The voice of gamers carries a lot of weight with Microsoft, especially when it comes to what people want most.

After years of disappointing its fans with its strategy, Xbox has a new head, Asha Sharma, who aims to restore a positive relationship with the now-dissatisfied audience. Following the conclusion of the “Everything is Xbox” strategy, the company launched the Xbox Player Voice initiative, a digital forum where fan feedback is collected and given greater visibility. The fans’ reaction leaves little doubt about what they want most: the return of exclusive games.

“Xbox was built on great game exclusives. You can’t sell any consoles without offering a reason to buy yours instead of a competitor’s, or without keeping your flagship games. BRING THEM BACK PLEASE,” wrote user Carlos Hernandez in a post on the new service. Currently, this post has received the most votes (11,310), surpassing the second and third most popular posts, which focus on backward compatibility (8,745 votes) and free online multiplayer (8,655 votes). This is surprising, considering that free online multiplayer remains a sore spot for console gaming in general. PlayStation Plus Essential has increased in price, while Xbox Game Pass has decreased in price due to the exclusion of Call of Duty.

Most comments from the Xbox community agree with the main post, emphasizing that exclusive titles are the main reason to buy a game console. “Xbox is nothing without its exclusives. There’s no way around it. It’s also disrespectful to all the fans who have supported the brand for over two decades. Whether we like it or not, exclusives are essential for a healthy business,” wrote Aurélein Tessier.

Others aren’t asking for all Xbox games to be exclusive; they’re only asking for flagship franchises like Gears of War, Forza, Halo, and Fable to be exclusive. “Any tentpole IPs, such as Gears, Halo, Forza, and Fable, should be Xbox and PC only. If they are released for other platforms, it should be at least 12 months later. All new IPs going forward that aren’t considered multiplayer, i.e., COD, should also be made exclusive. As we have seen, releasing major IPs on another console has diluted the Xbox brand and hurt sales,” wrote Troy Batchelor.

Interestingly, not all Xbox fans agree with these views, though they are in the minority. “Exclusivity is selfish. Gaming wasn’t meant to be played alone. It’s meant to be fun, inclusive, and a shared experience. Nobody can relate to players who gush over an exclusive game because they aren’t playing it. Studios need a better return on investment than any single platform can provide,” wrote Matthew Thomas. “I want more game ports on the Switch 2 with cross-progression. 2026 exclusive games are useless,” said Zell Zetta.

Although it seemed that the era of console-exclusive games was coming to an end based on the past few years, it appears that Xbox fans’ wishes may finally come true. Rumors suggest that the new management is considering a return to console exclusives, primarily because consumers are steadily being lured away from Xbox hardware since all games are released on PlayStation as well. Since the community has made its opinion on the matter quite clear, it wouldn’t be surprising if future releases of flagship franchises like Halo remained exclusive to the next-gen Xbox Project Helix, even though a multiplatform release could be successful, as we saw with Forza Horizon 5.

Source: WCCFTech, Xbox Player Voice