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Microsoft has spent the past few years trying to rebuild the Xbox franchise and compete effectively with Sony in the console wars. With the Xbox One X launched, the company is considering another trouble with its lineup: a singled-out lack of 3rd-party exclusives.

That's the discussion from Polygon, which notes that the Xbox One remains far backside the PS4 in terms of full units shipped (VGChartz reports 36.4M Xbox One sales to-date, compared with 73.6M PS4 sales). The Xbox 1 Ten outsold the PS4 in December in the United States, at least, but the Switch sold more than either.

To put the Switch's meteoric rise in perspective: With 12.3 million units shipped, Nintendo has now sold more than a tertiary as many consoles as Microsoft, despite the Xbox 1 beingness on the market for more than four years, while the Switch has been available for less than ane. Microsoft doesn't really see Nintendo every bit a primary competitor, merely it wants meliorate exclusives for its platform equally a style to win back market share from Sony, and it'due south supposedly considering buying i or more game studios, upwards to and including a deal for Electronic Arts itself.

That last, if true, would exist an boggling maneuver. EA is much more than known for ownership studios than beingness an acquisition target, but information technology makes sense. EA owns a huge range of franchises, including Madden, FIFA, Battlefield, Battlefront, NHL, Dragon Age, and titles like Star Wars: The Onetime Republic. If y'all wanted to buy a game publisher that could then cut preferential deals likely to be of interest to your gamers, EA would be on the short list of targets that might plausibly influence console purchases, if only because it has its fingers in so many unlike pies.

The larger question is how much winning new console exclusives this late in the wheel will really aid either visitor. After more than four years, with a refresh cycle already locked in for each panel, I would've thought most consumers had already chosen a side. We don't know how many PS4 Pro or Xbox One 10 sales are to starting time-time buyers as opposed to upgrading customers, but the chance that Microsoft volition find a huge number of new customers seems low. The only way the company might pull that off is if it can lock in true exclusives, rather than fourth dimension-limited lockouts.

The one caveat hither is that we don't know how much Sony and MS are planning to extend the current panel generation. The PS3 and Xbox 360 were halfway through their life cycles at this point in time, only the Xbox One and PS4 accept been recently refreshed. Sony and MS could try to extend the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X for a longer catamenia of time to justify that mid-bike upgrade, which ways this could be a panel cycle that lasts as long as a decade. If they're thinking that far out, Microsoft's button to buy a studio or studios might make more sense. Over such a long period of time, it makes more sense to think well-nigh users acquiring both platforms, or even switching from one to other.