First Two Xbox Exclusives Coming To 'Rival Consoles' Reportedly Revealed

I can see a future in which consoles are replaced by streaming and dedicated gamers go to PCs. However, the streaming service is not good enough and failed to capture the necessary number of customers to blossom. By placing their games in the competition's boxes, Xbox is weakened.

Microsoft is trying the strategy of the future today, which is very risky, to say the least. Microsoft was an early adopter of smartphones, tablets, and AR/VR. They left most of these markets because they were too early. I fear it will happen again.

I mean, it's not Halo Infinite. Lol. It's basically the two or three games that I would expect to go multi platform.

Well regardless of what titles do or don't get ported, I still think I'm gonna get a PS5 and move to that. I got to thinking about it and the way I use my Series X personally is more or less just for the backwards compatible stuff... when I still have a perfectly functional 360, with tons of games that didn't and will never be brought over. Game Pass is neat but I'd rather just buy games to own rather then rent them forever, and for every exclusive Halo or Gears, there's 20 other games that interest me that exclusively skip Xbox and only Xbox. It's still a good console but, I just don't think it's the best console for me anymore.

@Romans12 You think Microsoft is just thinking "okay we'll bring just these three to PS5 and that's it, no more we mean it! 😤"

We know how this will go as it has happened before, Microsoft began porting their games to PC but it was small drips here and there, then the floodgates were open completely when they saw the extra money coming in.

Hi-fi Rush and SoT are best suited for Nintendo, and Pentiment is such a nerdy game that it could only do well on PC and Xbox.

@RonF
There is too much latency on the cloud streaming world right now. I know that will eventually change but for the foreseeable future that latency makes playing intense games where every millisecond of latency counts untenable in cloud streaming.

Microsoft has made several big bets and they have hits and misses. XB 360 was a hit, XB Live was a hit, Achievements a hit, Kinect was a hit but over sold so failed, XB One was a fail, XSX/XSS a hit. I like that they take chances.

Ain't fussed about the likes of these games going multi.....think it's a mistake putting the big exclusives....like Starfield and Indian Jones etc though

@Fishticon they want game sales as well as game pass and who can blame them , by all accounts game pass isn't doing as well as they thought, and with all those switch and ps owners willing to buy their games, why not, its a business and people should see it as such, rather than constantly crying about it , its starting to do my head in.

@StylesT it would only be a mistake if they didn't put there games on game pass day one and the xbox wasn't lagging behind the ps and switch so much, they won't catch them now , to little to late from ms and this is the solution , more money to bang back into their studios and that means better games , and maybe they can take more risks and bring back some older franchises, the more I think about it , its a great idea.

@Sifi pc isn't a rival console, completely different , Sony will never put there 1st party games on xbox , destiny and mlb are a different situation, both are contractual, the other games are to valuable to them, I think the problem with some xbox gamers is they thought because Microsoft bought all these studios , that was it , it was game over for Sony, seems that's not the case, I dont see what the problem is, they tried , didn't work out, so this is the solution.

My heads starting to hurt from this. I just can't wait for Thursday to finally put all these rumors to bed.

@Sifi You can't apply the same logic to those two. Destiny was already multiplat. And the MLB themselves mandated it become multiplat if Sony was going to continue to make it.

None of Sony's real exclusives will ever be on Xbox.

@Utena-mobile nintendo direct is still a rumor itself. Insiders believe it will be this week but the Thursday morning prediction could just be connecting dots that aren't there, like a lot of the xbox rumors this week. If we learn anything from this week, it should be to not make assumptions based on rumors.

It's possible they announce these 2 games in a nintendo direct wednesday or Thursday, probably even likely. It's also possible there is no nintendo show this week.

The pattern so far leans heavily towards small, well-received titles having 1+ year exclusivity window. Even more so when Ori and cuphead switch ports are included. We will see if there is a threshold for a size of game that is untouchable for PS. Hellblade 2 will be interesting to watch for over the next year or two. It's bigger than Hi Fi but still firmly in the smaller title category.

@Romans12 You're right.

Both of these games are leagues better than the dumpster fire that is Halo Infinite. Halo still hadn't even had the desync fixed after 2 years.

Even in the desync test there could be meters difference between what both my Series X, showed

@Romans12 “other first party games are being considered”

Gears? Halo? FORZA?

Owning a Playstation right now is the most clever gaming decision.

Smaller titles like Hi-Fi which bolster GP but don't sell consoles are perfect for porting to other platforms. Games like SoT are old enough no one is going to go "ah I like the look of upcoming xbox exclusive _______ so I'll wait 5 years and it may come to ps" off the back of last gen live service being ported.

Its if something like Starfield, Forza, Indy that's a problem unless it part of some sort of "hostage exchange" PS gets indy, Xbox get Spiderman.

Quick everyone, let's run around with our arms in the air, panic everyone, panic! Or alternatively just wait until the announcement and then have a discussion about how everyone feels this may shape Xbox?

A fear that's a little too much to hope for but I hold out hope. Nothing has been said, everything is rumour and everyone just needs to sit down and relax.

@Dr_ENT did you see a quote from Phil that stated Gears or Halo? Of course not. Never happen.

@Kaloudz

You absolutely can NOT say this is the same as Sony. MLB demanded the games go multiplatform and Sony had to do it to retain the license, they would still be exclusive otherwise.

Bungie demanded in the agreement of acquisition to still have full control and port where they see fit, this is not the same at all.

No one is forcing Microsoft here and the two publishers they took away didn't give a toss about their other consumer bases when they agreed to the buyouts.

It’s not the first two.

There have been other games published by microsoft already been put on other platforms.

Ori, hellblade, banjo-kazooie, minecraft to name a few.

I think it’s great if Microsoft puts all one-offs on other platforms to generate revenue and identifies the big series that it wants to keep exclusive. Halo, gears of war, forza, flight simulator, doom, those kind of ‘big testosteron games’ would probably be the best fit.

And then make another group of exclusive games to make it more appealing to families. Spyro, crash, hi-fi rush, banjo-kazooie, minecraft, tunic, …

It’ll make Microsoft gaming the ‘one platform for all’. Next to the family friendly Nintendo and the masculine playstation systems.

@Friendly yes, exactly this - IF it does, as I think/hope, turn out to be a lot of fuss about nothing and just games like SoT, HiFi Rush, etc, then it's business as usual as there have been several smaller games ported in the past.

You're practically the first person I've seen mention this!

The only thing that makes me a little anxious is, why have an 'update on the xbox business' if they're just porting a couple of smaller games, as they have done in the past? Something is clearly afoot and, good or bad, it's not going to be JUST news on a couple of ports. That makes no sense!

Being of a certain age... I've seen many a shake up in the gaming world. The toughest one for me was the downfall of the Amiga... 😒...🤣

This was already known I thought. And tbh if it's game like this.… it's no big deal.

@Dimey I actually think this is going to be 2024’s most hyped non event. Same stance Xbox has had for ages that they want Xbox to be accessible on as many screens as possible. A select few games will go multi platform.
All digital Series that will be essentially a Pro model.
I just don’t think it will be as wild and industry changing as anyone things.

Hi-Fi RUSH and Pentiment could begin a new era for Xbox

Two absolutely fantastic games! The more people can/get to enjoy them the merrier I say

Man, it is so strange see how bitter, childish, bizarrely overreacting people can be. Any post that throws a tantrum about abandoning the Xbox console/ecosystem gets several times more up votes than the ones encouraging a level headed approach 😅😅. ...its nuts.

@Kaloudz

Mate, I thoroughly admire your positive energy in an ocean of fatalistic Xbox views/opinions 😉..

@Sol4ris it's certainly led me to use the 'ignore' option a lot

@BrilliantBill ...but equally, Ori was ported to the switch, and that was an xbox games studios title, wasn't it?

@Dimey yeah. It’s already been happening. MLB The Show is PS Studios game but on Xbox and Nintendo Switch. No meltdown there, although Xbox isn’t exactly shifting consoles at any great pace. That’s where the difference lies.

No, @Kaloudz, and you know you are wrong! MLB is only on the Xbox because the developers insisted. It is against the wishes of Sony, who were given no choice in the matter. The contract to continue publishing the game was only granted on the proviso that the game was allowed to go to the Xbox. That is a huge difference to Xbox allowing their games to go to the PlayStation. If Sony had their way, MLB would be a console exclusive.

Likewise, with Bungie, who only allowed themselves to be acquired on the basis of continuing to be multiplatform, though it is rumoured there was also a condition of them having a threshold of earnings too, which if they failed to meet, they could see Sony taking control and potentially ceasing to be multiplatform.

So there is a massive difference in Sony being contractually obliged to put games on a competitor console, and Microsoft doing so willingly. If Sony had their way, these games would be entirely exclusive (though there is a big argument in having all GaaS games on all platforms so as to capitalise on having much larger number of potential players).

I can never work out if people are wilfully ignoring the facts, @BaldBelper78, or are simply unaware of them. MLB is on the Xbox against the wishes of Sony. Sony did not want MLB to go multiplatform, they wanted to keep it as a console exclusive. The developers threatened to withdraw the publishing licence for the game from Sony, if they were not permitted to go multiplatform. Sony opted to allow the game to go multiplatform in order to retain the licence. There was a storm about it at the time, if you care to take a look, but the reason was explained, and the matter soon died down. Each year that the game comes to the Xbox, you will still see bitter comments on the PlayStation forums.

Much like Pentiment and Hi-Fi Rush, MLB is not a game that sells systems, so there will be / is some acceptance of games such as this going multiplatform. The difference comes when it is a game that will shift systems such as Starfield, Blade and Indian Jones. That creates genuine concern from those within the Xbox ecosystem. The other problem is that Xbox is in a much weaker position than PlayStation, and so there is a fear of that position weakening still further if the few system sellers that Xbox has going multiplatform.

Personally, I do not mind Sea of Thieves going multiplatform because it is a GaaS title that requires a large and engaged player-base that then keeps the money rolling in enabling the updates to be frequent and meaningful.

Games such as Pentiment and Hi-Fi Rush, whilst I would prefer them to remain exclusive, are of a scale that won't shift the dial too much when it comes to people deciding whether or not to buy an Xbox.

Games such as Starfield, Blade and Indiana Jones are absolutely games that would potentially determine whether someone opts to buy an Xbox. When the next generation comes round, and people are deciding whether to buy a PS6 or the next Xbox, the more exclusives that a console has is absolutely one of the determining factors when making that choice. So if Microsoft ports, or intends to port these titles to the PlayStation, then people will opt to by the PlayStation because that will be where both Sony exclusives and former Xbox exclusives can be found. People will wait for a period of exclusivity to pass so a game landing first on the Xbox will not be enough of a reason, for some, to opt for an Xbox over the PlayStation.

If Microsoft throw out Gears, Halo and Forza too, then what would be the point in owning an Xbox at all?

I am hoping that the rumour of Gears etc, was never on the cards, and that having seen the storm created in relation to Starfield etc. has seen Microsoft row back on their plans to force Xbox to go multiplatform with these games.

Whatever is announced is going to be a colossal shift in strategy. They’ve got the three most senior gaming executives at Microsoft communicating this change all at once in the same stream. This tells me it’s more than just the ‘niche’ tier Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment type games being ported.

I’ve tried to hypothesise a clear and concise strategy, but currently I can’t draw neat lines around any games and confidently say that they will be ringfenced as exclusives. It all seems to get lost in the nebulous ’case by case’ situation where anything is possible. All I can hope for is for Thursday to provide more answers than questions.

What I can be confident in is them addressing the Activision Blizzard Game Pass situation. I think that they will provide a date for all of these games going to Game Pass. I think that’s an easy way to gain some positive PR from this business update and I’d be shocked if they don’t use this opportunity to do so.

@Fiendish-Beaver Whilst Starfield is a great game, I would hardly call it a system seller.

Starfield was both system and Game Pass seller, @BaldBelper78. There was a big uptick in both for Xbox when the game released. So by absolute definition, it was a system seller.

It also sold extremely well on Steam, and even now, despite all the negativity surrounding the game, it came in 7th in the poll on Push Square of games that most interest people in the PlayStation community. So despite all that negativity (some justified, some not) people are still interested in the game.

However, to my mind, people buy a console for a collective of exclusives, rarely just a single game, so the more exclusives you have overall the more likely people are to buy into your ecosystem. And the converse is true; the fewer you have, the less likely people will be to be interested in getting your console...

@Fiendish-Beaver

It's boggles the mind how people still don't grasp this fact. Xbox fans scream if PlayStation fans spread misinformation but then do the same thing to try and play down these brand damaging rumours.

@ShadowofTwilight31

Xbox fans scream if PlayStation fans spread misinformation but then do the same thing to try and play down these brand damaging rumours

So what you are saying is that Xbox fans should just join the PlayStation fans in the misinformation bonanza,(not like there's a shortage of it) that is now become the norm. I mean, why would anyone wait on an official statement, when the alternative is so much more enticing...

@Sol4ris

Sony's situation has already been confirmed numerous times, how is that not already spreading misinformation?
Also, Sony fans aren't spreading misinformation about this yet as they're only discussing rumours.

If they keep screaming "going third party" after Spencer publically denies it on Thursday then yes, they will be spreading misinformation.

Damn, I missed all these comments. Must've been because I was playing games instead of crying.

@ShadowofTwilight31

Also, Sony fans aren't spreading misinformation about this yet as they're only discussing rumours

But of course not, never said they would. Sony fans are reasonable folks😅 and this whole drama, debacle or whatever one wants to call it, is all on Xbox fans.....and why did you bring Sony or its fans into the discussion 🤔.

@Sol4ris

Because the original poster is spreading misinformation and is an Xbox fan?

I never said that but nice try. They're both as bad as each other but it is a fact that Sony fans aren't spreading misinformation about these rumours.

Disagree. Much like the exception of putting Baldur's Gate 3 on XSX with split screen and XSS without, this is "no big deal" in a vacuum but a hugely damaging move for trust moving forward.

I would never buy an XSS now because it was originally promised to have complete parity with XSX, now we know that's false - any game in the future may be released feature incomplete on XSS. The promise was broken and that rule is now a suggestion.

In the same vein, once Hifi Rush and Pentiment go to PS5, any Xbox title, past or future, may go to PS5. Unless he says that no games are coming to PS5, what Phil Spencer says on Thursday is totally irrelevant, as he told us that the Bethesda deal was to bring Xbox gamers exclusive games to platforms where Game Pass exists. If that is proven to be a lie by announcing Hifi Rush for PS5, there's no reason to believe what Phil says on Thursday regarding future exclusives. Any game from here on out will be a possible PS5 game, no matter what we're told.

I was a comically large Phil Spencer "fanboy" before this past month, and even got a Christmas card signed by him thanks to my wife, to give you an idea of who this is coming from. What is happening right now is a total betrayal of trust. That said, I am in the camp that believes this decision is being forced on Xbox from above, namely Amy Hood. But no matter where this is coming from, it's coming.

@Tecinthehead Of course I do not think that. I mean right now there are most likely three games. I'm sure there will be more in the future. But, I highly doubt that Halo Infinite or the next Halo will ever be available on the Playstation. It's going to be very selected games. It's not "starting today, every Xbox exclusive game is now available on the Playstation." It's NEVER going to be that.

@Kaloudz

" Nope. But for the sake of your argument, let's remove Zenimax from the scenario and focus instead on ABK. Games from ABK, most notably Call of Duty, will be multiplat because they (MS) were practically forced into contractual obligations to please the regulators. Bringing Zenimax back to the spotlight, they did say on the world stage that they would be case by case, so they're obligated by their own words - especially if they want future acquisitions to go through. Does the why and how really matter though? Fact is, both sides have multiplat games... MS throwing out a very (very) small portion of their slate to other platforms is not the end of the world"

Nice try, Microsoft is only obligated to still release Call of Duty, all the regulators did was make it so they didn't have Cloud rights.

Just because Spencer and ZeniMax said that does not mean there's a contract in place to enforce it. They are only porting games because the employees are speaking out and Pine made it clear in court that he wasn't happy that they lost a massive consumer base over Microsoft.

Sony legally need to port MLB to retain the license and the buyout clause demands that Bungie operate on a multiplatform basis.

Sony will not port their IPs to Xbox like Microsoft looks to here. Also Sea of Thieves alone destroys your narrative that Microsoft are limiting this to just the publishers they took away.

There have been so many conflicting rumours now that I think we should all just collectively agree to ignore them until we get actual announcements from the Xbox team

@Kaloudz

You're literally comparing contractual obligations from Sony to willingness from Spencer to port their games over, that destroys your narrative.

@Dimey i think it’s mainly because rumours spiralled out of control. And they’re not able to talk about it before Nintendo’s rumoured direct on Thursday, which usually happen around 18.00 pm CEST.

im just curious what will happen to pure xbox IF hypothetically all their exclusives go to other consoles

I got all the consoles and honestly for any non exclusive game I will just either play it on gamepass or pick the platform with the cheapest code (Usually Xbox). Even if all of Xbox's games go 3P I will just play them on gamepass to save money.

@shoeses No way I would buy a pS5 given Sony's horrendous track record with game preservation. 100% buying a Steam Deck if the upcoming "business update" fails to convince me to keep investing into Xbox.

I'm on PC and couldn't care less about consoles, however, as long as there is Playstation hardware I can't see Microsoft getting out of the console business.

They have a dedicated following that have heavily invested in their ecosystem. It would be madness to undermine all of that for the sake of quick profits.

@TheLastHarbinger If you cared that much about games preservation Xbox was just as bad a choice as any.

@shoeses "As bad as any"?! You are dead wrong. Xbox wasn't the best choice (that's PC), but it was a vastly superior choice compared to the Sony or Nintendo options.

In 2022 I finished a Oblivion playthrough on my XBSS that I had started in 2007. No other console ever allowed me that, thank ***** for free cloud saves.

@TheLastHarbinger Yeah Oblivion's not the best choice for an example considering it had multiple cheap physical releases, Xbox 360s and PS3s are still widely available and affordable, and per the Bethesda leaks via the FTC case it's getting a Remaster soon, and I would almost guarantee Microsoft will delist the 360 original after that releases.

If anything it proves the opposite to some degree - if Oblivion, Morrowind, Fallout 3, & Fallout NV can be BC, why not Skyrim too? Oh... because they made a port of it and wanted you to buy that instead. And you can't argue 'they're the same game' because they're not - you can't experience Anniversary w/o the DLCs to see what vanilla is like, and there's more glitches & bugs than the original with none of the old ones being fixed. And the BC Program was after Bethesda was bought, so its not like they could say no.

BC is cool, but it wasn't for game preservation - it was to try and salvage the Xbox One. The fact that it was game preservation was just the coincidental PR cherry on top. That's why they completely stopped talking about 'how much they care about preserving games' after ditching the program when Game Pass succeeded.

@shoeses Sorry mate but if we are talking about game preservation, bringing up finite physical copies or consoles that are out of production is pure nonsense.

Oblivion is a beautiful example. It's playable on the Xbox 360, on the Xbox One, on the Xbox Series X/S, and on mobile through Cloud Gaming. I don't need to spend 50 bucks on OLX or buy a dinosaur ecosystem to play it, it just works on the current-gen console I own right now.

Microsoft hasn't delisted anything for many years, except Forza due to licenses expiring. The Oblivion Remaster was also supposed to launch in 2022, and is from before the acquisition. lol

Backward compatibility is not just "cool", it is freaking amazing and a massive characteristic that the Xbox ecosystem has that both Sony and Nintendo fiercely resist against. Real damn glad Xbox preserved so many great games I owned back in the 2000s.

@TheLastHarbinger It's really not though. Oblivion's not some obscure title or limited edition thing - it's a game that was printed more than modern Xbox games, three separate times, making them dirt cheap and always in circulation. And yeah, you don't need a 'dinosaur ecosystem' to play a handful of games. You need it to plays thousands more that aren't on Series or XBO and never will be.

"Microsoft hasn't delisted anything for many years". Wrong. They delisted all the 360 Halo games to make you buy the MCC and the Remasters for ones like Halo Wars and Spartan Assault, and delisted the DOOM games which had features not in the Remasters and won't be added to them. Recently. They also refuse to relist The Cave or Iron Brigade despite owning them, because they want you to rent them for eternity via Game Pass. Until GP doesn't exist, I guess. Then they're gone. That's not even getting into them shutting down the 360 store, which is still the only way to get some BC titles and a ton of DLCs.

'Such a massive characteristic'? It's discontinued. They're not adding any more and they're not doing anything to preserve the catalog they have with games getting delisted every other week. That 'massive characteristic' will be nonexistent for most before the end of the Series' life cycle - and there's a lot of games that are a lot harder to find than Oblivion or don't have a physical release at all.

Oblivion being a big game or not doesn't matter, could be the Chicken Little game or Toy Story 3 for all I care. Oblivion sold on pS3 as well, yet Sony chose to ignore it. Xbox didn't.

You are being dishonest. I told you Microsoft hasn't delisted "for years," you quote me to tell me I am "wrong", then proceed to mention Halo games delisted more than 5-9 years ago?! What the hell mate.

No it's not "discontinued", backward compatibility still works. lmao

No it doesn't need to grow exponentially, program is down and that's alright. We already got hundreds upon hundreds of games preserved on consoles which is miles better than Sony/Nintendo did. So going back to my point... no mate, Xbox isn't "as bad as any" when it comes to game preservation. That was a bizarre take of yours.

Also, Dev Mode gives Xbox better backward compatibility with older Sony and Nintendo consoles than pS5 or Switch!

Microsoft didn't do it perfectly but did miles better than its competition, and it's a huge plus of the Xbox ecosystem. Now please stop spamming my inbox, gonna click this Ignore button to see if it works.

@TheLastHarbinger I understand you because I was told I don't understand, I'm factually wrong, etc. without any reasoning, so it's not a bad idea to block or to ignore 👍🏻.

My two cents:

When Microsoft announced Game Pass, a lot of people laughed and said it would fail. A lot of other people, myself included, said that Sony would stand by and wait, and if the service made money Sony would have their own service soon. Not only did they, but Nintendo even had their version as well.

It's the same here. Not to disappoint the console warriors but if and more than likely WHEN Microsoft starts raking in the money by ignoring the ridiculous exclusive idea, Sony will eventually do the same. Sure, at first Sony will puff their chests out and probably make their summer showcase an "Only on Playstation" fest, but Sony likes money too, and they would LOVE to sell Spider-Man to everyone who wants to buy it. Exclusivity is archaic, anti-consumer nonsense that ONLY gamers put up with or promote, and it's far past time for it to end. Microsoft is taking a calculated risk here, but they aren't wrong.

Okay, @Kaloudz, so we completely disagree regarding the definition of willingly putting games on a rival platform, and it being done so against their wishes.

However, I have a question for you, matey; what games would you find it acceptable to put on the PlayStation?

For me, the list would be as follows:

Happily:
Sea of Thieves - as it needs a many players as possible.
Halo Infinite Multiplayer (not the campaign element - as again it needs as many players as possible, and indeed, it could even attract players into the Xbox ecosystem in order to play the previous games, and Infinite's campaign.

Minor reluctance:
Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment. Minor because these games going over still means two fewer Xbox exclusives, regardless of their scale.

Totally against:
Starfield, Blade and Indiana Jones, even after a period of timed-exclusivity, because people can be patient, and will happily await the passing of a period of exclusivity. It will undoubtedly bring in a surge of money, but I believe that the damage the long-term prospects of the Xbox. None of these games have an existing audience on other consoles, and it would be akin to Sony putting the likes of The Last of Us, God of War or the Horizon games on the Xbox, which we all know will never happen. All 3 games, for both Sony and Xbox, are system sellers; a reason to own the particular console. Microsoft putting these 3 games on the PlayStation would massively diminish the need to own an Xbox.

Verhmently against:
Gears of War, Halo or Forza too on the PlayStation would simply be Xbox waving the white flag.

I've seen some people say these are older games, so what does it matter, however, come the next generation, you would only need to keep your current Xbox in order to play those older exclusive games that had not been ported, and then buy a PS6 in order to play everything else, which is precisely what I have been getting at; the more games that Microsoft put as multiplatform, the less need there is to own the next Xbox. The damage may not be immediate, but it will undoubtedly harm the future prospects of the next Xbox and its ecosystem, including that of the Game Pass. Gamers would no longer be wondering if an Xbox exclusive is coming to the PlayStation, but instead when. Then it is simply a matter of buying a PS6 and being patient...

@RonF I think it is a bad move. They could have come to this conclusion before OG Xbox. Instead, the created their own console and produced exclusives.

@Fiendish-Beaver I was neutral for the most part looking at everyone's stance on this. However, I do disagree with the comparison for Starfield, Blade, and Indiana Jones vs God Of War, Horizon, and Last of Us. There is no audience for Blade and Indiana Jones because those upcoming titles haven't released yet. Gears, Halo, or Forza would be a better comparison as those beloved Xbox titles have established audiences versus the established fans of those Sony titles. Only thing I had to say. 😁

@armondo36 Sony is bringing their games to PC like a kid forced to take Castor oil.

Yes, they let Xbox go ahead and try things while they sit back and watch. It is a benefit of their market share as well as having a well-funded competitor.

MS also thought they knew what they were doing in 2013. The made numerous mistakes simultaneously (ultimately leading them to tomorrow's announcement).

Let's take a lot at the competition:

Nintendo #1 - an ardently exclusive library
Sony #2 - stubbornly exclusive despite PC being a reasonable compromise and potential sales boost
MS/Xbox #3 - apparently plotting self-sabotage (again)

Xbox games are already on PC. ABK has been assumed to remain 3rd party since the trial. Apparently, that is not enough.

Xbox 1st party currently has home court advantage and only a subset of third-party games as competition. On PS5, they will (presumably) be a year late, and go up against PS5 1st party and all of the industry's 3rd party output. If sales are good, they may be encouraged to put more games and more popular games on PS5 sooner and sooner. If sales don't go well, they may come to the same conclusion.

Xbox is not going away tomorrow. However, they may embark on a course that will impede console sales and Game Pass subscriber growth further and further. There are allegedly plans for new hardware now, but as we have been reminded, "things change."

@theduckofdeath EXACTLY. And if this brings big money to Microsoft, Sony will end up following suit, and for once the gamers will benefit lol

@armondo36 I don't think this will be some fount of profit. There may be additional profit, and efforts to pursue greater profits will further undermine the console and ecosystem, while discouraging new hardware purchases.

I say so because people only have so much time and money to spend on games. PS5 is hostile territory with a larger library of games to contend with.

NTM, unless Microsoft has developed some AI porting software, significant time and resources must be dedicated to porting games. Resources that could be dedicated to Xbox. Is this a wise choice when Starfield, Redfall, and Forza each arrived a year late and in varying states of completeness? When updates are arguably slow and not substantial? The fanbase will take umbrage as the focus drifts from Xbox.

@StylesT I think putting Starfield, Halo, Gears or any of their major titles on PS5 will kill the Xbox brand and quite possibly kill GamePass. Most people will just dump Xbox and get a Playstation. They'll have the best of both worlds. Sony will never allow GamePass on Playstation, as people move to Playstation they will let their GamePass subscription expire and never look back. MS is taking a big risk putting their exclusives on other consoles.

@armondo36 Sony will never put Playstation games on Xbox. They will just hold out for Xbox to go under which it has slowly been doing for 10 years under poor management.

Okay, @Kaloudz, but if Starfield goes to the PlayStation, and sees some financial return, you just know that Microsoft are going to want to go further. Added to which, there will be percentage of gamers, when it comes to the next generation, that will switch to the PlayStation, from the Xbox, because they will believe, just as PlayStation gamers will believe now, that once they have received Starfield, that Microsoft will send more games over. So what will be next? Blade? Indiana Jones? Probably! And with fewer people purchasing an Xbox, fewer people will be subscribed to Game Pass. The that service suffers, and becomes less desirable, and less sustainable for Microsoft. Likely as not, AAA first party games will have a 6-12 month window before going on to the Game Pass, and will probably go multiplatform at the same time.

A single AAA game, such as Starfield will cause a snowball effect, and a contagion effect. The snowball will be Microsoft chasing the cash; if Starfield succeeds on the PlayStation, the next game will be Hellblade 2, followed by Avowed, then Indiana Jones and then Blade, and then pretty much everything that Xbox makes from the moment that Starfield goes over.

The contagion effect will be people leaving the ecosystem; those that buy only one console each generation, will look at the exclusives that Sony has, and having seen all these first party Xbox games already going over to the PlayStation, will opt to buy a PS6. They will happily wait that 12 months to pass before each former Xbox exclusive makes the leap to the PlayStation. And then Xbox will be in a cycle of falling further behind the PlayStation, fewer third-party developers will support the platform, Game Pass will stagnate and probably end, or at least will become just a first-party service in the vein of EA or Ubisoft's services.

I know that all seems apocalyptic, but in all honesty, anyone that thinks Starfield will go over, and then nothing else will follow it, is deluded.

As for the likes of Gears, Halo etc. There are two problems right now with that, firstly, where the hell is Gears 6? Nearly 5 years since the release of Gear 5, and we know nothing! We already know that we won't see another Halo this generation, nor another Forza Motorsport, though we will likely see another Forza Horizon game just before the end of this generation. The second issue is, the Series S/X is a damned fine machine. In all honesty, there is no reason to get the next generation of Xbox if all the big 'exclusives' are going to the PlayStation anyway, and the Series you own can play the next Gears or Halo. Unless they are properly next generation, you can just play them on your existing console, and get a PlayStation to play everything else, including one time Xbox exclusives.

Honestly, the problem is real. Any rubbish spouted tomorrow about 'case by case bases' simply won't cut it, because that will just have the community, on both consoles, speculating on what games will go over, and when. People won't be thinking that the games won't be going over, they will pretty much know they will. Spencer and co. will have to be specific in what they say; lay it out clearly, no matter how bad the news is, or how badly they know it will be received. It literally has to be a case of ripping off the plaster, and exposing the wound. Anything less will just leave the community in the turmoil that it has been experiencing for the past week or so...

Looks like we largely agree, @Kaloudz. I'm looking forward to tonight's podcast, though I strongly suspect we will come away with more questions than answers. I expect we will get some wishy-washy comments that will leave way too much up in the air, leaving a void of unanswered questions, and then that vacuum will be filled huge and damaging speculation. I'm afraid I expect the phrase 'case by case' to me uttered multiple times, and to come away not only disappointed with that which was said, but also by what was not...