Xbox recently brought almost all major games to competing consoles. That should change. The new Xbox chief strategist Matthew Ball points to a larger plan for the announcements surrounding Xbox exclusive titles. Will the bet on the future work?
In recent years, Xbox has increasingly relied on a multiplatform model and brought almost all major titles to former (and perhaps future) competing consoles. That should change: Matthew Ball, new Chief Strategy Officer at Xboxcommented on Microsoft’s exclusive strategy during “The Game Business Live” on the occasion of the Summer Game Fest.
Make a start „Gears of War: E-Day“ and „Clockwork Revolution“. Both games appear exclusively for PC and Xbox consoles – one title this year, the other next. For Ball, they mark the start of an entire program. The decision was “not a one-time thing,” he emphasized (via VGC).
A new framework for Xbox exclusives
According to Ball, there is a clear line behind the announcements: “We have an internal framework and strategy with which we approach exclusive offers on and off the platform.”
The fact that Microsoft named two games was intended to underline the new line. “Clockwork Revolution” wouldn’t have happened until later in the year – around the 25th anniversary – introduce and thus ring in the year 2027.
With the double announcement, the company wanted to make it clear that more titles are coming: “Gamers can expect a reliable pipeline that honors their previous investments in the Xbox platform and keeps them as Xbox players in the future. And everyone in the industry knows that exclusive titles are important to the growth and brand image of this platform.”
Is the plan working? Microsoft had already relied on exclusive titles in the Xbox One generation and in the first years of the current generation, but the result remained manageable. With Activision Blizzard, mainly service games such as “Call of Duty” were added. And Microsoft would like to continue to offer these on other console platforms. So little changes here.
In the case of “Clockwork Revolution,” even some Xbox players consider the exclusive strategy to be questionable. It’s more of a niche title that would benefit from a wide release on multiple systems. This also raises the question of whether history could repeat itself: With “Hi-Fi Rush” Tango Gameworks produced an acclaimed, but also rather niche title.
The surprising closure followed in 2024:
Existing commitments and new direction
Microsoft did not yet want to reveal which brands and games would appear exclusively in the future. First of all, it is important to honor existing commitments anyway. We still have “those titles that we have already announced or promised to our partners, players and teams, and we have decided to keep these promises,” said Ball.
These include „Fable“ and „Halo: Campaign Evolved“both of which are coming to the PS5. As mentioned, major live service games like “Call of Duty” will also remain on other consoles. This can be found especially in the last-mentioned shooter series largest group of buyers for Sony consoles.
Ball then referred to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who had spoken of a realignment of the Xbox business the previous week and announced that she wanted to get the company back on track for growth. The background is declining hardware sales and falling subscriber numbers. “Asha has made it clear that our business is not doing well at the moment,” admitted Ball.
What’s next? In the future, Microsoft would like to be more open about which games appear exclusively and why. “We know what these decisions will look like,” Ball explained. “We know how we will make them. We know how we will be evaluated based on these decisions. But the important thing is that this framework ultimately has to be external.”
He acknowledged that some industry professionals do not yet fully understand the new line. “We have to communicate that internally. We have to convey that to our partners,” said the new strategist. Above all, “today’s Xbox gamers and the gamers we want but don’t have today” need to understand what Microsoft is trying to do. We haven’t reached this point yet.
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