Xbox wants to introduce more exclusives once “the business is healthy”

Following Microsoft’s recent Xbox Games Showcase, the higher-ups at the company have been talking quite a bit about their plans for the future – particularly regarding their return to console exclusives. Despite some mixed messaging, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has now claimed that they plan to make more Xbox games exclusive once “the business is healthy.”

Discourse surrounding the Xbox Games Showcase has primarily revolved around the console maker’s confirmation that Gears of War E-Day and Clockwork Revolution will be exclusive to Xbox on the console side of things.

Attention was then brought to the subject matter further when Xbox CCO Matt Booty claimed that their strategy revolved around a “case by case” basis, adding that “our big multiplayer games, our big live service games are going to continue to be multiplatform.”

This of course sparked some confusion, as the aforementioned Gears of War E-Day will have a major multiplayer element to it. Meanwhile, the newly announced Spyro: A Realm Beyond and Senua are single-player affairs, yet are still coming to multiple platforms.

Speaking on all of this, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma offered her own explanation, stating via a recent interview: “I think that we are the number 2 publisher in the world, and when you do that you want your games to be everywhere. You're stronger when the world plays with you. At the same time, we're increasingly becoming more of a platform, and it's hard to find examples of platforms out there that don't have exclusive services and content.”

Sharma continued, “This is a journey for us. Our business isn't particularly healthy, as you noted, and we're starting by introducing 1 or 2 signature exclusives, and as the business is healthy, we will look to try and do more.”

Based on the wording, it seems as though Xbox is now doing a reverse on their previous “4 games” experiment, in which a small number of exclusives were ported over to PS5. As those titles sold, more ports were later announced.

Given Asha’s statement, it is safe to assume that should these two exclusives fail to make a splash on Xbox, then they might revise the strategy – and should they end up being system sellers, then we can expect more Xbox exclusives.

Regardless, it seems like Xbox’s new strategy is still in its early days, and so we will have to wait and see what becomes of it.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Sharma’s statement? Did this offer any additional clarity? Do you think Microsoft will go back fully to exclusives? Let us know down below.

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