A line was crossed last week when Microsoft made the announcement of Forza Horizon 5 coming to the Playstation 5. Playground Games’ Forza Horizon, a staunch Xbox exclusive franchise since its first installment in 2012 for the Xbox 360 — alongside other franchises synonymous with the Xbox, such as Halo and Gears of War — was once thought to be sacrosanct. In other words, nobody thought they’d ever see Forza Horizon, Halo or Gears on a Playstation.
The times however, are a changing, and according to former Playstation executive Adam Boyes, who was PlayStation’s vice president of third-party relations between 2012 and 2016, nobody is a victim when formerly exclusive games become available for more players across systems.
A Dodge Viper GTS in Forza Horizon 5/Microsoft
“I understand why people have feelings about it and opinions, because their idea is the identity of me choosing a brand and being beholden to that brand is unilateral, and therefore that should be the one source of all content,” Boyes said on a recent interview with Gamertag Radio.
“But I do think if we think of it in the analogy of, they were Blockbuster that became Netflix, and what I mean by that is when they began, it was about the physical unit being the entertainment experience in the living room, and that was a plastic player that your put discs in and it plays it, so you need to serve people with the physicality of it.”
Boyes elaborated on his analogy comparing Xbox and Playstation to the different streaming services, noting that while traditionalists might be shocked at seeing the Forza Horizon festival after a Playstation startup screen or Master Chief reloading with the triangle button, more content across platforms is only conducive for the industry.
Microsoft/343 Industries
“I understand why traditionalists are looking at that being like, ‘I don’t like change! I want it to only be where I want it to be!’ And that’s the bit where my logic gap starts to break.
“Because when Phil [Spencer] and his team are putting amazing content on more platforms, who’s the victim? I ask a lot of people, ‘who’s the victim?’ And there aren’t any, except for people who are like, ‘I only want it where I bought it, and that’s what I expect!’”
Boyes added that he “applauds [Xbox] for being agile enough in a changing and transitioning market to expand.”
Do you think that Xbox’s multiplatform era is a good thing? Do you think the decision to put former exclusives like Forza Horizon 5 and Halo on Playstation consoles will only hurt Microsoft and future Xbox consoles in the future, or is it a forward way of thinking? Let us know in the comments.
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