Microsoft's Xbox may not be as mortal as many believed, but the gaming giant is preparing to offer a total of four games from its ever-growing catalog to rival platforms

The news came after a 20+ minute podcast titled "Xbox Business Update," a video released on Xbox's YouTube channel in which Xbox head Phil Spencer, head of Xbox Game Studios along with Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, and Sarah Bond, president of Xbox

Spencer spoke highly of the importance of "the long-term health of Xbox" and elaborated on how "we can (continue) to grow the gaming industry and Xbox" He jumped into the issue of exclusivity early in the pre-recorded roundtable discussion, emphasizing that only four games would be passed on to rival consoles

Bond then talked about the next Xbox generation, calling it "a technological leap like we've never seen in a generation of hardware" It is unclear whether she was talking about the previously leaked consoles, codenamed "Brooklin" and "Ellewood," or something else entirely, but the news should quell concerns about the possible downfall of the Xbox

Spencer began the discussion with the very important Xbox exclusivity question that dominated social media last week in anticipation of the release of this very podcast: the games that Xbox executives are moving to alternative consoles, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch but emphasized that there are only four games in total, but which games will be transitioned is yet to be determined

During the discussion, Spencer stressed that this would not be a major change in the "basic exclusivity strategy," specifically citing games that are at least "a year old" and "community-driven games" and "the first iteration of a franchise" as games that would be considered for the other platforms

Specifically, Spencer said that both "Starfield" and "Indiana Jones" are out of the running An inside source told The Verge that the four titles being moved to other consoles could be "Hi-Fi Rush," "Sea of Thieves," "Pentiment" and "Grounded," which makes some sense and fits Spencer's This makes some sense and fits the description given by Spencer

It is also less certain as to which consoles these games will be released on Spencer said "other consoles," but no specific names were thrown around Nevertheless, of the four titles mentioned above, only "Hi-Fi Rush" and "Pentiment" could realistically be played on the Nintendo Switch at a reasonable speed without major drawbacks

Interestingly, Spencer noted that while only four games are currently offered on other consoles, there could be more in the future He used the earlier descriptions of community-driven and year-old experiences as the games most likely to join these titles on other platforms later

All of this seems consistent with how Spencer and his co-management team, who literally named the company "Xbox Everywhere" in the podcast, currently view the company and where they want to take it Spencer also stated that they will be keeping a close eye on the community's reaction to these changes and will address them accordingly