Xbox is planning more surprise game releases in the style of GoldenEye 007 and Hi-Fi Rush for this year, with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer hinting that the company's next such launches might be happening sooner than expected. This teaser arrived alongside a promise that Xbox won't pull a Hogwarts Legacy with Call of Duty should its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard go through.
Not only did Xbox manage to bring GoldenEye 007 to Game Pass in early 2023, but it did so in spite of a plethora of licensing issues stemming from the fact that this Nintendo 64 classic was developed by Rare, which is a Microsoft subsidiary nowadays. What's more, the game was treated to a release within days of its announcement at the January 25 Xbox & Bethesda Developer_Direct showcase, which also featured a surprise reveal and same-day release of the critically acclaimed rhythm-action game Hi-Fi Rush.
In a newly published interview with Xbox On, Spencer revealed that Microsoft's gaming division is presently working on more such surprise launches. Even though the company's current focus primarily revolves around the 2023 edition of the Xbox summer showcase, the head of Xbox suggested that the next "GoldenEye-type announcements" are just around the corner and will happen ahead of the June event.
His comments also serve as an indirect confirmation that the upcoming Xbox showcase, which was previously confirmed for summer 2023, will be happening in late June, most likely at E3. This would mean Microsoft will be returning to the Los Angeles Convention center for the first time since 2019. While Xbox has always been a big supporter of E3, the first three post-pandemic iterations of the trade show were all either virtual (2021) or canceled (2020, 2022).
Furthermore, Spencer revealed the upcoming surprise launches will be coming to "different services" and not just Game Pass. That statement is far from surprising, seeing how the latest same-day release to come out of Xbox Game Studios, Hi-Fi Rush, also launched on Steam and Epic Games Store alongside Game Pass and Microsoft Store. Two days later, the aforementioned rerelease of GoldenEye 007 simultaneously made its way to both the Nintendo Switch and Game Pass.
Microsoft's decision to allow the iconic FPS on a direct Xbox rival is all the more noteworthy due to the fact its Switch port is arguably superior to the Game Pass version, on account of boasting online multiplayer functionality. Since that didn't stop the company from striking what some are describing as the perfect GoldenEye 007 compromise, Spencer's promise that more Xbox games will employ such inclusive release strategies in the near future makes sense. However, skeptics might argue that Microsoft's current benevolence is primarily rooted in a desire to win regulatory approval for its pending Activision Blizzard acquisition, so its motivation to maintain this multiplatform momentum might start fading away once the fate of that deal is determined.