In a new longform interview with Gamereactor, Xbox head Phil Spencer has some interesting things to say about the future of Game Pass.
When asked about the possibility of Xbox’s subscription-based streaming service coming to PS5 or Nintendo Switch in the future, he doesn’t rule it out. But he seems to indicate it’s unlikely, and certainly not a priority for Microsoft in the short term.
“We’re still working on some of our technology on PC for larger screens in terms of streaming, and getting to iOS, and I think once we get through that, we look at what the other options are. There’s smart TVs out there, there’s Chromebooks out there, there’s Fire TV out there,” Spencer told the outlet.
“We would prioritize it based on where we would find the most new players, that we could naturally bring content to. I love the Switch; I love PlayStation. Honestly, I think they’ve done an amazing job as being a part of this industry,” he added.
“I’m not sure that those are the next big set of users for us, but we could be open to those discussions.”
Read more:Phil Spencer hints at Game Pass ‘TV sticks’ for xCloud
Game Pass got a soft launch on consoles through the Xbox Insider program in February 2017.
It rolled out to the rest of the world later that year, expanded to PC users in 2019, and then hit Android mobile devices with xCloud in September of 2020.
Given its unexpected mainstream success, Spencer and company are looking ahead to the future of the service with a philosophy of reaching as many players as possible, regardless of platform restrictions or talk of “exclusives.”
Before long, the thinking goes, anybody with a mobile phone can enjoy first-party Xbox games simply by subscribing to the Game Pass service.
Read more:Xbox teases cross-chat integration with Discord