About one year ago, Xbox announced that it was bringing four of its exclusive first-party titles to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles. This move came as a surprise to many in the gaming community, since the company had never done anything like this before. Microsoft had previously expressed its intent to make its first party releases exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem, but with this sudden move, the future of Xbox exclusivity started to look uncertain. At the time, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer tried to reassure the core Xbox fan base by stating that the company wasn’t changing its fundamental exclusive strategy, but many gamers weren’t convinced.

In the 12 months that have passed since then, the Xbox brand has started to undergo a massive change. Several trusted insiders have alleged that Microsoft is preparing to bring most, if not all, of its games to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, including flagship exclusives like Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, and Forza Horizon 5. Reportedly, the company plans to relinquish Xbox exclusivity entirely in order to become a platform-agnostic, third-party publisher. Rumors like these would normally be taken with a grain of salt, but considering Phil Spencer himself has recently alluded to the idea of Xbox becoming fully multiplatform, it seems like they may be true.

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Unlike Other Xbox Games, Rare Replay Will Probably Not Come to PS5 or Nintendo Switch

Rare Replay is One of the Only True Xbox One Exclusives

Even if all future Xbox games come to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles on day-one, that doesn’t necessarily mean Microsoft will port every existing Xbox exclusive to other platforms. In fact, there is at least one critically-acclaimed game from the company that will probably never make its way to the PS5 and the Nintendo Switch, and that’s Rare Replay. Released back in 2015, Rare Replay is one of the few true Xbox One exclusives because, unlike most other Microsoft games, it’s never been ported to PC. Although Rare Replay‘s absence on other platforms may seem strange to some, it makes sense considering the type of game it is.

Rare Replay Includes 30 Different Games From Across Rare’s History

Technically, Rare Replay isn’t a single video game, but rather, a compilation of games. As its name suggests, it contains 30 different titles made by the famous British developer Rare and its now-defunct predecessor, Ultimate Play The Game. Rare Replay was released by Microsoft to commemorate Rare’s 30-year anniversary, as the company was originally established in 1985. The collection features cheats, mini-games, and behind-the-scenes interviews that give players an insight into the production of some of the company’s most well-known titles.

Rare Replay includes many iconic games, such as Killer Instinct Gold, Banjo-Kazooie, and Perfect Dark, in addition to a bunch of lesser-known titles, like Kameo: Elements of Power and Lunar Jetman. Since most of the games in this compilation were originally released on retro hardware, Rare used emulation to get them running on Xbox One. In total, Rare Replay utilizes four different hardware emulators, including ones for Xbox 360, ZX Spectrum, and Nintendo 64 games.

Due to Rare Replay’s Use of Xbox 360 Emulation, It Would Be Hard to Port It to Other Platforms

An important thing to keep in mind here is that the Xbox 360 emulator that Rare Replay uses is the same exact one used for Microsoft’s backwards compatibility program. Since the compilation is so reliant on this emulator, it would be hard to port it directly to other platforms. The PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC are obviously not compatible with Xbox 360 games, like the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S are, so getting Rare Replay to run on these systems probably won’t be an easy task. That’s why, unless Microsoft remakes the compilation from the ground up, it’s likely that it won’t come to non-Xbox platforms anytime soon.

Xbox Series X

Microsoft’s ninth-generation console, the Xbox Series X is a powerful machine that can support 4K resolution and 60 fps, depending on the game. Released alongside the Xbox Series S, the Series X has a Custom AMD Zen 2 CPU, a Custom RDNA 2 GPU, and 16 GB of RAM. 

Brand

Microsoft

Operating System

Proprietary (Windows-based)

Storage

1TB WD SN530 NVMe SSD

VR Support

No

Resolution

720p – 4K UHD

App Store

Microsoft Store

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11ac

Ports

AC, Ethernet, USB x3, Storage Expansion, HDMI

HDR Support

Yes

Original Release Date

November 10, 2020

Original MSRP (USD)

$499

Weight

9.8 LBS

Dimensions

151 x 151 x 301 mm

Processor

Custom AMD 8-core Zen 2 3.8 GHz

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