- Gears of War: E-Day Creative Director Matt Searcy says game ‘makes a lot of sense’ as an Xbox exclusive
- He confirms that The Coalition “never talked about this arrival on PS5”
- Meanwhile, two developers for Halo: Campaign Evolved And Fable are “excited” about expanding across multiple platforms
Xbox games coming to other platforms has been a fascinating concept and process to watch from the outside. There have been ebbs and flows, reports of this and that, and recently an interesting return to console exclusivity for two titles, according to this recent Xbox Games Showcase earlier in June.
We had the chance to speak to several Xbox Game Studios teams at an event adjacent to this year’s Summer Game Fest 2026 after the showcase aired and found that there was a clear difference of opinion between some developers on whether to be an Xbox exclusive or agree to be on multiple rival platforms.
For example, the Coalition’s creative director, Matt Searcy, believes that Gears of War: E-Day an Xbox exclusive was the best decision – something not every Xbox Game Studios team is aligned on.
According to Searcy, this seems normal in the case of War equipmentand the studio has never talked about releasing it on other platforms. “Well, we never talked about its intention on PS5; it was announced as a [Xbox] exclusive,” Searcy said. “I would say that Gears as exclusivity makes a lot of sense to me, thinking about narrowness […] Gears has been linked to the Xbox brand [for] all his life.”
He went on to say, “It’s kind of an honor, and I think it’s an excitement to be like one of Xbox’s best flagship titles. As a developer, of course, it’s great to see people playing our games, but we’re Xbox fans.”
When asked about missing a potential player base and what effect that might have had on hypothetical multiplayer numbers, he added that “we’re not too concerned about audience size.”
While it’s admirable, in a way, that such confidence and ease have been exuded by the developers in the face of a smaller player base than some of their contemporary Xbox studios hope to achieve, it seems a bit of a shame when those other studios will be showcasing the games in front of millions more players.
This was clear when we spoke to two other Xbox Game Studio developers in Halo: Campaign Evolved executive producer Damon Conn and Ralph Fulton, founder and CEO of Fable studio, Playground Games. Unlike Searcy, both developers are eager to launch on multiple platforms and are really excited about it, as it will allow them to reach a wider audience.
“We are excited to put the game [out] and play with as many different people as possible,” Conn said. “With Evolved Halo Campaignwe’re releasing it on more platforms than ever before, and we’re going to meet the player where they are. »
The executive producer also looks forward to players testing cross-play, which he calls “a win for us, just sharing the experience with as many people as possible.”
“Halo has always been about coming together, sharing experiences and socializing, and that’s something we’re really passionate about,” Conn added.
Meanwhile, Fulton confirmed that he and the team at Playground Games are still committed to bringing Fable on PlayStation 5, alongside Xbox Series X, Series S and PC, as Haloand we are incredibly excited to reach more people.
“For us, we see this as an opportunity to get this match – [in a series] which has been out of circulation for about 15 years – in front of as many fans who want to play it as possible,” Fulton said. “We’re really excited about how many people we can bring this game to.”
Each game can of course be treated in isolation to some extent, but it’s intriguing to see such contrast and witness such opposing viewpoints within the Xbox Game Studios group itself.
Fable has been in development for a very long time, but will officially launch on February 23, 2027, while Halo: Campaign Evolved releases worldwide on July 28. Gears of War: E-Day arrives October 6.
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
The best game consoles
