Xbox has rolled out a new label for console exclusive games, visible now on your Xbox Series X/S dashboard.
This month, Xbox confirmed it had decided to make the upcoming Gears of War: E-Day a console exclusive when it arrives on October 6. Clockwork Revolution will also be a console exclusive when it launches in 2027.
Now, Gears of War: E-Day features a brand new “EXCLUSIVE” label, similar to other previous game labels that denote a game is optimized for Series X/S, or featured as part of a subscription service such as Game Pass or Ubisoft+.
The label certainly makes clear the game will no longer be arriving for PlayStation 5 (as had once been planned), though it’s worth remembering that the title will still also launch on PC.
Still, the label will likely prove useful helping mark out the titles that Microsoft has decided it will make exclusive — something chief content officer Matt Booty has said will be chosen on a “case-by-case basis”, but not include “big multiplayer games and live-service games,” which will remain multiplatform.
There’s no sign yet of a similar label on the game’s Xbox.com store page (or the one for Clockwork Revolution), but with its launch still not for several months, there’s still time.
“We want a reason for people to get on board with Xbox, we want them to have a reason to buy an Xbox, we want them to have a reason to be an Xbox fan,” Booty said previously. “At the same time, we want to reward all our players that have been with us for a long time — we know that exclusives are important, and that’s why we’ve got Gears coming in 2026 and Clockwork [Revolution] coming in 2027.”
“We also want to be clear that our big multiplayer games and live-service games are going to continue to be multiplatform,” he continued. “If we’ve promised something to players already, we’re going to honor that promise. And then — I think Asha said it — we’re going to make the right decision and not the fast decision.
“We’re going to keep thinking about this going forward,” Booty concluded, “and, I think you guys know already, our principle is when we announce the date, we announce the platforms. So, it’s going to be case-by-case, but we’re going to be clear, that when it’s got a date, it’s got a platform and you’ll know what the choice is going to be.”
This approach has been dubbed as confusing by some fans, and feels like it will take a while to settle down. As newly-installed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has said, the company will firstly honor all previously-announced games coming to PlayStation (including Halo: Campaign Evolved, for example) and look to make more unannounced games exclusive if and when the company’s finances improve.
In other words, for now, expect more announcements of new Xbox titles where PlayStation 5 and even Nintendo Switch 2 versions are confirmed as well. This was the case just this month, when Xbox made State of Decay 3’s PlayStation 5 version made official, Hellblade threequel Senua was unveiled and confirmed for PS5, and Spyro: A Realm Beyond was detailed as coming to Xbox, PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2.
Meanwhile, it’s been reported that a new PlayStation business document has highlighted an official change to Sony’s own release strategy, with PC no longer described as part of the company’s first-party launch focus.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
