Microsoft announces the first Xbox exclusives that are coming to Nintendo Switch

It's official: Microsoft and Nintendo have announced two first-party Xbox exclusives that are coming to the Nintendo Switch.

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TImes are changing. Exclusivity may be on its way out as games companies outgrow the narrow confines of their controlled platforms to sell as many games to as many people as possible. The new model once again underlines the basics of the games industry: Expanding software and content sales matters the most. Having reached the limits of the Xbox console market, Microsoft is starting to break first-party exclusivity so it can 'use what other platforms have to grow Xbox.' And Nintendo just so happens to have a market with over 139 million systems.

Now we officially know what two of those games are. Microsoft had announced that four Xbox games would come to Switch and PlayStation, but didn't name them, presumably because of official marketing promos. Neither Microsoft nor Nintendo wanted these reveals to spoiled, but the leaks sure fixed that.

The latest Nintendo Direct showcase confirms that two Obsidian games, the smaller-scale indie Pentiment and the large-scale, community-driven online game Grounded, are coming soon to Nintendo Switch.

Pentiment will be available tomorrow, whereas Grounded will launch on April 16, 2024. Neither game is currently on the Nintendo eShop web store, but Pentiment is listed as $19.99 and Grounded costs $39.99 on the Xbox store.

Microsoft has yet to announce the other two games that will break exclusivity, but those titles are expected to be Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush. Those games (and potentially both Pentiment and Grounded) are expected to launch on PlayStation. It's unknown whether or not Sea of Thieves will come to Switch.