Xbox players have been begging Microsoft for years to give it AAA tentpole games on par with what PS5 players have historically gotten, and right at the finish line, Microsoft said “nah.”
Time for a rant.
Microsoft famously confirmed that Xbox players will no longer have exclusive content a few years ago, in a weird “business update” video that has since become notorious. Xbox fans expressed concern that, without exclusive content, nobody would want to buy an Xbox. Lo and behold, the absolute obvious truth was, in fact, correct.
Microsoft’s utterly doomed multi-platform strategy is on the way out after the firm admitted it had failed to deliver growth. New CEO Asha Sharma is committing to bringing back exclusive content for Xbox Series X|S consoles. Unfortunately, it may simply be too little too late to save the brand in the long term, but it sounds like what remains of Xbox is going to give it a good old try at least.
Xbox players will get Gears of War: E-Day and mind-bendingly dark RPG Clockwork Revolution as exclusive games in the near term, but various projects are still slated for PlayStation. The biggest and most crucial among these is none other than Fable, developed by Playground Games of Forza Horizon fame.
Microsoft has already committed brand suicide by putting Xbox icon Halo onto PlayStation 5 this past month, although I wouldn’t exactly be shocked if subsequent Halo titles end up skipping PS5 moving forward.
The same cannot be said for the next Fable, though, which sources suggest has run “uncomfortably” beyond budget. Microsoft previously noted that any games previously announced as multiplatform would continue to be, and that includes Fable.
The darkly satirical Fable RPG franchise has been (up until next year) Xbox and Windows exclusive, although dormant for some time. Playground took the reins a few years back, with the hopes of delivering a truly ambitious AAA experience on par with the likes of The Witcher 3 and other big-hit expansive RPGs.
Rather than use Fable as Xbox’s own answer to PlayStation’s high-quality exclusive titles, Microsoft is instead co-shipping it on PS5 day and date in February 2027. And now, it has been revealed that it’ll go head-to-head with a massive exclusive from Sony itself.
God of War: Laufey is the next entry in one of PlayStation’s most iconic franchises, and it’ll launch one day before Fable’s early access period on February 16, 2027.
The timing of the launch date is another hilarious reminder of how self-defeating Xbox’s multi-platform push will continue to be long into the future. I suspect God of War: Laufey’s launch window will punish Fable’s PS5 sales quite substantively, even if the latter turns out to be a solid game.
The timing highlights that on PlayStation 5, not only will you be getting a tentpole exclusive from Sony, but also one from Xbox. Xbox fans will be left with less choice for putting their faith in Microsoft over Sony — a stark reminder of how little respect Satya Nadella’s Microsoft has for its customers, and Xbox in general.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been tasked to change the way Xbox consoles are perceived. She did a flurry of interviews in the first half of the year, and repeated that “Xbox starts with console” in various permutations. Xbox consoles have also seen a ton of updates and improvements recently, alongside claims that more exclusive games will come beyond Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution.
Xbox fans will be left with less choice for putting their faith in Microsoft over Sony — a stark reminder of how little respect Satya Nadella’s Microsoft has for its customers.
The timing couldn’t be worse, though. The memory crisis has seen the Xbox Series X|S base price increase for the second time in a year. Despite going multiplatform and delivering record revenue last year, Xbox decided to lay off thousands starting this summer, divesting studios in the process.
In any case, God of War: Laufey’s launch date is most likely coincidental. But symbolically at the very least, it’s a plain reminder of how dumb Microsoft’s approach to Xbox exclusivity has been up until now.
It was a cute vision. The idealist vision that players could access content regardless of platform. Xbox’s efforts here got PlayStation to open up to cross-play, and even forced Sony to experiment by putting games on PC and even Helldivers 2 onto Xbox itself. PlayStation decided it was a silly idea not long afterward, pulling out of PC almost entirely. In the end, the whole ordeal just served to scream to potential customers that PlayStation is a more abundant content platform — painting Xbox as a weak, dying ecosystem. I’m sure that’s a great way to pitch your platform to potential customers and developers.
There isn’t a platform in history that has survived without having at least some form of exclusive content. Apple TV, Netflix, Nintendo Switch, Prime Video … I’m not sure whether it was simple greed, hubris, or some form of corporate madness that led Microsoft to believe Xbox could survive without a reason to actually buy into the platform. Alas, consumer-facing businesses are absolutely not Microsoft’s strength. And certainly not CEO Satya Nadella’s strength, who seems laser-focused on turning Microsoft into IBM. But I digress.
Let’s see if Microsoft learns its lesson for the 500th time.
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