Back in the day, exclusive games were the selling point of a console. Nintendo had Mario, Sony had Uncharted, and Microsoft had Halo. Today, however, the Xbox brand is already pivoting against this trend, with games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, a first-party games arriving on competing platforms (PlayStation 5).
According to a report from Windows Central’s Jez Corden, you better get used to this. More often than not, first-party Xbox games will no longer be exclusive.
At this year’s The Game Awards, we already saw an example of this happening: The Outer Worlds 2, a former console exclusive from Obsidian Entertainment, was confirmed for a PlayStation release. Avowed, another game currently in development by Obsidian, is still Xbox exclusive; for now.
Corden also states that deciding to keep Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II a console exclusive was a mistake.
What the Future of Xbox Looks Like
This is just the beginning. Major Xbox tentpoles like Halo and Gears of War are expected to appear on a PlayStation console. This ties into the recent Xbox marketing strategy, “This is an Xbox,” where anything that can play games is an Xbox.
Spencer has long wanted to create an environment where gamers can play Xbox games as they see it, whether on an Xbox console, PC, cloud, or even competing platforms. While many scoffed at the idea of Microsoft spending nearly $70 billion purchasing Activision and then keeping Call of Duty on PlayStation hardware, that’s precisely what they did. Of course, Call of Duty was already multiplatform. Seeing the next Halo game appear on PS5 is, to some, sacrilegious.
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Here’s the thing, though: We’ve seen plenty of cases of the console exclusive strategy backfiring across the industry, not just with Microsoft and Xbox. Square Enix was disappointed earlier this year in the sales of Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, two console-exclusive games for PlayStation 5. A PC version of Final Fantasy XVI was released in September of this year, after the May 2024 financial results mentioned in the previously linked story. A PC version of Rebirth is due out early next year. There are currently no plans for an Xbox version of either game.
Fans have expressed frustration with Sony’s release cadence for their console exclusive games; we’re finally seeing The Last of Us Part II release on PC a whopping four years after its PlayStation 4 debut. Don’t get me started on Bloodborne, either.
So yes, while it’s crazy to consider that we’ll be playing Gears of War and Forza on a PlayStation console, it’s just a smart business decision. Why limit your customer base when you don’t have to?
