Xbox's latest move is a further sign of things to come within the gaming industry.
In a recent video podcast, the CEO of Xbox's gaming division, Phil Spencer, announced that four titles that are currently exclusive to their console will be coming to PlayStation and Nintendo in the near future.
"I have a fundamental belief that in the next five to 10 years, exclusive games, which are exclusive to one piece of hardware, are going to be a smaller and smaller part of the games industry," he added.
He did not name the games, but he did say that they will not include last year's Starfield or the upcoming 'Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, noted that they will games that are more than one year old. The multiplayer pirate game, Sea of Thieves, has been mooted as a possibility, as has Hi-Fi Rush.
READ HERE: The Five Best Xbox Games Of 2023 According To Metacritic
Some Xbox fans are really, really putting their head in the sand if they think Microsoft will stop at "4 games."
I don't believe like some that Microsoft is planning for Xbox to have zero tentpole exclusives, but there's no way they're going to stop at 4 games.
— Jez (@JezCorden) February 17, 2024
Just because I like and support #Xbox doesn’t mean I hate PlayStation or its supporters. They can have any game they want and I hope they do. What I do hate is the hypocrisy and how the same people that hated on Xbox games now want them and how Xbox “influencers” flaked . pic.twitter.com/laeaIkcd4V
— Bethesda Fanatic (@BethesdaFanatic) February 17, 2024
It is the latest strategy from Microsoft to try and close the gap on Sony and the increasing popularity of their PlayStation consoles over the Xbox.
Microsoft have seemed to have accepted defeat in this area and have gone after the rights to popular games. This was highlighted by their laborsome acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which gave them ownership of multiple franchises including Call of Duty.
"The key reason Microsoft has been pursuing a more progressive multi-platform strategy with its games content and services since early in the Xbox One cycle is because it was unable to build on the relative success of the Xbox 360 era and take market share from Sony, and latterly, Nintendo post-the launch of the Switch," said analyst Piers Harding-Rolls from Ampere.
