Report Claims Xbox Will Push More Big Exclusives to Sell Series X/S

Microsoft is reportedly looking to give Xbox consoles a clearer reason to exist by leaning harder into exclusives—at least for some of its biggest “must-play” releases. The idea is simple: if key games don’t show up elsewhere, more players may feel compelled to buy an Xbox Series X or S in order to play them.

Release-window and platform shift: Xbox Series X|S + PC, with PS5 changes

The change begins under Xbox’s new leadership. Asha Sharma, now running the Xbox business, has already put that philosophy into motion by moving some upcoming high-profile projects to Xbox Series X and S and PC only—specifically The Coalition’s Gears of War: E-Day and inXile’s Clockwork Revolution. In both cases, PlayStation 5 was left out of the plan.

That said, the broader shift may be more significant than “one or two” exceptions. Reporting has indicated that Microsoft wants to go back to exclusives in a more deliberate, higher-impact way. The claim is that while large multiplayer titles will still show up on multiple platforms (including PS5), Microsoft intends to keep more of its top-tier games tied to Xbox—framing it as a way to give players a real incentive to purchase Xbox hardware.

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So what counts as “one of the best titles,” and which upcoming games might be considered important enough to be withheld from PlayStation? A few major Xbox-associated releases are already known to be headed to PS5, complicating the exclusives conversation.

For instance, Playground’s Forza Horizon 6 remains on track to arrive on PlayStation, though a specific release date for PS5 has not been provided. Playground’s fantasy RPG Fable is also set to launch on February 23, 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. Meanwhile, Mojang’s Minecraft Dungeons 2 is scheduled for September 29, 2026, landing on PC, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S.

The discussion gets more interesting when you zoom out to Microsoft’s next mega-caliber pipeline. Call of Duty seems unlikely to become an Xbox-only product, since it sits firmly in the “big multiplayer” lane that Microsoft reportedly plans to continue sharing across platforms. By contrast, The Elder Scrolls 6 is widely viewed as a strictly single-player experience—raising the possibility that it could be treated differently and potentially skip PS5.

But making a move like that would be one of the largest decisions Xbox has ever faced. A PlayStation exclusion would likely cost Microsoft access to a huge amount of revenue that comes from selling into Sony’s installed base. And with Xbox reportedly in a difficult financial position—something Microsoft itself has acknowledged—there’s the question of whether the company can justify leaving that money behind just to encourage sales of Xbox Series X and S.

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Microsoft is also rumored to be working on a Fallout 3 remaster, and possibly even a remaster of Fallout: New Vegas, following the successful release of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered. If the single-player approach is truly back in focus, fans may wonder whether those remasters could also avoid PS5.

Another major test case is the next mainline Halo project. Could it return to the franchise’s earlier pattern of being an Xbox console priority—potentially skipping PS5? This summer’s Halo: Campaign Evolved is multiplatform, but that plan was reportedly confirmed before Sharma took over and began what’s been described as a “reset” of strategy.

The key uncertainty is how Microsoft would categorize a new Halo. If a future entry is seen as a “big multiplayer” release, it might stay multiplatform. If it’s treated as something closer to a console-defining system seller, the door opens for an Xbox console exclusive launch.

All of this ties back to Sharma’s stated direction for Xbox as a platform. The timing is notable: Xbox has been described as lagging behind both PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, and Sharma has characterized the situation as “the most severe hardware crisis in its history.” In that context, the exclusives push reads as part of a broader attempt to re-center Xbox on selling consoles again.

It’s also happening while Xbox reduces headcount at a steep pace. This week, 1,600 employees were reportedly cut, with an additional 1,600 expected to go over the course of the next year. In addition, five studios are set to leave the Xbox business. Among those impacted, id Software—known for Doom—was hit with major restructuring, as was ZeniMax Online Studios, the developer behind The Elder Scrolls Online. Obsidian also faced substantial layoffs.

In announcing the layoffs, Sharma acknowledged that Microsoft’s approach to video games hadn’t delivered the results it expected. The list of misses includes the Game Pass model, heavy investment in new studios, and—most importantly—betting on multiplatform releases.

“While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected,” Sharma said. “As that happened, our core business weakened, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time, hoping for a better outcome. And now the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history. We must reset Xbox.”

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].