Xbox Exclusive Hi-Fi Rush, a release that came completely out of left field yet delighted most people who played it, might not remain exclusive for long. According to a new rumor, the title might make its way to the Nintendo Switch sometime this year, causing a lot to question Microsoft’s strategy with exclusivity moving forward.
Insider “Nate The Hate”, who has had a decent track record with leaks in the past has stated that the rhythm beat-em-up will be coming to the handheld in 2024. Additionally, ResetEra user lolilolailo who has also had some success with leaking information has taken to the platform to second the rumor.
Microsoft Central has also posted that Microsoft “has been exploring bringing some of its back catalog to other platforms, although some of the details remain vague and unconfirmed.” Hi-Fi Rush, despite its positive reception, was reported to not have performed well financially making it a great game to make the jump.
This has sparked some debate in the gaming community about Microsoft porting some of their first-party titles to other platforms. Some dislike this given that, after years of struggling with having a solid Exclusive roster, finally had a year of solid releases in 2023 with Hi-Fi Rush leading the way. Others have expressed excitement for this strategy, giving the game a larger base of players to not only enjoy it but more importantly, buy it.
These rumors come two months after Tim Stuart, CFO of Xbox, stated that “every screen that can play games.” At the Wells Fargo TMT Summit in November, he stated:
It’s a bit of a change of strategy. Not announcing anything broadly here, but our mission is to bring our first-party experiences [and] our subscription services to every screen that can play games. That means smart TVs, that means mobile devices, that means what we would have thought of as competitors in the past like PlayStation and Nintendo.
This feels like a furthering of their buying strategy that has been at the forefront of Microsoft for years. The company had acquired Mojang, Bethesda, and Double Fine all with games slated for all consoles with none of those plans subverted after the acquisition. Minecraft in particular has a large fanbase across all consoles that continue to enjoy all updates no matter where they are. Most recently Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard with Call of Duty and Overwatch 2 to name a few still intended to remain multiplatform.
That isn’t to say that Microsoft doesn’t have a long list of titles coming out across the next two years. Over the summer of 2023 they showcased a large number of titles stemming from Aquatitions including the long-awaited Avowed, Fable, and Hellblade, as well as new titles Clockwork Revolution and South of Midnight to name a few. Despite this, the PlayStation outsold the Xbox by a 3-1 margin, potentially being a factor in the decision to locate financial revenue outside their established ecosystem.
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