Xbox has been on a new path of sorts recently, with last year the CEO of Microsoft gaming Phil Spencer conceding that Xbox is not in the business with competing with Sony and Nintendo anymore. This may look like some admittance of defeat but in reality this is a great opportunity to do a rebrand of sorts for the company. Last year with their major purchase of Activision Blizzard it looks like the company is looking to be more of a distributor than anything else. The newest rumors indicate that Xbox may be looking to bring their first party exclusives to other major platforms like Nintendo and PlayStation. This would be a very intriguing move from Microsoft as the current state of the industry is very much a state of hoarding. Sony does not budge with their exclusives and Nintendo even more so, but if Microsoft were the first to do so this might usher in a newer cooperative era in the gaming industry, as in the day of exclusives might be over sooner than later.
2 days ago on the Nate The Hate podcast, reliable scooper in the industry, noted that a game of the year-worthy Xbox exclusive will be coming to a competing console platform. The immediate speculation was Hi-Fi Rush which in fact was nominated for game of the year at last year’s game awards. While there was no mention of the game and the console its believed and speculated that Hi-Fi Rush is the title that will be coming to both Nintendo and Sony. Again this does seem like a smart move from Microsoft in terms of longevity. You could continue to go blow for blow against the other competitors but when youve been losing for a the amount of time you have been its important to create a new strategy. This paired with Phil Spencer’s comments for The Wall Street Journal in 2022 when he said that one of the reasons people pick a console is because of the Exclusives is very interesting as we know that Microsoft acknowledges the importance of exclusives yet is still willing to make them multiplatform.
To reiterate this is all rumors from the Nate The Hate podcast, and while he is reliable insider scoopers are as wrong as they are right sometimes. If this rumor does end up coming true we could be seeing a shift in the gaming industry as alluded to before. One that begins to let go of the tight grip on exclusivity that the major companies have and begin having a more collaborative scene that sees, if I may, Halo releasing on PlayStation. That is a far reach of course but that is just an example of what this move might entail for the future. It’s a dream and the probable reality is that Nintendo will continue clutching at their Mario and Zelda pearls but its a very intriguing dream.