The console wars are quickly becoming a thing of the past—if they’re not dead already. But Xbox’s President coming out and saying that Xbox exclusives, and the idea in general, are becoming antiquated, shows the direction the industry is moving towards.
Xbox’s strategies and ideologies are a shadow of what they were 20, 10, or even five years ago. Microsoft was dominating the gaming landscape in the mid-00s to late-00s, and had a myriad of exclusive franchises at its disposal: Halo, Gears of War, Forza, and others. Now, almost all of these have appeared on PlayStation at some point or another, and Sarah Bond thinks this is what people want.
“The Biggest Games In The World Are Available Everywhere”
Now, you could argue that we’ve all wanted to be able to play every game on the same console for decades, as it would save a lot of money. But business is business at the end of the day. With the gaming business, in particular, changing, Xbox President Sarah Bond’s words (via Mashable) sound as prophetic as ever:
“We’re really seeing people evolve way past that. The biggest games in the world are available everywhere. You look at Call of Duty, you look at Minecraft, you look at Fortnite, you look at Roblox. That’s actually what’s really driving community in gaming. That’s where people gather, and they have experiences. And the idea of locking it to one store or one device is antiquated for most people. You want to be able to play with your friends anywhere, regardless of what they’re on. And we’re really leaning into that with this experience.”
This is true and accurate to a certain degree. The lines between PlayStation and Xbox are as blurred as they’ve ever been. On the other hand, we can confidently predict you’ll never see Mario or Zelda anywhere near a PlayStation or Xbox console.
Still, there’s been a definite changing of the guard in recent years, and while Sony can still afford to release exclusives for PS5 users, it’s becoming more clear and obvious that Microsoft and Xbox’s goal posts are moving by the day.
Do you agree with Xbox’s President on exclusives? Is a day coming when there will be no exclusives, maybe apart from on a Nintendo device? Let us know through the Insider Gaming Discord.
If you missed it, make sure to read about Xbox’s President Confirming That Series X/S Successors Are In Development.
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