Microsoft has announced that its upcoming console, The Xbox Series X, won’t have anygames exclusive to the system, not only at launch, but for a year after launch as well. According to Matt Booty, the head of Microsoft Studios, for the first year of the console’s lifespan, new releases will be playable across multiple Xbox devices.
Booty compared this new strategy to how the PC gaming market works, where games can be played across a variety of systems. Microsoft’s stated goal in adopting this tactic is so thatcurrent owners of an Xbox One, in addition to those who buy the console before the release of the Series X, feel assured that their purchase was worthwhile.
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Rather than focusing on exclusivity, Microsoft plans to prove its upcoming console’s worth through technological prowess being featured in its games. Accordingly, Microsoft will choose a few of its intellectual properties, and use them to showcase the unique features of the Xbox Series X. One example given by Booty of such an IP is theHalofranchise, which will be receiving a new entry,Halo Infinite, along with the release of the Series X. The only other game known to bereleasing on the console isSenua’s Saga: Hellblade II.
The current release dates of the Xbox Series X,along with bothHalo InfiniteandSenua’s Sagaaren’t yet known for certain. It’s only known that the console will be launching sometime around the holiday season of 2020, the same vague release window as Sony’s competing console, the PlayStation 5.
Microsoft’s new approach is certainly a dramatic departure from the usual marketing of upcoming console generations. The norm for console releases has long been the usage of exclusive games as a major selling point. The aforementioned PlayStation 5, for example, recently showcased this tactic,having its first confirmed exclusive announced.
Whether these rather unorthodox tactics will pay off for Microsoft in the long term is still in the air, and will likely remain that way, at least until late 2020, when the Series X and its main competitor enter the market. After all, this nearly year-long wait for release leaves plenty of time for new games to be announced for both systems.
