The Prey.
The developers of both collections are owned by ZeniMax Media, which was recently bought out by Microsoft for a staggering $7.5 billion. The sale shook up the video game industry in a big way, and the effects are still being felt. A lot of speculation has been kicked up by the deal; for instance, now that Bethesda and the Fallout: New Vegas, widely considered the best game in the series. This is nothing but a theory, of course, but the real effects of this sale should be felt very soon.
In fact, these effects might have already appeared. Twitter page Xbox News made two discoveries on the ESRB website that are likely direct effects of the ZeniMax sale. Both the Wolfenstein Alt History Collection and the Arkane Collection have next-gen listings on the site, but these listings only mention the Xbox Series, referring both to the Xbox Series X and its smaller cousin, the Xbox Series S. No mention of the PlayStation 5 is given. These next-gen editions haven't officially been announced as exclusives yet, so it's very possible that PlayStation versions will be added later, but after the big ZeniMax sale, there's certainly a good chance that the collections will be Xbox exclusives after all.
This is exactly what a lot of fans were worried about when the ZeniMax sale was first announced. There's already been a lot of speculation that future Bethesda titles will be Xbox exclusive, including the long-awaited Elder Scrolls 6. No one likes being cut off from video games simply over console choice, and not everyone can afford both of the consoles that will be releasing next month. Obviously console exclusives are a fact of life in the gaming industry, but these usually come from first-party developers. ZeniMax and Bethesda games have historically been available on just about every platform, and players are understandably concerned that this might no longer be the case thanks to a business decision that they had no part in.
It's never a wise idea to jump to conclusions, especially in the gaming industry. Things are changing constantly, and one never knows what headlines tomorrow will bring. There are any number of perfectly innocent explanations for the lack of a PS listing on these ESRB pages. But context suggests a worrying trend of exclusivity, and if PS5-favoring fans of Wolfenstein or the games in the Arkane Collection are feeling dismayed, it's quite easy to see why.
