In February 2024, Xbox did the unthinkable when it announced that four formerly Xbox console exclusive games would be ported to other platforms. While it started with Grounded, Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment, the initiative has since expanded so that even Microsoft's biggest hitters like Indiana Jones and The Great Circle can be found on other platforms.
The politics of whether this is a good move for Xbox aside, it appears that the American company still favors porting to PlayStation over Nintendo, despite the latter's larger popularity. This was understandable before the launch of the more powerful Switch 2, but we've now had five months with the Switch successor and PlayStation is still Microsoft's chosen son.
In October, Xbox announced that Halo would be launching for the first time outside of Microsoft, as Halo: Combat Evolved comes to PS5 next year, while the Switch 2 was snubbed. Xbox also promised that Nintendo would receive Call of Duty games following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, but that has yet to happen, even with the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 on the horizon.
In an interview with The Game Business, former president of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aimé claims he has been surprised by Microsoft's decision to port fewer games to Nintendo than PlayStation. "I’m surprised that Xbox has not yet fully embraced Switch 2 from a software perspective," Fils-Aimé says. "Certainly some games could easily be ported over to Switch 2. And I’m surprised that we haven’t seen more of that."
In particular Fils-Aimé was expecting Xbox to have a large lineup of Switch 2 games ready for the end of the year, but the company has failed to match his expectation. "I thought there would be much more," Fils-Aimé says. "Especially during this timeframe leading into the holidays. All through the fall, I was fully expecting some dedicated announcement, and I’m surprised it hasn’t happened."
