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Xbox’s decision to return to console exclusivity was one of the defining stories of June, but it’s been somewhat overshadowed by Sony’s physical discs debacle and layoffs in Redmond.
However, a big story published by GamesRadar has tried to “make sense of Xbox’s messy return to console exclusivity” – although, perhaps unsurprisingly, it doesn’t provide any meaningful answers.
Microsoft has vaguely indicated that live service games will continue to ship on PS5, while single player titles may not.
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The company was quizzed specifically on Ninja Theory’s Senua at Summer Game Fest, as this appeared to show an inconsistency in its strategy.
Of course, we now know the firm was trying to find a buyer for the Cambridge-based studio, which is no longer an Xbox first-party.
In an interview with boss Matt Booty, Microsoft’s mealy-mouthed approach has continued.
He described exclusives like Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution as “rewards” for Xbox players, but indicated that some single player games could still come to the PS5 after all.
He said:
“I wouldn't overly fixate on single player. I think that's a good rule of thumb, but it certainly isn't something that's carved in stone.”
So Xbox could still bring single player games to the PS5, in addition to live service ones. Then what exactly is its approach here?
Booty continued:
“We are the stewards of over 20 game franchises that have made a billion dollars in their lifetime. There are a lot of different games in our portfolio, and we have to think about how different games serve different purposes within it. We have a framework for these selections, including how we evaluate them. I recognise that this approach is not obvious to all of our players, and we are committed to making this clearer.”
What does that mean for the glut of new Fallout games announced earlier this week, for example? Your guess is as good as mine – it really does seem like Microsoft is making these decisions based on which way the wind is blowing on any given day.
One anonymous studio source for Clockwork Revolution dev InXile Entertainment told GamesRadar it hopes Microsoft’s decision “doesn’t put a target on our back”.
Given the scale of the recent layoffs within Xbox this month, nothing would surprise me less.