“Every screen is an Xbox” Microsoft reportedly tells staff

Xbox president Sarah Bond reportedly told staff that “every screen is an Xbox”. These words come ahead of Microsoft’s business update later today, in which the company is expected to lay out its plans to publish some Xbox games on PlayStation and Nintendo platforms.

Bond was speaking at an internal town hall meeting, with several sources telling Inverse the exec went on to discuss Xbox’s strategy of existing on multiple devices. She also spoke more on the company’s ambitions to become the number one cross-platform gaming company, the sources said.

To illustrate this point, staff were shown images of this year’s breakout hit Palworld across multiple screens. This included “tablets, TV screens, monitors, and handheld devices”, the publication said.

Microsoft’s employees were said to be surprised at “seeing so much Palworld” shown, while jokes were made regarding the possibility of an Xbox handheld device.

This has been rumoured for a little while now. Back in 2017, Microsoft’s now gaming boss Phil Spencer said the company had “roughly designed an Xbox handheld” in the past, and more recently has been spotted interacting with social media posts about handheld devices.

As well as Bond’s words, Spencer also reportedly confirmed to employees there would be “future hardware” from Xbox, as we previously reported. Last year, leaked documentation pointed to a Xbox Series X/S refresh happening later this year, with a next-gen Xbox console expected in 2028. Following this leak, Spencer said the information was “old”, adding Xbox will “share [its] real plans when we are ready”.

Elsewhere in the town hall, Spencer also reportedly told employees another Call of Duty entry would likely arrive in October. Spencer also touched on the recent layoffs at Microsoft, reiterating these cuts had been a hard decision.

These words to staff come ahead of Microsoft’s business update, which is scheduled for later today. During this update, Bond and Spencer along with fellow Xbox lead Matt Booty will share “updates on the Xbox business”. Many are expecting to hear confirmation that games such as Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment and Sea of Thieves are coming to additional platforms.

Eurogamer will have all the details from Microsoft’s business update once the podcast has been released this evening.