Ubisoft Comments on Xbox Multi-Platform Rumors

Ubisoft Comments on Xbox Multi-Platform Rumors

• Ubisoft believes Xbox going multi-platform wouldn’t have a major impact on the gaming industry.
• Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot pointed out how Microsoft’s biggest gaming subsidiary, Activision Blizzard, has long been a multi-platform publisher already.
• Multiple insiders have recently reported that many Xbox console exclusives such as Starfield could soon be going multi-platform. Microsoft promised an event that would clear things up for the week of February 12.

Ubisoft has offered its two cents on the widespread rumors that Xbox is about to embrace multi-platform publishing. While the company refrained from reflecting on the matter in-depth, it insisted that the scenario in which Xbox games went multi-platform wouldn’t have a major impact on its business.

According to several early February reports from established industry insiders, many, if not “all” Xbox games could be going multi-platform soon. The rumored pivot to platform-agnostic publishing was characterized as a result of Microsoft’s decision to momentarily improve its margins in the gaming space after shelling out $68.7 billion for Activision Blizzard in October 2023. The blockbuster acquisition was the largest deal in the history of not just gaming but the entire technology industry.

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Xbox Going Multi-Platform Wouldn’t Be a Big Deal, Ubisoft Says

Ubisoft, for its part, appears unconcerned about such a potential turn of events. Asked about the implications of Xbox games going multi-platform during a recent conference call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that the leadership team at Microsoft will obviously do whatever they think is “best for them.” But even if that leads to Xbox starting to compete with Ubisoft on PlayStation and Nintendo platforms, Guillemot doesn’t expect it to result in any radical market shifts.

Elaborating on that point, the executive pointed out how Activision Blizzard was a third-party publisher with a multi-platform portfolio up until just recently. Microsoft leaving it as such would hence result in “not a huge impact on the industry,” Guillemot concluded. The executive limited his comments to talking about Activision Blizzard’s content library, without reflecting on the possibility of other Microsoft IPs expanding beyond the Xbox ecosystem. As a reminder, several insiders have recently reported Starfield could also be coming to the PS5, noting that a varied assortment of other Xbox titles ranging from Hi-Fi Rush to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are under consideration for wider distribution as well.

They really are going to decide what’s best for them. What you have to look at is that Activision Blizzard used to be multi-platform, so it would have an impact, but it’s not a huge impact on the industry.

Guillemot has instead chosen to focus on Activision Blizzard, whose flagship series was already guaranteed to stay multi-platform for the foreseeable future after Microsoft struck 10-year Call of Duty publishing deals with both PlayStation and Nintendo. Nevertheless, the very existence of those agreements reinforces the executive’s claim that Xbox going multi-platform would not have a major impact on the gaming industry.

Xbox has so far done little to dissipate the rumors about its major publishing strategy pivot. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer did respond to the Xbox multi-platform drama fairly quickly, but only by saying that there would be a “business update event” on the week of February 12 that’s meant to provide an official overview of the company’s latest gaming plans. Many industry watchers and fans took that to mean that the rumors suggesting Xbox is going multi-platform are mostly true.

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