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19-year Microsoft veteran and former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra understands that "loyal Xbox gamers are mad" regarding the company's increasing willingness to send its games across the divide, but says it's time to "embrace and move on."
Over the past year, we've seen a shift in Microsoft's strategy regarding Xbox exclusives, which has resulted in games like Hi-Fi Rush and others coming to PS5 and Nintendo Switch. You've also got games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle that launched on Xbox Series X and will eventually come to PS5.
Speaking to XboxEra, Head of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer has again been discussing the shift in approach. When it comes to PlayStation and Nintendo fans, Spencer admits that he's "not trying to move them all over to Xbox anymore."
"Let’s just allow more people to play and yes, the 70% that we make on games on other platforms is helpful to us being able to build great portfolios like we showed at the Dev Direct and I hope this will continue to show through the rest of the year," he says.
As ever, that's not been music to everyone's ears. To that, Ybarra says it's time to "embrace and move on." While it took a while for Microsoft to get clear on its position, Ybarra says team Xbox has been "consistent" that it is a publisher and supports all platforms.
"I love that their games are on PC and PS5," he says. "I get loyal Xbox gamers are mad - but that isn't going to change anything. Embrace and move on - play on what you enjoy playing on (if you're a console-only person, that probably means PS or Nintendo in the future). But you'll still have "Xbox" games there."
Ybarra goes on to say that PlayStation and Nintendo should work with Xbox to put together some type of "friends transfer system."
"Eventually, that should be done to help people stay connected with their friends," he adds. "We'll never see a universal gaming social platform, but I do wish we could!"
