Newly appointed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and Chief Content Officer Matt Booty have revealed that Xbox is “reevaluating” its approach to exclusivity and AI.
In a message shared with both Xbox employees and the public, the pair revealed a new mission statement for the platform holder, admitting that Xbox “has work to do”, and that “players are frustrated.”
“New feature drops on console have been less frequent,” the post read. “Our presence on PC isn’t strong enough. Pricing is getting harder for people to keep up with. And core experiences like search, discovery, social, and personalization still feel too fragmented.”
“Developers and publishers are asking for more, too: better tools, better insights, and a platform that helps them grow faster.”
“At the same time, a new generation of players is coming online with different expectations. Their time is split across games, media, and everything else competing for attention. They expect more content in familiar places, want to shape the worlds they play in, and want to create and socialize together, not just play together.”
The opening statement concludes with Sharma and Booty suggesting significant changes, stating that “The model that got us here won’t be the one that takes us forward.”
The pair have revealed that going forward, the division’s “new north star” will be daily active users, as Xbox seeks to improve engagement with its audience.
The leadership team also confirmed that the platform’s approach to exclusivity and AI will be reevaluated, suggesting that Xbox may reduce the number of first-party titles that release on other platforms, such as PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2. Xbox’s plan for AI, on the other hand, remains more unclear, though Sharma – a former AI executive – did claim that developers would not be forced to use generative AI in their work, taking a hard stance against “slop”.
As part of the new mission statement, Sharma and Booty highlighted four key areas that Xbox will prioritise moving forward: hardware, content, experience and services.
As one of its four new core priorities, Booty and Sharma say that the current generation of Xbox consoles needs to “stabilize” and become “a healthy and high-quality base”. In addition, the pair want Xbox to deliver its next-generation console, Project Helix, to “lead in performance and play your console and PC games”. Sharma and Booty have said that Xbox will be the place where “the world plays and creates”.
As for content, the intention is to “Grow and extend an enduring portfolio of franchises players love”, improve Xbox’s relationship with third-party developers, expand into China and other emerging markets, as well as “Elevate creator-centric platforms like Minecraft, The Elder Scrolls, and Sea of Thieves“.
The third of these priorities, experience, will focus on improving Xbox as a platform for both developers and players by fixing fundamentals, while also overhauling discovery, customisation, social, and personalisation to “connect the community”.
Finally, Sharma and Booty are looking to improve services by fortifying Game Pass with “clear differentiation and sustainable economics”, improving cloud play to feel “native, fast and reliable”, as well as bringing durable growth back to the business.
Changes to Game Pass have already begun, as earlier this week, Microsoft dropped the price of both Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for PC, after Sharma admitted that Game Pass had become too expensive.