Xbox and exclusives are a complicated story. While the Xbox and Xbox 360 marked the brand's history with massive investments in exclusive games, the Xbox One and Xbox Series eras shook up Microsoft's strategy. According to an insider, Xbox simply won't have any real exclusivity in the future.
This would be the end of Xbox exclusives
Jez Corden is an insider who certainly has sources very close to Microsoft, even within the company itself. He has already proven several times that he has reliable and precise information on Xbox projects, but has also been wrong a few times in his predictions. Anyway, it's good to drop a little bombshell by announcing that no more games will be Xbox exclusive in the future.
In response to a comment asking why Xbox made Hellblade 2, Avowed and South of Midnight exclusive while at the same time Indiana Jones, Doom and The Outer Worlds 2 will be released on PS5, Jez Corden simply replied that these games would all end up by release on PlayStation.
If this is the case, the question everyone is asking is why Xbox is not communicating clearly about this change of direction? The insider responded.
This is because they don't want to impose it on teams who are not yet prepared for simultaneous development on multiple platforms.
But gone are the days when Xbox had permanent exclusives.
“Xbox will no longer have exclusives in the future. Everything is a limited time exclusivity, at most”. According to Jez Corden, no more Xbox games will remain exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem and all games will eventually be released on PlayStation and/or Nintendo. According to him, even a game like Fable will be released on Playstation. An announcement which is already making a lot of noise, but which should be tempered.
Xbox lacks clarity and some mixed messages don't help
Jez Corden is coming forward a lot, but it must be remembered that the Insider has already been wrong in the past. On December 16, 2023, he declared that “no, Xbox does not port its exclusive console games to PlayStation. It's just pure fanboy opium.”. However, just two months later, Xbox announced the arrival of several of its exclusive games for PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.
The other problem is the contradictory statements from Xbox in recent years, which generate at best incomprehension, at worst doubt on any statement the company makes.
The latest example is none other than The Outer Worlds 2 since during the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase in June 2021, Xbox had indeed announced its game as being an “Xbox console exclusive”. We verified it by watching the conference again, the new Obsidian title was indeed introduced with the terms “Xbox console exclusive”.
However, in the latest trailer for the game released during the Game Awards, Xbox changed its mind and announced the release of the game on PS5 at the same time as on Xbox consoles.
This kind of turnaround certainly does not help Xbox gain the trust of players who have followed the brand since its beginnings. The brand would benefit from clarifying very precisely its plans for the future regarding exclusives, but nevertheless continues to maintain vagueness with a “case by case” discourse which seems less and less verified on the ground. We hope to have answers to these questions in the coming months.
In November 2024, Xbox refused to put red lines regarding the release of its games on Sony consoles and we learned that even the next Halo could be released on PlayStation. One thing is certain, times are changing, and at a speed never seen before for Xbox.
