The future of Xbox Game Pass could lie on other platforms, as Xbox boss Phil Spencer hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the service coming to the PS5 or Nintendo Switch. Xbox Game Pass is one of the best deals in gaming, as it offers titles from the first-party Xbox library, along with some excellent third-party and indie games, all for a single subscription fee.
Game Pass is currently available on Android phones, PC, and Xbox One systems, but Microsoft wants to expand its reach. The Android version of Game Pass involves streaming games through Project xCloud, and Microsoft wants to bring the same streaming version of Game Pass to consoles and PC. The idea of Game Pass coming to competitor systems might have seemed ridiculous in the past, but Microsoft’s growing relationship with Nintendo led to games like Cuphead and the Ori titles coming to Nintendo Switch. This led to rumors that Game Pass could also come to the Switch in the future.
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The question of Game Pass coming to PlayStation and Nintendo systems was recently brought up in a Game Reactor interview with Xbox boss Phil Spencer. Asked about Game Pass and its increasingly multiplatform focus, Spencer said Xbox is open to the possibility of Game Pass coming to other consoles, saying:
“I think for us it’s all about priority, and reaching more players. So we went to PC first after Xbox, because there’s just so many players there, globally, that don’t own an Xbox, that we could go reach. We went to mobile next because there’s a billion Android phones on the planet. It’s significantly larger than any console player base. We still have iOS to go after, we will come to iOS at some point. We’re still working on some of our technology on PC for larger screens in terms of streaming, and getting to iOS, and I think once we get through that, we look at what the other options are. There’s smart TV’s out there, there’s Chromebooks out there, there’s FireTV out there, there’s a lot of discussions we would have, we would prioritize it based on where we would find the most new players, that we could naturally bring content to. I love the Switch, I love PlayStation, honestly, I think they’ve done an amazing job as being a part of this industry. I’m not sure that those are the next big set of users for us, but we could be open to those discussions.”
This statement by Spencer represents a shift from an interview he did in July, where he said that Game Pass wouldn’t come to PlayStation or Nintendo systems, as they couldn’t provide the full Xbox experience. There has been a lot of focus put on Game Pass in the run-up to the release of the Xbox Series X, and Microsoft might be seeing more value in the subscription service than the platforms that it’s appearing on.
The real question is whether Nintendo or Sony would allow Game Pass to appear on their systems. Nintendo might be more open to the idea, as Xbox Game Studios titles have been appearing on the Switch, while Microsoft characters like Banjo-Kazooie and Steve from Minecraft have appeared in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The bigger issue is whether the Switch could handle any of the hardware-heavy first-party Microsoft exclusives. It makes more sense for the Switch to feature Xbox Game Studios titles that are less taxing on the hardware than bringing all of Game Pass. Sony would almost certainly have nothing to go with Game Pass, as Xbox is its biggest competitor and the PS5 appears to be playing catch-up with its own versions of the service, PlayStation Now and the PlayStation Plus Collection. Having access to Game Pass on every console would be a dream come true, but it’s likely to remain a dream.
Source: Game Reactor
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