Well…I did not expect this. Xbox has made some of the most shocking news of the year already as there has been some massive rumors about Xbox opening up and letting their title be available on PlayStation and rival platforms.
You have to give credit where credit is due…
Even though they have spent the better part of the last two decades and over billions of dollars battling against PlayStation and other console rivals, Xbox is seemingly abandoning the Console Wars for there has been rumors leaking that current and future Xbox titles will be opened up to rival platforms. And, I’ve got to say this is really quite shocking.
This might be the Berlin Wall moment in the gaming world…only with two Soviet Unions competing against one another. Sorry, PlayStation fans, but you know Sony is no better than Microsoft.
Anyway, as you probably know by now, there has been rumors all over the gaming world saying that Microsoft is not only ending their exclusivity arrangements on current and future Xbox titles, but that they are also going to allow Xbox games to be featured on rival platforms. And, yes, that includes the likes of Sony and Nintendo.
Are we living in an alternate reality?
Why did Microsoft go all out of their way to defend their honor, reputation, and fading placement in the console wars through their legal defenses and multi-billion-dollar purchases of Activision Blizzard and Bethesda these last few years to only now bow out of the Console Wars altogether? Did the people in charge of that studio finally grow a brain?
Now, unless a company developed and published a game itself, then I think making games exclusive to one console or another is abhorrent. Why must we be subjected to the greedy whims and wishes of the uber wealthy through the ploy of having to buy numerous $500+ gaming consoles in a console war to just play a game that SHOULD be available on every single platform?
I mean, it’s not like the technology doesn’t exist for Bethesda to port Starfield onto the PlayStation, and vice versa for Naughty Dog with the Uncharted and Last of Us series for the Xbox. It does…but Sony and Microsoft have forbidden their developers to publish their games their, respective, rival’s platform. Until now, seemingly.
Of course, these rumors are exactly that. Rumors. But I actually think they have a lot of validity to them as Xbox has not only NOT come out and openly denied them at the time of me writing this article, but they have also made it perfectly clear they’re losing the console wars.
And perhaps they’ve realized the crappy features and designs of the latest Xbox generation just can’t compete with a Sony PlayStation that both functions better (but it’s not perfect by any imagination) and has access to more highly sought after exclusive titles. So, Xbox is deciding to just open up the curtain and let their titles be sold on numerous platforms.
And, even though it is a slightly pragmatic approach if true, I applaud Xbox and Microsoft for this decision as forcing us fans to buy their poor products to run games is wrong. And especially so when you consider the fact that they have purchased (not started) 90% of the developers under Xbox’s reign.
Still, even though I like this report/rumor, I fear that without Xbox as a main player in the console war, Sony will only become more emboldened to sign exclusive deals with studios to force ALL GAMERS to buy PlayStations. And that’s a fate even worse than a perpetual Console War.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Microsoft/Bethesda Softworks) (Starfield: Official Teaser Trailer (youtube.com))
