This switch paid off quickly, reversing Sega’s diminishing fortunes, with the company posting its first profitable fiscal year in 2003 after a prolonged period of consistent losses. For me, after enduring the ‘90s console wars, the unthinkable happened when Sonic the Hedgehog games became available on the Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance; I never thought I’d see the day. But in making established franchises, like Virtua Fighter, and new ones like Yakuza, available on other consoles, Sega not only lived to fight another day but thrived better than ever.
Undiscovered Country for Microsoft
After the success of the Xbox 360, Microsoft has been seeing similarly diminishing returns on its own console efforts starting with the subsequent Xbox One. This downward trend continued into the Xbox Series X|S era, with the console having sold 28.3 million units worldwide by June 2024, roughly half of the PS5’s total sales in relatively the same time period. Like Sega before it, Microsoft cannot rebuild its momentum compared directly to Nintendo or Sony, meaning it has to drastically rethink its strategy and place in the gaming industry.
While Microsoft hasn’t announced any plans to pull out of the console industry or reduce its support of the Xbox Series X|S, it may want to strongly consider Sega’s own strategy. Microsoft Gaming has already leaned into expanding its ecosystem into the PC space, bringing it closer to Xbox with its GamePass program. In continuing to make games published by its subsidiaries to other consoles, like the PS5 and upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the biggest hint that Microsoft could alter its output to one prioritizing software over console hardware.
In a 2023 court deposition, Microsoft executives tacitly admitted that they lost the console wars and that software exclusivity was not anti-competitive. Both are rare admissions that demonstrate Microsoft was aware of its long-term prospects and that its strategic future in console hardware and platform exclusivity was in doubt. To stay viable, Microsoft needs to lean into its strengths and right now that’s in software. Not console hardware.
If Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the first major Indiana Jones game released in 15 years and one of the biggest games published by ZeniMax since its acquisition, has received a multi-platform release, Indy could be leading the way for big changes to Microsoft Games. Just as it was unthinkable for me to see Sonic on Nintendo consoles, maybe Halo’s Master Chief could one day make a PlayStation appearance. In this industry, stranger things have happened…
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is now available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
