COMMENTARY - Xbox Should Be Clearer About Software Exclusivity
Give us the scoop, seeeee?
By Jay Tee
12/01/21
With the ink still drying on their Bethesda buyout, the House of Phil continues to bolster its now gargantuan first party studio slate with surprising acquisitions, newly established development endeavours like The Initiative, and enough games to make Game Pass a defacto smorgasbord of enticing content.
However, the murkiness of chosen release platforms for certain upcoming titles continues to be a tad perplexing, with non committal comments on Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI, coupled with the Indiana Jones reveal, leaving many folks wondering where exactly these adventures are ultimately going to pop up.
It’s important to acknowledge the need for Microsoft produced stuff to reach as wide an audience as possible (which therefore points to widespread ports across “competing” hardware), but also conversely the PR fuel that platform exclusives can so often generate must not be ignored. You only have to take a look at the stellar year that PlayStation has had with The Last of Us: Part 2, Ghost of Tsushima, and Demon Souls to see that exclusives can make bank and shift boxes.
That being said, even though Xbox’s market share of platform hardware continues to put them in third place, their diversifying strategy through synergistic Series X/S and PC releases, coupled with the ever increasing value of Game Pass, does somewhat undercut the need for them to go all in on locking titles down. However, you’d think with all the money hats they’ve been dropping, and the innate excitement generated whenever the next slate of Game Pass games is revealed, it’s more likely that titles like Starfield simply won’t be heading to PlayStation (at least not for a while).
For me, that is the likely outcome; that anything produced by Xbox first party studios will be released on Xbox, PC, and Game Pass, even if it ends up being some kind of extended time exclusivity (like Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo). The conversation around this issue has always felt quite skewed though, with PlayStation exclusives rarely (if ever) being questioned over their eventual platform of choice.
At this juncture, there’s a lot of unknowns still in the wild. But one things for sure: Microsoft has thrown down the gauntlet by reframing the narrative that their first party is lacking by making consumer friendly moves to directly address that valid criticism. 2020 saw them pump out a much broader mix of genres alongside ongoing updates for existing stuff like Sea of Thieves and Gears 5. Plus, who can forget that “First Party is Day 1 on Game Pass” megaton?!
It’s a strategy that will serve them well, even if it’s one likely born out of competitive necessity. Outside of some wonky cross gen messaging, their approach up to this point has been refreshingly honest, at least for most aspects of their recent decision making. But as we settle into this current gen of consoles, the dream would be for Xbox to extend their forthright persona to the intricacies of their own release calendar. If nothing else, players within their ecosystem will then have a better idea of what to expect.
Mental.