Many an eyebrow was raised when Microsoft first announced its intention to enter the hugely competitive console market. Nearly two decades later however and its Xbox line of consoles is still going strong. There are several reasons for this success, but one of the biggest was the company’s shrewd use of exclusivity deals.
Although console exclusivity deals weren’t an entirely new concept back then, they were far less prevalent. These days it’s something people associate more with Sony, but in the early days of the Xbox, Microsoft used these deals to great effect. As a result, there are plenty of great series that have appeared on every Xbox console. Not all of them have been exclusives, but, for the most part at least, they have all provided some great games.
10 Halo
In terms of Xbox exclusives, they don’t come much bigger than Halo. The original game played a huge role in the establishment of the Xbox brand and each subsequent title has pushed the series further toward perfection. Halo: Combat evolved was one of the launch titles for the original Xbox and sold more than five million units. The only game that sold more was its sequel.
Halo 3 was the first Halo game for the Xbox 360, although this time was not one of the launch titles. It arrived nearly two years later, but a further six titles did follow it in fairly quick succession. The Xbox One‘s first Halo game was Halo: Spartan Assault and this released on Christmas Eve of 2013. Halo Infinite was originally going to be one of the launch titles for the Series X, but it’s now slated for a 2021 release.
9 Dead Or Alive
The Dead or Alive series was another that provided exclusives for the original Xbox, with Dead or Alive 3 lining up alongside the likes of Halo: Combat Evolved and Project Gotham Racing for the system’s launch back in 2000. It ended up being one of the best home console launch titles of all time.
The series carried its Xbox exclusivity into the 360 era and Dead or Alive 4 released around a month after the console. This exclusivity only lasted for another five years however, meaning that by the time Dead or Alive 6 released for the Xbox One in 2019, the series was once again multiplatform.
8 Red Dead
For whatever reason, the Red Dead series struggled to make much of an impression when its first entry released. Granted, the visuals and storytelling found in the 2004 title Red Dead Revolver weren’t nearly as impressive as those found in later entries in the series, but the core gameplay is fairly similar.
Red Dead Redemption changed all of that however when it released on 360 six years later. The game was a critical and commercial success and helped to pull the series out of GTA’s lengthy shadow. The 2018 prequel further improved the Red Dead formula and is one of the best selling and highest rated Xbox One games of all time.
7 Forza
Good racing games aren’t hard to come by, but spectacular ones are few and far between. Given that the Gran Turismo series is exclusive to PlayStation, Microsoft needed a big hitter of their own. They first tried Project Gotham Racing, but it would not be until the release of Forza Motorsport in 2005 that the Xbox truly had what it needed to compete.
A sequel to the game for the Xbox 360 arrived two years later and was followed by two more Forza Motorsport games and the very first Forza Horizon title. The fifth entry in the Motorsport line was a launch title for the Xbox One while the eighth should arrive on the Series X next February, assuming that all goes to plan.
6 Fable
It’s been quite a while since the last decent Fable game, but there was a time when it was one of the best Action-RPG series around. The first game made a huge impression when it released on the Xbox in 2004 thanks to its incredible depth and Fable II was equally impressive.
It released on the 360 in 2008 and expanded on many of the elements found in its predecessor. A third Fable game followed just two years later, but marked the beginning of a troubled period for the franchise. Despite being teased extensively, Fable Legends never saw the light of day. As a result, a low-budget card game called Fable Fortune was the only Fable title released for the Xbox One. A fourth mainline Fable game for the Series X was announced recently, but there’s no release date just yet.
5 Mortal Kombat
There aren’t many consoles that the Mortal Kombat series hasn’t featured on, which should make it unsurprising that it’s been a mainstay on Xbox consoles since the release of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance in 2002. It was one of four Mortal Kombat titles to appear on the machine over a four year period before the eventual release of the Xbox 360.
The first Mortal Kombat game for Microsoft’s second console was actually a crossover title. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe released in 2008 and was followed by two further titles in 2011. Since then, the rate of releases for the series has died down a little, with only Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11 releasing for the Xbox One in 2015 and 2019 respectively. The latter did receive a patch to enhance performance on the Series X though.
4 The Elder Scrolls
Although the Elder Scrolls series did eventually make its way onto PlayStation systems, its very first console appearance came on the original Xbox. Before the release of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind in 2002, the series had featured exclusively on MS-DOS.
A sequel to Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, arrived on the 360 in 2006 and this was followed up by Skyrim five years later. The latter also released for the Xbox One, although it took another five years for it to finally do so. A sixth Elder Scrolls game has long since been rumored, and seems likely to launch on Xbox Game Pass. There’s no release date at this time though.
3 Just Cause
The Just Cause series made its debut in late 2006 and was available for both the Xbox and the Xbox 360. It was actually one of the last games released for the former, with production of new Xbox consoles having ceased the year before. Although Microsoft continued to support the console for another five years, most publishers stopped releasing games for it at the beginning of 2017.
The 360 saw another Just Cause game in the form of Just Cause 2 which released in 2010. Just Cause 3 arrived in 2015 and the somewhat underrated Just Cause 4 followed three years later, both for the Xbox One. Although a fifth Just Cause game is yet to be announced, there are hints that it may currently be in development.
2 Tony Hawk’s
The Xbox arrived a little too late for a port of the first Tony Hawk’s game, but an enhanced version of its sequel was released for the system as part of the console’s launch lineup. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2x featured all of the levels from the first two games as well as five bonus ones that are exclusive to the title.
Each subsequent mainline Tony Hawk’s game has featured on an Xbox console, with 2005’s American Wasteland the first to make it onto the 360. It was not long after this that Robomodo took over development of the series and a dark period began. The last of their Tony Hawk’s games, Pro Skater 5, also happened to be the first to appear on the Xbox One.
1 Deus Ex
Despite the first Deus Ex game appearing on PS2, its sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War was an Xbox exclusive. It released in late 2003 to fairly positive reviews although fell a little short of its predecessor when it came to ratings. It is the only game in the series that was exclusive to Xbox, with all subsequent console releases being multiplatform.
2011’s Human Revolution was the first and only Deus Ex title for the 360 and the 2016 title Mankind Divided is the series’ sole entry on the Xbox One. Rumors of a new Deus Ex game have been popping up here and there since early 2020, but, as of the moment, nothing official has been announced.
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