The Xbox Games showcase may not have put the final nail in the coffin of exclusivity, but it sure as hell is responsible for putting the concept on life support and judging by the announcements of two huge franchises crossing over, exclusivity, and the very concept of the console wars are not long for this world.
What started with the release of Bethesda’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle continued today with the announcements of Gears of War Reloaded, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and Final Fantasy 16. Gears is making its long-rumored leap to the PS5, while both Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy 16 are coming to the Xbox, with FF16 being available now.
Both Final Fantasy titles appear to be direct ports to the Xbox, with no changes to the games themselves. It will be interesting to see how the Xbox hardware handles some of the bigger fight scenes in the game, especially some of the more graphic intense fights that caused overheating issues for some PS5 players. While FF16 is available now, fans of the FF VII remake will have to wait until this winter to play on Xbox.
The other console exclusive surprise was the announcement of Gears of War Reloaded, an upgrade over the remastered release that brings the beloved franchise to PS5 players. Gears Reloaded will launch on August 26th of this year and will be available day one on Xbox games pass. Fans that already own the ultimate edition that released in 2015 will receive an upgrade to the reloaded version for free.
Gears of War Reloaded will feature cross-platform play as well as progression, and be natively optimized for the PS5. Along with platform optimization and cross platform fun, Gears Reloaded will feature 4K 60fps resolution for the campaign, graphic refreshes, with improvements to shadows and reflections, as well as remastered textures and 4k assets (just think, Marcus and his perma-sneer in 4k!). Reloaded will also feature audio improvements and promises zero loading screens during the campaign. You can check out the trailer below for the highlights of this update to a fan favorite.
For now, exclusivity is still showing some weak signs of life, but with this announcement, those signs are definitely waning, and if titles like Gears and Final Fantasy are making the cross platform hop, it’s only a matter of time before we see God of War on Xbox and Halo on PS5.
