One of the changes that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma could make as the new boss could pertain to Microsoft’s controversial multiplatform strategy. She said as much during a recent town hall, and now new reporting from The Verge states that Sharma is “evaluating a range of options for Xbox exclusive games.”
The report said Sharma is “treading carefully” and is not yet ready to sign off on “any major changes” to the policy.
This is hardly a surprise. Before this, Sharma said she’s trying to make “the right decision, not the fastest decision.” Whatever Sharma and the team land on in terms of exclusives will amount to “long-swinging decisions that have decade-long impact,” she said.
Sharma said she will take a “data-driven approach and a strategic-driven approach” to decide what happens next. She also declined to provide a timeline for when a decision may be made.
Fans have called on Microsoft to return to exclusive games–and Sharma has heard those calls–but it remains to be seen if anything will actually change.
Microsoft released exclusive games for years, but that changed in a big way in 2024 when the company launched a new campaign to bring its first-party games to rival consoles, including PS5 and Switch, in addition to PC. This shift reportedly came as part of a directive from Microsoft management to increase margins, and that’s something Microsoft denied. Whatever the case, bringing Xbox games to rival systems has made Microsoft a lot of money. Forza Horizon 5, for example, reportedly earned more than $300 million on PlayStation 5 alone.
Microsoft has maintained that the shift in strategy to release more games on rival platforms was an effort to break down the traditional console walls and meet people where they are. But the decision was criticized by core fans. Microsoft releases games on rival platforms on a title-by-title basis, so there is no one specific formula that the company follows in this regard.
Sharma and Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty said they will consider changes to “windowing” for first-party games, which means Microsoft could carve out other top titles from Game Pass as well.