More of Microsoft’s future first-party titles may become Xbox exclusives, according to a new report. The company is said to be interested in giving customers a reason to choose Xbox consoles over other brands.
In a new wide-ranging Bloomberg report, which touches on the recent failures of Xbox and where it went wrong with its strategy, it was revealed that Microsoft is moving further away from making games available on as many platforms as possible. That, according to the report, will not affect “big multiplayer games”, as those will continue to be available on all major platforms, including PlayStation.
When new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma took over, the executive offered a goodwill gesture towards longtime fans of the brand by promising ‘a return to Xbox’. In Xbox’s June Showcase, the company revealed that two upcoming first-party titles: Gears of War: E-Day, and Clockwork Revolution are going to be Xbox console-exclusives.
The new report indicates that we can expect “more of [Xbox]’s best titles” to follow suit in the future, “so gamers have a reason to buy its console”. It’s not clear, of course, what Microsoft considers its ‘best titles’, though one can imagine any tentpole single-player release to be in consideration. The Elder Scrolls 6, which does not yet have a release target, let alone a date, could be one such game.
Looking at Xbox’s upcoming slate from its first-party studios, there isn’t anything on the immediate horizon that fits that description, that hasn’t already been announced. The company, of course, just announced it’s laying off 3200 employees. The cuts affect almost every studio it owns, including smaller teams like Obsidian, and larger ones like those under ZeniMax, so one has to wonder who will be left to work on the next console-selling title.
Microsoft is also parting ways with four of its studios, all of which have produced beloved and award-winning titles, further diminishing its capacity to create the types of games that could convince someone to buy an Xbox console.
The one thing that’s always worth noting when it comes to Microsoft’s shifting strategy on Xbox exclusives is that, unlike rival PlayStation, all Xbox games are available on PC. Unless Microsoft decides to keep games away from PC, too, they may never truly attain that mythical ‘exclusive’ status of generations past.
