Gab Hernandez 
Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga will possibly, perhaps even probably, come to the PlayStation 5, despite theoretically being an Xbox-exclusive franchise.
Although Xbox reportedly has ambitious plans for its hardware in the future, strong exclusives don’t seem to be part of it. Data miners for Hi-Fi Rush recently uncovered in-game files that teased the exclusive’s move to different consoles. Hi-Fi Rush’s anniversary update had platform-exclusive cosmetics for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5, effectively confirming plans to release the game on competing platforms.
Despite Hi-Fi Rush proving its success as a first-party title, Xbox may be waving the white flag in the exclusivity war. Jez Corden of Windows Central reports that several Xbox-exclusive titles will go multiplatform and specifically pointed out Starfield getting a potential PlayStation port. Other sources also speculated about what games are coming next, including Hellblade 2.
Is Hellblade 2 coming to the PlayStation 5?
Hellblade 2 is currently only set to be released on Xbox Series X/S and PC, but there are indications that it will come out on PlayStation 5.
Nick Baker of the XboxEra podcast believes Starfield won’t be the only Xbox exclusive moving to rival platforms. He speculates Hellblade 2 is another set to join the rumored exodus from Xbox exclusivity, and will presumably arrive on PlayStation 5.
The first console home of the Hellblade franchise was notably the PlayStation 4. It arrived on Xbox One in 2018, a year after its launch on the PS4. The port coincided with Microsoft’s acquisition of Ninja Theory in the same year. Since then, Ninja Theory has only released one Xbox-exclusive title, Bleeding Edge.
Though Hellblade 2 isn’t positioned to be released on PlayStation or Nintendo consoles, there are many signs that this is in the cards. Alongside Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves is reportedly set to land on the PlayStation 5. Xbox hasn’t traditionally held all its first-party titles tightly. Games published by Microsoft Studios and Xbox Games Studios including Dust: An Elysian Tail, Ori and the Blind Forest, and Psychonauts 2 launched on competing platforms.
Is Xbox giving up on exclusives?
Xbox has not officially confirmed they are killing exclusives.
However, the rumored ports don’t paint a good picture of the future of Xbox exclusives. Xbox fans reacted negatively to the reports of Starfield, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Hellblade 2 potentially coming to competitor consoles. Fans thought Xbox’s acquisitions were part of a plan to strengthen its exclusive library but this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.
Notably, Xbox Chief Financial Officer Tim Stuart’s statements at the Wells Fargo TMT Summit on November 2023 seemingly go against that theory. Stuart states that the goal is “to bring our first-party experiences [and] our subscription services to every screen that can play games.” PlayStation and Nintendo Switch are seemingly among them. Whether this is a wise decision on Microsoft’s part is uncertain, as PlayStation and Nintendo continue to maintain a tight hold on their own first-party releases.
