Xbox fans left behind as PlayStation gets exclusive editions of new Xbox games

Microsoft has been pushing its first-party games onto PlayStation for quite some time, but this might be an industry first for the green team - PlayStation is exclusively getting physical discs of Xbox games, while the Xbox physical versions come with a digital game code.

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The three Xbox games now under the spotlight are Ninja Gaiden 4, The Outer Worlds 2, and Gears of War: Reloaded. Per Amazon listings, which are currently still live at the time of writing, Ninja Gaiden 4 Deluxe Edition is available to pre-order on PlayStation 5 for $89.99 and it comes with a physical disc, while the same Deluxe Edition on Xbox comes with a "Digital Game Code" that owners redeem to begin the download of the game. The same thing has been spotted for The Outer Worlds 2, as seen in the image below.

To add even more fuel to the fire, it appears Gears of War: Reloaded won't even be getting an Xbox physical release; it will just be a digital download from the Microsoft Store / Game Pass. However, there will be a physical version of Gears of War: Reloaded for PlayStation 5 owners.

The decision to make three first-party Xbox games not available in physical editions for Xbox gamers, but available to PlayStation gamers, is certainly not going to bode well for any Xbox fan who enjoys collecting physical media or just likes dodging the nasty download times of new games.