Xbox head Phil Spencer has reiterated Microsoft will support Switch 2, and dubbed Nintendo a “great partner”.
The Switch 2 will be released on 5th June, with reports that Microsoft titles such as Flight Simulator and Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be arriving on the platform at some point in 2025. Meanwhile in 2022, Microsoft agreed a 10-year deal to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo if its then-to-be-finalised buyout of Activision Blizzard was completed (which it was in October 2023).
Now, Spencer has spoken further about Microsoft’s support for the Switch successor, and stated that Nintendo’s consoles were “a unique way for us to reach players who aren’t PC players, who aren’t players on Xbox”.
“It lets us continue to grow our community of people that care about the franchises that we have, and that’s really important for us to make sure we continue to invest in our games,” the Xbox head told Variety when asked about any Switch 2 projects.
“I’m really a big believer in what Nintendo means for this industry and us continuing to support them. And getting the support from them for our franchises, I think, is an important part of our future.”
This week’s comment echoes Spencer’s previous words regarding Microsoft’s support of Nintendo. In November last year, the Xbox exec said there was nothing stopping any of the company’s games coming to Nintendo or PlayStation platforms in the future.
Then, in January, Spencer spoke with Gamertag Radio, confirming Xbox would be supporting the Switch 2, adding he had exchanged messages with Nintendo’s Shuntaro Furukawa following that initial console teaser.
As for if the Switch 2 reveal had put any sort of pressure on Xbox to reveal what its forthcoming hardware plans – including an Xbox handheld – Spencer said it hadn’t.
“I think all of us in this industry should focus on our communities and the player base that we’re building,” Spencer continued. “I get inspired by what a lot of different creators do and other platform holders. But I believe in the plans that we have.
“Obviously, we’re evolving what it means to be Xbox and meeting players in so many different places. There are 3 billion people who play video games on the planet and I get up every morning and think about how Xbox can be more relevant to the 3 billion people who play. And that’s through making sure we’re leading in how our games and our platform features can be available in as many places as possible, whether that’s Cloud, whether it’s people playing on PC, whether it’s people playing on console.
“So we’re really driven by trying to grow our franchises and our platform to be an important part of gaming for as many of those 3 billion gamers as we can reach.”
Elsewhere, it seems some retailers in the US will open up Switch 2 pre-orders as soon as next week, following news Nintendo was delaying the process following concerns around tariffs.