Microsoft reiterates why it broke Xbox game exclusivity, promises to be 'more consistent'

Xbox exclusivity is dead as Microsoft seeks greater profits through expanded sales, but there's a better, more PR-friendly way to say that.

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Microsoft telegraphs that it will keep releasing all of its future Xbox games on PlayStation, further burying the idea of first-party Xbox game exclusives. In a recent interview with Games Radar, Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan echoes a sentiment that we've heard everyone at Xbox say: Developers want as many people playing their games as possible. That means releasing on more platforms.

For Microsoft, it's all about growth through sales and players; Xbox products can often be infused with online elements and microtransaction hooks to ensure the spending can continue long after the game is purchased. Microsoft is reportedly stressing the Xbox games unit to deliver more profit, leading to the games division to make radical changes like breaking exclusivity in the hopes of selling more games--and generating more profit by virtue of boosted revenue.

• Read more: Xbox Game Studios gets second new leader in a year
• Read more: Xbox Game Studios boss comments on Microsoft's anti-exclusive multi-platform strategy
• Read more: Forza Horizon 5 is the latest Xbox exclusive coming to PlayStation 5 and it may not be the last

Below we have a quick transcript of the Q&A exchange, with relevant context:

GR+: Xbox ported six titles to PS5 in 2025, and there's plenty more set for 2026. How are you determining when to bring XGS games to other platforms?

Craig Duncan: As the guy that gets to run studios and help our game teams, I take a pretty simple view on this: we want our games to reach the most players that we can. I have been on this journey before...

You know, I was running Sea of Thieves at Rare when we took it to PS5, and as we migrated from Xbox to PC to PlayStation, we saw more players come in and we saw the community around the game grow.

Forza Horizon 5, which launched on PS5 last year, did really, really well. It helped the community around that game grow - it gives everybody more people to play with. For me, this strategy is really about how we can have our games reach as many people as they can.

The parts about Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon 5 moving the needle are indeed true; When those games came to PS5 in 2024, Microsoft had more best-selling games on Sony's own PlayStation Store than Sony did.

This tidbit was picked up by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and broadcasted as part of an earnings call with investors, further cementing Xbox's multi-platform focus (any positive momentum that's relayed to investors is quite deliberate, and if successful, it's expected to continue).

This plan is working well for Microsoft, who has found a way to make its Xbox games division grow even while being handily beaten in the console market.

As for future releases, Duncan says that Microsoft will be "more consistent" with its messaging around simultaneous multi-platform launches.

Fable, for example, comes to PS5 on day one, whereas Forza Horizon 6 comes to PS5 after launch. If we had to guess, this is a simple matter of prioritizing budgets--it costs money to release a game build, and a lot more to launch disc-based versions of your game in stores.

"Sometimes we are inconsistent. You see some games in one place, some games in multiple places. Just know that we're going to work on that, and we're going to try and be more consistent with what we do," Duncan said.