Check out the row that took over gaming groups and forums on this Monday, November 6, 2017. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s games division, said the company could one day release first-party games on other platforms, such as Apple devices and even the PS4, the same way it already did with Minecraft.
That was enough for the internet to explode. Memes everywhere, outraged Xbox fans, PlayStation fans dreaming of Forza on their own console. The idea behind the remark was Spencer’s new mission within Microsoft: reaching more players on any device, and not just selling Xbox One boxes.
But the party was short-lived. Shortly after, Spencer himself went to Twitter to hit the brakes. Translating his message: “Today we launched Minecraft on other platforms, we all know that, there are no plans to expand that right now.” In other words, beyond Minecraft, no Microsoft game on the competitor’s console at that time.
That’s right, folks: this time Forza and Gran Turismo were not going to share the same shelf.
What came next
The “now” in the tweet turned out to have an expiry date. In 2024, four Microsoft games came to PlayStation: Pentiment to PS5 and PS4 on February 22, Hi-Fi Rush to PS5 on March 19, Grounded on April 16 and Sea of Thieves on April 30. And the joke about Forza on Sony’s console became reality: Forza Horizon 5 launched on PS5 on April 29, 2025. Those who laughed at the memes in 2017 had to swallow their laughter a few years later. It arrived with a bang.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Phil Spencer on Twitter.
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment.