While I wouldn't say that any individual game porting to PC is a sign of Doom and Gloom, not even a handful, if this turns into a pattern moving forward, it will have an effect on the sales potential, especially down the road. To put it another way, thus far, the only really 'big and exciting' title currently released that HASN'T gone to PC seems to be Forza. (Feel free to make your own judgements on the exciting potential of Killer Instinct, Crimson Dragon and Zoo Tycoon, and if they are more exciting on a marketing level than Forza.) Looking forward, the only ones that are on the 'Almost Certainly Won't Be Ported' list are, well, the Halo games, the Forza games, the next Gears game, and maaaybe Crackdown. Scalebound is pretty firmly on neutral ground, as is Fable since technically it is a core franchise, but Fable 3 DID go to PC.
Insomniac owns the Sunset Overdrive IP, and Quantum Break devs Remedy's LAST Xbox exclusive game went to PC after Remedy specifically bugged, poked and prodded Microsoft to allow it because of how important the PC platform was to them as a developer. So at this point I'd be more surprised if Sunset and Quantum DIDN'T both move to PC sooner or later, given Ryse and Dead Rising 3 both did. And if they do, (keeping in mind these are two VERY promising, brand new IPs,) then it just reinforces the image that the Xbox One's going to focus their true exclusives on the 'Old Favorites' and not be so interested in keeping new, fresh IPs exclusive to their console
People sometimes talk about how, as time went on, the PS3 caught up to the Xbox 360 in terms of global sales, and say that as a result, we cannot assume the same won't happen in allowing the Xbox One to similarly close the gap. The thing is, the further into the generation we go, and the more aggressively Microsoft ports its exclusives one after the other, the more likely it becomes that the gap in sales between the two will slant ever more in Sony's favor because many Xbox One exclusives will be on the PC platform... and the PC version will be way better. PC gamers who finally, grudgingly decide to pick up an exclusives-only machine two or three years down the road are vastly more likely to pick up a PS4, because not only will plenty of Xbox One 'exclusives' already be available on their main platform of choice, but the mindset would become 'If I wait even longer, maybe MORE of their exclusives will end up on the Glorious Master Race platform and I can play it in proper, eye-blistering resolution at 60fps yadayada.'
The thing is, I CAN think of a very specific way focusing on PC ports will benefit Microsoft, even if it screws over Xbox. Such a method, however, is going to require... well, Microsoft to be particularly dickish, and it would pretty much signal that they're not really trying to compete 110% on the console market anymore. =P It hasn't happened yet, (well, it's happened once, but at this point it's too early to decide if it's a pattern or just a coincidence,) but we'll have to see moving forward.
Zanten, Doer Of The Things
Unless He Forgets In Which Case Zanten, Forgetter Of The Things
Or He Procrascinates, In Which Case Zanten, Doer Of The Things Later
Or It Involves Moving Furniture, in Which Case Zanten, F*** You.
