Reaction: We're Conflicted About Xbox Exclusives Potentially Going To PS5

Tbh, I would like to know which games are going to be multiplat before I feel too much. My initial reaction is that it's a bad idea to release any of their games on competing systems if they want to sell consoles and that they don't have a strong enough library of exclusives to gatekeep a few (Halo, Gears, Forza) but maybe there is something I don't know about the market that MS does.

and we're conflicted about the prospect as we type this up

I absolutely understand and respect anyone who has this position. But, from my perspective this has/will have zero bearing on my choice of gaming platform, and if it isn't clear and avoid confusion - I'm all in on the Xbox ecosystem.😁

Edited: More people enjoying XGS games on other platforms, hopefully means more money invested in GPU, and ofcourse games for everyone 😉.

I’m all for the end of exclusive games stuck to a plastic box. 99% of the games I play are 3rd party anyway. Just prefer the Xbox controller and ecosystem of achievements, friends etc. so my worry isn’t at all about games on PS5 it’s 3rd party companies saying why are we wasting resources on Xbox versions of our games. The issue is if PS5 has their exclusive titles and Xbox’s as well, people simply won’t buy Xbox consoles even less than now. I have thousands in games, controllers, consoles for Xbox. It would be sad that my library of BC games ends and those games all die off.

I sort of hope Sony follows suit and abandons exclusivity. Maybe first hitting their own hardware before optimizing for PC/Xbox, but yeah, death to platform locks.
That will leave Nintendo though, which will probably go extinct before they open up to other companies hardware..

If they put their exclusives on ps and Nintendo there is no reason to own an xbox at all, not even gamepass will save the ecosystem. Even less people will spend money on or even purchase the platform in the first place and honestly I will have very little sympathy for them, as they did it to themselfs.

They may not plan to be the next Sega, but if they do this, they will. The xbox ecosystem will be deader than a dead thing from deadland

It certainly is a complicated issue, and I would be very sad if this does, eventually, lead to the demise of Xbox console hardware.

I’ve got no real issue with Xbox Game Studios games eventually appearing on other platforms; I was just recently pondering Hi-Fi Rush doing this, and was glad that more people would discover how great a game it is. However, if this does indeed lead to Microsoft just concentrating on being a publisher and using Game Pass as its platform, then I think I’d probably be better off investing in a decent gaming PC.

Though I’ve thought about buying a PS5, in the future, I would very much miss having an Xbox as my main console, if that’s how it goes - and that’s where it feels like it is going.

I have invested money and time on Xbox, it’s my main system. Exclusives give a platform part of its identity, so make them available everywhere would requiere a shift of mindset from us, loyalists.

At this point I’m worried about Xbox future and I hope they come out to clarify these rumors.

If games were to come to Xbox not every game but then one year later go to PlayStation, and as the above article mentions, one of the reasons is for Xbox to maybe gain some extra money, which would then be put back into the Xbox community either by making jobs secure or having more games on a one-year exclusive contract, I would be completely in favor, as long as Sony does the same with their games. But at the moment, one thing is for certain: someone from Xbox needs to speak up and let the community know what is happening because at the moment, being silent is not good for the Xbox brand.

I'm sure a bunch of people on the internet DEFINITELY know how to run a company better than Microsoft... (Obviously they don't, which is why I never take too much notice of people's reactions to this sort of thing. It also means you shouldn't pay too much attention to my own views.).

Xbox is clearly trying to push their brand onto other devices with Game Pass and Cloud Gaming becoming accessible on TVs and Meta Quest. If they also launch certain games on PS, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest as it is clearly the direction they are heading in.

I think to then compete in the console market, having a cheaper Series S style model isn't a bad thing. For many the PS5 is expensive so Xbox being able undercut them in an easy way to sell some consoles.

Whatever happens, I'm sure Xbox and Microsoft know what they are doing. Gaming is now a bigger business than Windows in terms of revenue at Microsoft (with gaming being the 3rd biggest). They aren't going to do anything to mess that up.

@Lucylu1983 I don't think their silence matters. You obviously have the people who are obsessed with console wars online who are going crazy about Xbox games going to PS, but most people won't care and likely haven't even heard this news.

Microsoft shouldn't break their silence just because some people go crazy at any opportunity to complain about Xbox and unfairly claim that Xbox is dead.

We, consumers, are not as important to these companies as their shareholders. If going multiplat makes the shareholders happy/happier, bringing better results, Microsoft will go that way. An if it succeeds, Sony's shareholders will want the same. These people don't care about who's losing exclusives or not.

Microsoft releases their products on competitors' platforms, like Office for MacOS and Android, or sell services such as Azure servers for Sony and Nintendo and others. And Office and Servers are their biggest revenues. It's only natural for them to release Xbox products on as many platforms as possible. Screw us.

I strongly prefer my Series X to my PS5 but If they do this and only Sony delivers a pro model then I think it will just make economic sense for me to abandon Xbox and treat Microsoft as a publisher.

@Lucylu1983 The catch here is Sony doesnt need to. Its leading by some distance and hasnt just made two multi billion dollar purchases. Most of the studios that put out their exclusives were bought for a fraction of that years ago.

At the end of the day these companies want to make money. Starfield locked to one ecosystem (even with PC) will make a hell of a lot less than if it released on all systems. Take into account the size of the curren PS userbase (and Nintendo) and its just easy money on the table for the taking.

I hope they dont move out of the console market as competition is healthy for all, but they need to recoup those costs somehow. Subscriptions are flatlining (on all platforms) and xbox consoles just arent selling as well as they hoped. Why not put your games on sale to millions more at full price, its a no brainer.

I do think they will only do this with games from the Zenimax and ABK purchases though. I imagine any 'home' exclusives such as Halo and Forza will remain just as they are.

@XboxistheBestBox it’s not like they have this market share because they’re geniuses. Microsoft makes giant mistakes constantly. They have an advantage thanks to Bill Gates’ childhood privilege that allowed him access to tech most people didn’t have and then they have ruthlessly maintained it by driving competitors out of business. They’re good in a way that is bad for consumers and deserves zero respect…like all corporations.

Beyond their inception and the high point of the 360 era, Xbox had a brief resurgence toward the end of the Xbox One and leading into the Series generation. These few "golden years" really worked to re-establish faith and interest in the brand ailing from it's Xbox One launch. At least in my opinion anyway.

But these golden years were too short. They did so much to repair their relationship with customers and generate new custom. Ridiculously cheap Game Pass deals, an unbelievably generous Reward Point system and a fairly extensive customisable system and a feeling that Xbox was a more free platform than it's competitors. And all that on top of the promise of good and exclusive titles to come. Sure they may have bought those titles through industry shaking acquisitions but the console exclusive traditionally valued by brand loyalists in combination with their already rising reputation would have propelled them even further. Especially against a complacent Sony aspiring to be the next Apple.

But they dropped the ball. So many anti consumer decisions, reeling back years of promise and winding down good will and now they have much fewer customers willing to go to bat for them. Not the "Xbox is sooo much better than PS" crowd, just the "you know what? Xbox is much better than it used to be and is actually good value" people. Because it's no longer good value.

Dropping the Gold to Game pass deal and nerfing the reward points devalued it from a consumer perspective. Dropping home screen customisation and forcing adverts into a console already purchased by consumers, after the fact is anti consumer. Also the latest one of remotely disabling a purchased consoles ability to work with 3rd party controllers. All of this means that a reasonable person that saw the good in something, has now been forced into a corner. And reasonable people don't double down and excuse a company they came to like even though functionality and value has been reduced. Reasonable people get the heck out of Dodge.

And it's not like they have anywhere to go, value for the consumer has dropped across the industry. If Xbox had managed to ride it's burgeoning success to the top and become legitimate competition for Sony then prices would have dropped everywhere and both companies would have increased functionality in order to compete for their customers.

As it stands though, Xbox dropped what made them an attractive proposition too early. They just never quite made it back to the top and these rumours make it seem like they are already giving up.

I hope they don't and I hope they can increase competition. It's not about which company "wins", it's about having two or more companies competing for our money so we get better value as consumers.

@raftos you do have a point on a few aspects of your response. Especially since MS shifting to PC has forced Sony's hand (though their implementation is different) to put their exclusives on PC and this may lead them to do that with their exclusives (put some of them on competing consoles). And yes, companies generally care more about shareholders happiness when compared to customers'. That's just a fact.

Edit: I forgot that Sony has already put one game on competing consoles, it's just that the MLB forced them to.

Simple - MS and Sony come together, create one console. All games release on that. 50/50 split.

If only eh?

I understand MS going for profit, especially as Series console sales are stalling, but if they go multiplat they’re diluting their own product enormously. They probably aren’t bothered though if they’re raking it in.

@Cikajovazmaj

When Sega was on life support around the turn of the millennium did Sony take mercy and throw Sega a bone? Nope, they made the best business decision possible at the time, which was to completely annihilate the competition. Why would it be any different now? Sony have zero incentive to publish their games to an ever-shrinking Xbox user base. And the Xbox user base will start to shrink once this news becomes official, mark my words. Xbox is barely able to hold ground in terms of market share with their current strategy and taking away exclusives will only serve to weaken the platform further. Sony will absolutely capitalise on this and I genuinely can’t blame them, that’s just business reality.

I own all three consoles and to be honest, this combined with what the first party output has been this gen, would be enough for me to drop the xbox console. I might buy xbox studio games and subscribe to gamepass as suits but probably from a handheld like an ASUS Rog Ally rather than an xbox console. Even then, if games like pentiment and hi-fi rush, which are the xbox studio games I have enjoed the most this gen, come to a console that im buying anyway because its got games that I cant play elsewhere, maybe I dont even do that. Gamepass as a monthly deal as a console player looks like a great deal, until you remember you've got the upfront cost of the console! You could have just used that money to buy the games you're interested in on another platform that has a wider variety of games.

@Kezelpaso

and potentially save hundreds of jobs. Yes, Microsoft could take more of a hit given its recent company valuation, but that's not the reality of business, and extra revenue coming in from the PlayStation community could be a great thing for these studios, their workers, and their upcoming projects.

I can't see this as "positive". Xbox run Windows DirectX and are built on multiplatform engines such as Unreal Engine. Bringing games to Xbox and PC at the same time is simple, but the time that these workers spend on porting Xbox games to Switch and PS could be spent on making their next project and that's also work. We already complain about games taking too much time to come out, imagine if we have to add ports to Switch and PS after each game is finished, considering how different Switch and PS5 are and that they don't run Windows OS at all. I'm not sure if that huge effort is worth the extra revenue if you have to give 30% of the sales to Sony and Nintendo and, more importantly, drive Xbox subscribers away. Multiplatform Game Pass makes a lot of sense; porting to Switch and PS and give up potential Xbox users and subscribers, not so much.

EDIT: Wrong tag, corrected.

Whatever happens I think MS need to speak out sooner rather than later.

Why buy an Xbox now is the question if I can play it all on playstation in the future guess my profile going over a decade has a shelf life now and will eventually have to die if this is how xbox is going

@ExtremeGamer yeah the third party dev perception is one of my biggest concerns.

@Kaloudz I think they need to say something like “games will be multiplat, but always release first on Xbox.” Then we at least know they still committed and still provides an incentive to be in Xbox ecosystem (if you care about playing games day one).

@R1spam honestly, I had my Series S set for sale once my current (converted) GP is up. This whole MS dropping hardware thing is just going to lower the second hand market price, but hopefully it's not my problem by then.
And just as you, I see Rog Ally (successor) in my future

Is this the end of Xbox console?
I wasted my money on Xbox ecosystem

I mean they're a software type of company after all so it is expected but if they keep the traditional long standing games on Xbox like Forza, gears of war & so on it isn't that bad in my eyes.

I’ve always prefered Xbox as a console of choice had the OG Xbox, 360, I skipped out on the Xbox One/PS4 generation, I didn’t have a console at the switch which I got during Covid. Jumped back in on Xbox Series X and have built up a pretty substantial library but I can’t help feeling I made the wrong call, I worried my library is going to be locked away on an obsolete console.

@rhyno_888 I’m starting to get this feeling aswel 😔

@Gollum So you would be happy having a lot less games on xbox now compared to having most games on playstation not to mention if this is the start of xbox death what is your profile worth now or anything you own digitally?

@MrN0vmbr Were all bent over a barrel now over loyalty should of picked PlayStation I blame gears for keeping me on Xbox and they don't even give a crap about gears anymore now

I’ve given up with it all now and just smile at it all.
It’s in our RED circle everyone.
Meaning what will be will be, and there is not a single influence you can have over it.

I don't think it's conflict, I think it's a desire to not say the truth out loud.

If MS ports its exclusives to the competitor's box, with no reciprocity, they've surrendered the hardware space to Sony and Nintendo. In a way, it would be as though Activision bought XBOX.

You can be fine with that outcome (I'm not) but that's what it would mean. Personally, if this happens, I'm doing the "old man upgrades PC" move. (Hopefully, this is just the media making a racket because they want an answer about Hi-Fi Rush and haven't gotten one yet.)

People need to calm down on the death of xbox talk. We still haven't seen the results of xbox regaining the call of duty marketing which we know drives "normies" to a platform. We also haven't seen what ABK will do to gamepass numbers and in turn xbox hardware. We also know from any State of Play,xbox showcase, Nintendo direct, etc that marketing rights to games leads to a perception that it is only available on that platform. We also haven't heard definitively what the timed exclusivity period will be or how many games this will be. FOMO is very powerful and as other timed exclusives have shown, sales aren't as good on the "second launch." People have a desire to be there day 1.

I personally don't see this as a sign of the death of xbox. I look forward to playing on upcoming xbox hardware for many years.

I can't believe how many people are still in the singular mindset of xbox console sales vs playstation console sales. Steam makes what 1 exclusive game per decade and they still make hardware. I envision a developer and consumer friendly xbox ecosystem where future hardware is even closer to pc. The development for an "xbox version" of games will be simple enough for developers already making a pc version that it really isn't that much more money or effort to make an xbox version. Steam is the best platform in all of gaming because they built a system that works for both consumers and developers. They don't pay anyone for exclusive titles and make their own exclusive about as often as solar eclipses. Xbox could have their platform work the same on PC and Xbox hardware and the seamless transition from Xbox Gamepass to PC gamepass would work for your entire Xbox library as well. Buying digital games that I can play natively on the PC in my office, the Xbox in my living room, phone, or the handheld in my backback is very appealing to me.

@OldGamer999 Not nice to waste money in a ecosystem that looks like it's going to die for over a decade on a huge digital library not everyone buys every system to play on if I owned a playstation aswell as I xbox I wouldnt care to much either

I think it would be a bad move if it does happen. Healthy competition is always a good thing for the market. Some PS fanboys moan that they won’t (for the moment) get to play games like Elder scrolls 6, but PlayStation already has its own fair share of exclusives, most of which are very good. If it does happen why would anyone buy another Xbox console? Maybe for Gamepass, but I don’t think that’s enough on its own.

Well I have had a PS5 since launch & bought a Series X just 2 weeks ago to play the Xbox exclusives, but now I feel like what's the point if any of this news is true.

Id be a little less conflicted if my job depended on it...cant see much need for a site dedicated to an app

Very smart move, in my opinion. The console is just a PIECE of the larger puzzle while mobile phones, tablets, PC, and smart TV's can also deliver Xbox content all the same. Microsoft is playing chess here, not checkers, and this will yield them a ton of money if they release their games on PS/Switch. Plastic boxes mean very little in this evolving market these days while CONTENT does. If I was looking to invest in Microsoft stocks this would definitely sway me into doing so. Smart move.

Remember, it isn't 1995 anymore and "my plastic box sold more than your plastic box" isn't the only metric for success.

@eire-shabba Well I buy most of my games physically on Xbox but to be fair, let's say if 40% of games like some upcoming games get released on playstation and the rest stay on Xbox like some originals/classics it wouldn't be that bad because those new games will still be on Xbox but with the profile related thing you mentioned I play on pc as well so my game saves & profile stats will stay on that side of things as well so I wouldn't be loosing out on much really but if they go full throttle putting every single game on other platforms !day one!, that will be really really poo.

@eire-shabba
I have really cared to the point of frustration as some well know on here.
But it’s not healthy to go on about things like I did, when you have zero influence over them.

You just have to move on, cut your loss’s if you have any and get over it. Which I did as of about December 2023 when this almost inevitable.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner It looks like your going to get what you want and it'll be called the ps6...

I've been playing Xbox for 20 some years. I still play my trusty old 360 where the majority of my treasured Xbox specific collection remains. If this is the beginning of the end of Xbox consoles, it was a truly great run. Far longer than Sega. With some absolute banger highlights along the way. I don't really have any major concerns towards Xbox going to multi-platform with current and future titles. They just spent 68 BILLION acquiring the greatest Live-Service publisher. There is absolutely going to be a need for investment return.

My ONLY concern is for the 1900 folks who were just let go from Acti-Blizz. That seems aggressively unnecessary and very preemptive in the shadow of all this.

Obviously it depends on what's actually happening, there is a big difference between launching Starfield on PS5 within a year and launching it on PS5 when Elder Scrolls is coming).

Releasing major exclusives on PS feels like point of now return in a death spiral.

Xbox is so far behind and so tainted by them playing possum for the court cases, there is no way anyone will read this as anything but waving a white flag. There is no "4D thinking" that'll stop that spiral when it starts picking up speed.

Less xboxs will be bought, less games will be bought on them, less Devs will choose to release on Xbox, less games on gamepass, so less xboxs get sold and around and around we go.

Soon enough our digital libraries, our history on Xbox is just fodder for cloud streaming and the few "play anywhere" titles on PC.

Until will get clarification from MS I'm not adding to my xbox digital library. It's on thing to spend in a bubble, is another to spend in a bust.

I do feel for those that are 'all in' on Team Green. If this happens, I dont see that this is anything other than bad news for them. But MS corp now want to see results and they only way they will get the sales numbers they are hoping for is to be multi plat - cloud is too far off in most of the world hardware numbers show they just havent penetrated the market like they would have wanted.

I'm not a fan of the hardware at all, so I only keep my series X for the odd exclusive. I'd be happy to sell it off if I knew all titles will come to PS5, and I rather think I wont be alone in that.
I dont want to see Xbox go (healthy competition is good for everyone), but it looks like thats what we will see and I will mourn that day.

I really regret investing into the Xbox ecosystem.
Should have went with the Playstation about a decade ago.
And it's people like you that are part of the problem.
No, more people playing more games is not good.
Because that's not what it is at all, let's call it what it really is.
It's more people not on Xbox playing Xbox games.
And people on Xbox gaining nothing in return.
When this move inevitably kills the hardware department, what happens to our purchases?
I've had enough of Xbox and their fanbase being 'the better man' and so generous.
Yeah, generous with everyone but your own fanbase, good one.
As much as I dislike Sony's arrogance, at least they have a backbone.

@Sol4ris You are so wrong and it amazes me that people can be so wrong.
No amount ever will be enough for corporate greed.
Microsoft is a TRILLION dollar company and I think they just had their best earnings call ever, while letting go thousands of people.

This isn't a move to bring in more money for more games.
It's more money for shareholders' pockets.
Immediate short term gain that brings about long term destruction of an entire brand.

Honestly, if we get games earlier on Xbox and Day One on GamePass that’s still a big enough reason for me to want to stick with Xbox. It may even get better if MS has more money to developer bigger, better games and maybe even get more third party Day One games on GamePass.

There’s a possible brighter side to all this news. Day One games on GamePass before PlayStation even gets them is value for me.

All that said, we really MS to come out and clarify all this.

It boils down to one thing: I bought an Xbox for the exclusives on it. Same reason I bought a Playstation and a Switch.

If Xbox isn't going to have any exclusives then I have no reason to buy another Xbox. I'll save my money and just buy the other platforms instead.

Timed exclusivity means nothing to me and I'd be happy just to wait for it to come to other platforms.

All the articles you've been seeing about anticipated drop in hardware sales? This is exactly why.

To be honest I got my Series X only for exclusives. I’d previously assumed that the vast majority of new titles would eventually be on PS5, and would be a case of being ‘free’ as part of Game Pass or full price on PlayStation, and that’s how Microsoft would market their offerings. Guessing someone somewhere with a better calculator than mine worked out that getting more people into the GP ecosystem was worth more than people on other systems paying full price for say CoD.

I think the biggest issue is for every game MS release on another system is one less reason to buy an Xbox.

The less systems people buy the less 3rd party games get bought. The less bought means that more will start missing Xbox and too many of the smaller gamers are already missing Xbox.

For me it isn't too much of an issue as I have a PS5, Switch and PC but for those who only have an Xbox them MS will be hanging them out to dry for a few more pennies.

I'm not conflicted. Don't do it. Ever.

Xbox keep your games. PS keep your 1st party games (have to specify with Sony). Nintendo keep your games.

Well, Xbox and PS, put your games on PC. Otherwise, console games should be exclusive.

Honestly I tend to buy all the consoles so I am not that bothered. I do often buy 3P games on Xbox as you can get the codes including GP up to 25% cheaper on day one vs using the PSN store.

The lack of exclusivity is why I haven't bought an Xbox for Microsoft games, but on the other hand I don't want to spend any money on consoles and exclusivity has also kept me from playing Bloodborne and Tears of the Kingdom. All games should just be on all systems so anyone can decide what systems they want to play on with no exclusivity drawback.

I don't really care, the Xbox does one thing that PlayStation still won't (coughemulatorcough) so it will always have a place on my shelf. As for the games, Starfield is on Gamepass. It likely won't be on plus with PlayStation. I will continue to play games where they are cheapest for me.

"Millions of players will get to access some of Xbox's biggest and best games"

I don't get this argument. Who cares about these people? How is that a benefit to XBox customers in the slightest? Sony doesn't think like this; Nintendo doesn't think like this; both have greater market share than Xbox.

If you want to play Xbox games, buy an Xbox. Or buy the game on PC. Or pay for GP and play on the XCloud. MS already gives potential customers multiple avenues to play games from different publishers.

Sony keeps their 1st party games exclusive to PS. That is fine, console-wise. I would like them (all publishers, really) to release on PC. That would be ideal in my eyes.

The bulk of people don't have massive disposable incomes to spend on games. So, hypothetically putting more and more games on your direct competitor could do more harm than good (profit). Why did MS make a console in the first place? Why did they continue? If third party is the move now, it was always the correct move. More correct. From jump. Something does not add up.

I know these are still just rumors. The idea that Phil and others on the Xbox team are OK with this is tough to swallow. If true, God help the individual who has to announce this.

@Phantasystar77 When you take away the hardware, let's look at what's left.

You have Gamepass and there's absolutely no chance in hell Playstation allows that on their console.

There's the Xbox store which now won't have any hardware tied to.
So essentially, Xbox loses all revenue from other third party games as well as MTX that aren't their own games.

They only have their own games as a publisher which is great for them but it's a massive spit to the face of everyone who has bought an Xbox and much more importantly games on Xbox.
If by some miracle they could migrate these purchases to the Playstation store, I'd be fine with it and just bite the bullet and get a PS5.
But that's not happening because Playstation has all the leverage in this move.

Whilst as gamers we do week out exclusive titles to give our purchases meaning and let us be ‘one of the tribe’ this hasn’t been true of the Series X since launch. Against Sony’s lineup of exclusives and variety of titles for the PS5 the Series X had….. nothing.

this is actually not good for the industry. 1) if MS drops out of hardware business- that's a lot of jobs lost at MS. 2) it leads to further consolidation of the industry with 1 big remaining player, Sony. Monopolies don't tend to work out for anyone except the person holding the monopoly. It would be really, really bad for the entire industry and it's consumers.

I dont see anything wrong with this, and I understand it from MSs standpoint. I know they are a trillion dollar company, but they can't keep spending money on games and not getting enough of a return. Especially when GP has pretty much stopped growing.

@Phantasystar77 Yeah, this whole cuckold mentality isn't for me.
I don't feel like I want to belong in a fanbase that puts its own supporters last in favor of the competition.

@Banjo- I think MS has backed themselves into a bit of a corner with GP. Development costs keep ballooning and ballooning, it's one thing when your market share can offset that and turn revenue into actual profit. MS has absorbed an insane amount of overhead with its spending sprees and they are not recouping full game sales in their ecosystem but monthly payments at 1/4th value spread over so many games. Those valuations of the companies bought change dramatically when they are no longer selling full priced games

IMO Microsoft should be doing the opposite, they should be doing everything they can to crush Sony. People care way way more about exclusives than specs, so thing would pretty detrimental. If anything they focus should be putting these (or just game pass) on Nintendo’s next console which will probably release in the next year or two.

@VoidPunk theyve tried to 'crush' Sony in every aspect and it hasn't turned out that well for them ,the little guy is destroying them with better first party games and console sales every generation, looks like ms has finally decided what everyone knew was gonna happen, become a publisher.

Consoles ride or die depending on exclusivity despite what people wanna believe. If most or even half Xbox-exclusives come to a PS or Nintendo console after a year or so, why would I buy an Xbox? Why would I not buy any other Platform when Xbox offers the least games, both because the exclusives are timed and less game devs bother with them than anyone else? For Game Pass, which is an occasional new release and a bunch of cheap Indies and old as dirt games, that also is better and cheaper for PC?

I like exclusives. It differentiates consoles and if we get all the same games on every system, competition dries up. It’s one way to look at things that more games on every console is great for everyone but it stifles creativity.
The only winner would be MS who would make insane profits. And that’s why they will go down this route.
I suspect the next all digital Xbox will be the last.

Having been with Xbox since day one, turned my thought of negativity to positivity.
And have become as ruthless as Microsoft.

Put all the Xbox studios games on all other consoles day one and stop making Xbox consoles.
Why you might ask, I’m a business now.
One less console to buy
One less eco system to join and buy.
One less, extra controller and headsets to buy.
I save money.

I’m now Microsoft I’m ruthless, I’m a business, end of to brand and customer loyalty.

@OldGamer999

Having been with Xbox since day one, turned my thought of negativity to positivity.And have become as ruthless as Microsoft

That's the spirit mate, good for you. Looking at console sales across Nintendo, Sony and then compared with Microsoft, you are not alone in being ruthless. Why be bitter, just enjoy what suits you 😉.

I have posted this elsewhere, but my take is this:
1. I don't see them exiting hardware at all. I think they'll continue to sell Xbox consoles for the foreseeable future.
2. They'll make most games multiplatform - but with a caveat. They'll be timed exclusive and on Gamepass day 1. This way if you want to play on release, you have to either get an Xbox or PC. Or you can wait for it to be available on the Playstation or Switch successor, at full price, a few months later. This way, there is still an incentive to own an Xbox (included in the subscription and day 1) yet the take the revenue from the other platforms.

@Sol4ris
Well did used to get very annoyed about it towards the end of last year.
But hey, what can we do about it nothing.
So thought of some positives instead money wise 😊

@OrfeasDourvas

When you take away the hardware, let's look at what's left.

You have Gamepass and there's absolutely no chance in hell Playstation allows that on their console.

There's the Xbox store which now won't have any hardware tied to.
So essentially, Xbox loses all revenue from other third party games as well as MTX that aren't their own games.

They only have their own games as a publisher which is great for them but it's a massive spit to the face of everyone who has bought an Xbox and much more importantly games on Xbox.

That's exactly why Microsoft won't give consoles up. It makes zero sense from a business point of view. No matter how much some people insist, there will be Xbox as long as there is PS.

@theduckofdeath It isn't about pleasing your existing clientele, it's about capturing new customers. By opening up your catalog to more people you will bring in more money, and if that means making some people upset than so be it.

I'm confident that the console will continue to exist, but it's become moot since you can access Game Pass on almost any screen with an OS and web connection. Plastic boxes mean nothing, content does.

Yeah this is just the start and i do think MS pulling a Sega is looking very possible. Maybe buying Activision wasn't to add to Xbox but add to this 3rd party future they might have planned.

I just bought another 12 months of GPU for £83.96, that has me covered until late 2026. Makes me look mad doesn't it 😁? What with all the cheering for the death of Xbox and bitterness being shared around 😅.

@Widey85 yeah I agree, usually companies are quick to react to something like this that could be damaging to their business if untrue.

Makes me think MS are waiting on something big/important to be signed off or similar to make this story make sense going public. Who knows I don’t! Haha

@DennisReynolds

Yeah this is just the start and i do think MS pulling a Sega is looking very possible

You might be right but there is a fundamental difference between the two.
Sega was not in the same financial position Microsoft is in now.
They didn't really had a choice, Microsoft with Xbox has, add the advantages /benefits of being a platform holder and I have doubts about Xbox going the way of Dreamcast any time soon.

So is Xbox not going to respond to this mess ? They are usually pretty quick to respond to stuff like this.

You're getting warmer (and by you I mean the Xbox community at large), buying Activision wasn't about adding to Xbox, that was clear from the moment they started insisting CoD would remain multiplatform forever.

But no, the reason they bought ABK was King for Candy Crush, Activision for Call of Duty Mobile (the most played platform for Call of Duty by far), and Blizzard for things like Diablo Immortal, Hearthstone, etc. Microsoft wants to go after mobile, look up video game revenues, console and pc are a drop in the bucket compared to mobile. It's not a secret. Microsoft has been saying it out loud for years. "OUR COMPETITORS ARE NOT SONY AND NINTENDO, THEY ARE GOOGLE AND APPLE." But we, the Xbox community, hear what we want to hear. We don't get it, I don't know if we're too stupid as a collective or just in complete denial to understand what we're being told straight to our faces. Nearly zero of that $80B was to bolster the Xbox console business, which was clear very early on.

I really didn't think MS would abandon (traditional) Xbox so quickly, but I can't help but believe these rumors due to MS's total silence over the past month.

What an incredibly sad day for Xbox fans. This will be the end of (traditional) Xbox, if true. I've seen people say "it's not a big deal, everything will be a timed exclusive and that's fine." Even if that was their plan, fans will abandon Xbox in droves (look at the comment sections discussing this absolutely anywhere), leaving a tiny playerbase next generation. If you believe Microsoft is going to spend $200M on developing a title to put it day one on XBox Series X2 with an install base of 5 million people, then wait 1-2 years for the hype to die down, then release it on PS6, you're not thinking clearly.

@old-dad

So is Xbox not going to respond to this mess

Its quite humours to see how from the likes of Hi-Fi Rush, this is now ballooned into virtually all major titles Microsoft now owns. Just waiting for Satya and Spencer to join Nintendo and Sony respectively..

Over on PushSquare the staff are demanding, Microsoft puts out a statement 🤣.

@old-dad phill saw this last night and took off in his ironman suit to a hidden bunker in new zeland.

@FraserG uncle phil will talk about it next week…. probably a confirmation
https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/1754598552548904973

When it comes to Xbox games appearing on other platforms, I divide them into three tiers.

Tier 1: Games they are legally obligated to keep multiplatform or games that were already multiplatform before MS acquired them: CoD, Minecraft, etc.

Tier 2: Smaller games that I would be fine with going to other platforms if and only if Xbox was getting something of equal value in return. Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves would both likely fall into this category.

Tier 3: Games that are central to the identity and soul of Xbox that should under NO circumstances ever appear on any other console. This would include the big 3 of Halo, Gears, and Forza, as well as Fable and recent/future AAA titles like Starfield, Clockwork Revolution, Avowed, Indiana Jones, etc.

These past couple of days have been mentally exhausting as an Xbox fan. Thinking about the possibility of losing it as a dedicated console just as I was getting back into it, I've had my Series X for three years and still feel like I've just barely dipped my toes back in the water. I feel like there's so much I have yet to do and experience within the Xbox community and ecosystem. The thought of having that ripped away from me is frightening. I can't fathom the idea of going to Playstation with their inferior controller (Offset > symmetrical) and their toxic AF community.

Phil's recent tweet, well let's just say I can't help but feel there's at least some truth to all these rumors that have been going around. To what extent I don't know, but I hope and pray that I'm wrong. I want Phil to walk out and say "we're not going anywhere and we're doubling down on exclusives and GamePass."

At the end of the day, nobody really knows what the future of Xbox holds except Xbox. Whatever decision they were going to make has been made, and fretting over it won't change a damn thing.

In closing, I genuinely hope that Xbox as a dedicated platform isn't going anywhere. I'll be mad as hell and disappointed if they start porting stuff like Starfield and Indiana Jones to PS5. But hey, at the end of a day, I'm a huge Halo and Gears whore. As long as those remain exclusive to Xbox, I myself won't be going anywhere.

With all of that being said and out there, maybe now I'll be able to relax and simply enjoy myself and have fun gaming, whatever the news is that drops next week.

@old-dad Phil just “talked” about it a few mins ago

PlayStation: Has excellent exclusive games that can only be played on that specific system.

Xbox: Doesn’t.

The only reason I bought a PS5 was for exclusives. After owning a PS5 for some time now I have grown a liking to how Sony do things after being with Xbox since Midtown Madness 3 and Brute Force. I’m glad I didn’t invest too heavily into the digital Xbox ecosystem. I will probably just continue investing in PC (Steam) and PS5 in the future if Microsoft goes down this path.

Phil Spencer: Xbox to Share Details Next Week on the Future Vison of Xbox

@GamingSince84 Well Sony and Nintendo certainly did not get the memo on plastic boxes. Sony pays millions every year to block third party games from plastic Xboxes (look at their 2024 lineup alone). That is a low market share move committed by the market leader. When they don't have 1st party titles, they continue to heavily leverage 3rd party.

When Nintendo jerked Sony around, they created their own plastic box. Exclusives of any origin tip the hand of the consumer. Sony learned that from Nintendo. A console is a trojan horse that the platform holder controls. An installed base can be wielded as a weapon.

Destroying relationships with loyal customers in the hopes of selling a few extra copies on the competition's platform is a fool's journey. They will lose further ground and risk becoming reviled by alienating their fanbase. Why did they make an Xbox in the first place? Satya said, "let us compete." If the rumors are true, he sure has a funny way of going about it.

Game Pass certainly is not everywhere, and consoles are a long way from being irrelevant. Look at how much of the U.S. is still without Gigabit broadband.

If they do it its the end of xbox... Noone will buy a series and there wont be a next xbox for sure. Personally i wont buy a single game for xbox if that happens... What is the point of building a library and not be able to play my games on the next consoles? I ll go full pc gaming and buy everything from steam. I am also sure Microsoft will regret that move. They will loose way more from platform's sales than what they will earn by selling their games on ps. Lets hope they do listed and hear us as Phil Spencer said...

@OldGamer999 Are they really going to send Phil out into the line of fire on this one? LOL.

We will learn to what degree the rumors are true. At this point, just Sea of Thieves or Hi-Fi Rush would be a relief.

@OrfeasDourvas A company does not keep people on the payroll that it does not have work for. Plain and simple. That would be a bad business move.

Many tech companies staffed up to excess going into the pandemic lockdowns. They don't need as many people anymore. Could be too much money was burned. Regardless, those people had employment that they otherwise would have found, for years. Somehow that is overlooked in all this.

@Cikajovazmaj It's not happening lol

In my opinion, It's not complicated at all. Yes, if more Xbox games land on PlayStation, Ms earns more money. This's, business-side, a good thing. But the tremendous backlash of the last days is way more important, and Microsoft should bear it in mind. The players are what keeps alive a platform. It's not about a plastic box, even less about dull console wars. A lot of people want more Xbox exclusives, not less. And more exclusives for all the platforms makes for more competition, and more quality. I hope Xbox makes the right choice: no Xbox exclusives should go multiplatform. No one

I personally think all three big players should intermingle games. The games should be a timed exclusive to their respective systems for even a year, and then come out on the other systems if possible.

@Balrog_88
We don't know until next week, but maybe Microsoft has scored a deal with Sony that if we give them Starfield they will give us Spiderman Remastered?

Because a few games on Sony go to PC Microsoft is now going to put a nail in the coffin of Microsoft consoles for me. Lets just get this straight. Sony games aren't coming to Microsoft consoles. This is likely to lose me consumer indefinitely. Microsoft is bending over backwards to the company trying to bury them. After their push against Microsoft obtaining Activision/Blizzard, why would Microsoft ever trust Sony? I'm losing trust in Microsoft's approach to gaming.

If this happens my next console will be a PS. It is that simple. No drama.

@IronMan30 Their behavior is erratic and self-destructive. Nothing should be ported. After the way the rumors got out of control, anything being ported will worsen the bleeding of confidence in the platform. Damage has been done and it can get worse.

I they were going to port a few games, better that they got them out the door in surprise betrayal. Then they could get a backlash, apologize or whatever, and backtrack. The negativity has become insidious at this point and they're like, "Hmmm...Let's give it another week to fester." LOL