After such a long tenure and with him being one of the most recognisable faces in the industry, it was quite the shock when Phil Spencer announced his almost immediate retirement, as well as his next in command. Whether he was nudged into this decision or not is unknown, but now, Xbox is beginning to undergo some huge changes.
The new CEO comes over from Microsoft’s current obsession, AI, which has immediately put gamers on edge. However, more so than being an AI-nut, Asha Sharma is a tech executive more generally. In theory, she’ll look at the Xbox data, see where the console has continued to struggle over the last decade, and action solutions.
Easily one of the biggest and most glaring issues of the One and Series X generations has been its exclusives. First, the lack of these that could compete with PlayStation was an issue. Then, those coming along were being sent off to Sony’s console, too. Even so, it’s a business, so maybe there’s a case to be made for multi-platform releases.
Reaching the Larger Gaming Audience
Since the Xbox One flopped against the rise of the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch – despite the absurd amount of momentum gained by the Xbox 360 – the business has failed to recover. A console that can do all media and link in with gimmicky extras simply didn’t land as well as competitive hardware that boasts top-class games.
Having fallen so far behind in the console market, Xbox made the bold move to try to sell the brand as an everywhere brand. Not just on PC, but on PlayStation. As recently as the end of January this year, the plan was to launch some of Xbox’s few major exclusives on PlayStation either simultaneously or a bit later.
This is certainly a player-forward approach. After all, in any corner of gaming, players are there for the games first and foremost. It’s why in the arena of iGaming, the biggest and most popular games, like the Rainbow Riches bingo slot game, are widely available. With its 500x top prize and array of features, platforms need it to have appeal.
Of course, in this arena, platforms don’t tend to own development studios. In the case of Xbox, the platform owns the developers of would-be exclusive games. So, struggling unit sales will hurt them more. Seemingly a sign of a successful move, the PS5 port of Forza Horizon 5 topped five million in sales to add $300 million to the Xbox kitty.
A Reason to Buy an Xbox
The problem is that Xbox is in the console business. It makes hardware, invests heavily in creating the hardware, and then releases it with the hope of selling millions of units. Consoles don’t sell to the masses without the main reason to buy them – the games. Everything else is ancillary.
The reasons to buy an Xbox can be measured by the number of truly exclusive games to the console. The hype reel with the Xbox Series X launch had some promise, but it took a very long time for those games to arrive. When they did, they landed on the cost-effective Game Pass, which wouldn’t do very much to increase Xbox revenue.
Now, according to an excerpt from an interview highlighted by Windows Central, the new CEO is open to going back to console exclusives. They aim to review the data and optimise. Common sense dictates that if Xbox launch the games of their mega studios just on Xbox, console sales will surge. Bethesda and Activision will sell Xbox units.
It’s important to note that the Xbox Game Pass also hurts Xbox if it aims to generate more revenue. Having a nice steady flow of subscription payments is nice, but when they amount to less than a third of a game’s RRP per month, players will easily dip in, get a new game at 66% off, and Xbox will continue to be worse for it.
Exclusives should become the focus in time for Xbox to challenge the PlayStation 6 in the next couple of years, while Game Pass should become complementary, not the main launch pad for major releases.
