While Xbox games landing on competing platforms is becoming a regular and unsurprising phenomenon, the actual release dates for these other versions aren't so consistent. Speaking in an interview, Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan chalked these variabilities up to development resources.
Speaking to GamesRadar, Duncan addressed the difference between Forza Horizon 6 and the upcoming Fable reboot; both titles are from Playground Games, though Forza is releasing on PS5 after the Xbox launch, while Fable will be on both platforms day-and-date.
"There's always development realities about when these projects start--how big a team is, and what plans we have at the start of development," Duncan said; he also admitted that the Xbox team is somewhat "inconsistent" with its release strategy. "You see some games in one place, some games in multiple places. Just know that we're going to work on that, and we're going to try and be more consistent with what we do."
Duncan reiterated that Xbox wants to see its games reach as many players as possible, but no matter which platforms they release on, the company wants them to "show up and be the best that they can be for that platform" and take advantage of "whatever features and nuances" other platforms have. Previous PS5 ports of Xbox games have taken advantage of platform-specific features, such as Sea of Thieves using DualSense haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.
"Because teams are only a set size," Duncan said. "We only have a certain amount of… ultimately, it all comes down to resource. Not everything is limitless. So we just want to do the best job, by each platform, by each game. So in that world, sometimes we'll maintain optionality. Some games we might go PC first, others we might go console first."
There was no commitment on Duncan's end for consistent day one first-party releases on other platforms, but even delayed ports have greatly benefited Xbox--Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 reportedly did gangbusters for Xbox, with 5.1 million copies sold.
Source
Speaking to GamesRadar, Duncan addressed the difference between Forza Horizon 6 and the upcoming Fable reboot; both titles are from Playground Games, though Forza is releasing on PS5 after the Xbox launch, while Fable will be on both platforms day-and-date.
"There's always development realities about when these projects start--how big a team is, and what plans we have at the start of development," Duncan said; he also admitted that the Xbox team is somewhat "inconsistent" with its release strategy. "You see some games in one place, some games in multiple places. Just know that we're going to work on that, and we're going to try and be more consistent with what we do."
Duncan reiterated that Xbox wants to see its games reach as many players as possible, but no matter which platforms they release on, the company wants them to "show up and be the best that they can be for that platform" and take advantage of "whatever features and nuances" other platforms have. Previous PS5 ports of Xbox games have taken advantage of platform-specific features, such as Sea of Thieves using DualSense haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.
"Because teams are only a set size," Duncan said. "We only have a certain amount of… ultimately, it all comes down to resource. Not everything is limitless. So we just want to do the best job, by each platform, by each game. So in that world, sometimes we'll maintain optionality. Some games we might go PC first, others we might go console first."
There was no commitment on Duncan's end for consistent day one first-party releases on other platforms, but even delayed ports have greatly benefited Xbox--Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 reportedly did gangbusters for Xbox, with 5.1 million copies sold.
Source