With more and more reports that Xbox is gearing up for some sort of multi-platform future, Microsoft has confirmed that it will launch four previously Xbox-exclusive first-party games on PlayStation 5 and Switch later this year, with more games likely to come in the future. 
There were reports that Microsoft was preparing to release some first-party games on rival consoles – namely Sea of Thieves and Soundperfect – which debuted earlier this year, but it wasn't until last week that it claimed that high-profile exclusives like Starfield and Raiders of the Lost Ark would also be coming to multi-platform that Microsoft broke its silence and promised to reveal more information in this week's podcast.
And now, according to The Verge — which Microsoft previewed ahead of tonight's launch event — Xbox Games CEO Phil Spencer has confirmed that the company has "decided to bring four games to other console platforms." Puzzledly, Spencer didn't name the two games directly, only that two of them were community-driven games and the other two were smaller games.
Instead, The Verge**, citing "sources familiar with Microsoft's plans", said that Sound Perfect and Pentiment will be the first two games to arrive on PlayStation 5 and Switch, followed by Sea of Thieves and Grounded. 
Xbox boss Phil Spencer said the company is still working on the Xbox console.
In an interview with The Verge, Spencer insisted that Microsoft is "focused on these four games and learning from experience" and said that Microsoft has no "other IP projects underway". While Starfield and Raiders of the Lost Ark weren't part of Microsoft's initial multi-platform plans, Spencer didn't rule out the possibility that they would eventually make their way to the PS5 platform. "I don't think we as an industry should rule out the possibility of games going to other platforms," he explains.
As for the possibility of other first-party Xbox games coming to PlayStation and Switch, it seems likely. When asked if there will be more multi-platform games to come, especially if Microsoft's initial 4 games are successful, Spencer replied, "Yes, but we haven't seen it yet." We want to see what happens, because the development of bringing them to the new platform is a real job. We want to make sure that the returns are reasonable. We want to make sure that the players there are interested, and maybe they don't. ”
The Verge said it knows Gears of War, Microsoft Flight Simulator and Doom are all considering multi-platform releases. 
When asked why Microsoft started trying to develop a multi-platform strategy for its first-party games, Spencer said: "Every decision we make is made with the long-term health of Xbox in mind, which means that our games will continue to evolve to create an optimal platform for developers to reach as many players as possible." As a leadership team, we're always learning and growing, and we see this as an interesting time to leverage the existing resources from other platforms to help us grow our own games. ”
It's an interesting time for Microsoft – it's going to be fascinating to see how its multi-platform plans will evolve from here.