Microsoft is continuing its drive to revamp brand Xbox with the launch of a feedback platform that gives fans the chance to vote on community requests. Predictably, the request with the most votes is a return to exclusives.
Microsoft’s multiplatform push may have increased sales (Forza Horizon 5, for example, has found significant success on PlayStation 5), but it has come at the expense of alienating hardcore Xbox fans, some of whom want Microsoft to return to Xbox exclusivity.
Earlier this month, it was reported that new Xbox boss Asha Sharma was “treading carefully” as she worked out what to do with exclusive games. Sharma, who replaced Phil Spencer as boss of Xbox earlier this year, has spent her first few months in the job making a number of significant changes as Microsoft works to win back the hearts and minds of its core gaming fans. Among them was the end of the controversial ‘This is an Xbox’ marketing campaignquickfire new Xbox console features, and a Game Pass price cut.
Perhaps most significant of all, Microsoft has said it will “reevaluate our approach to exclusivity,” a tantalizing tease particularly for core fans who feel Xbox consoles have been devalued amid the company’s multiplatform push in recent years.
Fans, though, have made their feelings loud and clear already, using the new ‘XBOX Player Voice‘ platform to push for exclusives.
“XBOX was built off of great game exclusives, you cannot sell any consoles without a reason to buy the console compared to your competition or even sending your tentpole games over to your competitor. BRING THEM BACK PLEASE!!!” reads the thread with the most votes so far (6,319). The comments within it are similarly vociferous. “If you really care about Xbox, you have to bring back exclusives,” one person said. “Xbox needs to have its exclusive games to differentiate itself from the competition. Exclusives work for Sony and Nintendo, so why would it be different for Xbox?” Another added: “Exclusive content and features (hardware or otherwise) make a platform stand out in comparison to the competition. Without those, why would anyone get into the XBOX platform and not other, more popular ones? Right now XBOX simply doesn’t stand out from the competition.”
The big question is, can Microsoft follow Sony’s lead and retreat from multiplatform? Microsoft has a number of first-party titles due out this year already earmarked for PS5. For example, it’s promised that Forza Horizon 6 will come to PS5 later this year (and if Forza Horizon 5 is any indication, not releasing the sequel on Sony’s console would mean leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue on the table). Meanwhile, Microsoft has said all future Halo games will be released on Sony’s consolestarting with this year’s Halo: Campaign Evolved. Playground’s Fable reboot is due out day one on PS5 this fall.
The Verge’s Tom Warren has reported that Sharma “has been evaluating a range of options for Xbox exclusive games, but is treading carefully here and isn’t yet ready to commit to any major changes.” So while hardcore Xbox fans clearly want their exclusives back, there is a question mark over whether Microsoft will agree.
Other top requests on the feedback platform reflect community concern going back years at this point. Backwards compatibility is right up there, as is making online multiplayer free to access. Another high-ranking request is for an achievement list to have a separate category for its DLC, so if you’ve got all the achievements for a game and it gets more via DLC, your 100% will remain. And then there’s the request for an Xbox Game Pass family plan, for Project Helix — the next-gen Xbox — to play discs, and the return of Xbox avatars.
Xbox Games Series Tier List
Xbox Games Series Tier List
Plenty, then, for Sharma to think about, although in truth none of these requests should come as much of a surprise. By opening the door to fan feedback in this way, Microsoft is creating a growing sense of hope within the community, so it will be interesting to see if Microsoft follows up by addressing the top requests and their chance of success. “We want to be clear: this doesn’t mean every piece of feedback will turn into a feature or result in a change,” Microsoft clarified in its announcement on Xbox Wire. “Building across a large, global platform means weighing a lot of inputs. But better visibility helps close the gap between what you tell us and what you see happen next on XBOX.”
All this talk of Xbox exclusives comes at a time when Sony has ditched PC for its narrative single-player games, which means the likes of Housemarque’s Saros, Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Wolverine and, presumably, Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will all remain PS5 exclusives. But it still leaves the door open for Sony’s multiplatform games to continue to release on PC.
Perhaps Microsoft will follow Sony’s lead here?
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.