Console or PC? Xbox, Playstation, or Nintendo? Age-old questions that spark rivalry like the superbowl. Since the gaming industry took off, big companies have always tried their absolute best to have a larger player base and an even greater income. To do this, companies would market games exclusive to their product. Some notable examples include the Halo series and Gears of War for the Xbox. God of War and the Spiderman series for Playstation. Super Smash Brothers, Mariokart, The Legend of Zelda, and all other licensed Nintendo content for Nintendo consoles. These exclusives would be what divided gamers and made companies profit for decades. Forcing players to choose their platform based on the popular exclusives offered was an effective marketing strategy up till today. With subscription based services and digital downloads becoming more and more prevalent and the number of games available to customers, Microsoft is taking a massive leap with their marketing strategy. On the official Xbox news page, Microsoft states “…we will expand the communities we reach: we are currently in the process of bringing four Xbox games to other platforms. By bringing these games to more players, we not only expand the reach and impact of those titles, but this will allow us to invest in either future versions of these games…” (Xbox Wire, 2024). This sudden change in stance on exclusivity is certainly a shocker for the gaming community. It became even more of a surprise when the titles that Microsoft plans to port to Playstation and Nintendo Switch were rumored. These games include Grounded, Sea of Thieves, Starfield, and Xbox’s flagship title: Halo Infinite. Starfield and Infinite’s Playstation releases have been teased directly by Microsoft themselves, but many other games are left to speculation based on potential marketing strategies. According to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, Microsoft aims to create “A future where players have a unified experience across devices…A future where every screen is an Xbox…” (The Verge, 2024). This goal to bring other communities founded on the concept of exclusive titles together by removing the exclusivity of Xbox’s leading titles is certainly a game changing move. This decision has caused some dispute in the Xbox gaming community with a large portion of the community claiming that if Microsoft ports more and more exclusives to other consoles, they’ll have no reason to buy Xboxes. Some other gamers though are in agreement with Phil Spencer and claim that connecting communities is for the better.
So which is better? Xbox? Playstation? Switch? PC? Will it even matter in the coming years? Are the console wars coming to an end?
