Xbox Is Officially 'Reevaluating' What To Do About Exclusivity

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.

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. Give the games/ip their best chance to succeed by selling them everywhere.

@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 believe 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.

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.

Asha is proving why the minority was wrong for judging her on day one. She's saying all the right things and pulling all the right moves. Next gen just got even more exciting.

Bethesda and Acti games remain multiplat. MAYBE some exclusive games from them if it's a case where these games would not have been made without Xbox funding.

Big games need to stay exclusive. Multiplayer only games should be multiplat (Kiln, Helldivers 2-- only comparing them I'm the sense they're both multiplayer focused games with no real single player.)

Stuff like Forza... I dunno
It does well in both platforms.

Halo and Gears should stay console exclusive. So should single player focused big games like Fable.

@IronCrow86 it’s meltdown central over there 😂

I have not yet been to Push Square today... I need to get some popcorn lol

I just don't trust the company anymore. They're saying this today, what will they say in 6 months?! What will they do when their next console also falls way behind in sales because people have left them for other platforms??

It's hard to take anything xbox says seriously these days. I hope they do well because competition is important but it's still very messy there.

I have no problem with XB shipping games on any of the competing platforms. What I do have a problem with is that the competing 1st parties don't ship their games on XB.

To me, this has to be part of shipping on any competing platform. The other platform holders must reciprocate with their 1st party games.

Kind of makes you wonder what made them go multiplat, in the first place. Was it shareholders or Phil not being able to convince Satya to stay exclusive?

And you know what? I hope they go back to exclusivity!

I don't really care for locked exclusivity on a digital store basis. When Microsoft take the non fisical media path, they force the series owners to pay full, or Game Pass... at least here in Brazil they do the Nintendo aproach with digital games, very little price cuts after years, when the disc used to go down a cliff three months later. Really, I already miss my box for FH6.

@Fiendish-Beaver I think (or rather say hope) they are finally realizing “boys and girls” (aka fans) are the pillar of the xbox brand. They could not lure new audience over years, moreover they lost a lot of existing audience. So now they have to win fans back.

Seeing how quickly they started to pull off these new changes like GP price drop and achievements revamp shows that now MS are listening.

Basically as we were saying for years - develop your PC/cloud thing but also keep pushing the console properly.

Out of a dozen ports only several were successful and couple of those were LS. AA games like south of midnight can be exclusive permanently but would be nice to see some big games like fable also exclusive but I doubt that.

I also dont agree with “too late” or “cant put ginnie back into the bottle” logic: by the snap of the fingers they removed major “this is xbox” campaign wiping out 2 years of marketing towards that. They can do anything drastic now.

@Questionable_Duck I love your takes. It’s so spot on. I admire your ability to do it in a way you don’t get attacked like I do on Push Square. Both fan bases have some serious moments of stepping in it and then acting like it smells like flowers. Gaming is gaming and platform loyalty isn’t a bad thing until it attacks other gamers and makes the whole industry toxic. I love reading what you have to say and I just wanted to share that.

I'm probably in a super minority regarding this. because I'm not a fan of exclusivity. I mean surely, a corporation the size of Microsoft should and can come up with a better solution for desirable, attractive hardware without resorting to the old anti-consumer bulls##t of; hey, our toy is special because we lock things to it so others can't enjoy..

@Sol4ris Yeah I'm kinda in that boat aswell it's coming across as good news and even feels like good news but in reality the Xbox gamer isn't actually gaining anything from exclusivity returning!

I say timed exclusives and try and build the playerbase by making Xbox the best place to play Xbox games (also third party games by making awesome hardware) and if they can rebuild the playerbase to be big enough to support exclusivity for Halo, Gears, Fable etc then do it.

Dont expect MS shareholders want to loose money on exclusive Xbox games so dont think going back right now makes sense.

@HonestHick Thank you, I really appreciate the kind words! I like reading your comments on Push Square and Pure Xbox too btw

@Questionable_Duck @HonestHick you both tell it how it is.

@Sol4ris I enjoyed being able to pick & choose where I want to play as I've got kids. So having on all formats was a blessing. It's what I'll miss if Xbox goes back to exclusivity.

I'd be a bit aggressive on this.
All Xbox core IP to be 100% exclusive - to me that would be Halo, Gears, Forza (Motorsport & Horizon), Fable. Anything else created by the Xbox team where the devs want to multiplatform - 18 month window. Sequels to these remain 100% exclusive to Xbox.
Bethesda & ActiBliz - 12mth exclusive window then multiplatform. Call of Duty is exempt from this.

I've been thinking about this and I have reached a final conclusion. We know that Xbox means Xbox and PC, with a common store and game builds on Helix and Xbox games available on Helix and probably PC, including backwards compatible games. That alone makes the Xbox ecosystem huge, even more if you add streaming.

It doesn't look like Xbox needs PS sales as much, let alone Nintendo, whose platforms are known for selling principally first-party games and are technically challenging since Wii. At least, timed exclusivity should be established at Xbox. The difference between "Forza Horizon is an Xbox game than is coming to PS one year later" and "Forza Horizon 6 launching on PS5 on 19th May", the latter a typical Push Square headline omitting other platforms, is huge. The marketing difference is astronomical. The implications are impossible to ignore in the millions of Google and Bing searches. The Xbox identity is kept as part of the DNA of Xbox games, instead of becoming something ambiguous and omissible. It's not the best outcome for PS and Nintendo gamers, but considering that Nintendo's games are not available elsewhere (outside emulation) and that only a few Sony games have been published for Xbox so far, it makes total sense.

I'm not a fan of the Oprah Approach with, EVERYBODY gets Xbox games!

But until Microsoft starts releasing games again, that are just incredible must have games, that sell systems - - the Oprah Approach is unfortunately needed.

Personally I'm hardware agnostic enough to kind of just want everything available to everyone. So to my mind, the "right thing to do" is to publish everywhere and make your hardware, OS and features overall a better prospect than what the competitor offers.

But the annoying thing about doing the "right thing", is that if you're the only one doing it, a lot of people will just view you as a sucker. Ultimately this all comes down to what Microsoft wants to be going forward. If hardware is a focus, then they need to build their brand, provide games that people want to play, and make sure they all know that to play them, they need an Xbox.

The question is how relevant is Halo, Gears, Forza, or Fable, to a whole new generation of gamers, or people who doesn't have a long history of purchases, playing time, and friends in other platforms.

Top selling Xbox games in PlayStation store are the most clear example that Phil was right: none game, no matter how good it is, will move people to Xbox.

So, if Asha wants exclusives again, that have to be accompanied by a more huge and integral plan.

As of right now, this is the best strategy for Xbox. Whether or not it will work is a different story altogether. To get people drawn back in to your ecosystem you have to have games—exclusives—that make it appealing. If their games stay multi-platform the idea of owning an Xbox is shallow since you can get their IP on, say, PlayStation, and get their exclusives as well.

I think Asha is doing great things in her first month at this job. She’s certainly been more impactful than Phil has been (in my opinion). That could be because of upper management, but still. It’s clear that these changes in the last month has got people talking positively about Xbox. To me, that’s an important first step. Hopefully, it’s sustainable.

So this latest update means they're going to decide on exclusivity on a game by game basis?

They need to reign in some of their studios and give "some" direction. Both Sony and Nintendo have some solid IP because they make things people want. Xbox needs to get its teams to do the same. Fable is a shining example, SoD 3 too, as is FH, but...

They need more. They need the equivalent of that "Last of Us" "Ghost of" break-through. They need to completely reboot Halo if you ask me and start from scratch. Wouldn't hurt for them to make their own community-driven game, such as Rune Factory / Animal Crossing. Their own Stardew Valley-like game set in the world of Minecraft. Their own kart racer game using their IPs. Some new survival horrors etc... Things to make the world turn their heads.

Not to mention grabbing a JRPG studio to bring back Blue Dragon or Lost Odyssey - or a new JRPG IP.

@cragis0001 HAHA well thanks. I try too anyhow. I am really excited for what looks to be a huge come back to the Xbox console. This was needed.

@HonestHick you do as have had many descent conversations with yourself. As for Xbox. It's good to see excitement again. Can't wait to see what the summer showcase brings.

PushSquare is really taking the news well with their new article regarding this. Holy crap, dude.

A bit late with already putting your 3 biggest IPs on PlayStation, no? I guess Timed-Exclusivity is still an option, but it's not quite the same.

@NeoRatt I completely agree with this. In an ideal world we wouldn't have all first-party games exclusive as someone said. I think instead in an ideal world (for consumers anyway) you wouldn't need to buy different boxes to play different games, and the consoles would be battling it out over features, competitive pricing, etc

@IronMan30
I think there were a few factors...

1) To get regulatory approval for the AKB deal they needed to make sure CoD would be available to other platforms. And they have done this for 10 years.

2) The publishers (specifically) AKB and Bethseda were financially valued based on their sales on all platforms, so from a ROI perspective to keep revenues up they would have to ship those games multi-platform. When you buy a single studio for a few $100 mln, it isn't as big a deal, but when you buy publishers for billions and tens of billions that is a big deal. Then, the additional leap from there was why don't we do this with all our games?

3) Games are expensive to make and the costs keep rising. So, multi-platform allows them to get more revenue for each game, making the games more profitable.

4) They probably saw total XB sales weren't doing as good as they would like, so instead of doubling down on exclusivity they decided multi-platform was a safer and better strategy.

If we as gamers want a truly competitive industry then Xbox needs it's exclusives again. With their umbrella of studios they could really seize a decent market share to compete with Sony and Nintendo once more. There have been exclusives since the beginning of gaming so to stop putting certain games on PlayStation or even PC wouldn't be particularly shocking regardless of studio acquisition. I personally would like to see their games remain on PC as buying/upgrading all three systems every generation is an incredibly expensive hobby. As some have said, they could let games like COD remain multi platform. I think this is the only way Xbox competes in a hardware sense.

@J_Mo_Money I think they tend to get more engagement on Xbox news than PS news. It's a self fulfilling prophecy!

I’m ok with some stuff multi plat but they need to keep something. Ps have uncharted, last of us, Spider-Man to name 3. We need something in the bank. Until ps open up to multi why should Xbox.

Pushsquare: "Playstation Is Flip-Flopping on PC Again, and It's Truly Getting Tiring"

@Ryu_117 I just left a comment over there about the tone of their articles. How salty can they sound?! 😂 In all seriousness, that level of sarcasm actually comes across as quite unprofessional, and you never see it on Pure Xbox or Nintendo Life.

Brimful of Asha

They can go exclusive but I’m assuming they originally flipped because game sales / Game Pass growth weren’t where they wanted them to be - so what changes if they flipped back?

@NeoRatt well other than ABK, I meant. That was a little obvious to let it go through everywhere they had to appease Governments (which in that case I'm fine with). But their earlier acquisitions should have come with exclusivity when practicable.

Xbox needs core console exclusives because they give the platform its identity. Games like Halo and Gears E‑Day should stay ONLY on Xbox.. they’re the reason to buy the hardware and the heart of the brand identity.

At the same time, Xbox needs premium timed exclusives for huge Bethesda (as well as other) titles like Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout. Giving Xbox 12–18 months of exclusivity drives console sales during the hype window, then Microsoft can still release them later on other platforms for extra revenue.

I believe this is the ONLY strategic path that makes sense going forward 🎮✌️