Summary
FutureXboxexclusives are likely to become exceptions rather than the norm, a well-known industry insider has said. This claim was offered as part of a wider explanation about how Microsoft supposedly plans to decide on which games to keep exclusive toXboxmoving forward.
Microsoft officially started its multi-platform publishing foray in February 2024, when it announced thatfour Xbox games would be ported to rival platforms. That quartet subsequently materialized in the form ofPentiment,Hi-Fi Rush,Grounded, andSea of Thieves. Even before this multi-platform pivot, Microsoft insisted it plans to make future platform exclusivity decisions on a case-by-case basis, having repeatedly said as much to regulators back when it was trying to push the Activision Blizzard acquisition over the finish line.
Industry insider Jez Corden has now shared some more information about what this “case-by-case basis” approach might actually entail. During the December 20 episode ofThe Xbox Two Podcast, the long-time leaker said that “exclusives are going to be an exception” for Xbox moving forward, citing sources familiar with the matter. “The case to keep a game exclusive is going to be a catalog of incidentals,” Corden explained. Elaborating on that notion, he said those incidentals would include scenarios in which anXbox developerdidn’t have time or other resources for a multi-platform port, like lacking a support studio.
The Era of Permanent Xbox Console Exclusives May Be Coming to an End
Moving forward, there will no longer be any cases in which a game remains exclusive to Microsoft’s consoles simply because the company wanted to keep it just for Xbox fans, Corden said. This claim ties into another one of his recent reports that saw the long-time leaker claim theera of permanent Xbox console exclusives could be coming to an end.
The case to keep a[n Xbox] game exclusive is going to be a catalog of incidentals.
Exactly how quickly Microsoft will be porting its future first-party games to rival platforms is currently unclear.Black Ops 6was a day-one release on PlayStation consoles in late October 2024, but the first-person shooter was a special case, with its timely port stemming from theten-yearCall of Dutydeal Microsoft signed with PlayStationin 2023.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circlemight be a more relevant indicator of how Microsoft plans to handle its first-party titles moving forward; MachineGames' critically acclaimed action adventure debuted on the Xbox Series X/S and PC in early December 2024, but even before that happened, it was confirmed to be coming to the PS5 in spring 2025. The next batch of Xbox games that will go multi-platform might be announced in January 2025, when Microsoft is rumored to be hosting its next Xbox Developer Direct.
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