Recently, the Official Xbox Podcast has given the community a lot to look forward to. From Diablo IV coming to Game Pass to a focus on cross-platform and cross-progression, there’s much planned for the Xbox community in the months to come. However, out of all the announcements, four games are going to shake things up.
In the podcast, Phil Spencer has hinted at four titles that are no longer in the ‘exclusive’ category. Two of these are going to be community-driven games and two smaller games that weren’t really meant to be exclusives in the first place.
Exclusive games are going to be a smaller part of the industry
Right at the beginning of the podcast, Phil Spencer mentioned four games that are going to arrive on other platforms. Well, the first thing to take note of is that these are not Starfield or Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
However, two of these games are going to be community-driven experiences. This leads us to believe that it can be part of a live-service model, or a co-op-driven experience supported by the community.
The podcast’s focus is on building a platform for creators, so these can also be games that are open to modding, constant updates, and more. The other two games are much smaller titles, so we can expect indie developers to be a part of this narrative. Unfortunately, there’s no official information regarding the same, so it’s purely up to the community’s speculation.
An important takeaway here is Phil’s thoughts on exclusives. Based on his remarks, it seems that exclusives are going to be a less important part of the games industry going forward. Not only does this make Xbox a more approachable platform, but it also opens up an area for developers and publishers to worry less about dealing with IPs that are locked to a single console/platform.
A larger focus on Xbox’s cross-platform and cross-progression functionality
Throughout the podcast, the spotlight on exclusives was taken away by the mention of crossplay and cross-progression. The conversation focused on sharing a vision for Xbox that brings the future of gaming to everyone, anywhere they are. Not only are games going to be more accessible, they’re likely going to break free from exclusivity as the years pass.
For now, the games that are going to see the light of day on multiple platforms will at least be a year old, and PlayStation and PC players can hopefully see Microsoft building a future of its games that’s not locked to a single community.
What are your thoughts on Xbox titles coming to other platforms? Let us know in the comments below.
