According to some analysts interviewed by the newspaper IGN.com, Xbox would only benefit from bringing games like Hi-Fi Rush And Sea Of Thieves on other platforms, giving a further boost to its strategy based on the growth of its ecosystem. In particular, James McWhirter of Omdia believes that Xbox would benefit more than Nintendo and PlayStation.
The premise for some Xbox games to be released on other platforms is a decline in hardware sales: “We expect the Nintendo Switch to have outsold the Xbox Series X/S by two sizes in 2023, despite being seven years old,” McWhirter explained. , after talking about an estimated 12.7% year-over-year sales decline. Then the analyst introduced the question of Game Pass, whose adoption would be slower than hoped for by Microsoft: “Our estimates speak of a total of 33.3 million Xbox Game Pass subscribers at the end of 2023, with growth of only 13%, lower than the 15% of 2022. It should be noted that more than half (55%) are subscribers to the Ultimate range, agnostic regarding the devices used.”
These estimates add to what was reported by analyst Mat Piscatella on X, who spoke of a flat subscription market.
Look at other platforms
In short, faced with a difficult situation, porting some games to other platforms could have positive effects on the entire ecosystem, as explained by McWhirter: “There are signs that Hi-Fi Rush has not achieved results up to Microsoft's expectations in terms of impact on Game Pass subscription growth, engagement and full game downloads. Releasing a late port, for example for Nintendo Switch, would make continued development of similar titles more sustainable, while granting temporary exclusivity on Xbox and adding value to Game Pass.”
Multi-platform Sea of Thieves would also create benefits for Xbox: “Sea of Thieves has been on the market for six years and continues to be one of Microsoft's most successful live service titles, after Minecraft, with peak player numbers and average MAUs higher than those of Halo Infinite. Putting it on other platforms would help it grow further, while its age and presence on PC tell us that it has long outlived its usefulness in selling Xbox consoles.”
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