Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment Reportedly the First Two Xbox Games to Launch on Rival Consoles

Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment are the first two Xbox games to launch on rival consoles, according to The Verge.

Amid slowing Game Pass subscriptions and flagging sales of Xbox consoles, Microsoft will soon announce both games are coming to “rival” consoles, The Verge said. Neither the PlayStation 5 nor Nintendo Switch are specified in the report, but we can assume Sony and Nintendo’s consoles are in the mix.

The Verge added that Microsoft will launch Rare’s pirate adventure Sea of Thieves on non-Xbox platforms later this year. Other first-party titles are also said to be under consideration. Conflicting reports suggest Bethesda’s Starfield and MachineGames’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle were at one point under consideration for a release on PS5, but more recent reports suggest those plans may have changed.

Xbox will reveal its vision for the future in a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast on Thursday, February 15 at 12pm Pacific / 3pm Eastern / 8pm UK. “Please join us for a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast,” the announcement said. “Hear from Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty as they share updates on the Xbox business.”

Spencer reportedly reassured employees that Microsoft plans to continue making consoles amid questions surrounding Xbox’s third-party strategy going forward. In January, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company can be a “good publisher on Sony and Nintendo and PCs and Xbox”.

“We love gaming. In fact, Flight Simulator was created before even Windows. But, we were number three, number four. And now with Activision, I think we have a chance of being a good publisher — quite frankly — on Sony and Nintendo and PCs and Xbox. We’re excited about that acquisition closing and I’m glad we’ve got it through,” Nadella said. In June, Nadella said that if it were up to him, the video game industry would move away from exclusive games altogether.

IGN’s host of Xbox podcast Unlocked, Ryan McCaffrey, wrote in an opinion piece: “The future of Xbox is likely to look very different from both its past and its present. But in this present, we are watching a monolith of a company attempt to rewrite the rules of engagement in real time. It might work — but will Microsoft throw away 20 years of hard earned brand loyalty in the process?”

For more, see why analysts are saying that Xbox is changing the nature of exclusivity, and keep an eye on IGN for all the news and reactions once the podcast arrives.

Tango Gameworks’ Hi-Fi Rush and Obsidian’s Pentiment both launched on Xbox Series X and S and PC, as well as straight into Game Pass, to critical acclaim in early 2023 and late 2022 respectively.

IGN’s Hi-Fi Rush review returned a 9/10. We said: “Hi-Fi Rush marches to the beat of its own drum with stunning animation, loveable characters, and stylish rhythmic action that are anything but one-note.” And IGN’s Pentiment review scored the game 10/10. “Pentiment is a clever Late Medieval detective story with a gorgeously-realized world that I can hardly recommend highly enough,” we said.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.