Xbox and PlayStation Are Quietly Backing Off Their Multiplatform Push

The new Minecraft Dungeons 2 trailer doesn’t say a word about PS5 or Nintendo Switch 2. The two before it, from March and June, listed every platform the game is headed to.

That’s the kind of omission that isn’t an accident.

Xbox uploaded the trailer to its own YouTube channel, and the missing logos suggest the company is pulling back even further on promoting its games for rival hardware under CEO Asha Sharma.

The Gears of War tell

Earlier this summer, Xbox reportedly pulled the plug on a PS5 version of Gears of War: E-Day just ahead of its reveal. Key art for the game had already been shown on an Xbox podcast with a PS5 logo on it. The logo was later removed, which points to a decision made pretty late in the process.

There were also reports that Microsoft yanked a trailer for Halo: Campaign Evolved out of a PlayStation State of Play. That call, reportedly made by Sharma, created tensions between Xbox and PlayStation.

Read the Minecraft Dungeons 2 trailer against all that and it looks less like an oversight and more like a strategy to pull players back into Xbox’s own ecosystem and build brand strength there.

Sony went back to a phrase it hadn’t needed in years

Xbox isn’t the only one rewriting its messaging. Earlier this year, it was reported that PlayStation is abandoning PC releases for its flashy first-party single-player games like Ghost of Yotei.

For roughly half a decade, the majority of Sony’s story-driven first-party output eventually landed on PC. That doesn’t appear to be part of the plan going forward. And the company has embraced “only on PlayStation” branding again.

A new PlayStation ad puts the words “PlayStation 5 exclusive” across gameplay from Marvel’s Wolverine, Ghost of Yotei, Astro Bot, Gran Turismo 7, Saros and God of War Laufey. The message to players: these aren’t jumping to PC later. It’s the full-blown exclusivity Sony ran on for decades through the PS1, PS2, PS3 and part of the PS4 generation.

Xbox still hasn’t drawn a hard line

Sony’s position is clear. Xbox’s is wishy-washy by comparison.

The company has promised permanent exclusivity for Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution. Past those two, nobody’s saying much.

Will The Elder Scrolls 6 stay on Xbox? What about the Fallout 3 and New Vegas remasters? Xbox hasn't answered either question, and the trailers are doing the talking in the meantime.