Over Recent years, Xbox has been stepping on the proverbial rake seemingly every other month. With blunders like Redfall, price hikes, and straying away from console-exclusive games, Xbox fans have been left feeling scorned by their platform of choice. But the newly minted Xbox CEO, Asha Sharma, recently gave words of encouragement that should give fans a little peace of mind that Xbox is trending in the right direction.
If You’re Not First You’re Last
A recent Bloomberg Tech Stream featured Xbox’s CEO Asha Sharma, and as to be expected, the matter of console exclusive games was brought up once more. As nuanced a topic as it is, Asha Sharma provided a clear and direct message to fans as to where Xbox could go with exclusives. “It’s a tough topic. Look, we’re the number two publisher in the world, and in order to be a great publisher, you must have your games reach large audiences to play. At the same time, we’re increasingly becoming a platform, and in order to become a platform, you must have exclusive content and services.”
Sharma continued, “And so, we’re looking at that very closely. I think that we have to be very thoughtful about each title, on how we want to think about it, and learn from some similar cases in the industry, and that’s what we’re doing.” When we take a step back and look at the quote as is, some are referring to this as nothing more than corporate yapping. Then there is another section of gamers who are deeming this as the revival of Xbox console exclusive games going forward. I, for one, have seen my fair share of PR speak, but if you ask me, I think there is some merit behind these words.
A Battle on Two Fronts
As Xbox’s CEO, it is Asha Sharma’s job to make this giant corporate entity as much money as humanly possible. She also mentioned how her mandate doesn’t pertain to those 30% profit margins that Amy Hood sought out. And as the second-largest publisher in the world, it is also Xbox’s job to sell games. Return on investment is the term that makes the business world go round, and Asha Sharma has a delicate tightrope to walk as we stare down the next console generation in Project Helix.
The second front Asha Sharma was quickly thrown into was the one occupied by the justifiably unhappy Xbox fanbase. There must be a perfect balance of Xbox-made games that sell insanely well across multiple platforms, AND games crafted specifically for those who choose to invest in the Xbox ecosystem. We’ve seen how Nintendo and Sony have benefitted from creating games you can’t play anywhere else, so I think it’s time for Xbox to deliver that same premise.
