A former Xbox executive has disclosed that Microsoft’s strategy to release games on multiple platforms has been a topic of discussion within the company for years, even regarding its biggest IP.
While Microsoft took a significant step in its multiplatform aspirations recently, the company has apparently been contemplating the idea for a very long time.
Previously, Microsoft allowed former Xbox exclusive Ori And The Blind Forest on Switch, while Minecraft has remained available on multiple platforms even after Microsoft acquired developer Mojang back in 2014.
In a recent interview, Peter Moore, who led Microsoft’s Xbox division from 2003 to 2007, revealed that there were discussions about bringing Halo to PlayStation during his tenure.
‘I do remember conversations about Halo on PlayStation,’ Moore told IGN. He also described how he portrayed PlayStation founder Ken Kutaragi during a ‘wargames’ scenario at a Microsoft company retreat.
‘McKinsey, the consultancy group, set this up and the idea is you understand your competition a little better when you do some wargames,’ Moore said.
‘My job was, how would PlayStation react to Xbox 360 and what would they do, as they did to me in Dreamcast with the fear, uncertainty, and doubt? We went through two days of this and we learned a lot.
‘It scared us because you’re stunned to figure out, well wait, I hadn’t thought of that. You mean they might do that to us or this might happen? And so you’re constantly thinking about every scenario, as ridiculous or disruptive or radical as it sounds. You have to, absolutely have to.’
When asked about the chances of Halo coming out on PlayStation now, Moore said Microsoft will likely be considering the financial advantages.
‘Look, if Microsoft says, wait, we’re doing $250 million on our own platforms, but if we then took Halo as, let’s call it a third party, we could do a billion… You got to think long and hard about that, right?’ he said.
‘I mean, you just got to go, yeah, should it be kept? It’s a piece of intellectual property. It’s bigger than just a game. And how do you leverage that? Those are the conversations that always happen with, how do you leverage it in everything that we would do?’
He added: ‘It’s had its ups and downs, but look, Xbox wouldn’t be what Xbox is without Halo. But yeah, I’m sure those conversations are happening. Whether they come to fruition, who knows? But they’re definitely happening, I’m sure.’
The only Xbox exclusives confirmed for other platforms this year are Hi-Fi Rush, Grounded, Pentiment, and Sea Of Thieves. While Microsoft’s gaming CEO Phil Spencer has previously said there’s currently no plans for games like Starfield to go multiplatform, he hasn’t ruled out the possibility either.
Halo on other platforms would have been inconceivable a decade ago, but the franchise is no longer the flagship it once was for Xbox. The last entry, Halo Infinite, received relatively positive reviews upon its release in 2021 but had limited tangible impact on the fortunes of the Xbox Series X/S.
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