games That Deserve A Remake
Games from SEGA’s back catalog like Comix Zone and Nights into Dreams deserve to return to the gaming scene with remakes.
For those not old enough to remember, SEGA was once Nintendo’s fiercest rival for home console domination. Unfortunately, due to bad bets such as the SEGA CD, 32X, and more, SEGA was forced to exit the market after the Dreamcast failed to capture a slice of the pie once the PS2 was released. Since then, the company has transitioned to being one of the top software developers in the world.
Are we seeing the same thing happen to the Xbox brand now? That’s debatable, but we know that Xbox boss Phil Spencer has been adamant that there are no red lines regardingwhich Xbox games are going multi-platform.
While Xbox has confirmed that Forza Horizon 5 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are PS5-bound this year, it looks like more Xbox franchises are on the way for Sony’s console, and even Nintendo’s upcoming Switch 2.
Sony To Bring Back Classic PlayStation PS5 Themes In The Coming Months
The PlayStation 30th Anniversary themes will go away tomorrow, but Sony promises they’ll be back.
