Microsoft considering Starfield, Indiana Jones, & more for PS5

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Starfield

Microsoft looks to be in the middle of nailing down a big shakeup to the Xbox strategy in terms of the future of the platform, as Starfield and numerous other Xbox-exclusive games have been rumored to get future PS5 availability.

This would signify a pretty major change in the way Microsoft handles Xbox game releases. As exclusive titles generally bring in players and convince them to buy into the hardware ecosystem. Starfield has been available for PC and Xbox since September of 2023. With no hope of the game ever coming to PS5. But a new report claims Microsoft is considering bringing the game over to extend its reach. And all of this is part of Microsoft’s future plan for Xbox.

First reported by XboxEra, “sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans” claim a PS5 release is in the works. Interestingly enough, rumors of the game landing on PS5 have been around for long before the game was ever out. This was also before Microsoft finalized its acquisition of Zenimax, which owns Bethesda. And the rest is history. Starfield became one of a number of games that would remain a first-party title for Microsoft’s platforms. Those being Windows PCs and the Xbox Series X|S consoles. That seems to be changing, however.

The release wouldn’t be for a little while. The same report notes that Microsoft is targeting a planned PS5 release of Starfield sometime after the Shattered Space expansion is launched for Windows and Xbox. There’s no firm release date on that yet but it isn’t until later in 2024.

PS5 will gain the availability of more first-party Xbox games besides Starfield

Starfield might be one of the more recent high-profile games rumored to land on Sony’s latest PlayStation hardware. But it’s certainly not the only game said to be on the way. High-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves have been rumored for a PS5 release as well. A report from The Verge also claims that Microsoft is considering even more PS5 releases of its first-party games. Specifically, the Indiana Jones game that’s due to hit Xbox consoles and Windows PCs.

The Gears of Wars series is reportedly being considered for a PS5 release in the future as well. Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb (via VGC) mentioned the potential release on the Game Morning Mess podcast. Microsoft has yet to confirm any of these claims. But the Head of Microsoft gaming Phil Spencer does seem to be alluding to a lot of big changes coming.

“We’re listening and we hear you. We’ve been planning a business update event for next week, where we look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox. Stay tuned,” Spencer said on X. It’s not entirely clear what the business update entails. But Microsoft will be sharing these changes with the public sometime next week. The question some have posed is that if Microsoft shifts to offering first-party exclusives on PlayStation and other platforms, will consumers want to keep investing in the Xbox console for future generations? That remains to be seen. Xbox likely isn’t going anywhere. But this sort of change makes a little bit of sense.

Microsoft began offering its software on platforms like Android, iOS, and even MacOS years ago. And since then it’s seen more revenue come in just from those licensing fees. Perhaps Xbox software is headed in the same direction.

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