Why are major third-party games constantly skipping Xbox?

Xbox has a complicated third-party game problem that will be tough for Microsoft to solve.

[Abracadabra]

"Why are major third-party games constantly skipping Xbox?"

Because... Sony are paying 3rd party developers for console exclusives. They have a great strategy. When Sony don't have a big first party to launch, they purchase third party exclusives. That way they can launch several big exclusives distributed evenly during the year (first and third party).
Luckily for Sony, people at Microsoft are too incompetent to react. Contrary to popular belief, Phil Spencer is doing a lousy job at Microsoft's gaming division. He only cares about Gamepass, Gampass and more Gamepass. The last good console Microsoft had was the Xbox 360 with several first and third party exclusives... after that it just went downhill.
I find it unbelievable that after two years, the Xbox Series have very few exclusives worth mentioning.

[LOGICWINS]

"Because... Sony are paying 3rd party developers for console exclusives. "

If this was just about money, Microsoft can easily outbid Sony for 3rd party exclusives. There has to be something other than money at play here.

"Luckily for Sony, people at Microsoft are too incompetent to react."

I know this is N4G, but let's try to use some common sense. Guardians of the Galaxy, Hitman 3, Octopath Traveler, Outriders, Life is Strange: True Colors, Just Cause 4, and Dragon Quest Builders 2 are all Square Enix games that happen to be on Game Pass. Given Microsoft and Square's amicable relationship, do you honestly believe that Phil has never "once" made an attempt to get a 3rd party exclusive for Xbox?

Again, there's more at play here than money.

[Vits]

Honestly, I would bet that is truly about the money. Square-Enix has proven that they are one of the easiest to coerce publisher way back in the day and once again with the Epic deals. But the reality is that this money is not only about the sum of money that either Sony or Microsoft can pay, but also the other conditions of the agreement. For the latter, it's safe to say to assume that a Game Pass release would be needed and I wouldn't put past Sony to reduce their share of the normal sales to entice SE to stick with them.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

@LOGICWINS

Remember that if Microsoft pays for a 3rd party exclusive, they have to compensate for loss of sales on the PlayStation version. This does not make too much business sense for them because even if they pay up the cash, they'll likely won't move enough console units to justify the exclusive costs. This is why Microsoft shifted to day one game pass games from 3rd parties instead of exclusive deals-

(shocker I know, Microsoft didn't stop money hatting/doing exclusive deals [for major titles at least, they still do it for smaller ones] because keeping games off other platforms is anti-gamer like Phil once said once upon a time)

- because day one games will increase subscribers. So it makes more sense to do that and compensate for loss of sales on their own console from being on GP day one instead of the typical 1 year console exclusive deal.

[Profchaos]

I think the key thing here is it's all about the money relationship means very little to most publishers e.g rockstar has a very longstanding relationship with Sony yet they held back GTA IV DLC for a significant period of time on PS3.
Activision had a long-standing relationship with ms providing cod DLC exclusively for the 360 for a month every DLC pack then they flipped when Sony gave them more money as soon as the contract lapsed.

It's all about the money.

Yeah Microsoft and square do have a amicable relationship I guess but it's also about money ms pay to have their games on gamepass same reason those games have also landed on a plus and some been made free on epic

Rumours swirling around are ultimately that Sony and square are forming a partnership of sorts with potential buyout rumours swirling around for the better part of 12 months but Sony refusing to publicize as that could threaten attempts to block the Activision deal.

All in all though it's a gross practice from both studios the whole buying the industry I personally hate it from both sides.

Sony have also funded games by third parties like deathloop, ghostwire Tokyo and forspoken they weren't just buying timed exclusivity but funding the projects for times exclusively that's a different story as those games could potentially not exist if it wasn't for the funding.

I think the only legitimate excuse that is plausible is a technical restraint as to why third party games are held back because devs couldn't get series s going properly so they were forced to scrap it something that hasn't happened yet.
Outside of this it's all about money

[dumahim]

MS and SE probably remember how well that worked out for Rise of the Tomb Raider.

[KillBill]

"If this was just about money, Microsoft can easily outbid Sony for 3rd party exclusives. There has to be something other than money at play here." ~ yes obviously. There is 'business plans'. Microsoft knows they aren't going to compete with Sony by using Sony's tactics. They have their own business plan which is simply shoring up their dev teams and access to their offerings via other methods. Methods that Sony does not like as well their fanbase. Microsoft has only recently changed their business practices. And given the reigns and finances to push forward with their 'all-in approach to gaming' now. Xbox knows keeping 3rd party games off Sony does little to solve any issues of their own and only attacks the competition. Which Sony is ok with doing as they don't have the same problems as Microsoft being the leader in the market for some time now and having already shored up their base plan. The 2 companies in competition are not the same. They are coming at the game market from different perspectives and can't be expected to play by the same business plan.

[Zeref]

A lot of the Final Fantasy games were/are on gamepass or coming to GamePass as well.

There's definitely more at play than simply money.
Square Enix might have a contract with Sony to bring all main Final Fantasy games to Playstation first.

[shinoff2183]

Xbox had had exclusive square game before. The last remant was e clusive on 360 they paid.

Visit

If your talking about square leaving Nintendo back in the day. That was on Nintendo. Learn your gaming history Lil guy. Nintendo did it to themselves

[Lifexline]

You pretty much nailed it in the head Sony pays for exclusive third party games. Microsoft could easily outbid them but I think they are focused on game pass right now and buying developers. Which is the right route to take.

[Profchaos]

Yet they still complain about the lack up uptake in gamepass subscriptions.

So much so they are building an ad supported gp solution

[shinoff2183]

Lifexline

You mean ms buying publishers.

[S2Killinit]

@Abracadabra
That was MS strategy actually which is why they now have to eat up multiplatform IPs becaise they didnt make their own and since they are getting killed in install base, they cant continue to pay for exclusives.

Thats the answer to the question posed by the article.

[Zhipp]

Exactly. MS shifted their strategy because relying only on purchasing exclusives was getting them nowhere.

Buying publishers and studios costs more in the short term, but has a much bigger long term payoff.

[Sonic1881]

Interesting thought

[gold_drake]

wut?

the question was, why are they skipping xbox. there was no mention of them being exclusive for Sony, but why Nintendo and Sony are the only ones getting them.

its an easy answer, because most of the time, there is no big enough fanbase for them. porting takes time and money.

xboxs fans are mostly playing shooters and racing games.

thus is why jrpgs are not in the console.

this has nothing to do with sony paying anyone lol

[Flawlessmic]

@snarky

Looking at your very short comment history, you need help brother 😂

Sounds like u have a fee issues in the head

[FyBy]

But luckily for devs, this is good for them. They get extra cash for development and can publish the game on xbox later to make even more money. Its bad only for xbox only gamers. On the other hand gamepass - like many "as a service" things - is not so good for quality developers. It is best for quick content. And also for marketing small devs of course. I would rather see timed exclusivity for Sony and Microsoft either than any form od Pass.

[ABizzel1]

Because games sell better on PS, and now they sell significantly better on PS thanks to GamePass. So MS has created this environment where:

1. Pro PS: Studios that have games that dramatically sell better on PS will just launch as exclusives or timed exclusives. Most of these games are established AAA Japanese games that sold around 1 million or less on Xbox vs. they sold 5x - 10x or more on PS, or new IP from western studios. So financially it makes more sense in some of those cases to have Sony co-fund the game and just go PS and PC, since Sony doesn't see PC completely as a direct competitor. Win-win for these studios.

2. Established / New IP: In order for them to be successful and not get fan backlash they have to launch on both platforms. Tomb Raider and SF5 both got backlash last-gen for their timed exclusive / console exclusive deals because those are established IP, and it's why Bethesda and now Activision deals have rubbed many gamers the wrong way. But New IP has to launch on both to gain an audience and fan base especially if neither company co-funds the IP. At best we get marketing deals for these type of games like CoD, Callisto Protocol, etc... On a side note, it's funny how MS says CoD isn't a big deal in this FTC case, but it's the most played game on their platform as we speak.

3. Pro Xbox: This seems to be happening less with bigger games as of late, but there's the Pro Xbox or Pro GamePass option. Where developers don't have the funding, or their publishers are unsure of the game's success, so it's "safer" to make a deal with Microsoft to launch the game into GamePass Day 1 or a few months out to give the game a chance to find an audience, for example, Gotham Knights should have launched on Gamepass Day 1. High on Life, Outriders, and others have done this because there was no clear indicator that these games would be successful. This is a huge benefit to developers and publishers, and it's a great option for Xbox to get recognition, but the problem is the games that are LAUNCHING into it are C tier - at best lately A tier, so they're nice bonuses to have but generally not the AAA game people were going out to pay $70 for Day 1. But this is also why you see way more Day 1 GamePass vs big AAA timed exclusives / console exclusive / PS exclusives, they cost less to add into GamePass.

[shinoff2183]

There's alot of Japanese devs that just don't believe in the Xbox. Rightfully so. It's mostly dude bro players. I see it everyday. All those Japanese games on game pass ms paid for to try and have some diversity. Sony isn't paying all these 3rd party devs who don't release on Xbox. If you believe that I'd simply call you a fool.

[Nyxus]

I think it's a cycle. These Japanese games (especially JRPGs) don't tend to sell too well on Xbox, so publishers opt to skip the platform because it's not worth it. Because of this fans of the genre choose other gaming systems, which in turn results to the JRPGs that do come out on Xbox selling poorly. And so on.

[Lightning77]

Very true. Japanese devs usually give MS the cold shoulder until cash is thrown around. Which is the only reason why MS TGS was the best it's been in years. Throw money for gamepass. Just as you said MS console sales are always bad over there (better this gen sure but you get what I mean) the perception over there is yeah the the X console doesn't sell while Sony's console does. In direct comparison to Xbox obviously Switch is the king over there. So devs will automatically make games for PS and naturally skip Xbox. Sony has to do nothing or talk to anyone. While MS has to make rounds trips every year.

[Nyxus]

Yeah, and the fact that those games show up day one on Gamepass probably shows that the publishers don't really have much faith in it selling well, which is why they choose to make a Gamepass deal with Microsoft.

[Gardenia]

Worldwide the Playstation brand is much bigger than Xbox. Xbox is very much an American product and is not selling crazy numbers outside the US. This is especially true in Japan which is an important gaming market for developers.

[kungfuian]

When the majority of the 3rd party exclusives go to Sony, that should tell you about the financial viability of the X-box platform from many developer/publisher's perspective.

Sony has invested in making it's brand/platform something with broad global market appeal with a focus on selling games in the traditional method (upfront sales vs. part of a service). As a result Sony has a larger install base and is often a better place for 3rd parties to sell their games.

X-box has been much less successful in this regard. They have not been able to broaden the appeal of the X-box brand after all these years (appeals to mostly US and UK), which of course is a vicious cycle. It means less install base and less diverse software.

Add in their new push toward GamePass, which while broadening access to many types of games, has amplified the problem of new game releases selling even less. Don't get me wrong, Gamepass is great place for small games trying to find an audience, for developers who get offered enough to offset what they thought they would otherwise make in sales, and for monetizing legacy content. But it is not a great place to be if you are trying to sell expensive to develop new games (unless your games follow a free to play live service model).

As a developer/publisher, it makes business sense to skip x-box as a platform if your projections show your game will likely sell poorly, and better to potentially get extra cash from Sony with an exclusive deal.

Bad snowball situation I don't think they have the answer to.

[KillBill]

Point being many devs are looking at short term payouts versus issues with long term ramifications. Betting that any future changes to their distribution will not be handicapped by the other side. Putting the two competitors in question against themselves for their own payout at each venture point.

[masterfox]

xbox series S unnecessary console?

[wiegraf]

It's an amazing console, what are you talking about?

[dRanzer]

amazing? an exaggeration

[badboyz09]

did you really ask😐

[HyperMoused]

Aside from PS buying exclusivity and some JRPGs which, which games are not coming to Xbox?..... Some JRPGS are not a huge deal, having said that there a few RPGS coming out now, more so than a while ago for sure. Id say JRPGS are not popular on xbox and so not really worth it.

[Brazz]

A number of reasosns combined:
1- Game historicaly isn't selling well on Xbox?
2- Money hats from Sony/Nintendo?
3- Partnership with Sony/Nintendo?
4- No resources to make a Xbox Port, and not wanting to take risks?
5- Politic relation, Dev. Only wants to make games for "XXXXX" because they have a good relationship.

[VersusDMC]

Thank you for bringing up Nintendo. People trying to make it a Sony thing when Square made all their 2DHD games exclusive to Switch.

And one is even on XBOX (Octopath 1) and not on playstation.

[Knushwood Butt]

Bu but, Sony.

[RedDevils]

I want Octopath 1 on PS4/5 lol

[Deathdeliverer]

Don’t come at me for this but I think PlayStation gamers buy games. People on Xbox are playing gamespass or waiting for games to hit gamespass. If you’re making a game and want to maximize income, you can focus on one console (PlayStation) and get it out on there first. Then get the Xbox version where you want it to be and release it after. It’s not because PlayStation gives the best hugs, it’s not because Phil hasn’t hand delivered cookies. It just makes good business sense. UNLESS you don’t expect a lot of sales from your game or know it’s niche. Then you probably would be welcoming of the gamespass approach and just release on everything.

[Stanjara]

Publisher puts their games where they sell. They support platforms where players collect physical copies first, than digital ones and then after everything settles they look for a subscription deal.

That's why you see Switch and PS support.
PC is a natural choice too.

For Xbox, people are waiting for a game to come to Gamepass.

Gamepass deals are best case scenario 3 million dollars. Usually under a mill.
There are also bonuses for game downloads
from Gamepass, but hey... Xbox and Jrpg right.

For Alteir Ryza they woul get 300k deal for GP and that game woul be downloaded 15k times.
Publisher says: Don't bother, that's the cost of the port and licencing alone.

Meanwhile they sell 3d figurines for $300 a piece to PS fans.

These are my rough numbers, but that's what usually happens.

[poppatron]

I’m sorry… what games are talking about? I had no idea this was a prominent issue

[SonyStyled]

You can read the article if you’d like, but it’s a lot of talk about final fantasy being on PS and Nintendo only. There’s another square Enix title launching soon that’s a timed PS console exclusive. There was also two timed PS console exclusives from Bethesda. Kena: Bridge of Spirits and Stray have yet to be announced for other consoles now that I think about it

[Auron]

In light of all thats coming out about sony these days.. it seems that they pay publishers to keep games off xbox. Deny it if you want but its out there that they do infact do this.

[z2g]

Because Sony blocks them with money. Think about it. Sony bought the rights to so much final fantasy shit… and why would a third party developer/publisher not want to have tens of millions of other potential customers and fans. The answer is Sony paying them for that money. It was Sony who invented the timed exclusive to thwart Xbox sales generations ago. It’s Sony who pays for marketing rights to games like call of duty and destiny before that (before they purchased bungie).

You can look all of this up and it’s all true. Phil spencer was right on the nose when he said Sony wants to grow PlayStation by making Xbox small. This is exactly what he meant.

[VersusDMC]

Sony invented the timed exclusive to thwart XBOX? Microsoft signed a 11 game exclusivity deal with Sega before the original XBOX even came out.

https://news.microsoft.com/...

And Microsoft paid for Dead or Alive 3 exclusivity at launch.

People always trying to re write history...

[VersusDMC]

@ps5switchxbox.

Why did i need to include that?
The sega ps2 exlusives were announced in june and the xbox ones were announced in March. I was just showing how dumb the statement that Sony invented exclusives to take down xbox is...not that they didn't have any.

And in that article about Square and Sony it says that Square asked Sony to buy the shares. And it even says that Square isn't obligated to make games exclusive even though Sony bought the shares...did you even read the article?!

Thanks for debunking your own statement.👍

[ziggyzinfirion]

@ps5switchxbox

It clearly stated on the IGN article you shared that Square approached Sony to buy the shares. I don't know why you decided to use this as a response to VersusDMC, why would Sony put up shares without getting anything in return? Square had an excellent partnership with Sony since PS1 and would have probably offered those exclusivity deals to ensure their shares.

[redrum06]

Long story short; both parties are playing the same game back and forth for years.

[Chevalier]

If you believe that then sorry you're an idiot. How the heck would Sony outbid a company worth $2 trillion?!! Seriously a company trying to make a $70 billion purchase like a 3rd of Sonys net worth got outbid by them?!! Just think about how stupid that sounds.

Plus you're wrong. Microsoft has timed exclusives back to their original Xbox. Definitely can see why paying big money for advertising works considering how gullible people are falling for Microsofts narrative.

[Imalwaysright]

Actually they were doing it to Nintendo and Sega well before MS introduced the Xbox brand to the console market the most notable deal being the one they made with Eidos for the TR IP that led to the cancellation of the already in the development Sega Saturn version of TR2.

[RaiderNation]

Because with the advent of Game Pass, MS is conditioning Xbox owners to NOT buy games anymore. 3rd party developers do not feel as incentivized to put their games on a platform that has no hope of selling them and likewise, throwing them into Game Pass does not always prove to be lucrative either.

[LoveSpuds]

I would go further and suggest that 'giving' games away on GP actually generates a negative perception for gamers on other platforms, and this perception of devaluing your games by giving them away is something serious devs don't want to do.

Personally, when I see a 3rd party game tagged as being day one on GP I almost always assume it will be a fairly average game.

[RaiderNation]

"Personally, when I see a 3rd party game tagged as being day one on GP I almost always assume it will be a fairly average game."

Same. I look at Game Pass as the modern day digital bargain bin.

[derek]

Because a large segment of the xbox community don't pay for games anymore. Microsoft have successfully transitioned their customers to a subscription model.

[ApocalypseShadow]

You don't need a long article blabbing on why Microsoft doesn't get Japanese content. The console isn't a big seller over there. And the article writer can try and excuse the fact that Japanese games don't sell as well on the platform, but the reality is that they don't sell as well. There's no Jedi mind trick here.

Microsoft created the problem. It isn't the Japanese ignoring the system. Microsoft hasn't invested enough in the Japanese market to show that they care about Japanese consumers. They haven't built Japanese studios to show that they care. Didn't build Japanese games to show that they care. A lot of the times, they didn't even care about translating games. Just a "Here you go. This is what we want you to have. Suck it" attitude.

Sony invested in studios across the planet. Not just Japan. Microsoft is worth 2 TRILLION. If you're not investing but expect your console to sell, expecting your games to sell, then you're only deluding yourself Microsoft. And because of that, "we don't care to invest" attitude, Japanese developers are like "We'll create or port the games to the platforms that do care. That do invest in gaming."

It's not rocket science. Microsoft is to blame. It's why Phil has to go over there with his check book to get Japanese games. But he's created a new problem. Now, Japanese developers are probably expecting checks before bringing games to Xbox. You keep handing out money, they will expect you to keep handing out money for Japanese games.

It's your own fault Microsoft. You didn't invest, this is the result of it.

[Imalwaysright]

I don't know why some of you come to an website dedicated to gaming to straight up lie and not expect to be called out on your bullshit. Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey (easily the best JRPG of the 7th generation), Eternal Sonata, The Last Remnant and making a deal to bring FFXIII to the 360. MS did invest in the japanese market and it simply didn't work out for them.

[Knushwood Butt]

'MS did invest in the japanese market and it simply didn't work out for them.'.

Yes, they did, and that generation was their most successful to date in Japan.

They then closed all of their JP operations and made most of the staff redundant (I know, because I worked with some of those folks after they left MS).

Talk about nurturing internal growth!

[Imalwaysright]

Knushwood Butt

Assuming that the Xbox 360 sold 84 million units (VGchartz numbers) then Japan accounted for just 1.9% of total sales so MS most successful generation in Japan isn't exactly a high bar is it?

[Knushwood Butt]

No.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Lol. You're talking about over a decade ago. And only because Sony wasn't on the market yet and had to delay over a year to a year and a half to release PS3. So developers released on Xbox. Companies like Capcom and Namco went multiplatform. They have no Japanese studios making games ***NOW***. Way to be current and up to date buddy. What Japanese studios have they built? What Japanese games have they made in the last year? Nothing. You named 3rd parties who made games. Name a Japanese Microsoft in-house developer back then and now? Not someone they paid.

Sony has also invested in their China Hero Projects to bring games to PlayStation. What investment has Microsoft done in China to bring games to Xbox? Yeah. Nothing. You're the lier. Go educate yourself on what investment means.

And you guys don't buy games because you're all about game pass nonsense. Every single month Sony was beating Microsoft in 3rd party games on NPD. It was probably the same worldwide. The fact games skip Xbox or are exclusive to PlayStation tells you that I'm right and you're bull shitting. It's why Phil kept having to go to Japan to get games and spend those checks. You don't have to spend if you have in-house Japanese studios. That totally went over your head.

[Imalwaysright]

..

[Chevalier]

I agree it definitely didn't work for Xbox. Eternal Sonata, Tales etc ended up on Playstation afterwards. Then Atlus and most JRPGs just started being made on Playstation only. I would know I own almost every 360 and PS3 JRPG released.

Although Apocalypse isn't wrong though. Xbox gave up investing is absolutely true. They're coming around again though recently with this upcoming Kojima exclusive and probably a couple I'm forgetting.

[Imalwaysright]

Yes it was a decade ago and it was enough for them to learn their lesson because unlike you, they're not stupid in the head wich you have to be in order to make a statement like this:

"Name a Japanese Microsoft in-house"

Why would they invest into creating a studio if funding games made by highly respected japanese game designers such as Hironobu Sakaguchi, Akira Toriyama or Nobuo Uematsu and making a deal to bring FF to their platform didn't yield successful results for them?

China? What the hell does China have to do with Japan? Educate myself? If your idea of educating myself is being a straight up liar and an idiotic fanboy then I'll have to pass.

"you guys" Who the hell are you talking to? You're talking to a PC gamer that is more than happy to buy MS and Sony's 1st party games from steam without having to shell out €1000 to buy outdated AMD boxes with the Playstation and Xbox logos attached to them.

"you don't have to spend if you have in-house Japanese studios."

Like Sony spent to get timed exclusivity for Forspoken and FF16? I don't know how much Sony is paying you to act like a lying fool on this website but they should definitely pay you less than they actually are.

[Deathdeliverer]

@To the people that say PlayStation blocks games from coming on Xbox with money.

Microsoft just spent how much on Activision/Blizzard? How much on Zenimax? THEY are getting blocked by money? Are y’all seriously buying that?

Sony- Hey we will help with development/publishing cost and fees and give prominent advertising for you to release on our console 6 months earlier. That puts our side of the bill at about… 1 million USD.

Developer to Microsoft- Hey…. They offered us a million dollar deal. Unless you can beat that…

Microsoft- Who the heck has that kind of money? A million?! You want us to get the lights turned off around here or something?!

Get real people. Deals like that go on all the time on both sides. I’m sure Microsoft does even more than that to get games to release on gamespass exclusive or day and date with release. Microsoft is not as helpless as they try to make you lot believe.

[XBManiac]

Not enough users buying games?

[MadLad]

Japanese companies don't typically play nice with Western companies.

Doesn't help that a certain large entity often pushes to keep these games off of Xbox as well.

[Chevalier]

Oh wow really? You expect everyone to be an idiot and believe Sony can outbid Microsoft?! The same company putting up $70 billion for a publisher purchase?!

Sorry maybe if you weren't so gullible you would be thinking straight. These companies just don't want to lose money and Xbox is 100% a loss. The only reason all these games like Nier, Persona, Final Fantasy hit Xbox gamepass so far after the fact is because they already made their profit on Playstation and Nintendo.

Just consider that Xbox best selling system which was almost equal to PS3 sales. At their height of popularity Final Fantasy Playstation outsold Xbox by double.

https://www.criticalhit.net...

PS4 Final Fantasy XV sales at launch in the UK 81 percent sales on Playstation. It's not worth their publishing and advertising cost to make an Xbox version for many games.

[FGHFGHFGH]

@Chevalier

Xbox had marketing rights in the USA also. So every commercial for FF13 had that xbox logo at the end, with no mention of PS. They paid for the breach of contract, a bunch of tv ads (it was during NBA playoffs i think) and sold way less. I remember even the president of squareenix at the time was like "why are people buying it on playstation?" Even big games like Elden Ring was like 15% xbox to 45% Playstation.

[Chevalier]

"Xbox had marketing rights in the USA also. So every commercial for FF13 had that xbox logo at the end, with no mention of PS. They paid for the breach of contract, a bunch of tv ads (it was during NBA playoffs i think) and sold way less. I remember even the president of squareenix at the time was like "why are people buying it on playstation?" Even big games like Elden Ring was like 15% xbox to 45% Playstation."

Agreed! That's my point that was at the height of Xbox's popularity AND Xbox was paying for exclusives during this time and the sale were nowhere close. Exclusives Tales and other RPGs eventually ended up on Playstation anyways simply because being a Xbox exclusive would alienate their main customers and lose money. There's never been a single JRPG that has ever come close in Playstation sales when compared to Xbox.

Every idiot seems to think oh Playstation money hats everything, but, point out that Microsoft is worth $2 trillion? Oh convenient let's forget that. This whole stupid narrative that Xbox is some victim is absolutely priceless. The huge company worth 10x Sony is getting bullied?! Lol. Oh Sony's exclusives are better so we should get to purchase a 2nd publisher?! Again idiotic. It's not like Sonys 1st party games or Nintendos 1st party success was some fluke. The games didn't fall in their laps. They built up those studios and their success along with it.

No company who has to manage ballooning budget in game development would turn down money when they want their properties to succeed. They however won't allocate resources when they WILL lose money. When your sales are 20% of sales it might cost more to publish on Xbox. There's a reason why all these games like Persona, Dragonquest, Nier, Final Fantasy, Yakuza show up so late after their Playstation and Nintendo counterparts to Gamepass. It's simply because they already made their money on Playstation and Nintendo and now its viable to get that subscription money. Day 1 though? Would have probably cost most companies too much for only 10%-20% sales

[TheGreatGazoo30]

They're not. The ones that do is because Sony pays them to.

[lucian229]

Why is Xbox not making its own games?

Same answer as the OP, cuz Xbox sucks.

[Vizigoth04]

My bet is if Microsoft had AAA first party games show up on game pass then other third party games would get some traction as well. The problem an GamePass is Microsoft promised day and date 1ST party but those have been far and few between. If Microsoft can at least get one AAA 1ST party per quarter that will attract subscribers I would stagger that in between 3rd party releases. We’re all waiting for GamePass to come with a consistent missing ingredient. 1st Party exclusives. That is all.

[shaenoide]

Why releasing a game on a console you're not sure to sell when you can wait for the gamepass money to drop and with free advertising during an event ?

[GamingSinceForever]

He should start by asking Phil Spencer this question. That will then give him some concrete information to then as the publishers about

[MADGameR]

Because X Box owners barely by games. MS has ensured that with Gamepass. There's always a large margin in sales in favor of PlayStation eversince the 8th gen. Plus it is more lucrative for SONY to get third party games exclusive for their console as it will allow for the maximum amount sold possible for PlayStation. I just think that 2 year deal for Forspoken was a mistake... they should've made it 1 year.

[Kekewei]

Enough with MS goodie goodie... It's not just about money. Making a game exclusive on a platform with low potential audience is bad for both third party and platform. MS learned their lesson from the failure in Rise of the Tomb Raider deal.

[gold_drake]

fanbase

xbox players usually dont play those sort of games.

with the case of FF7R, square had an opportunity to port it over to xbox, after the exclusive deal was over, but chose not to cause the fanbase is on sony consoles.

same with the pixel remaster, theres just not many who buy these sort of games. and porting takes time and money

3rd party devs have the numbers and go where their games sell.

[Aussiesummer]

Sony simply has a certain top tier pedigree that attracts studios.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

We all know why but it won’t be a popular opinion around these parts….

[Chevalier]

Its fact sales of 3rd party games have dropped off a cliff. That's from Xbox OWN reports about gamepass increasing while 3rd party game sales drop off significantly. That's on multiplatform games and from Xbox official reports.

"Microsoft says that even though Game Pass subscriptions and first-party titles did numbers during the quarter, those gains are offset by a decrease in third-party game purchases."

https://www.gamedeveloper.c...

What don't like to hear Xbox sales suck for 3rd party games? Well too bad it's FACT. Xbox confirmed. Not some random BS like you're hinting at.

[Tzuno]

Simple
PlayStation is more famous

[Games1st]

They don’t want to waste time optimising to the weakest link

[babadivad]

Because Sony pays them to.

[shadowT]

Xbox Game Pass is hurting retail sales.

[jznrpg]

Series S , Game-Pass , PS and Ninetendo owners buy games

[anast]

The series S

[Binarycode]

Skipping xbox, because they won't sell enough units on xbox and also Sony has great relationships with those publishers/devs etc.

[UltimateOwnage]

Because Xbox is not a team player. They buy everything they think gamers want and then kill the talent that made the studios great. They’re basically a bully. They’re not cultivating creativity, they’re trying to force it and lure everyone into subs. They’re cancer for the entire industry and I’m glad that independent studios stay away, as they continue to gobble up more of the industry, whether the industry likes it or not.

[Terry_B]

Lol @ the question.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

The FTC and CMA should be asking this question

[darkrider]

Lack of sales and marketshare

[BlaqMagiq1]

Because a majority of Japanese games don't sell on Xbox. That's it. That's literally it.

[talocaca]

Many reasons....but one of them being many Xbox owners just don't buy any games and just wait for them to be "free" on Gamepass.

I have a PS5 and a Series S. I've paid full price for over 15 PS5 games and have zero on Series S.

Games like Final Fantasy tend to sell the vast to majority on PS so it's understandable that they would agree to go exclusive for some cash/marketing deals.

[septemberindecember]

Sometimes there are deals (e.g Sony paid for exclusivity either full, partial, or timed) Sometimes they are Japanese focused games and they may come to Xbox later (or they don't see a point in porting it due to perceived poor performance). It's not rocket science

[Abear21]

Development for two systems M$ makes devs include the S.

[wiegraf]

Because the ps4 destroyed the Xone last gen. Luckily, things are starting to change (slowly).

[Youngindy21]

It's really only certain Japanese companies like Square Enix and in the end they are only hurting themselves by limiting their audience. I actually think more 3rd party devs are supporting the Xbox this gen than during the previous Xbox One gen.

[Christopher]

"Why doesn't the media care?"

Umm... hey, windowscentral.com why don't you care?

TBH, it's talked about constantly by the media. So, not sure this is a fair claim to make.

[Jrpg_Gamer]

Quick answer : lost odyssey, blue dragon, magna carta 2, infinite undiscovery, last remnant, all exclusives that failed on 360, square learned their lesson

[Flewid638]

Because it has the lowest marketshare. Doesn't take rocket science to see that.

[YourMommySpoils]

Xbox doesn't need games. They just need Coooooooooooooll ooooooooooo Doooooooooooteeeeeeeeeee.

[Dandizzle]

I've worked with ps4/ps5 dev kits and all the xbox dev kits since the 360 era. Xbox dev kits /software have some cool features but they dont always work and its slow and clunky compared to the dev software Sony uses.
The brunt of it is its cheaper and more easy to develop for Playstation and PC which also have higher player bases. Xbox is annoying to support and often its better to skip xbox entirely for a better quality PC release.