Navigating the Landscape of Game Ports: Insights from Xbox’s Matt Booty on PS5 Releases

Matt Booty, head of gaming content and studios at Microsoft, has been engaging with media outlets recently to promote Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. As expected, he has been questioned about the forthcoming PS5 version.

In a discussion with Variety, Booty emphasized that Xbox is still making decisions on a per-game basis regarding the release of versions for other platforms. In the instance of Indiana Jones, the decision was made to delay its PS5 launch until Spring 2025 due to production reasons and the desire to offer Xbox players a “great experience”.

“We are very much making the [exclusivity and timing] decisions on a game-by-game basis. Each of our studios is in a slightly different scenario.

There’s also the production schedule for a game, so the decision on timing comes into play first. We want to ensure there’s an amazing experience for our Xbox gamers, and then the gap between [its availability on PlayStation] is equally a production choice as it is anything else. This is a game that was in production before we acquired Bethesda, even.”

From this, it seems that Microsoft will follow a similar strategy with numerous upcoming releases – launching them initially on Xbox and then offering a PS5 version a bit later. However, there are exceptions with titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 where most expected it to launch simultaneously across all platforms.

The debate will undeniably persist whenever these announcements are made, but don’t expect them to cease – Xbox’s Phil Spencer even recently stated that nothing is off the table regarding potential PS5 ports.

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