Xbox's Comments About 'Gatekeeping' Are Met With Heavy Criticism
Image: Microsoft

While Xbox being vocal on social media can often be a good thing (such as keeping us in a job by delivering all this lovely news to bring to you all), sometimes it can be a curse. With every comment made, the community is there to pick it apart and dissect what the company has said, and their latest response referring to gatekeeping in gaming is no exception.

Over the weekend, the Xbox account made a throwaway comment claiming "gaming is for everyone", which for the most part was met with positivity. However, one follow-up from a fan added that the tweet was "so real and very true", prompting Xbox to respond: "The real gaming horror is gatekeeping".

Unfortunately, this has not gone down too well with readers on the social media platform.

The most common complaint highlights the recent acquisition of Bethesda, which has effectively cut off a ton of upcoming games from other platforms. Throughout the responses, the running trend seems to be focusing on the company's history of picking up studios.

A few other comments have also referenced how Xbox charges users a Gold subscription to play certain titles online, whilst also referencing an attempt at increasing the price earlier this year. Some users see this as a form of gatekeeping.

While we can somewhat see the point to a certain extent, it does seem a bit unfair to completely hold Xbox accountable. Purchasing studios has sort of become the name of the game in the industry, with both PlayStation and Nintendo also guilty of this fact.

In an ideal world, no company would be locked behind a console and everyone could play anything, but realistically, this just isn't the world we live in. If anything, Xbox is working hard to ensure the games its studios are creating will be available in a multitude of places - console, PC and even via Xbox Cloud Gaming.

You're never going to please everyone, and as hard as it is to admit, there will always be console wars fueled between different platform owners. Xbox was called out just last month for comments on games preservation, a tweet that received a similar sort of reaction.

The Xbox team's main point that everyone should be allowed to play video games perhaps has been lost in the noise. They're working hard to cultivate a world where gatekeeping and elitism is kept to a minimum, and while they may not always get it right, you have to at least give them credit.

What do you think about Xbox's comments on gatekeeping? Let us know down below.