Head of Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty confirmed the company will no longer develop new titles for last-generation consoles.
Per Axios, Booty revealed none of the 23 game studios under Microsoft were involved with producing new titles for the Xbox One. "We've moved on to Gen 9," Booty said. The studio chief further clarified that Microsoft's developers would continue to support massively multiplayer online games like Minecraft on the Xbox One but also intended to focus resources on developing future projects for the Xbox Series X|S. He also revealed Microsoft still planned to keep the Xbox One as a platform for Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming, which Booty believed offered users a simple method to play current-gen titles on older systems.
Booty explained how the industry changed since the last console generation, with the game studio chief discussing the higher standards for graphical fidelity expected for current-gen titles. The Microsoft executive stated that the development cycles for high-budget releases now averaged somewhere between four and six years. He claimed this was partly due to the increasingly complex nature of modern game development, with developers now pushed to deliver 4K-compatible graphics and updated lighting systems.
What About Sony's PlayStation 4?
Sony similarly announced it intended to pull back on development for titles on the PlayStation 4. The Japanese electronics giant previously revealed plans to turn the PlayStation 5 into its flagship console system. Sony specifically stated it planned to phase out game development for the PlayStation 4 by 2025, with the company projecting that most of its console revenue would rely on PlayStation 5 sales by the time the older system was finally laid to rest.
What's Next for Xbox?
As for the next generation, players were given a glimpse into some of the Xbox Series X|S' upcoming titles during the Xbox Games Showcase held as part of the 2023 Summer Games Fest. This included updates for beloved franchises, such as the latest entries into Forza Motorsport and Microsoft Flight Simulator and the first in-game trailer for the upcoming Fable reboot.
However, some Xbox fans were displeased with studio developer Bethesda Games Studios when it was revealed that its highly anticipated sci-fi title Starfield would be locked to 30fps on Xbox Series X|S consoles. "We do lock it at [30fps] because we want that fidelity, we want all that stuff," Bethesda boss Todd Howard explained. "We don't want to sacrifice any of it. Fortunately, in this one, we've got it running great."
Source: Axios