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Title exclusivity has been a major bugbear of gamers for as long as we can remember. With that potentially over, is the future of gaming looking more inclusive – and perhaps less expensive?
If you hadn’t heard, the console wars appear all but finito.
The tribalistic bloodshed – or more accurately, tit for tat quibbling in social media comments – has reached its logical conclusion after several decades.
The short version of why, is Microsoft has all but conceded it cannot live up to the sales of Sony’s PlayStation 5 and is ready to fully lean into its final form as a publishing giant.
The high-budget exclusives of eras past, in-part thanks to some notable recent blunders (cough, Redfall), aren’t providing a trajectory of growth that can keep up with Xbox’s lucrative pivot to Game Pass.
The subscription-based offering has become Microsoft’s key focus over the last five years, and astronomical sums of money have been spent on acquiring publishers like Bethesda and Activision to enrich its ever-updating library of games.
While initially both deals had gamers stressed over a potential monopolisation of studios and their beloved franchises, Microsoft shocked many of us by being more liberal with its properties than ever before.
In-fact, Forza Horizon 5, Halo, and Gears of War – once the staple trinity of Xbox exclusivity – are all slated to join the PlayStation roster before 2025 is out, each reportedly with cross-play capabilities to combine the playerbases of both consoles.
To anyone who was around to witness the console wars throughout the noughties and teenies, this shift is almost suspiciously off-brand. Back then, if you weren’t part of the PC ‘master race’, you were either sworn to Xbox or PlayStation and your duty was to fervently back your choice.
South Park encapsulated the standoff by dedicating a two-parter to the clash of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 and their respective exclusives, in what comfortably remains one of my favourite episodes in recent seasons.
Now, Microsoft is more focused on pushing the perception that Xbox can be played ‘anywhere’ and on any device that isn’t the actual console. This smells like a deliberate effort to redefine how players think of Xbox as a service and not a piece of hardware.
Leaked internal documents showing that Xbox anticipated fees of up to $15m per month to have Grand Theft Auto 5 on Game Pass, and $300m for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, further evidence the extent to which Microsoft is committed to publishing.
If anything, its new competitors are probably Google and Apple. The ‘Cloud Wars’ has a certain ring to it, admittedly.
But for those of us who still enjoy the classic combo of an OLED and a console, the industry shift to multi-platform is one I believe we should be embracing – unless you’ve forked out for both signature consoles already, that is.
