Forget the Console Wars: Xbox Exclusives Head to Nintendo and PlayStation as Microsoft Competes With TikTok and Movies, Says Matt Booty
As Halo, Forza, and Gears of War make the jump beyond Xbox, Microsoft is rewriting its playbook—turning crown-jewel exclusives into everywhere games and kicking off a new phase of the console wars.
Xbox is doing the thing nobody would've bet on ten years ago: letting its once-sacred exclusives wander onto PlayStation and Nintendo. And according to Xbox content and studios boss Matt Booty, that pivot is less about beating Sony or Nintendo and more about chasing your attention wherever it lives.
What actually moved, and where this is headed
Booty told The New York Times all this right before the announcement that Halo: Campaign Evolved is coming to PS5 next year. Yes, that title. By now, plenty of Xbox staples have already crossed the aisle to other consoles, and not just the smaller ones.
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
- Grounded
- Sea of Thieves
- Gears of War
- Forza
- Halo
'Our biggest competition isn't another console.'
'We are competing more and more with everything from TikTok to movies.'
'We are seeking to meet people where they are.'
Translation: it is all the attention economy now
This is the same logic we heard years ago when Netflix said Fortnite was more of a threat than HBO. It sounds odd until you remember there are only so many hours in a day, and everything from a new album to a mobile game to, you know, going outside, eats those hours. If you buy that framing, then putting Xbox games on more platforms is just fishing where the fish are.
The business pressure behind the philosophy
There is also the less glossy side. A recent Bloomberg report said Microsoft leadership wants Xbox to hit unusually high profit targets, which tracks with the nearly $70 billion it spent to buy Activision Blizzard. That kind of bill comes with expectations, and it helps explain the rougher headlines: cancellations, studio closures, and subscription price increases. So while Booty is making the attention argument, there is a very practical spreadsheet argument humming in the background too.
The bottom line
Xbox framing other consoles as not-the-enemy makes sense if your real fight is for time and habit, not just hardware market share. And on certain days, it feels like Xbox's toughest opponent might be... Microsoft itself. Either way, the result for players is clear: more former exclusives showing up in more places, with Halo: Campaign Evolved headed to PS5 next year to prove the point.