Xbox survey tests Fallout, Elder Scrolls and Minecraft exclusivity

Microsoft is asking some Xbox users how they would respond if franchises including Fallout, The Elder Scrolls and Minecraft became console-exclusive to Xbox.

The questions appear in an Xbox Research survey distributed to selected Xbox Insiders and obtained by Windows Central, which said it verified screenshots of the survey. The scenarios are hypothetical. Microsoft has not announced plans to remove the named franchises from PlayStation or Nintendo platforms.

The survey asks how players might change their purchasing habits if individual Xbox-owned franchises became timed or permanent console exclusives. Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Doom, Diablo, Minecraft and Hideo Kojima's PHYSINT are among the properties referenced. Respondents are asked whether exclusivity would encourage them to use an Xbox they already own, buy new Xbox hardware, move to PC or skip the games.

Microsoft also tests a broader scenario where future releases from almost all Xbox-developed franchises, except Call of Duty, become Xbox console exclusives while continuing to launch on PC.

The questions do not show that Microsoft has approved such a strategy. They instead indicate Xbox is measuring how players could respond to different exclusivity policies.

Minecraft receives one of the survey's strongest hypothetical changes. Under the scenario, existing Minecraft games would stop being sold on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles and would no longer receive new content updates there. Existing owners would retain access to games and content they had already purchased.

Such a move would be a major departure from Microsoft's treatment of Minecraft since acquiring Mojang in 2014. The series remains available across Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, PC and mobile platforms.

Mojang also currently plans to release a native Nintendo Switch 2 version of Minecraft on October 27, including the Vibrant Visuals graphics upgrade and an upgrade path for original Switch owners.

The survey follows Microsoft's recent decision to restore permanent console exclusives to its publishing strategy. At its June Xbox Games Showcase, Microsoft announced that Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution would be Xbox console exclusives rather than timed exclusives. The company also said players could expect "signature exclusives" every year while previously announced multiplatform plans continue.

The survey suggests Microsoft is now examining how much further that strategy could extend, including whether major franchises could influence players' choice of platform.

Nothing in the research confirms new platform plans for Fallout, The Elder Scrolls VI, Minecraft or the other properties mentioned. The survey shows Microsoft is considering and testing those possibilities, not that it has decided to implement them.