Xbox’s Strategic Blueprint for Exclusives: A Possibility for PlayStation to Follow? Insights from Ori Developer

There has undoubtedly been considerable discussion regarding Phil Spencer’s remarks about Xbox exclusives this week, especially the indication that there may no longer be rigid boundaries about which video games could be available on different platforms.

We have now observed a variety of viewpoints on this topic; however, one supporter is Moon Studios’ CEO Thomas Mahler, who previously collaborated on the Ori series with Microsoft and later declined a unique offer for the company’s latest title, No Rest for the Wicked.

In a post on social media, Mahler elaborated on why he believes this approach is beneficial from both a business perspective and a fan’s viewpoint, even suggesting that PlayStation might adopt a similar strategy at some point in the future.

Here are some excerpts from his social media post:

“The XSX and PS5 fundamentally feature comparable hardware today, so transferring games from one platform to another isn’t a major challenge anymore. Their controllers are largely similar. The Steam boxes will also offer similar experiences. Not supporting all these devices is illogical since you exclude a significant portion of your potential audience.”

“Consoles have been limited in attracting the same 100-150 million players for over two decades. If we want to see the industry expand, it must become easier for everyone to access the content.”

“I would be surprised if Sony doesn’t end up embracing a similar approach. Consumers should choose the device they prefer, but they should also have access to all the available content. And yes, Nintendo will continue to follow its own path because that’s just how Nintendo operates, and that’s perfectly fine.”

“Cheering for one major corporation to outsell another seems remarkably foolish – we should all just share our passion for gaming!”

He has also been quite responsive in engaging with individuals over the past few days, emphasizing his lack of enthusiasm for the Xbox Series S and stressing the importance for Xbox gamers to access their games on PC as well.

Regarding PlayStation, he suggested that Sony might avoid placing first-party games on the Xbox Series X and Series S due to their advantage in hardware sales, but this competitive edge is not guaranteed to last in the long run, and should the company start to decline for any reason, the new approach might be discarded.

“Simply stated, the economics have evolved. Creating exclusives for one platform selling 50-70 million units made sense when games cost between 5 and 50 million to develop. Nowadays, creating games often requires 100-150 million or more, so unless you’re extraordinarily fortunate to be at the forefront, you cannot afford to limit your audience.”

“Considering the substantial costs associated with producing AAA games that Sony and Microsoft typically create, you’re not benefiting either yourself or your audience by restricting players to a specific console. Especially when you cannot assure that your console will be THE leading option, which is no longer feasible for anyone.”

When confronted with the notion that exclusives have historically driven console sales, Mahler acknowledged that “software sells hardware” remains accurate, but he questioned whether that must be the sole approach.