The PS5 and Xbox Series X have been out for roughly five months but have both been performing well despite console shortages. Sony has already outlined its exclusives for the coming months, headlined by Returnal, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and eventually, Horizon Forbidden West. By comparison, Microsoft has Halo Infinite set for release this Fall.
While Xbox Game Pass continues to perform well (with 18 million subscribers reported in January 2021), when can we expect exclusives like Perfect Dark, Everwild or even Fable? According to GamesIndustry’s Christopher Dring on VGC’s Off the Record podcast, these titles are “so far away” based on conversations he’s had with sources at Xbox Game Studios.
Dring states that, “If you look at the games, I’ve got an Xbox Series X and I love it. I have a PS5 and I love it. I play my PS5 because of the loads of exclusives games that I don’t have on the Xbox. And when you look at the Xbox… Xbox has a lot of amazing studios and these games are coming but, I’ve had few conversations with a few friends at Xbox Game Studios and those games they’ve announced – Everwild, Perfect Dark, Fable – are so far away.” He even said jokingly that “there might even be a new Xbox by the time these games come out…They are so far away.” Referring to the rumor of Xbox publishing Hideo Kojima’s next game, Dring added, “I wonder if Xbox is looking in investing in signing certain products at the minute because they don’t have a line-up of big exclusives at all.”
Of course, it’s unknown whether this takes games like State of Decay 3, Avowed or Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 into account, not to mention the litany of releases from Bethesda Game Studios like The Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield. There’s also the rumor of Forza Horizon 5 releasing this year while Turn 10 has play-tests coming up for its next Forza title. We’ll have to wait for more details in the coming months, particularly at E3 2021, but it’s best to temper expectations when it comes to Everwild, Perfect Dark and Fable.
