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We've heard an awful lot about exclusivity over the past couple of months since Xbox announced that both Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution would be getting the exclusivity treatment, but we're also still quite in the dark about what the plans are going forward — aside from that we definitely will be getting more of them in the future.
Various Xbox leaders have suggested that single-player games are the most likely titles to go exclusive in the future, whereas big multiplayer games will remain multiplatform. They've also stated that games with existing deals, such as Halo: Campaign Evolved and Fable, will remain multiplatform as well.
A newly-published interview with GamesRadar doesn't really shed much more light on any of this, aside from a comment from Xbox CCO Matt Booty (following up on another one from CSO Matthew Ball) who advises that fans shouldn't "overly fixate" on all single-player games becoming exclusives:
Ball says that "large live-service titles" will be multiplatform moving forward, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all of Xbox's single-player games will be console exclusive either. Booty adds: "I wouldn't overly fixate on single-player. I think that's a good rule of thumb, but it certainly isn't something that's carved in stone."
Elsewhere in the interview, Booty talks about how Xbox has to "hit the right balance" when it comes to making titles exclusive, highlighting that certain titles have been in the works for a very long time and the balance is "between the work that the teams have invested and a strategy pivot". His comments seem to be addressing the previously-announced multiplatform titles in particular here, alluding to the dangers of now pulling them away.
Interestingly, the Studio Head at Spyro: A Realm Beyond developer Toys for Bob is quoted in the article, stating that his team are "absolutely planning on shipping this to the platforms we announced" including the PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2, but that it's "out of my hands" if Xbox decides to make a strategic shift. There are various comments from other studios in here as well, such as Playground Games founder Ralph Fulton reconfirming a PS5 release and highlighting its ability to reach "as many fans who want to play it as possible".
We're still not fully in the picture about what to expect from exclusivity going forward, then, but Xbox apparently wants to make it clearer for us going forward. Matthew Ball has talked about this before in previous interviews, and mentions in this one that the company is "committed" to providing more clarity for players:
Ball adds: "We have a framework for these selections, including how we evaluate them. I recognize that this approach is not obvious to all of our players, and we are committed to making this clearer."
Let's wait and see what happens! In any case, we're definitely getting more exclusive games on Xbox consoles in the years to come, and we reckon next year could bring a lot more than just two announced titles.
What will those titles be though? That's the big question that we're very eager to get the answers to, and perhaps we might even learn more before the end of the year. We'll be keeping a close eye out...