Would the gaming community get mad if MS made a traditional exclusive for Xbox again?

In order for a MS game to be on PC, it needs to be a part of the Play Anywhere program. In that case, what if MS, lets say 2-3 years down the line, decides to exclude a game or two from Play Anywhere to drive sales for xbox once they are producing (hopefully) quality games?

Do you think MS would catch flak for that?

MS could do the best thing for the gaming community and people would still get mad. They are the black sheep right now and get a lot of undue hate because of it.

MS should just release that streaming box, nothing else.

Imo they shot themselves in the foot with the "Play Anywhere" decision. Yes, it was good for gamers but bad for business if they want to push Xbox sales in the future. Now, if they backpaddle they'll get flak for doing so and if they keep it going there wont be any incentive to buy future xbox consoles. Say what you will but high quality exclusives do drive sales. The Switch success is proof of that

@Vatusus: Xbox - the gaming group - is the priority, not the Xbox console. Getting games on as many platforms as possible through the Xbox brand is the future, which includes Xbox consoles. If you want to play on your Android or iOS device, you will be able to. With pc and Xbox console being for for the more serious gamer.

Cloud gaming will be a big part of the future, and the next gen consoles will embrace that....concentrating solely on how many consoles they sell isn't their priority.

Microsoft isnt going to do that. They don't care about a silly fanboys metagame... They care about making an inviting, inclusive gaming experience.... They care about making money!

MS introducing Xbox Play Anywhere wasn't the problem, it's their own IP games offering is what's the problem. MS is making money through Windows 10, they want to support Windows 10 with Xbox Play Anywhere and let's be real, as much as I'm pro PC, not everyone cares or don't wanna bother with PC gaming, Xbox will still have a place in the gaming market.

MS just needs to get better on their IP games. More new IP exclusive, less Forza, Halo, & Gears please.

I agree. MSFT is the "en vogue" thing to hate by gamers. Now they haven't helped themselves with mediocre games even if I have had some fun with them. I've dated some dogs and had fun nights in my life too.

Yeah we had Forza/gears/halo on repeat for way too long.

But now they bought (and created) a bunch of studios so let's see where that goes.

Seeing MS buying more studios, Phil is taking this seriously which is good, he's trying to prepare for next-gen and making sure having more new IP exclusive is the only way for anyone buying Xbox Scarlet.

Cows would be angry because they would lose the Xbox has no games mantra, and hermits would be mad because although they spend hundreds if not thousands on their PC's would complain they would have to spend more :(

They're moving to a unified Xbox ecosystem, where games and features translate across platforms. The Xbox console is a part of that ecosystem, but i'd bet my bottom dollar they will only move forward with unification, rather than ostracizing people for one or two games.

Imo they don't need to worry about it. They've basically moved their revenue model entirely off of hardware sales. Near as I can tell, moving forward to them the Xbox hardware line is just to sell more software and services to those who aren't gaming on PC. "Don't have MS Windows? No problem. You can give us money anyway." There's no meaningful distinction to them now. As long as the Xbox hardware isn't sold at a loss, it's just another chance for a person to pay them for software

"We" care, because people here are obsessed with exclusives as the metric for "our" company "winning". But Play Anywhere seems to be the opposite of a loss for MS. The only people who think it's one are those looking at console hardware sales through the SW lens

I could see the PC crowd being angry but no one else would care.

They just need to release quality games. People can get mad over anything but if MS can release good games again then I think the hate will be for naught.

Most of the hate they are getting this generation is due to their low quality output more than anything.

I guarantee you that all of the people that currently bash Xbox for not having any exclusives would be the very first people to bitch if Microsoft decided to keep a game 100% exclusive to Xbox.

Some people just want to hate on Microsoft no matter what they do.

MS would get blasted to hell for reneging on Play Anywhere, and it would be obvious that the only reason they did it was to try and prop up flagging sales on Xbox One titles. I would understand if they had new management that wanted to focus on selling consoles again, but if it was Phil "The Weasel" Spencer changing his mind, that would be pretty low down at this stage.

If they ax Play Anywhere for next gen, they may as well do it with every title, not just some.

I want to see them be like Nintendo: Sure, they make their zeldas, and their marios and their pokemons... but they also invest in new IPs and new ideas all the time. And they aren't afraid to reinvent their system seller IP.

MS used to do that. For Xbox 360 we had Alan Wake, Saint's row, Gears of War... Those days were fantastic for me. But at the end of the 360 cycle all we had was CODs and Halos and Gears of Wars.... I hated that period.

Windows 10 store isn't that great, I doubt Xbox sales got any worst than what they were.

Personally, I think Microsoft is way better off targeting the PC market on Windows 10 store by implementing the Game Pass cause PC gamers love cheap games. Which they are doing this year, likely xCloud as well, and hopefully that means the revamped awesome Win10 store comes along with it.

As for mobile. I imagine xCloud on mobile is to sell Game Pass, I'm just not sure how that works with their partners, and whether they want people to be able to buy a Xbox copy of their game, and stream it to mobile, certainly they'd have issues if xCloud was on PC.

What an immature emotion. ‘Mad’ because pc owners can play the same game as my Xbox. What the hell do I care who else plays my game? How does that impact my Xbox experience?

Honestly, we need an maturity filter for what constitutes a thread these day. ‘Mad’, gimmie a break. I’m mad someone thought this was an interesting enough topic to make a thread about.

I agree it doesn't effect me as I only play on console. It's clear ms want their platform to be everywhere. It is a bit strange they are putting gears tactics pc only though.

It would be dumb to revert to the previous model especially when the entire company is moving towards hardware agnostic services.