It's the dawn of a new era in gaming, as Microsoft makes good on its much-rumored plan to release its own, previously exclusive games on competing platforms.

Today, during a 25-minute video, Nintendo showed off a bunch of new third-party games coming to its popular hybrid gaming console. Of particular note were two games published by Xbox Studios, the gaming arm of Microsoft. Pentiment, a highly acclaimed indie adventure game with a medieval woodcut style, is coming to Switch tomorrow. Grounded, a multiplayer action game featuring tiny people struggling to survive in gardens filled with giant insects and environmental hazards, is coming to Switch in April.

So what’s the big deal? Console exclusivity is how console manufacturers get people to buy their specific hardware. Sony makes PlayStation, then makes games, and encourages developers to make games that only work on PlayStation, hoping to attract more players into their walled garden.

With Game Pass, Microsoft has begun to expand its player base beyond its own Xbox hardware. You can play Xbox Game Pass games on PC, Mac, and mobile devices like iPhone and iPad, VR headsets like Meta’s Quest, and handhelds like Logitech’s Cloud G. It’s a way to entice people who might not want to buy a full Xbox console to play Xbox games (and pay Microsoft a monthly fee to do so).