Exclusive games are always a hot topic as it plays a key role in which platform players ultimately choose.

Recently, the discussion on this topic has further increased - Microsoft has decided to abandon its exclusive game strategy and actively push many of its popular games to rival platforms; Sony has also relaxed relevant regulations, but currently it is only for service-based games, such as launching "Jedi Submarine 2" on the Xbox Series X/S platform.

The trigger for all this was the remarks of Sarah Bond, the current head of the Xbox department.Whether it's a game that's limited to a specific console or a PC game that's only available on a single digital store, "exclusive games" are an outdated concept, she said.She emphasized that the world's most popular games, such as "Fortnite", "Roblox" and the "Call of Duty" series, cover as many platforms as possible.

Most players were critical of this statement, but Thomas Mahler, head of Moon Studios, expressed support.The studio's representative works include the "Malevolent" and "Ori" series.Thomas pointed out that for most developers, exclusive games no longer make sense, and the core reason is financial issues-especially the soaring game development budgets.

The "Ori" series was initially an exclusive game, only available on Xbox consoles and PC platforms.When the team began planning its next game, Malice, it initially negotiated a similar exclusive partnership with Microsoft.However, the budget for this RPG game was extremely high, and the team quickly realized that it would be difficult to bear the cost pressure if it missed the sales of Nintendo and Sony console platforms.Because of this, Moon Studios decided to partner with another publisher.Ironically, Microsoft had already abandoned its plans to publish an exclusive game before Malice even left Early Access.

Mahler explained that things were very different in the past because game development costs were much lower back then.Take "Grand Theft Auto 3" as an example. It was originally a limited-time exclusive game on the PS2 platform. It sold 5 million copies and was considered a hit at the time.But nowadays, such sales are no longer enough for many 3A games.For this reason, even Sony is now pushing all its projects to the PC platform.

In addition, Mahler also mentioned that studios owned by console manufacturers are losing many outstanding designers due to "exclusive games".These designers are unwilling to accept high sales targets without being able to push the game to more platforms.The person in charge of Moon Studios pointed out that Nintendo is an exception - its business adopts a vertical integration model, and the core purpose of players buying Nintendo consoles is to play Nintendo games; this is not the case with Sony and Microsoft.

Adrian Hermiarz, head of Polish studio The Astronauts, which is developing Witchfire, agreed, saying:

“Imagine your favorite author releases a new book, but it’s only available on a certain e-book reader—that’s how exclusive platforms work.”

"Most players only own one platform: maybe PS5, Xbox, PC, or Switch. This means they will never be able to experience many excellent games."

"Of course, the reality is that many e-books can only be read on Kindle, which is very disturbing to readers."