You can argue the merits of whether or not Xbox putting some of its games on PlayStation will be good in the long run. In the short run, at least, some early examples seem to be going well, like how Sea of Thieves was recently the top pre-ordered game on PlayStation.
But what is clear is that the new strategy means that essentially every past, present and future release from Xbox is going to be the subject of rumors and speculation that it will be headed to PlayStation at some point.
This time around, we have a report that this year’s Hellblade 2, Xbox’s would-be GOTY contender, if they can pull it off, may be going to PlayStation as well. This is from sometimes-Xbox Insider Riskit4theBiskit who says Hellblade 2 is getting a PS5 port, which he says he confirmed with four separate sources. Windows Central’s Jez Corden then said this was false.
This isn’t really about this specific rumor (I sort of doubt this is happening, personally), but it comes attached with another perma-rumor about Starfield going to PlayStation which we’ve been hearing about since before the first four crossover games were revealed. And now it seems like the case that every single Xbox exclusive is going to be scrutinized about whether or not it’s exclusive, timed exclusive, or not exclusive at all.
One of the reasons this is happening is because Xbox has not ruled anything out. When Phil Spencer teased four games that were heading to rival systems, he said they were not Starfield or Indiana Jones, two prevalent rumors at the time. While that was true, in follow-up interviews, Spencer declined to rule out really any game as “sacred” enough to never be considered for multiplatform release:
“I don’t think we should as an industry ever rule out a game going to any other platform [but] we’re focused on these four games and learning from the experience [first].”
Spencer doesn’t think they should ever rule out a game, so again, that means everything is going to be subject to this speculation. Another rumor previously was that the most sacrosanct Xbox IP of them all, Halo, could head to PlayStation as Xbox tries to expand the Halo Infinite multiplayer playerbase. Past Gears of War games were also rumored.
Now, it’s Hellblade 2 and still, as ever, Starfield. You can really come up with a rationale for any of these given Microsoft’s past explanations. In this case, Hellblade 2 is a pricey game that will launch on Game Pass and may want its profile and sales elevated with a PlayStation release. Starfield also launched on Game Pass (so many of these have to do with Game Pass discouraging console sales), and the idea there may be to sell a few million more copies of the expensive game for $70 each to recoup more development costs and turn more of a profit. Again, there is potential justification for it all.
It is too early to say whether this is a bad or good idea. It may be a mix. It’s early days but if Microsoft starts using Sony as a vehicle to print money from former or current exclusives (which would no longer really be exclusives), that may be considered mission accomplished. But if it devalues Xbox to the point where people do not actually want Xboxes or Game Pass and they just want a PlayStation, whoops! Sony has its own issues limiting the reach of its huge budget AAA games to consoles itself except for PC releases often years later, though they have shown no interest in trying Microsoft’s sharing model.
So, Hellblade 2? I sort of doubt it, but again, as Spencer says, we cannot rule anything out.
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