Xbox clarifies what 'console exclusive' actually means

Microsoft is making big changes to Xbox and is now specifying what's going to happen moving forward.

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Exclusives are back at Xbox and Microsoft has now re-committed to shipping two Xbox console exclusives by 2027. But what does that actually mean? The term is somewhat misleading, and really just means "not on PlayStation or Switch." It means that the content is being excluded from other consoles, but not entirely from other platforms.

In a recent interview with Game Informer, Xbox's chief content officer Matt Booty defines the terms for gamers: "When we say 'console exclusives,' it means Xbox console. It'll still show up on all the normal places where we sell the PC version, and our cloud. Wherever you can get Xbox Cloud streaming."

In other words, Xbox console exclusives will still show up on the wider Xbox platform, which isn't isolated to just console--instead, console is defined as 'core' to the brand but it's not the only medium in which content will be served moving forward.

This term essentially means "exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem," rather than the content itself truly only being playable on Xbox consoles (like Halo 5 Guardians, for example).

So far, Microsoft has committed two games to its exclusivity program. One of the games, Gears of War E-Day, was originally set to launch on PS5. The other exclusive is inXile's time-bending shooter Clockwork Revolution set for 2027.

In an effort to bolster the brand and "save" Xbox, new management like CEO Asha Sharma and chief strategy officer Matthew Ball has acknowledged the importance of exclusive content for Xbox hardware, and while a plan is currently being formulated for the future of exclusivity, Ball says that the group simply isn't ready to reveal what it's been working on just yet.