What you need to know
- Recent rumors and reports about Microsoft-made games being planned to ship to other consoles sparked debate within the industry and among fans.
- Specific titles, including Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves, are among the list of games that appear likely to ship to competing consoles.
- A recent poll of our readers shows that over 53% of poll participants want all Microsoft-made games to remain console exclusive to Xbox.
- An additional 27% said that only games from certain Microsoft-owned studios should ship to PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, or other consoles.
Microsoft will hold its "business update event" this week. That event will focus on the company's plans for where it will ship its first part games. Microsoft moved that event on the calendar in order to respond to growing rumors, reports, and debates about if Microsoft-made games will stop being console exclusive to Xbox.
Of course, many of Microsoft's games are already available on PC, but the debate amongst fans and those in the industry is about console exclusivity. Rumors of Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves potentially launching on PlayStation or Nintendo Switch caused arguments online and a surge of media coverage.
I ran a poll recently asking our readers about Xbox exclusivity. The overall results are not that surprising, but there are some tidbits that are intriguing.
What readers think
Over 53% of voters said that they want all Microsoft-made games to be console exclusive to Xbox. I'm going to assume that the vast majority of these readers were thinking about future games, as I don't think there's a large base of gamers who want Minecraft to be taken off PlayStation. I could be wrong on that, however.
An additional 27% of voters said that games from certain studios should be console exclusive to Xbox. For example, Activision Blizzard titles could continue to ship on multiple platforms while games like Forza would only come out on Xbox (and PC).
I was surprised to see that 19.05% of voters said that no Xbox games should be console exclusive to Xbox.
In addition to voting in our poll, several people jumped into the comment section of our piece to share their thoughts.
"Xbox should not be the only console without exclusives. If they trade exclusives or something like that, then that's fine," said K Shan. "If they start putting their exclusives onto competitors' platforms and get nothing in return for Xbox, then I'm not going to be investing in the Xbox ecosystem anymore since they aren't."
Nibblo shared similar thoughts:
"I voted for the "some" games option. I don't really care about ABK games as long as they are in GP and the same for service games but I do think Bethesda and the other studios should be exclusive. It doesn't make sense to make too many games 3rd party as it makes the console redundant, why get an Xbox if you can just get a PS and play all their exclusives too? Unless PS is doing the same thing it doesn't make any sense. Would never go to PS anyway if that happened just go to PC as they will be getting most PS exclusives as well. Anyway none of us really knows what will happen until next week but my guess is a lot of this is just over blown FUD."
Others believe Microsoft should have timed exclusivity, which is common in the gaming industry. "I think just like the other game company's do, MS should have some exclusive titles. I also think maybe some should start out exclusive and then maybe be released to other platforms after maybe a year," said Cmdr_Bytes.
A larger minority than expected
While there's no surprise that Windows Central readers want Microsoft games to remain console exclusive to Xbox, I was surprised by how many people think that no games should be console exclusive to Xbox. Just under 19% of voters think that every single Microsoft game should launch on other consoles.
Are you surprised by the poll results? Let us know in the comments below.
