Xbox is a very confusing company right now. We have no idea what its future plans are, and judging by the latest marketing campaigns and price hikes, you'd be forgiven for thinking it doesn't either. Despite this, we've been assured that Xbox plans to release a next-gen system alongside the PlayStation 6 (even if it could cost an arm and a leg), and that it seems determined to make all of its long-running exclusives playable on as many platforms as possible.
Xbox's approach to exclusivity has been criticized by developers and fans alike over the past year, with series such as Forza Horizon, Gears of War and possibly Halo making their PlayStation debuts. It's a strategy that has paid off for Xbox, with its games regularly becoming best sellers on PS5, but we still don't really know what Xbox's attitude towards exclusivity is and what its plans are going forward.
Thankfully, a recent interview with Xbox President Sarah Bond has given us further insight into some of the thinking going on at the company right now, and if you were still holding out hope that Xbox could somehow release some quality exclusives in the future, I've got some bad news for you.
Xbox thinks exclusives are 'obsolete' thanks to Fortnite and Roblox
“We're really seeing people evolve way past that,” says Bond. “The biggest games in the world are everywhere. You look at Call of Duty, you look at Minecraft, you look at Fortnite, you look at Roblox – that's actually what really drives the gaming community. It's where people gather, they have experiences, and the idea of locking it down to a store or a device is outdated for most people.”
It's a bit of an odd argument, especially when you consider that the exclusive role has never really been about gathering millions upon millions of players. PlayStation and Nintendo have used exclusives over the years to sell their consoles, such as games like Astro Bot and Donkey Kong Bananza that showcase the technology and type of experiences you can have on their systems and no others.
Xbox owns Call of Duty and Minecraft, and making them widely available on all platforms just makes sense, but giving up exclusives like Halo and Gears of War – which will never really set the world on fire – devalues the platform and makes it less attractive. No one will buy an Xbox if you can buy Xbox games and PlayStation exclusives on a PlayStation.
- Stamp
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Microsoft
- Original release date
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November 10, 2020
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$499 USD
- Operating system
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Proprietary (Windows based)
- Processor
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Custom AMD 8-core Zen 2 3.8 GHz
- Resolution
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720p – 4K UHD
