Microsoft is doing a lot of the right moves. Giving players more options, more platforms, more consumption methods is great for consumers. Right now, if you want a Microsoft first party, you can:
- buy the game physically for consoles
- play it on a variety of different consoles through backwards compatibility when available (eg. Gears Of War 3 would run both on X360, Xbox One, and probably the next Xbox)
- get the game digitally, again accessing the same backwards compatibility options
- if the game is recent, through Play Anywhere you can also play it on PC, no extra charges, usually with cross-play and cross-progression where it makes sense
- you don't have to buy the game, either: subscribe to Game Pass and get just about all Microsoft first parties of the past, plus all future ones day 1
- some games like Ori, Cuphead, Halo, Age Of Empires or Minecraft appear even on non-Microsoft-owned platforms
- soon enough with xCloud you'll be able to play these games on different devices like mobile phones, tablets, possibly the Switch (contradicting rumors about this one)
Great games should be able to be played on as many devices as possible. Exclusivity only helps the multinationals, the consumers' best interest is having a product as widely available as possible, so that they don't have to invest in an extremely specific piece of hardware to play a specific product. I'm already in the MS ecosystem so I don't necessarily need these games to come to other platforms, but being able to join my Minecraft realms from any platform, being able to couch co-op between laptop and Xbox One with only one copy of Sea Of Thieves with my fiancé, being able to play Fortnite on my Xbox with my Switch buddies... these sort of experiences are the ones that show me what I want from gaming's future, and I'm happy Microsoft is pushing towards that. The sooner we get rid of having to buy an extremely specific piece of hardware to play a game exclusive to it, the better it'll be for us.