The Xbox Games Showcase reveals that Clockwork Revolution and the new Gears Of War are Xbox console exclusives but Halo, Fable, and Forza Horizon are staying multiformat.
The Xbox Game Showcase on Sunday evening has certainly proven to be a memorable one, with Xbox defying expectations, and seemingly common sense, by announcing that two of its games will be console exclusives, while leaving other games as multiformat releases.
Prequel game Gears Of War: E-Day was given a release date of October 6, but it will only be released on Xbox Series X/S and PC. There’ll be no PlayStation 5 version at all, despite last year’s Gears Of War: Reloaded already having been released on Sony’s console.
Next year’s Clockwork Revolution, from Wasteland developer InXile Entertainment, will also be an Xbox console. No reason was given as to why only these two games but according to Microsoft, ‘These are not timed exclusives. Games already announced for multiplatform releases will stick to that plan – we’re committed to investing in and growing Xbox both on console and beyond.’
The decision has surprised many for the simple reason that Xbox Series X/S sales are far below that of the PlayStation 5, and in constant decline, so there would not seem to be a big enough userbase on the Xbox to support an exclusive, even if PC will pick up some of the slack.
Many retailers seem to have been caught by surprise by the news, with numerous websites listing Gears Of War: E-Day for PlayStation 5 before the showcase, but then quickly removing it after.
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One can only speculate as to what Microsoft expects to achieve from the move, but it seems very unlikely that it will result in a major increase in console sales. Although Forza Horizon 6, which is a timed exclusive, did cause a small increase in Xbox Series X/S sales.
Since Halo: Campaign Evolved and Fable are still being released on PlayStation 5, it may be that Microsoft thinks Gears Of War: E-Day won’t be that big a hit (perhaps based on sales of Reloaded) and so there’s more to be gained by keeping Xbox fans on board then there would be in selling more copies on PlayStation 5.
Clockwork Revolution seems unlikely to be a massive seller either, but if that is the reason Microsoft will certainly never admit it.
Both games did look interesting though, with Gears Of War given an extra 30 minute preview at the end of the showcase, demonstrating its graphics and new movement abilities like sliding and jumping.
The graphics do look good, with lots of impressive destruction effects, but ultimately it still looked like the same old Gears Of War, a series which peaked on the Xbox 360 and was already beginning to seem worn out by the third game.
2019’s Gears 5 (which ended on a cliffhanger) seemed to suggest there were no big ideas for where the series should go in the future, so if E-Day is focusing on nostalgia then making it an Xbox exclusive does make some kind of sense. However, it creates very mixed messages and will undoubtedly make less money for Microsoft than if it had been released on PlayStation 5 as well.
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