In 2024, many large gaming companies began to abandon the usual exclusivity strategy. Microsoft is leading the charge, saying it plans to release its titles on as many platforms as possible, including the Playstation. There are rumors that even some of the key Xbox franchises (Forza, Gears of War, Halo) could make their way to Sony consoles in 2025.
But Xbox isn’t the only team looking to expand its audience and move away from exclusivity. In particular, in early 2024, Square Enix announced its multi-platform strategy due to Playstation-exclusive releases that failed to meet expectations in terms of profit.
Well-known gaming journalist Jason Schreier spoke about his expectations for 2025 in an article on Bloomberg. He believes that this year the rejection of exclusives will be even more pronounced:
Last year, Square Enix released the role-playing game Final Fantasy VII Rebirth exclusively for Sony’s Playstation 5. This could be one of the last exclusives we’ll ever see from them. The company has since promised to “aggressively pursue” a multi-platform strategy, with Rebirth coming to PC later this month, with other ports likely to follow.
Even console makers Sony and Microsoft are releasing their games on competing platforms – the previously Playstation exclusive Spider-Man 2 has been released on PC, following many other Sony games. While the recently released Xbox Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is also coming to Playstation 5.
The mathematics of exclusivity no longer makes sense. Games are too expensive to produce, console audiences aren’t growing fast enough, and not having a game on Steam means losing a huge chunk of market share. This year I think we’ll see Xbox going fully multi-platform and Playstation getting closer and closer to that. The only exception might be Nintendo – and we’ll just have to see how long that lasts.
Let us remember that earlier journalist and insider Jez Corden said that some former Playstation exclusives will be released on Xbox.
