Report: Xbox exclusives being discussed internally at Microsoft, some form of game exclusivity may return

Will Xbox game exclusives return? The chances seem slim, but anything seems possible in the games industry today, and Xbox does have a new CEO that's closely scrutinizing the organization and promising change for gamers--and developers.

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Microsoft could bring back Xbox exclusivity of some kind, once again offering unique games that are only available on Xbox hardware. With Project Helix on the horizon, console exclusivity doesn't seem actually possible by virtue of the device itself--it's a console that plays PC games, indicating that it's...well...a PC. Plus, Xbox games have crossed over to PC for a while now, with the exception of some games like Halo 5 Guardians.

In any case, sources behind the scenes have told Windows Central journalist and Xbox expert Jez Corden that Microsoft is at least discussing Xbox exclusives, but whether or not new games CEO Asha Sharma will order exclusivity remains to be seen.

"You know how I said that they were thinking about adjusting Game Pass? There are very big discussions about the exclusivity stuff going on right now, internally," Corden said in a recent episode of the Xbox Two podcast.

"I think that they do recognize the value."

Offering exclusives could help spark Xbox sales in some fashion, however Microsoft seems to be more focused on expansion and growth rather than consolidating a closed-garden ecosystem. That being said, there still feels like there's room for exclusives on the platform--not everything needs to come to PlayStation 5, even if Sony's console is the leading platform in terms of revenue.

If anything, we could see a longer timed exclusivity for Xbox games. First-party Microsoft games typically cross over to PlayStation years after their launch on Xbox, however these games often release for cheaper prices--Starfield, for example, was $70 at launch on Xbox and had an arguably worse experience because it hadn't yet been updated. PS5 owners conversely pay $50 for a version of Starfield that has been adjusted with post-launch content, as well as optimized for the PlayStation 5 Pro console.

We also have to consider how developers may feel about exclusivity. On an operational level, selling games on as many platforms as possible is usually good for developers--assuming the games actually sell.

Xbox is made up of a number of satellite studios that all orbit the same planet, and each organization keeps their own records, books, and manages their own stable of employees.

It's hard to say definitively whether or not breaking exclusivity has been a boon or a bane for the Xbox brand as a whole, but the influx of higher-margin digital sales--sometimes in the tune of multi-million platinum unit sales--is nothing for Microsoft to balk at.