Xbox exclusive games could return, as Microsoft lays out future plans for its gaming division
As part of a grand plan to revive Xbox’s fortunes
✍️ New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and EVP Matt Booty have laid out grand plans to revive Xbox’s fortunes as part of a new memo sent to employees
🎮 It notes current issues with Microsoft’s gaming division, such as there not being enough of an Xbox presence on PC and the infrequency of new feature drops on console
🤲 To address this, the pair say that Xbox will be built as an “affordable, personal, and open” experience with the console at the core
👀 The memo also mentions that Xbox is re-evaluating its position on exclusive games, and delivering on Project Helix
Microsoft could be set to revive Xbox exclusive games, as it makes some wholesale changes to its gaming division.
As per a new Xbox Wire post that takes the form of an open letter to Xbox employees worldwide from new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and EVP Matt Booty, the pair have put forward some grand ideas to revive the fortunes of Microsoft’s gaming division.
The crux of the letter is that they want the Xbox division to focus on daily active players and prioritize four key elements – hardware, content, experiences, and services.
The pair outline key issues with the current way Xbox operates, noting that “players are frustrated” as a result of things such as “new feature drops on console have been less frequent” and that the Xbox “presence on PC isn’t strong enough”.
Likewise, “pricing is getting harder for people to keep up with. And core experiences like search, discovery, social, and personalization still feel too fragmented. Developers and publishers are asking for more, too: better tools, better insights, and a platform that helps them grow faster.”
The light at the end of the tunnel for Xbox isn’t “the same model that got Xbox to where it is today” according to the pair, and is rather the idea of Microsoft wanting to “build a global platform that connects players and creators everywhere” with the console at the core.
As per Sharma and Booty, “Xbox will be built to be affordable, personal, and open”, while offering “flexible pricing so it’s easy to get started and keep playing”.
Moreover, “the experience will adapt to you, letting you customize how you play, helping you find what you’ll love, and connecting you with the right people.”
As much as this may seem like a lot of talk and no action, we have already seen some steps taken, such as the lowering of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate’s monthly cost to $23 a month from the previous $30 a month – at the expense of new Call of Duty titles not arriving on Game Pass on launch day.
There are also plans afoot for a new, more customizable Game Pass tier where fans can choose which elements they’d like, alongside an entry-level tier that’s set to bundle elements with a Discord subscription.
As part of one of the four key pillars the pair want Xbox to deliver on, they make specific reference to the goal to “deliver Project Helix to lead in performance and play your console and PC games”, confirming that the upcoming Project Helix will be a hybrid console.
Microsoft is also “reevaluating” its approach to Xbox console exclusive games or release windows, according to Booty and Sharma.
A long part of the console wars between Microsoft and PlayStation over the last three generations, we’ve seen the end of exclusivity, with former Xbox exclusives, including Forza Horizon 5 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, becoming best sellers on the PS5, and even Helldivers 2 ended up on Xbox after a period of exclusivity on the PS5.
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Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.