President of Xbox game content and studios, Matt Booty, has claimed the company’s competition no longer lies with other game studios and console developers, but “everything else”.
In an interview with The New York Times, primarily discussing the shock announcement that Xbox’s longtime brand mascot, Master Chief, and exclusive first-party game, Halo, would be coming to PS5 in 2026, Booty said the decision came as a result of “seeking to meet people where they are”, moving away from console exclusivity in a bid to reach more players.
“Our biggest competition isn’t another console,” Booty said. “We are competing more and more with everything from TikTok to movies.
“We are all seeking to meet people where they are.”
It’s a vastly different position to both Nintendo and Sony’s PlayStation brand, both of which continue to avariciously guard their first-party exclusives, with Sony only recently experimenting with porting its console games to PC, albeit often months after their console debut.
Commenting on over 9000 employees laid off from the company during the summer, which Microsoft told Eurogamer was “necessary to position the company and teams for success in a dynamic marketplace” at the time, Booty said: “Layoffs are difficult. They are a part of managing our business”.
While the total number of laid off employees in gaming positions remains unknown, the likes of Rare’s Everwild, The Initiative’s Perfect Dark reboot, and a new ZeniMaz MMORPG were cancelled, roughly 200 staff from Candy Crush developer King were laid off and have reportedly been replaced by the AI tools they helped to build. The team at Turn 10 Studios behind Forza Motorsport is also reportedly “no more”, and the knock-on effect has also resulted in funding being cut for Romero Games’ next project, though contrary to reports the studio has not closed.
Yesterday, Microsoft confirmed the Halo series is coming to PlayStation 5. In a new demo debuted at the Halo World Championship, Microsoft revealed Halo: Campaign Evolved – described as “a faithful yet modernised remake of Halo: Combat Evolved‘s campaign” – is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S next year. It marks the first time ever a Halo game will be released on a PlayStation system.
