All these takes saying how Xbox will recover the glory (which they seem to believe rubs off on themselves) IF ONLY... full exclusivity...
Except it wasn´t that long ago that Xbox did have full exclusivity... and what was the result?
Declining market share which prompted MS to see multplat publishing as the way forward.
None of the people proposing this can even give a back of the napkin take on how much value their proposal would destroy.

But hey, maybe they will feel a little bit happier when MS announces a Xbox console exclusive cosmetic, or ¨Asha´s #1 fan¨ sock collection.

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I think people just have a hard time engaging with the present day reality, stuck on decades old sentiment about a brand.
The value of Xbox as console is just really dubious, and certainly not worth destroying the value in multiplat game sales.
Sure, having their own niche store is OK to the extent it bypasses Steam or Sony taking their cut,
and they probably have more sales volume than e.g. Epic Game Store, but they also have a lot more costs than Epic
and they just haven´t demonstrated ability to grow, and in fact have a shrinking core market for this niche.

In contrast, their game studios are actually pretty successfull, and would be more so with full multiplat distribution.
I honestly think the Zenimax and ABK purchases simply don´t justify the premium paid - even if they stuck with full multiplat,
and MS would have unlocked more value by selling off it´s existing Xbox Game Studios to outside publisher or publishers.
Since MS didn´t really need the money per se, they could have gotten better valuation by selling it for shares (not cash).

I can see how ¨peer¨ console platform owners like Sony and Nintendo can make exclusivity work well but that depends
on scale and market share which MS has simply lost even while they still had full exclusivity in 1st party games.
And personally, I think both Sony and Nintendo would benefit from more ¨case by case¨ multiplat than they are currently doing.
(and Sony rationalizing dropping multiplat because certain titles don´t sell well enough outside of Playstation isn´t actually
 a great thing, and should point to them developing games which would sell well to broader audience instead of just being Playstation fodder)

Lol MS is a trillion dollar company with still an massive active userbase between XBO and XBS. If Microsoft wants to be a console maker they need exclusive games. They can have their [publishing division (Activision etc). The XBO sold better than the Series X because it had more exclusives.

We know where Phil Spencer was on that question.

He was 100% for, going full Publisher, damn the hardware.
Actions speak louder than words.

Where Asha Sharma stands, is currently not known.... she doesn't seem like, to have committed to one or the other yet.
She knows xbox fans, think exclusives are important for console hardware (and to be fair, the proof is in the pudding).
So far she has taken 2 games and made them exclusive. She also made a few announced games for PlayStation, when she didn't have too.
It's hard to tell if shes really for one or the other, so far.  I think she is testing the water.... and seeing if she "see's" what Phil Spencer saw. 
Money talks.... she might years down the line, come to the same conclusion Phil did, depending on how the next gen turns out.

Phil gave up, trying to push hardware.
He was like "I cannot do both", I'll buy some more studios and convert xbox to a publisher instead, of a platform holder.

This thread is so weird.
Literally fantasizing about MS taking COD full exclusive. As if there isn´t regulatory orders barring that.
I don´t even know why that would be seen as desirable even if it was possible.
OK... sabotage 90% of the player base for big games, so you can somehow blackmail some of them to buy a Xbox console.
Is that supposed to give off confidence in your product?
I can get how games that were always exclusive could continue to be.
But if the salvation of Xbox somehow hinges on stealing what was long fully 3rd party... maybe Xbox just sucks?
And then people talk about this like it is achieving some great success...
It is about destroying 90% of the value of the business, and they can´t even honestly say that out loud.

https://wccftech.com/xbox-future-exclusives-business-health/?brid=YWdncwEQmCsGU07FPqyCb_9FCVjM


"Xbox CEO Ties Future Exclusives to Business Health, Signaling a Possible Return to Multiplatform if Sales Slip"

^ name of the article.

You can read it yourselves, but the title basically gives all you need.

edit:

"Look, I think that we are the number two publisher in the world, and you want your games to be everywhere. You're stronger when the world plays with you. At the same time, we are increasingly becoming more of a platform, and it's hard to find examples of platforms out there that don't have exclusive services and content. And so this is a journey for us. Our business isn't particularly healthy, as you notice, or as you noted, and so we're starting by introducing one to two signature exclusives, and as the business is healthy, we will look to try and do more."

"Needless to say, Xbox fans immediately started to worry about what would happen if the business doesn't get much healthier in the near future. The most obvious answer would be a return to the full-on multiplatform strategy previously approved by now-retired CEO Phil Spencer."



I guess I wasn't far off with the "I think she is testing the water" thing I wrote a few days ago.
Granted this is just the quiet part, not said out loud, that goes along with the quote she actually did say.

If hardware sales don't go up, or enough xbox fans buy games..... the exclusives go away.
Seems reasonable tbh, I think most CEO or people in that position would do the same.

I'm sorry Asha, but Gears and the other exclusive aren't magically going to make your business very healthy. By "business" I take it she's referring to the Xbox platform.

Most people have it in the back of their minds that Gears and others will come to Playstation eventually, so even if they were huge IP's (which they're not), the majority of the fans on Playstation (who aren't that many) would wait it out and enjoy other games in the meantime. Her hesitant remarks are only going to make the wait easier.

I'm actually of the opinion that even the more careful and dominant Sony left a long lasting damage on Playstation with their PC strategy that might take several years of commitment to fully repair. Many gamers aren't buyng that whole "no more Sony singleplayer games on PC" thing and are convinced they'll eventually return.

These half-measures won't do anything. If Xbox hardware starts selling relatively or proportionally well soon, the reasons would be Playstation's recent price hikes and GTA6. We're already seeing Xbox having higher sales splits and seemingly (if maybe temporarily) holding its own in some markets because PS5 recently lost its price advantage and now both platforms are very expensive.