If you’re looking for more clues about where Xbox plans to take its gaming ambitions, look no further than our recent interview with Xbox president Sarah Bond.
Speaking with Mashable about the newly released ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X, Bond revealed that Xbox’s next console will be a “premium, high-end experience,” but also that the concept of console exclusives is “antiquated.” The Xbox exec said that the gaming world has evolved past this release strategy.
“We’re really seeing people evolve way past [exclusives],” Bond said. “The biggest games in the world are available everywhere. You look at Call of Duty, you look at Minecraft, you look at Fortnite, you look at Roblox. That’s actually what’s really driving community in gaming. That’s where people gather and they have experiences. And the idea of locking it to one store or one device is antiquated for most people.”
For decades, exclusives were the backbone of console identity — the reason players chose one platform over another. They were the showcase titles that sold hardware on Day One, giving players a tangible justification for investing hundreds of dollars into a specific ecosystem. A new Halo meant you needed an Xbox; Uncharted or Spider-Man meant you needed a PlayStation. These games didn’t just sell consoles; they built loyalty, convincing players to stay within a brand’s ecosystem for years, even generations.
But as cross-platform play, digital storefronts, and subscription models like Xbox Game Pass have redefined what it means to “own” a game, exclusivity has started to lose its hold. Studios and publishers now see more value in expanding player bases and recurring revenue than in walling off access.
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That philosophical shift isn’t just talk — it’s already happening. Several long-standing Xbox exclusives are crossing over to PlayStation, including a remaster of Gears of War, which ends 19 years of platform exclusivity. Even Halo: Combat Evolved, the game that cemented Xbox as a major player, is set to make the jump, marking the end of 24 years of exclusivity. Microsoft expanding its Game Pass subscription to include PC games in 2019 is another indicator.
The rest of the gaming industry seems to be following suit. Many of Sony’s once-untouchable exclusives, including God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, The Last of Us, and Horizon: Zero Dawn, have made their way to PC in recent years.
For some players, Xbox’s current identity in the console space feels uncertain. Now that the company is shifting its focus away from hardware and strict exclusivity, it’s not entirely clear what Xbox wants to be. A publisher? Not quite — the brand has only released five titles so far this year, all ironically limited to Xbox and Windows platforms (except the aforementioned Gears of War).
But based on Bond’s comments, Xbox seems to be positioning itself as an ecosystem that expands further than just a console. Earlier this year, Microsoft VP Jason Ronald told The Verge that the next-generation Xbox will be “more PC than any Xbox console before,” with planned support for multiple storefronts like Steam, Epic Games, and GOG.
When we asked Bond where Xbox fits into the console space, she said that “[it’s] about a whole ecosystem and a whole system where you can have every option you want depending on how you want to play.”
