PS5 Exclusives Xbox Series X Exclusives Sony Microsoft

It's been clear for a while that Microsoft is adopting a different approach when it comes to Xbox. From the rise of Game Pass to the unveiling of the Xbox Series X late last year, the company is keen on forging a fresh path, but this latest story from MCV has got people questioning Microsoft's next-gen strategy.

Obviously the Xbox Series X (and whatever else Microsoft has up its sleeve) is going to be in direct competition with the PlayStation 5 when both systems ship in late 2020. But as we all know, it's software that drives hardware sales past that initial burst of hardcore fan enthusiasm -- and it's sounding like PlayStation could once again have the upper hand in that department.

According to Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty, all of Microsoft's first-party titles will be cross-gen in the first year of the Xbox Series X. In other words, all of Xbox's exclusive games will be available on both Xbox One and the next-gen machine. Technically, this means that Xbox Series X won't have any "true" exclusives until after its first 12 months on the market.

It's pretty much an untested approach, and you have to imagine that Sony will be doing the opposite with the PS5. While we're sure that the PS5 and PS4 will have their own share of cross-gen titles, we simply can't see Sony's first-party developers hanging back on the last-gen console. We're fairly certain that the PS5 will have "true" exclusives from day one.

Booty's comments have already attracted a lot of attention -- we're just not used to seeing consoles launch with no exclusive games. Whether this strategy actually pays off for Microsoft remains to be seen, but it's yet another piece of the next-gen puzzle that should make the upcoming clash between PlayStation and Xbox a fascinating spectacle.

[source mcvuk.com, via wccftech.com]