Last week, I gave my thoughts on the XBOX Games Showcase and how, despite Asha Sharma proclaiming the Microsoft‘s gaming arm will focus on adding more exclusive titles for their video game console, only showed a couple of titles that will do just that. These were the upcoming Fable, Clockwork Revolution and Gears of War: E-Day. In retrospect, it was naive of me to think Asha Sharma could wrangle up more console exclusive games in the short span of time she was put in charge of the XBOX brand. Still, I kind of expected more.

Well, it turns out there are more than just a few people who are upset with the new direction Asha Sharma is putting XBOX on. After I posted that review, I saw a couple of comments linking to videos stating how some “Sony fanboys” are upset with Gears of War: E-Day being an XBOX console exclusive.

Now, here’s the thing, it turns out, a few years ago, I just might have been one of those “Sony fanboys” who would be upset with XBOX getting console exclusives! I actually wrote a post more than a decade ago about how video game console exclusives don’t really have any space in the modern gaming landscape. And that was me, a “Sony fanboy”, railing against Street Fighter V being a PlayStation exclusive game! I was railing against the very console I was fanboying for! So you know I was very serious about it at the time. It does seem I’ve changed in a decade as I was fine with Asha Sharma’s declaration. In fact, I was actually excited for the prospect!

I grew up during the multiple console wars during gaming’s more formative years. If you think “Sony fanboys” are hardcore for their system, you definitely didn’t grow up during the 16-bit console wars! The thing is, most of the hate you would give to the opposing side was just a sign of jealousy. Oh, you have Super Mario World? Well, we have Sonic the Hedgehog 2! Oh, your version of Street Fighter II has better sound and graphics? Well, our version of Mortal Kombat has blood and the actual fatalities! One side always had something the other wanted to have and it made the competition for all of the systems to try to outdo each other.

However, as time went on, the video game industry started to change. Video game console wars kind of started to die out as it did seem like there were more clear winners now rather than have some solid debate on which video game console was better. As the Sony PlayStation is outselling every other video game console and having the most games made for it, it was obvious it has become the winner of the last two “console wars.”

And I do think XBOX was taking all of that lying down and just was satisfied with their place as being… what? Third place where there are only three competitors? As much as I like Phil Spencer as he does seem like a nice guy, the XBOX video game console hasn’t been in the video game zeitgeist for a good while. They were more like the company where you can get a subscription with Xbox Game Pass so you can play all the new games as much as you want on both the XBOX system and PC. This may have kept XBOX in the game but it just felt like they were relying on this one trick to stay relevant and that hasn’t really helped them all that much, has it?

If you think of it, PlayStation has been going the exclusivity route much more than XBOX has the past several years. While they have been porting games over to PC, they have been more inclined to ensure they have game that won’t work on other systems. Games like the God of War franchise and the Marvel’s Spider-Man games may have been also been available on PC but they were still primarily PlayStation exclusives. And PlayStation is still pushing exclusive games with the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine among others. And let’s not even talk about Nintendo as they rarely even let any of their characters be seen in another platform. Then again, they did have a very bad experience with that so I understand their hesitation.

This is precisely why I do think Asha Sharma’s plan for getting games exclusively for the XBOX console is a good thing. Even though I still classify myself as a “Sony fanboy,” I do like the competition aspect. I want XBOX to try to compete and not just be a company that’s satisfied to be third place. I want XBOX to try to make truly good games, games that will want me to get an XBOX console as I haven’t really wanted to get one ever since my problematic time with the first system they put out.

I don’t just want XBOX to survive; I want them to thrive and I think getting more exclusive games for their consoles is a good first step to doing that. I know this is a far cry from where I was over a decade ago as I believe console exclusives didn’t have any space in the gaming world at the time. But times have changed and I don’t feel it’s about “winning” anymore. It’s about gaming companies trying to outdo each other and, in turn, making them try harder.

I do understand the outcry from the “Sony fanboys” as Gears of War: Reloaded is on the PlayStation 5. They may have played the game and liked it. So, of course they were eager to play the next installment in the series. It felt like it was ripped apart from their hands (even though they haven’t played it yet) as it seemed like a sure thing. But that’s not how the gaming world works. Rumors are rumors until they’ve been proven. It also doesn’t seem fair, considering the PlayStation has all of these exclusive games. I think XBOX is entitled to a few of their own.

What do you think about console exclusives and the console wars seeming to restart? Let me know in the comments section below!