Following years where Xbox's strategy left many of its fans disappointed, the new direction taken by the new head Asha Sharma seeks to re-establish a positive relationship with its now disgruntled audiences. After sunsetting the "Everything is an Xbox" strategy, the company has launched an Xbox Player Voice initiative, a sort of digital box where fan feedback is gathered and made more visible. And the fans' response leaves little doubt about what the community wants more than anything else: the return of exclusives.
“Xbox was built off of great game exclusives, you cannot sell any consoles without a reason to buy the console compared to your competition or even sending your tentpole games over to your competitor. BRING THEM BACK PLEASE,” writes user Carlos Hernandez in a post on the new service. At the time of writing, this post is the one with the most votes (6,570), well above the second and third most popular posts about backward compatibility (4,922) and free online multiplayer (4,641), which is surprising, considering the latter, especially, remains a sore point of console gaming as a whole, with rising prices of subscription services such as PlayStation Plus required for multiplayer games.
Most comments from the Xbox community agree with the main post, highlighting that exclusivity remains the primary reason to purchase a gaming system. “Xbox is nothing without its exclusives; there is no way around it, AND it's also a total disrespect for all the fans that supported the brand for more than 2 decades,” wrote user Aurélein Tessier. “Exclusives – whether we like it or not, they're ESSENTIAL for a healthy business.”
Others don't ask for exclusivity of all Xbox games, but only for tentpole franchises like Gears of War, Forza, Halo, and Fable. “Any tent pole I.P's such as Gears, Halo, Forza and Fable should be Xbox and PC only and if they timed for other games it should be a minimum of 12 months. All new I.p's going forward that are not considered multiplayer ie; COD, should also be made exclusive. As we have seen, putting major I.p's on another console has diluted the brand image of Xbox and harmed sales,” wrote Troy Batchelor.
Interestingly enough, not every Xbox fan agrees with these sentiments, although they are in the minority. “Exclusivity is selfish. Gaming itself wasn't meant to be played alone. It's meant to be fun, inclusive, and a shared experience. Nobody can relate to players who gush over an exclusive game because they're not playing it. Studios need better return on investment than any single platform can provide,” wrote Matthew Thomas. “I want more game ports on Switch 2 with cross-progression, 2026 exclusive games are useless,” said Zell Zetta.
Although the past few years seemed to indicate that the era of console exclusives was close to the end, it definitely seems like Xbox fans could get their wish after all. According to rumors, the new company leadership is considering returning to console exclusives, mostly because of the growing perception that consumers are consistently steered away from Xbox hardware, as all of its games are also on PlayStation. With the community making its opinion on the matter rather clear, it wouldn't be surprising to see future releases for tentpole franchises like Halo remain on systems like the next-gen Xbox Project Helix, despite the success they could have had with a multiplatform release, as seen with Forza Horizon 5.
If Xbox may still be debating its return to console exclusives, PlayStation seems to have already decided. According to a new report, single-player games will no longer launch on PC and will thus remain PlayStation exclusives going forward.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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