So a few recent rumours and developments around MS have popped up some interesting discussion points.

The biggest of which is for XBox Studios games making their way to other platforms - both Switch and PS5 have been mentioned. Obviously they already do this with Minecraft and they now have the Activision/Blizzard deal across the line and with that commited to ongoing releases across the usual platforms - at least for CoD. The rumours now are for older back catalogue titles to be released too - Sea of Thieves and Hi-fi Rush are the initial titles mentioned. This appears to be off the back of flat GamePass subs and XBox Series consoles very much behind PS5 sales even in the US.

To me it seems like MS are adapting to how this generation is panning out. Planning for a more flexible future, and trying to get more money from the games they produce by making older titles available to wider audiences. I don’t think we will see their big flagship titles coming across any time soon - Forza, Halo, Starfield etc will remain core attractions to their eco system. But older live service titles and lower budget but well recieved games like those rumoured make sense.

Is there actually truth to the rumours? I think there is. There seemed to be co-ordinated “softening of the blow” comms from the usual MS mouth pieces. So I’d expect some announcements on this reasonably soon.

In related rumour news it MS are definitely not stepping away from hardware and are keen to get out of step with Sony on the nextgen console releases. Sony have a PS5 Pro lined for release later this year. Expect a similar approach to PS4 Pro. Same technology just more of it and faster. Similar CPU, more of a GPU bump to help support better native resolutions and framerates. Maybe more of a bump to RT capabilities. MS are thought to be skipping the mid-gen refresh and going for a proper full fat update in 2025 with updated architecture, and much more recent AMD CPU/GPU tech included. I wouldn’t expect a PS6 to make an appearance until 2027.