Xbox may have fought valiantly, but it does seem like the company embracing multiplatform going forward means that the console wars have ended.
While a lot of critics think this is a huge win for consumers, ex-PlayStation executive Shawn Layden shares his thoughts on Xbox’s ‘strategy'.
“Multiplatform is a Strategy”
In a recent interview with Kiwi Talks (via VGC) Layden talks about the current gaming industry climate and how Xbox embracing multiplatform could be a solution.
“Multiplatform is a strategy, particularly in a world where the cost of development is increasing so dramatically", the former executive stated.
“What does it do to their brand? It makes the conversation harder to create the FOMO (fear of missing out) you’re trying to do that by bringing everyone to your platform by saying, ‘if you’re not here you’re missing out,’ but if it’s available on all platforms, that’s one of your marketing tactics you can’t use.”
Admittedly FOMO was at the very core of the console wars with Xbox and PlayStation fighting over who had the better exclusives, forcing players to choose between the two.
Though it did seem like Xbox had a fighting chance during the 360 era, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S just weren’t able to catch up to the hype of PlayStation exclusives. It probably doesn’t help that Sony has multiple platforms to market their games with them developing televisions and movies as well.
Xbox and SEGA
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+ 2If anything, Layden compares the transition of Xbox to SEGA back when the Dreamcast flopped. Layden explains, “We’ve seen it before. I was in the business when SEGA brought their Dreamcast titles to PS2, in time then SEGA became a software-only company, and have had a great transformation in that sense… So it does have historical precedence.”
What Has Xbox Been Doing?
Though Xbox may have lost the war on exclusives, the platform still does a lot of things great technically. The Series X|S was said to be superior to PlayStation when it comes to backwards compatibility, and a lot have also testified that the Series X|S was the technically more superior machine.
Xbox’s new angle is also to just get more people to be able to play their games. Besides being multiplatform, a lot of have been commending Xbox for their Game Pass—which PlayStation’s version kind of pales in comparison to.
The New Nature of Exclusives
click to enlarge + 2With the PS5 also getting bashed for not having enough games releasing on it, it does seem that both companies have realized that it’s ultimately more profitable to have their games available on multiple platforms.
When it comes to modern exclusives, it seems like the new model is to only have the game available for their platform exclusively for a limited time, and then releasing it to other platforms later down the line. Xbox is doing this with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (and possibly Starfield), and PlayStation has also done this with the Horizon games, The Last of Us, and most recently Spider-Man 2.
With the game industry kind of at a low point right now with studios shutting down and people losing jobs, a lot of people are hopeful this marks a turning point moving forward.
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