Microsoft executive Matt Booty said future Xbox exclusivity will be decided “case-by-case”, after the Xbox Showcase brought back games marked for Xbox consoles.
Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution will remain Xbox console exclusives, though both will still appear on PC. Major multiplayer games, live-service titles and games already promised for PlayStation will stay multiplatform.
IGN’s Tom Phillips said Microsoft’s announcement left plenty of questions dangling, including “why just Gears and Clockwork Revolution?” and “how will this policy be enforced in future?”
Last night’s Xbox Showcase featured the return of games previously earmarked as Xbox exclusives. Naturally, this being Microsoft, they will still appear on PC.
“We want a reason for people to get on board with Xbox, we want them to have a reason to buy an Xbox, we want them to have a reason to be an Xbox fan,” Booty said.
“At the same time, we want to reward all our players that have been with us for a long time — we know that exclusives are important, and that’s why we’ve got Gears coming in 2026 and Clockwork [Revolution] coming in 2027,” Booty said.
Booty said Microsoft still wanted its big multiplayer and live-service games on as many platforms as possible.
“We also want to be clear that our big multiplayer games and live-service games are going to continue to be multiplatform. “If we’ve promised something to players already, we’re going to honor that promise. And then — I think Asha said it — we’re going to make the right decision and not the fast decision,” Booty said.
The strategy appears to be that Xbox needs exclusives, except when Microsoft decides it would rather have everyone else’s money too.
“We’re going to keep thinking about this going forward,” Booty said, “and, I think you guys know already, our principle is when we announce the date, we announce the platforms. So, it’s going to be case-by-case, but we’re going to be clear, that when it’s got a date, it’s got a platform and you’ll know what the choice is going to be,” Booty said.
Games already confirmed for PlayStation include Halo: Campaign Evolved and the PS5 version of Forza Horizon 6, which is due later this year. State of Decay 3 had been expected to get a PS5 version, and Microsoft has now made that official.
