Xbox has admittedly been losing the console wars regarding exclusivity, but it managed to nab a solid studio with Elder Scrolls devs Bethesda and get everyone excited with Starfield.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will eventually be released on PlayStation, and Xbox head Phil Spencer hints that Starfield may also be coming to other platforms.
Starfield Won’t be Exclusive for Long?
In a recent interview with Destin Legarie, Spencer was asked about the exclusivity of Starfield, to which he replied:
“There’s no reason for me to put a ring fence around any game and say ‘this game will not go to a place where it will find players and have business success for us’.”
“What we find is we’re able to drive a better business that allows us to invest in a great game lineup like you saw, that’s our strategy. Our strategy is to allow our games to be available. Game Pass is an important component of playing the games on our platform.”
It seems that Xbox can’t offer the same exclusive games as PlayStation. Rather than keep looking for games that would entice players to get their console, Xbox is embracing making its games more accessible to people—regardless of the console.
Recent Xbox-exclusive titles opening up to other platforms include Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves. There’s no date yet on when Starfield could be coming to other platforms, but it seems like that could be Xbox’s plan.
The Changing Nature of Exclusives
Each console used to have games exclusive to that platform, one of the major foundations of the ‘Console Wars’ between Microsoft and Sony.
While the Xbox 360 did manage to compete decently with the PS3, the PS4 completely mowed down the competition with its list of exclusives, including titles like Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn.
With new-gen consoles, it does look like Xbox hasn’t been able to gather the same kind of hype for its exclusives. So, the strategy is now to make great games available to more players. One caveat is that the games will be exclusive to the Xbox for a limited window before they are released on other platforms—like movies used to be available in theaters for a limited time before they went to DVD.
Even PlayStation has been finding more money to be made on other platforms. Long-time exclusives like Last of Us have recently shifted to PC and other titles like Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding and the Horizon games.
Secret Sauce
For now, it does look like the gaming space is more about which title connects more people and is available on more platforms. Free-to-play games like Fortnite have become huge successes over the years, but are cosmetics going to be sustainable enough for audiences?
Fans will just have to wait and see. Spencer also said, “To keep games off of other platforms, that’s not a path for us; it doesn’t work for us.”
Starfield is currently available for PC and Xbox Series X|S.