Head of Xbox Phil Spencer recently did an interview with GamesRadar about all things related to Microsoft’s gaming ecosystem. Once again, the question about bringing Game Pass to other platforms – like the Nintendo Switch – has been raised.
Phil has replied with the same response about how he wants to offer the “full Xbox experience” on these platforms, but the same platforms refuse to cooperate. As a result, there are “no plans” at the moment to bring the Xbox app or Xbox Game Pass to these “closed” systems.
“people usually ask me about releasing one individual game or another. And what I say is I want the full Xbox experience to be something that we deliver. We have no plans to bring it to any other kind of closed platforms right now, mainly because those closed platforms don’t want something like Game Pass. There’s a ton of open platforms out there for us to grow in: the web, PC, and mobile. So all of our focus, frankly, is on those platforms.”
Spencer went on to explain how he can understand why these other platforms may not want something like Game Pass but also stated how it’s not a dead-end just yet – as the team is “totally open” to discussions in the future.
“That’s not a slam on anybody else who has a system that works for them. I can see why the disruption of Game Pass is not something that they want right now. In the end, when we say we want everybody to be able to play on Xbox, we really mean if we can bring that full experience to a device that players want, we are totally open to those discussions.”
Phil has previously explained how the “other competitive platforms” don’t appear to be interested in having the full Xbox experience on their hardware.
Nintendo of America’s president, Doug Bowser, was also asked if his company would bring Game Pass to the Switch last December and danced around the question with the following response:
“We are always looking at various ways that we can engage our consumers right now. We have found that our catalog and the third-party publishing catalog that’s available, whether that’s through Nintendo Switch Online or through frontline game purchase, has really been allowing us to do that.”
Earlier this year, it was noted in the leaked Apple vs. Epic court documents
As friendly as relations between the Xbox division and Nintendo of America seem to be, as Phil says, it seems to be that the other platforms just aren’t interested in the idea. Phil has also got his hands on a Steam Deck this week when he visited Gabe Newell at Valve HQ and noted how great it was for games like Halo and Age of Empires.
Are you still hopeful Xbox Game Pass could one day be made available on the Switch? Tell us down below.
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