Xbox has been on something of a run lately, with good news coming out seemingly every few days. Now a reliable insider is hinting that the best may be yet to come, alluding to some sort of Xbox-Nintendo partnership.
XboxEra's co-founder, who goes by the online handle Shpeshal Ed, has previously leaked things such as Final Fantasy VII coming to PS Plus, Gearbox being acquired by Embracer Group, and most of all seems to be in the know on things in the Xbox world. Now, he's suggesting something newsworthy is brewing between Xbox and Nintendo.
"The cat seems to be out of the bag on Nintendo and Xbox," he tweeted. "You'll hear more in the fall." What he was referring to regarding the proverbial cat was probably VentureBeat's Jeff Grubb relaying that he was told by a source that everything on Phil Spencer's shelf in the background of a recent video presentation had a specific purpose.
For example, the Kojima Productions mascot that was behind Spencer during a recent stream is now understood to be related to the news that Xbox is in latter-stage talks with Kojima to publish his next game. There was also a Nintendo Switch on that shelf, and Grubb's understanding that Spencer is using his shelf as a teasing platform combined with Shpeshal Ed's tweet seems to point to something big brewing between the two companies, who tend to be seen as competitors despite some recent team-ups, like Minecraft on Switch including Xbox integration.
The whispers from Shpeshal Ed's tweet could be seen as a nod to Phil Spencer's very specific language regarding where Bethesda games will be playable in the future. The Xbox boss said they'll be found "on platforms where Game Pass exists," which is distinctly different than saying "on Xbox and PC platforms." With a Game Pass smart TV app in the works and xCloud soon expanding to iOS devices, is it possible Xbox Game Pass may one day be streamed to Nintendo Switch too?
It's long been a rumor and even now is nothing more than that, but when we hear Xbox and Nintendo collaboration, it's the natural go-to in our minds, especially as Nintendo has been experimenting with cloud-based games lately.
There's a lot we don't know, but if we had to make a fun guess - and we don't but will anyway - we think Game Pass will arrive on Switch alongside this fall's worst-kept-secret Switch Pro release.
