For as long as I can remember the platform holders have always gone out of their way to pay other publishers to lock content away from their rivals. Whether consumers like the practice or don't it's nothing new.

But if those platforms didn't pay for exclusivity then said publishers would typically launch their game on all platforms. After all if they wanted to maximize profits without taking an exclusive deal it only makes sense to put your game on every available platform, right?

Well it turns out publishers and developers are starting to think maximizing their profits means skipping Xbox even if they don't get a bag of money from the likes of PlayStation or Nintendo.

Some super small games have been skipping the platform for awhile now, and Xbox has always had issues securing games from Japan, which to their credit they have made a lot of in roads with that side of the world, with work still to be done.

But it seems to be a more common thing these days. Recently Capcom announced Monster Hunter Stories 2, which was previously only on the Nintendo Switch and PC would be coming to PlayStation with no mention of Xbox.

Today during the Future Game Show Entoria: Last Song revealed a new trailer and that the game was coming in August. Xbox themselves even posted the trailer only for developer Jyamma Games to announce shortly after that it was skipping Xbox to "ensure a superior experience on PlayStation and PC". And these are just a few recent examples.

Now on the surface none of these seem like a massive deal. It's not like it's Monster Hunter Wilds skipping the platform, it's a relatively small game in a big franchise and a new IP smaller scale AA game.

But as a collective it's beginning to become an issue. But what is the issue that's caused these companies to skip the platform anyway?

Some will point to the Series S and it being required by Xbox. We've heard developers lament it's weaker power many times and it being a pain to develop for.

Others will point to Game Pass and the idea that "Xbox gamers don't buy games". While I am a perfect example of that not being true, we do see many people say they skip games simply because they don't launch on the service.

And lastly people will point to lagging hardware sales. Estimates have Xbox Series consoles somewhere around 25M units sold, roughly half the PlayStation 5, though I feel like 25M is still a big enough platform to sell games on in my opinion.

The truth is likely a combination of all 3. Developing games for more platforms costs money, and if any 1 of those reasons is a reason the developer or publisher thinks they can't make money on the platform, they won't waste the resources.

And their within lies the problem for Xbox. They have 3 glaring problems they need to address and it's up to them to convince the devs they are worth working with. How they do that is something they need to figure out.

And lastly, if you are an Xbox gamer you play a part here as well. There are 2 ways we as consumers can speak to these companies, with our voice, and our wallets.

I'm certainly not here to tell you how to spend your hard earned money, especially in this economy, but IF you can afford to, the best way to show these companies we want games on the platform, then buy that game you are wanting to play.

Supporting the devs who work hard for our entertainment is the best thing we can do.