Phil Spencer on Helldivers 2 Not Being on Xbox: 'I'm Not Exactly Sure Who It Helps'

Alongside the announcement that four Xbox games will be headed to other platforms, Phil Spencer also commented on other companies' approaches to exclusivity, namechecking Helldivers 2 specifically: "When I look at a game like Helldivers 2 — and it's a great game, kudos to the team shipping on PC and PlayStation — I'm not exactly sure who it helps in the industry by not being on Xbox."

[PrinceOfAnger]

Phil want sony/nintendo big games on xbox so he can put xbox big games on playstation but it won't happen that why they had to make console exclusives for their platform.

[_SilverHawk_]

When the game boots I see a SIE symbol so I'm not sure what the confusion is about

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

"When I look at a game like Helldivers 2 — and it's a great game, kudos to the team shipping on PC and PlayStation — I'm not exactly sure who it helps in the industry by not being on Xbox."

Phil makes comments where I'm like why would you even say this? Who in the industry does MS buying Activision help? Who in the industry does keeping Starfield and Indiana Jones off PlayStation help? I would love to see how he spins and answers those questions.

[GamerRN]

So when Sony does it, it doesn't matter that it excludes gamers from Xbox. But if Xbox makes an exclusive, Sony fans go crazy that big bad Microsoft kept a game to themselves. Then, if they put it in PC, Sony fans complain it isn't a true exclusive, but if their games go on PC it's ok and still exclusive...

Honestly it's all a joke, let's just play together...

That being said, Phil is clueless if the thinks exclusives don't matter, consoles need to have their identity.

[crazyCoconuts]

Phil knows.

[StormSnooper]

MS spreading all sorts of misinformation. Imagine spending 68 BILLION to make multiplats exclusive, then lecturing others who funded ips from the ground up about exclusivity.

I personally think MS will lose even more credibility and relevance with these PR events.

[jeromeface]

it doesn't help that 29 games have gotten cancelled since you bought up the gaming industry either phil... WHO DOES THAT HELP?

[Cacabunga]

It helps moving consoles you dummy!
With same logic who does it help to keep halo on xbox? This guy is a total disgrace..

[derek]

@GamerRn, what???? Sony does what? You mean make games for their platforms customers? Lol. Nobody cares about xbox or their crummy exclusives and I haven't herd anyone argue xbox shouldn't make games exclusively for their platform. It is good guy Phil Spencer who talks out of both sides of his mouth: "these games will be exclusive to our platform"..."we believe gamers should play games on any device, platform they want to". This is an entirely xbox community conversation, it is Microsoft who has taken the unilateral decision to start putting their games on playstation and Nintendo, nobody was asking them to do this. Lol

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

@GamerRN

"So when Sony does it, it doesn't matter that it excludes gamers from Xbox. But if Xbox makes an exclusive, Sony fans go crazy that big bad Microsoft kept a game to themselves. Then, if they put it in PC, Sony fans complain it isn't a true exclusive, but if their games go on PC it's ok and still exclusive..."

I don't know what the point of your post is, but Phil is the one trying to act like exclusives don't matter but then at the same time has them himself. Either keep the games you own exclusive to your platform or don't. But don't go trying to question why another platform wouldn't release their games on all platforms when you aren't doing that yourself. Practice what you preach, be about what you speak.

Phil is really annoying with this double speak that he always does. Wants to be pro consumer one second, and then when something happens act like he was totally unaware of the issue and reverses the decision. He always says what people want to hear and not necessarily what he actually plans on doing.

[-Foxtrot]

I think this is his plan now to try and soften the anger from his fanbase while spinning the entire thing

He's going to try and rile up his fanbase about why Sony isn't making their games multiplatform and will give off the impression that Sony are being selfish or stupid while they are doing it "for gamers".

Xbox die hard fans will probably then call Sony for having exclusives and the whole thing will be flipped on its head.

[k2d]

Double Speak is Evergreen

-Phil Spencer

[Bathyj]

Nailed it.

Phil is just trying to erode the Xbox fans outrage. Dipping their toe with a couple of sacrificial games no one actually cares about and let everyone get over it, so that when the important games drop the diehards think it's not so bad, it's only a little bit worse that what they did last time..

This is how the easily manipulated can be easily manipulated. And let's face it. The Xbox faithful pretty much parrot verbatim whatever he says.

[InUrFoxHole]

Good god you are a brainwashed consumer. Shouldn't you want all games to be playable everywhere? Who in their right mind besides console trolls thinks... exclusives are consumer friendly?

[Charlieboy333]

And the Xbox guys will fall for it hook, line and sinker as always. Phil - "Don't look at me, look at Sony!"

[fr0sty]

Bathyj called it, they came parroting on the post right beneath his, lol.

Microsoft is making their games multiplatform because Xbox as a brand is going to go out of business if they do not. Phil himself said it, when he said in order to keep those great Xbox franchises going, they needed to expand the audience they could sell to. Yes, Microsoft has billions to throw around, but no, their shareholders aren't going to let them piss it all away in failed attempt after failed attempt to win some console war they don't even care about.

Sony on the other hand, they're making their money, they are the market leader in the console space, and they have no need to make their games available on competing consoles.

You can trust if Xbox wasn't up against the wall with their investors demanding a ROI on that over $80 billion they dropped buying Zenimax/Bethesda and ABK, they'd be making every game they could exclusive. We know this because they already tried to... as soon as they bought them they took games that were originally slated to be multiplat and made them exclusive, then started dangling Call of Duty over Sony's head, likely for a pretty penny.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

There probably isn't enough Xbox fans to care about it now, a lot of them jumped to other platforms at the start of this gen, I don't know anyone with a Series S/X.

I see this as Phil trying to stoke the fires, "oh, look at what a good corporate citizen we are, but how dare evil Sony not share their exclusives", even though a lot of PS exclusives are now/going to PC.

[darthv72]

In all honesty... if its a live service / multiplayer type of game, that should be on as many platforms as possible. XB should give PS the Halo infinite multiplayer for Helldivers 2... seems like a fair trade.

[PhillyDonJawn]

Hell no, Halo is a console seller and the face of their brand. hell divers doesn't even have an established fan base.

[darthv72]

^^... Im talking the multiplayer which was available by itself. You didnt need to buy the main game to play the online side.

[crazyCoconuts]

Halo Infinite on Steam is at around 8K concurrent users.
Helldivers is at around 200K

So not fair in terms of revenue generation.
PS is in a good spot. I don't think they'll have to give anything for Xbox exclusives, MS is knocking on their door.

[jeromeface]

@phillydonjawn yea, its sold SO many consoles this generation, so many that ps5 is outselling 2:1

[notachance]

it's peak comedy he said that when MS made games halfway built for multiple platform into exclusives, should've asked the mirror first.

[S2Killinit]

The company that went and paid 68 BILLION to buy up a large portion of multiplatform gaming, is preaching to others not to keep exclusive the GAMES that they MADE by investing in them.

That is rich.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Sony and to a greater extent, Nintendo, don't need to port all their exclusives over to other consoles, Helldivers 2 is on PC anyway.

[Christopher]

I mean, c'mon, they literally just said themselves they will put select older games on PS, not same date and release. You know who it helps, you're just acting hypocritical in comments like this. I don't think Sony is sorry you can't advertise their games on your platform the way you've been advertising Palworld as a console exclusive.

[Plague-Doctor27]

Jim Ryan on Starfield not being on PS5: "I'm not exactly sure who it helps."

[Christopher]

Same response as above if he said it. They know.

But, you know what he actually said: "I don't like it, but I have fundamentally no quarrel with it," Ryan replied. When asked how he felt about Starfield skipping PlayStation 5 and being exclusive to the Xbox Series X/S on console, he said: "I don't like it, but I don't view it as anti-competitive."

[Christopher]

I enjoy it when people disagree with facts. Your opinion or expectation of what was said doesn't change the facts.

[FlavorLav01]

When it was literally already in Development for PS5 when Bethesda was bought and the PS version was canceled. Helldivers 2 has been funded by Sony the whole way and own the IP. Not quite apples to apples.

[jznrpg]

@ScottlandYard do some simple investigating and you will find the quote. It’s called Google or this that too much for Scotland Yard ?

[Terry_B]

He really needs to get fired.

[RedDevils]

That golden parachute will come in handy.

[solideagle]

Halo not being on PlayStation 'I'm Not Exactly Sure Who It Helps' :p /s

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I'm shocked he's lasted as long as he has, but I guess it's hard to get fired from these positions.

[crazyCoconuts]

People get fired from executive level positions all the time. But Phil clearly knows how to BS, and he's speaking Satya's language. It takes a winner to spot a loser.

[P_Bomb]

Didn’t he say no on the podcast, to Starfield and Indiana Jones going elsewhere? What’s he expecting in return?

[S2Killinit]

This is MS, they lie through their teeth. Nothing they say can be counted on.

[Nacho_Z]

"kudos to the team shipping on PC and PlayStation — I'm not exactly sure who it helps in the industry"

It helps PC and PlayStation Phil.

[crazyCoconuts]

Helps the game devs too because Sony pays them the $ they would have gotten from Xbox gamers, which probably is not a heck of a lot.

So Sony pays 3rd parties way less than it would take to make their own 1st party game to keep putting nails in the Xbox coffin.

[Crows90]

Huh? So daft!

Who does it help to have any Xbox game on PC and Xbox only you dumbass.
I can't believe how stupid this comment of his is...so detached from reality and his own actions.

[crazyCoconuts]

He's just playing the hero-victim to distract people from the fact that he's slowly dismantling Xbox to be full 3rd party like Satya and the CFO told him to do.

[PapaBop]

I wouldn't take it so literally. He's just compensating for his own failings with his first party studios to do some glorified port begging. We'll be seeing a lot more of this I imagine.

[anast]

Sony doesn't need anything on Xbox, Xbox needs stuff on Sony.

[DarXyde]

Everyone else on ABK's acquisition when games were already multiplatform:

"I'm not exactly sure who it helps"

[CrimsonWing69]

Yea, Sony isn’t desperate enough to just toss exclusives on a competitor’s console. It’s the same reason you’re holding onto big exclusives for Xbox. I don’t understand, what’s hard to follow here?

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

I don’t see why anybody would want a live service game exclusive to one platform. Those kinds of games live and die by its player count. Games like Helldivers would do even better if it was released on as many consoles as possible.

[Crows90]

But thats not the point of exclusives. Its already doing magnificently dude. Xbox should be looking to have their own games to compete vs sonys. Instead we just get phil commenting about every single playstation success.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

But it’s not an exclusive now is it. I own it on PC. Sony doesn’t have any true exclusives anymore and the sooner you fanboys wake up the better. MS and Sony both see the future and that future is putting all their exclusives on PC for a slice of that pie. It may hurt fanboys feelings to accept that but it’s just a fact…

[Crows90]

@speak

I don't care about that. Consoles don't compete with PC. I'm already set on just sticking to pc since PlayStation will be putting em their exckusives on it. That argument doesn't work on me.

But I can tell exclusives staying on Ps only or ps and PC only seem to hurt some fanboy feelings

[derek]

@Speakthetruth, grow up. Do you live in the world? In what other industry do customers expect competing companies to support each other's business with each others products? Lol. Phil Spencer says these dumb things all the time and you rubes lap it up. Sony decides what is in their businesses best interest alone, if that includes adding the pc player base so be it. Xbox brings nothing to the table they don't have the player base to make them relevant or customers who are accustomed to paying for games.

[DarXyde]

Helldivers 2 is not exclusive to one platform though.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

Yeah that’s the point. It’s a GAAS game and those games shouldn’t be exclusive imo. They should be on as many consoles as possible if they want to have a chance at being successful.

[ziggyzinfirion]

@Badz, exactly. Helldivers 2 is doing impressively well at the moment being on both PS5 and PC. Porting it to Xbox S/X will probably only produce a small margin of profit especially with the player base who's majority is stuck in GP subs with a mindset that all games should be free. It'll be hard for the developer to manage updates on a game with a small player base.

[Elda]

It's exclusive to Sony's PS5 gaming console. Helldivers 2 cannot be played on an XB or a Nintendo gaming console.

[DarXyde]

Elda,

I'm pretty sure I said "platform", not "console".

My point is that one does not need a PS5 to play it. SxTxT mentions these games live and die by platform access, and I don't really disagree with that assessment, but it does have access to a wider install base than the PlayStation 5.

Not saying anything crazy here.

[badz149]

you act like all multiplats GAAS games are successful and thriving just because they are released everywhere.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

When did I ever say that? I said that GAAS games SHOULD be released on as many platforms as possible to maximize player count.

[badz149]

That's exactly what you were implying. But releasing on as many platforms as possible is not a guarantee for GAAS success

[repsahj]

It is already doing better on PS5 and PC. What is the problem?

[Chevalier]

This comment is so short sighted it's not even funny. Why take the risk having to make 2 more versions for Xbox Series and stretch thin? Especially when we already know Xbox gamers literally do not buy or support anything?

The studio started with 35 people and worked for 8 years with Sonys support to make the game happen and only have just over 100 developers working on it. A small developer like this would be crushed having to make those versions for Xbox and likely just end up losing a pile of money.

[outsider1624]

The xbox camp have been dissing on sony about not having good multiplayer and only "third person single player". Finally sony has one..and suddenly..oh why should it not be other consoles...?? What the hell?

[Hedstrom]

I dont get his statement. So why does Xbox has exclusives?

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Exactly

[badz149]

it's Phil Spencer, were you expecting anything sane or honest coming out of from his mouth?

[Chevalier]

Got to love the spin here from Xbox head and their fans. Would love him to explain how Hellblade 2 or Indiana Jones or Blade make sense as exclusive then?!

Didn't this idiot just go on about 'passion projects' and supporting these games which clearly aren't doing well if they need to expand to Playstation/Nintendo to try to pull a profit.

Wouldn't Helldivers be the same? 35 developers started 8 years ago with Sonys support. But now it's just over 100 people. Can you imagine having to make 2 additional versions for Series S and X? Especially when Xbox fans LITERALLY do NOT buy games? Lol. Guaranteed everyone waits and hopes it shows up on Gamepass instead

[Bathyj]

It's a Sony game.
Sony own it.
It helps Sony and Sony fans.
It doesn't help Xbox.

That's how competition works.
It's a shame you aren't competition, in your own words.

[Scissorman]

This man is a used car salesman of the highest order. Just greasy, disingenuous, and manipulative. Oh yeah, kudos on that Avowed on Xbox and PC, Phil. Don't see how it helps the industry though by not being on PlayStation.

[repsahj]

I am sure if Helldivers 2 are not doing great, he will never say that. XD

[gold_drake]

im not exactly who it helps if you have exclusives yourself

im not sure who exactly it helped when u lurchased fking activision.

see how that works hypocrite?

[AdonisIsBeast]

This man is the biggest gaslighter in the industry. Now that his company is shifting towards being more third party, he’s going to try and guilt trip Sony into doing the same

[Crows90]

He is also the biggest public person actually fueling console war fanboyism.

[DigitallyAfflicted]

I’m pissing my self laughing every time he comes out with crap like this one. But I’ll answer, making games ps5 exclusive don’t help Xbox and making games Xbox exclusive doesn’t help Xbox, your are not helping Xbox too! But all 3 help Sony a lot, in fact you should be getting payed by Sony not Microsoft…. 🤣

[RhinoGamer88]

Oh Phil... PS5 owners silly. Now go cash your 3MM bonus check.

[Dandizzle]

Easy it helps Playstation and PC owners and developers. Not greedy ass Phil and Bill

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

It’s supposed to help us all by motivating competitors, like M$, to compete by making their own great games. Too bad M$ is somehow above the natural machinations of capitalism…

Way to sidestep your own failings by demonizing the success of others.

Sony invested in Helldivers 2 for NINE years. When has M$ done the same for a AA game?

[Einhander1972]

Phil, no one cares about the two people on xbox that are still willing to pay for games.

[Ra3030]

I'm not sure how any multiplatform game that releases on Xbox helps anyone at all unless Microsoft pays a big chunk of cash to have it on the Xbox rental service. A multiplatform game on Xbox where Xbox gamers have to purchase the game at full price is a waste of time a efforts by the Developers and Publishers cause so few Xbox gamers will pay to play that game. Phil trying to play dumb on Helldivers 2 I wonder who it helped when Phil and Xbox paid to put Palworld on the Xbox rental service and keep it off the PlayStation platforms.

[Futureshark]

Basically it doesn't help him.

[Rainbowcookie]

Spin doctor Phil at it again.

[Trilithon]

not as many people gonna buy the next generation xbox console so maybe itll be the last one then it and phil will be bye bye

[BrettAwesome]

All those memes about big badass Phill with his black mini fridge. Where are they now? Huh? The mighty 12tflops PS killer 😂😂😂 a lame duck. Lame. Soooo lame.

[victorMaje]

If you don’t know who it helps Phil then you should get fired. It speaks volumes when you get a hit like hi-fi rush, it’s a surprise. I’m willing to bet Helldivers 2’s acclaim was less a surprise to Sony. When you start figuring out why, you’ll know why Sony is where they’re at & xbox is where it is…

[Barlos]

Shut up, Phil

[isarai]

It helps PlayStation for having an exclusive to draw people in, it helps the devs as I'm sure PlayStation offered some sort of support be it funding, staff, marketing or all of the above, plus they save on not having to develop on several other platforms right off that bat.

[Murdability]

PlayStation. It helps PlayStation. You’re welcome Phil

[Bathyj]

Phil needs to shit or get off the pot.

PlayStation gamers are not going to flock in droves for sloppy seconds. Hifi rush and sea of thieves are not going to move the needle for you. Either go Multiplat or don't.

You're doing t this to make money and because PlayStation gamers bu6t games, but the outage from your current fanbase will not be worth it unless you're not getting a good return from PlayStation gamers. You won't get that with crap games.

We have enough good games, we don't need your dregs.

[Chevalier]

Exactly this. Remember when Tomb Raider were exclusive to Xbox for a year? Then launched on Playstation a year later and failed to make sales according to Square? Well this is why Xbox will continue to fail.

https://insider-gaming.com/...

Got to love the hypocrite restructuring this Disney contract. Guaranteed failure incoming. Would bet Indiana Jones does not make sales goals.

[S2Killinit]

How about buying Activision? Who did that help? Scumbag.

[stonecold3]

dont forget bethesda and ninja theory as well.

[TheDreamCorridor]

If exclusivity doesn't "help" anyone then why aren't all Microsoft first-party games available on all consoles?

[Skuletor]

This quote would have made me lose respect for Phil Spencer, if I had any.

[purple101]

this comment wins#

[Charlieboy333]

It helps Sony and their console......not that you would understand that concept Phil

[OhReginald]

Easily my GOTY, and just saying that cause I am huge fan of the first. This sequel is everything I could have hope for and more.

[Phoenix029]

The problem is putting Xbox games on ps5 adds a lot more players who are console only. Adding PlayStation games to Xbox (which are already on pc) doesn’t add anywhere near as many.

[quenomamen]

You think they spent Billions buying game studios just so they could put the games on a console being outsold 2- 1 ? Like buying all the Mickey Dees but only selling the burgers to a limited consumer base. After they see the first couple games selling well they'll expand it and probably end up having gamepass on PSN.

[sagapo]

Let’s be honest, exclusives never “helped” gamers. They might help your choice in a preferred platform but if you want to play it all, you basicly have to buy it all.

[jznrpg]

Exclusives does help gamers by driving competition to make better games. MS unfortunately never seriously tried to make great games or grow studios they went with the pay for games route and don’t have a culture of making games. they dug their own grave.

[sagapo]

Again, MS had great games with the 360 generation but sadly that’s their only generation. This aside.
As your take on exclusives: PC has great games as well, games that aren’t even released on consoles, other great games are multiplat so “driving the competition” makes no point in that regard imo.
Exclusives are there as a selling point and yes, good exclusives draw gamers to a platform but it’s not like it’s mandatory to have exclusives in order to have good games.

[Tedakin]

Helldivers 2 is a live service. It being in as many places as possible helps the game and studio. Same with Sea of Thieves. Xbox gamers would by Helldivers. It's a bro shooter, more in line with Xbox titles like Gears of War and Halo than any current Sony games.

[kas84786]

I just want a Xbox handheld

[DRambo]

Every game multi platform would be very damaging. Where would the competition and innovation come from if Sony and XBox didn't compete.

Crying for all platform releases is short sighted and typically of entitled gamers.

[Tody_ZA]

Did Phil Spencer suffer brain damage or is he just unable to keep track of his BS spin every other week? Yes he made the comment because Helldivers 2 is a multiplayer game, but Bethesda games literally reach millions so who did it help to make Starfield or any of the others console exclusives? The Xbox franchise was literally built off the exclusivity of Halo and Gears of War. The current Xbox leadership is directly responsible for trying to monopolise the industry and remove games in active development for PlayStation. Did it help the industry then?

You know who it helps, which is Sony and PC, you're just doing what you do best which is spin like a washing machine except nothing comes out clean.

[dveio]

"When I look at a game like Helldivers 2 — and it's a great game, kudos to the team shipping on PC and PlayStation — I'm not exactly sure who it helps in the industry by not being on Xbox."

Seriously - I just had to laugh out sooo loud.

Is Phil Spencer still in contact with reality?

It's the same guy talking who put every released IP so far, after they had bought it, exclusively on Xbox, even stripping existing code away from PS5.

[Doomeduk]

It's called risk /reward
Sony funded the 8 year development it could have bombed but it didn't ,arrowhead could have released it broken a year ago and fix later but they didn't
Phil stick to releasing flagship titles with 10 year old car models like Forza "Built from the ground up " redfall and starfield at 30 FPS and telling the cult of Xbox that it's a FEATURE and not a CONSTRAINT
with that cheesy grin I sure he's sniffing his own farts which in itself isn't a issue but looks like he enjoys it which is wrong on every level

[jeromeface]

who cares about xbox...

[jznrpg]

So Phil the dumbass why did you buy ABK and Bethesda if they were already multiplatform and now some of the games are not? I hate this guy

[ravens52]

Nothing left to say lol. You've all said it. Someone take this comment section and send it to Xbox twitter/X. Lol

[XBManiac]

Well... it is cheaper to launch only on two platforms and it has a strong community right now. It is on PC, so it works on a Microsoft platform. Don't be angry, Phil.

[SoloGamer1]

"I'm not exactly sure who it helps in the industry by not being on Xbox." Well, cant the same thing be said for Starfield, Indiana Jones etc NOT being on PS5? That logic should go both ways... 😒

[repsahj]

Phil should be one of the helldivers. XD

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Literally bought whole publishing groups to own IPs for themself. The double speak from this man is that of legends.

[Hereandthere]

Now phil is trying to spin exclusives as a bad thing because his plan failed miserably.

[FyBy]

Who it helps? Me, because Its great game! You should play too, Phil.

[Hereandthere]

Pure jealousy and envy in display, his plan for games on pc and everywhere failed because xbox exclusive games are very low budget, low effort game pass filler, thats why they suck and brings no one to xbox.

[Elda]

Sony owns the i.p. & it's part of the PS roster of console exclusives. If MS/XB wants to make their old or current exclusives multi-platform that's on them but that doesn't mean PS or Nintendo has to.

[FACTUAL evidence]

“I’m not sure exactly who it helps”. Says the people who had starfield exclusive. 😂

[frostypants]

Oh Phil...

[Pyrofire95]

It'd be a perfect game to also be on Xbox.
Xbox needs DEMOCRACY. TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Mario on Switch

Im Not exactly sure who it helps

Connect the pieces ppl.

[darksky]

Phil makes such comments but then says Starfield (and presumably ES6) won't be on Playstation. Who does that help?

[Silly Mammo]

'I'm Not Exactly Sure Who It Helps'
It helps Sony, Phil. It helps Sony...

[X-23]

Why would Phil say this? It's almost as if because they made the decision to start putting their games out as Multiplat's everyone else is supposed to follow suit.
I don't blame Sony if they double down on the Sony+PC market, because Microsoft was the ones who decided to buy Activision and Bethesda and the only people it's help in the long run is MS, so why would the others start looking out for your platform when you haven't been looking out for the best interest for theirs?

Sony doesn't have a PC game pass and still makes first party exclusives to support their console market. Even taking Sony & Microsoft bias out of the equation, an entire acquisition of something like Activision, EA or Ubisoft is bs for the gaming landscape so making a comment about Helldivers 2 like that is a little out of pocket.

[eots]

I don’t understand the entitlement of these big companies.

This is like Target and Walmart fighting over the fact Target doesn’t sell their own brand products in Walmart stores, and that Walmart is not allowed to set up their own department within Target branches.

It’s weird as another analogy is streaming tv/movies, The boss of Disney wouldn’t ever put out a statement saying “congrats to HBO, their show is great, but I don’t see who it benefits by not being available on Disney+”. Capitalism is a competition that runs on exclusivity and trying to make your product more attractive than your competitors.

If Microsoft wants to slightly change their business model and focus a bit more on publishing and releasing their games multi platform, that’s great for them, if it wasn’t going to make them money they wouldn’t do it.

But it’s also on Microsoft to make their store an attractive proposition for other suppliers to want to sell their stuff via it. Microsoft would need to make sales via their platform worth more than Sony, Nintendo etc currently make via keeping them exclusive. So they’d have to offset any profit in console sales and something that’s harder to do is offset the brand perception that both those companies have tied into those consoles as the only way to play those premium games.