There have been rumbles for a while that Xbox might be considering a change to its plans around exclusivity following the arrival of new boss Asha Sharma, and now it's been officially confirmed that this will be "reevaluated".
In the massive statement that was shared by Xbox leadership earlier today, it was mentioned that "exclusivity, windowing and AI" are three areas that are being targeted for reevaluation, but no decisions have been made as of yet.
Here's what Asha Sharma and Xbox EVP Matt Booty had to say about this:
"Along the way, we will reevaluate our approach to exclusivity, windowing, and AI, and share more as we learn and decide."
Now, in terms of the "windowing" reference, we assume that has to do with releasing games at different times on different platforms — such as how Forza Horizon 5 was an exclusive for years before finally arriving on PS5 last year.
At the moment, Xbox doesn't seem to have a clear vision for it handles exclusives, with some games launching day-and-date on other systems, while others arrive on Xbox first and slowly trickle out to the likes of PS5 and Switch around a year later (such as South of Midnight). The idea of "reevaluating" exclusivity doesn't necessarily mean that all Xbox games will no longer launch on rival platforms, but it might mean that Sharma and Booty see fit to implement a new scheduling plan for these Xbox first-party titles.
In any case, we'll keep an eye on this over the coming weeks and months, and we'll be sure to let you know as soon as we hear anything more from Xbox leadership. In the meantime, we'll throw our poll from last weekend down below!
What do you think Sharma and Booty will do about exclusives? Let us know in the comments section.
Comments 26
Keep gears and halo exclusive cancel the games due to release on playstation if they are going that route id say!
Except Forza horizon share that about
So I've seen this over on Push Square, and as expected, the entitled "I expect to play with your toys, but you can't play with mine" crowd are out in full force....Me personally can only applaud Sharma if she follows this through 🙂
@IronCrow86 Funny how the same people celebrating Xbox games coming to PlayStation are now all like "meh, I never cared about Xbox games anyways" (which obviously isn't true, considering they were touting how much money Microsoft has been making on PlayStation as proof they can never go back to exclusives). They're doing the same exact thing they just criticized PC gamers for doing when Sony decided to walk back on PC releases.
Granted, the Xbox userbase has also had its fair share of hypocritical sentiments, but this is something that pretty much every platform fanbase does
@IronCrow86 yup. should see how they championed PS supposedly "pulling away" from PC (which we haven't even heard anything official yet) but have the opposite mouth-breathing with this news.
Personally, I don't know how much will change (especially for titles this year since I'm sure that's set in stone) but the future who knows. Doesn't bother me either way since I almost exclusively play on XBOX so i get the games either way.
The discourse it definitely amusing, none-the-less.
@Questionable_Duck I fully expect the xbox diehards who were all "im done with the brand" and complaining about the games before suddenly start to flock back like nothing had happened.
Fully expect it.
@J_Mo_Money True 😂
Same could be said for the Xbox guys who were all in with the multiplatform strategy. I think a decent amount of them will go back to bragging about exclusives now.
Keep some exclusives and some others maybe timed exclusive.
Also just to mention if I was purely in the PS camp with Sony I would like Xbox to be super strong again.
Sony have made many mistakes this generation and keep putting prices up. One thing will make Sony think more is healthy competition.
@J_Mo_Money
Well I hope they come flocking back to help Xbox become great again and sell more, we sort of do need them back really 😂
Wild how it took an entire generation for Sony and Microsoft to both realize "Maybe exclusives are a good thing after all"
Meanwhile Nintendo was content to never even chance it.
First party games exclusive to Xbox platforms should be an option on that poll. Make them exclusive to Xbox hardware and Storefronts. This would mean Nintendo and Playstation would be off limits.
I personally voted "I don't care". If I want to play a game I will get it on PC where they will keep on coming. But they most probably move to a "game by game" basis and release games like Doom, Call of Duty, legacy games everywhere and games like whatever the next Halo/Forza is only on PC/Xbox.
This is awesome news. Xbox is coming back as a possible competitor again. To this day I still think the 360 video game wise is the best console of all time. I hope they can get back to that pedigree.
Exclusive titles are what sell systems. It’s been like that from the beginning. They can still share some first-party games, but more than half of them should remain Xbox and PC exclusives. And for whatever’s sake, do advertising because if you release a system seller and nobody hears about it, there’s no point.
It's difficult to know what Xbox can do in the situation they find themselves in. In an ideal world, everything would be permanently exclusive, and this would mean that if you want to play the games, you need to be within the ecosystem.
The problem with that solution is threefold, firstly, even if games became exclusive to Xbox, that would still mean they were releasing on PC, so they're not truly exclusive anyway, meaning you do not have to own an Xbox in order to play said exclusive. And secondly, and this is the biggest problem of the lot, games are very, very expensive to make, and if first-party games continue to release on Game Pass day and date, then Xbox simply will not make enough money back on each game, which in turn would mean studio closures and job loses. Thirdly, even if Microsoft were willing to stick with the loses made on each game with the mindset that people will be drawn into the ecosystem, it will take time. A lot of time! We are talking a decade or more of loses on games in the hope of attracting enough people into the ecosystem to make the making of games profitable for Xbox, and Microsoft simply will not accept loses over an extended period of time.
Which then takes us back a notch to timed-exclusives. In theory it sounds great, but the problem with that is that gamers can be patient, and if they know a particular game will release on PlayStation in two years, they will wait. Wait in the knowledge that the game will release in a far better state on their platform than it originally did on Xbox. You only have to look at games like Forza Horizon 5, Sea of Thieves or Starfield, which have sold extremely well on PlayStation years after their initial release to see that gamers would rather wait for a game to arrive on their chosen console rather than buy an Xbox in order to play the game earlier.
Ultimately, I think the upshot it that Microsoft will dabble with some timed-exclusivity, but quickly give up on the notion, and return to simply selling everything everywhere day one because that tangibly can be seen to bring in more revenue...
Whatever decision they come to will be based on their fiduciary responsibilities first and foremost.
It's a really difficult thing to get right though, between game pass and a smaller install base it is a less obvious choice than it is for ps and Nintendo.
Some games would probably sell much better day and date (Starfield) whilst others have good sales even years after original release (Forza 5). Trying to predict what kind of exclusivity would benefit each game the most is nigh on impossible.
Personally I would keep all the original Xbox IPs as exclusive and restart a lot of the dormant ones since they have plenty they can use from the 360 era alone and any IPs they purchased from the Bethesda and Activision Blizzard deals keep them multi platform as that is where their strengths lie in being multi platform games because they usually sold similar amounts on both Playstation and Xbox.
@AI-Generation personally i just want the game output to continue what it is and im happy. exclusive or not, day one or timed, I just want the games and that what matters to me.
Hell, id like more time in the day to play them though. That's for sure!
Good. I hope they do. We need competition to make both Sony and Xbox better for us. Its that simple.
I dont know what else there is to learn about exclusivity. They already saw how exclusive games did not move xbox ones or series x/s consoles.
It will come down to fewer and safer games with the exclusivity windows or full multiplat with more willingness to accept risk leading to more games overall. I will champion the full multiplat route until I'm blue in the face.
@Fiendish-Beaver Starfield sold bad on PS5 and is in worse shape than on an xbox back then (albeit it now supports 60fps).
I think the real problem with exclusivity on xbox next gen is you cant gatekeep games under rumored $1200 Helix tag. To make it work either Helix S for $700-800 needs to come as well or series X to be officially considered part of “next gen” lineup and parity support. Or even release a beefier series X PRO at the same 700-800 price point.
As we dont hear any rumours about any hardware aside from Helix, I think we will just have short timed exclusivity like 3-6 months which doesnt matter in the grand scheme of things
@Millionski
It’s depends to some point on cross generation games next generation. Some say if we think we had a lot of cross generation this generation, next generation cross generation games may last nearly all the next generation.
That means helix should be able to play cross generation series x version or the new PC version.
I know it gets all if and buts, but that will happen, probably for a least the first 3 years of next generation.
Xbox is back baby, In Asha we trust..
@Questionable_Duck aye the same people who celebrated Playstation PC ports being halted. I wonder if that rumour is part of the reason Xbox is looking at exclusivity. As well as the small amount of titles really exploding on Playstation also.
This is all a marketing ploy to drum up excitement before Project Helix releases. Nothing more, nothing less. The people that hang on these executives words are sad. I dont before anything MS or Sony says. When they do speak its just to get you to buy something. If Project Helix doesnt sell well they will go right back to how that were...I promise you.
Plus on top of that GP kills any notion of this happening. Games will just never sell enough if they're exclusive.
I’m ok with Xbox going back to the exclusive route, but they need good exclusives to make it a valid path. Right now, I can’t say I’m a fan of how Xbox or PlayStation have played the current generation, so I’m curious to see how Xbox’s trajectory plays out on the path to the next generation.
Going multiplatform with all their stuff and jacking up game pass was a death knell for Xbox. Zero reason to own one at that point. Go back to having their top shelf stuff, at minimum, exclusive to move units and lower the price of game pass (they did) and they might be back in it for the next gen.
Pushed me away to playstation, but if they make the right moves and it makes sense, I could be brought back.
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