Reggie Fils-Aimé Says Xbox Is Leaving Easy Switch 2 Ports on the Table
Xbox is zeroing in on PlayStation as its primary rival, leaving Nintendo largely out of the crosshairs.
Xbox keeps sharing its toys, just not evenly. The company has been pushing former exclusives to other platforms all year, but PlayStation keeps getting the bigger slice while Nintendo waits by the door. And now even Reggie Fils-Aime is wondering what Xbox is doing.
How we got here
Back in February 2024, Xbox broke its own playbook and said it would start moving select Xbox console exclusives to other platforms. It kicked off with Grounded, Pentiment, and Hi-Fi Rush, and the strategy has only grown since then. We even ended up with heavy-hitters like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle showing up beyond Xbox.
That PlayStation was the first stop made sense when the Switch was showing its age. But we are five months into the beefier Switch 2 era now, and Microsoft still seems to prefer sending its games to PS5 over Nintendo, even though Nintendo reaches a giant audience.
PlayStation keeps getting the goods
- October: Xbox said Halo would finally land on non-Microsoft hardware, with Halo: Combat Evolved coming to PS5 next year. Switch 2 did not make the invite list.
- Microsoft promised Nintendo would get Call of Duty following the Activision Blizzard deal. That still has not happened, even with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 looming.
- Meanwhile, Switch 2 has been out for months, is more powerful than the original Switch, and still is not getting the attention you would expect from Xbox.
Reggie is baffled by the slow roll to Switch 2
In an interview with The Game Business, former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said he is surprised Xbox has not leaned into Switch 2 more aggressively from the software side.
"I am surprised that Xbox has not yet fully embraced Switch 2 from a software perspective."
Reggie goes further: in his view, some Xbox games could be ported to Switch 2 without much drama, and he expected Microsoft to have a real lineup ready for the back half of the year. He was looking for a clear, focused announcement sometime in the fall ahead of the holidays and is surprised it never came together. On the Switch 2 launch window itself, he admits, "I scratched my head a bit."
Bottom line: Xbox is all-in on being multiplatform, but right now PlayStation is getting the priority treatment while Nintendo watches the parade go by. If Microsoft really plans to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo and broaden its reach, the clock is ticking as Black Ops 7 approaches.