On the official Xbox podcast, Phil Spencer confirmed the rumors that Microsoft is bringing four first-party Xbox games to Switch and PlayStation 5. He didn’t say which games are coming, but the widespread report is that Grounded, Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, and Pentiment will be the four unnamed titles.

If these games do well on PS5 and Switch, it’s likely the beginning of the end for Microsoft in the console space. If Microsoft’s first-party games sell significantly better on rival systems better than they do on Xbox Series X/S, we’re unlikely to see another traditional console from Microsoft.

A lot is going to likely depend on what Switch 2 will be capable of. If it can handle all of Microsoft’s first-party catalog without too much fuss and performance downgrading, we could be seeing many more Xbox titles coming to PlayStation 5, Switch, and Switch 2. Especially if they can work out a friendly understanding with them to be featured in their digital stores and in State of Play and Nintendo Direct videos regularly.

Microsoft is currently in a position where they have to be very thoughtful and deliberate about their next steps. They’ve spent tens of billions of dollars in the last few years buying Bethesda and Activision-Blizzard. They have a whole slew of valuable IPs at their disposal now that they didn’t have five years ago. They have to decide where those IPs will be best positioned for maximum commercial impact, whether that’s on Switch, PlayStation, or Game Pass. Conceding these four games to their console rivals can be seen as Microsoft testing the waters to see how they do. If they do significantly well, it’s likely we’ll see more titles, and bigger titles, making their way to Sony and Nintendo’s machines.

Then hopefully, Nintendo and Microsoft can put those classic Rare IPs to good use again, and maybe Microsoft can help Nintendo with their online gaming infrastructure.

[The Verge]