In a recent interview, Phil Spencer the head of Microsoft Gaming reaffirmed a previously spoken promise to release at least 4 first-party games a year.
Earlier, Matt Booty, the head of Xbox Game Studios promised there would be approximately 4 first-party games a year from Microsoft. In this case first-party refers to games developed by Microsoft or any studio directly owned by Microsoft.
In an interview with IGN, Spencer was asked about what Booty said and Spencer confirmed that was the company’s plan:
“If we start with Hi-Fi [Rush], Minecraft Legends, Redfall. Maybe people don’t want to give us credit for Redfall, I get it, but I understand. Starfield, Forza, we just dropped Age [of Empires] 4 console last night. Awesome. I’m going to play that. And then going into next year, absolutely. We have talked about it as an aspiration, now we talk about it as our plan.”
So Xbox is already on track for this year with:
- Hi-Fi Rush
- Minecraft Legends
- Redfall
- Starfield
In addition Spencer claimed that we can expect a similar lineup next year.
Currently, Microsoft owns a multitude of studios including Bethesda, Rare, Obsidian Entertainment, and soon Activision-Blizzard. All of these are eligible for a potential “first-party” game release.
