Xbox Exclusives Reportedly Coming Back, Leaving Gamers Split

1 week ago 10

Published Apr 14, 2026, 11:34 AM EDT

Ben Brosofsky has been writing for Screen Rant since 2022 and editing since 2024. He graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor's in Cinema & Media Arts. Writing serves as a much-needed distraction from tackling a backlog of Steam games that will never be surmounted.

Xbox exclusivity has been the topic of much debate in recent years, as Microsoft has started to move away from reserving even first-party games for Xbox consoles alone. In recent years, titles like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Pentiment, and even Starfield have made their way to competing systems, signaling a major shift in strategy overall. If the latest report is to be believed, though, Xbox might still reverse course on this principle.

In the latest episode of the XB2 podcast on YouTube, Windows Central editor Jez Corden claimed that "There are very, very big discussions regarding exclusivity internally at Xbox." It's not currently clear if this means the company will actually dive back into a focus on exclusives, but it does suggest that the future may not be entirely free of them.

Xbox Exclusives Are Reportedly Coming Back

Jez Corden has been making a lot of interesting claims about Xbox this week, and even if there's no major change in policy, some of his previous comments could more directly confirm that some Xbox exclusives will still happen in the future. In another stream from several days ago, Corden noted that the ports can come down to whether individual teams have the dev kits and time to do them, suggesting that Gears of War: E-Day could very well remain an Xbox exclusive.

Other revelations from the past week include the idea that Xbox could potentially introduce new Game Pass tiers, with Corden suggesting that a lower-priced tier with most of Ultimate's benefits but no premium titles like Call of Duty might be on the table.

Not Everyone Can Agree On Xbox Exclusives

Fans have been reacting to the possibility of future exclusives in response to a tweet from CharlieIntel sharing the news, and opinions are definitely mixed. Michael Jesus Santos suggests that they "100% should" to keep the playing field even, despite the fact that he'd personally prefer to see the games on other platforms as a PlayStation user. He Who Remains, on the other hand, argues that it's too late to backtrack now, saying that Xbox already "gave away [its] whole hand."

It's too early now to say for sure what Xbox's future plans are, as most of Corden's claims suggest that everything is still in the process of deliberation. Hopefully, the platform will find a way forward that manages to satisfy long-term fans without having to totally abandon its current direction, but striking that balance could be easier said than done.