Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says Xbox's push to get its exclusives on other platforms could succeed just like Sega's did.
Xbox has been increasing its efforts to get its games in front of more people recently. It announced that racing exclusive Forza Horizon 5 will be coming to PS5 with all of the same material contained in the Xbox version. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will also be coming to PlayStation this spring.
In a recent interview on Kiwi Talkz (spotted by VGC), Layden says, "Multiplatform is a strategy, particularly in a world where the cost of development is increasing so dramatically. Multiplatform means widening your addressable market, just giving more people a chance to see it. I welcome that."
- With Indiana Jones and Forza Horizon 5 ports, Phil Spencer isn't "trying to move" Nintendo Switch and PS5 players "over to Xbox anymore"
- Microsoft veteran and former Blizzard president knows "loyal Xbox gamers are mad" about exclusives launching on PS5 and Nintendo Switch but "that isn't going to change anything"
When I was growing up, most kids either had an Xbox or a PlayStation, only the rich ones had both. So, exclusives were a big deal. I couldn't play Halo, but half my mates couldn't play Uncharted. If you wanted to experience the same stories as your friends, or play online, you needed the same console. That's changing now as Xbox continues its 'this is an Xbox' strategy and many multiplayer titles have cross-platform functionality. But what does it mean for Xbox as a brand if we can play Halo on a PlayStation?
"It makes the conversation harder to create the FOMO," Layden says. "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."
Microsoft went on a buying spree, most infamously acquiring Activision Blizzard King back in 2023. It also owns Bethesda and many other major studios, clearly with the intent of creating great exclusives. But, games take time to make, and it doesn't make sense to minimize the player base by keeping them locked to just one console – the console that's sold the least this generation. This shift isn't unheard of for a console manufacturer.
"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," Layden remembers. "So it does have historical precedents."
The Sega Dreamcast was a PlayStation competitor back in the late '90s, but the company eventually stopped making consoles altogether and simply shipped its games on its former rivals' hardware, and it seems to have worked well.
While this doesn't necessarily mean Microsoft will discontinue Xbox consoles any time soon, it's clear that two generations in third place have caused the leadership to rethink their strategy.
For now, here are the best Xbox Series X games. Some can be played on PlayStation or PC, even Nintendo Switch, but there are some exclusives on there.
