Exclusivity and XBOX: These two terms have stuck to each other like peanut butter and jelly. Since Asha Sharma took over as CEO of XBOX now renamedexclusives have become the topic number one for the brand. In turn, when she or someone from the XBOX team expresses something like that, the game’s social networks light up like a Christmas tree.
In a recent Bloomberg Tech StreamAsha received the big question about XBOX exclusives and responded in the same way:
“It’s a difficult topic. Look, we are the second largest publisher in the world, and to be a great publisher, you have to make your games reach large audiences to play. At the same time, we are increasingly becoming a platform, and to become a platform, you have to have exclusive content and services.” She said.
Continuous, “And so, we’re looking at it very closely. I think we have to be very thoughtful about each title, about how we want to think about it and learn from some similar cases in the industry, and that’s what we’re doing.”
I’ve seen people online call this a nothing burger, while others rush to the front like it’s the second coming of exclusives. The truth, as with all things, is wrapped in corporate jargon; The answer is probably hidden somewhere in between.
Going deeper into her quote, you can see that Asha is fighting a war on two fronts. On the one hand, it has to continue feeding XBOX’s insatiable money-making machine, the one Amy Hood built to chase those elusive 30% margins. Something Asham specifically mentions that he doesn’t have to deal with.
“So my mandate is not a 30% margin of responsibility. It’s to be the number one gaming and entertainment company, and that’s what we’re going to do.” Alleluia!
Still, when you’re the second-largest publisher on the planet, you can’t just make games; you also have to sell them. Make a giant like Obligations Exclusive would be like setting a pile of cash on fire. We are talking about a franchise that sells between 15 and 30 million copies a year. If you cut that in half, suddenly you’re potentially facing more studio closures.
When you spend that amount of money on development or purchasing intellectual property and studios, you need to see a return on that investment, and games the size of Call of Duty would deal a fatal blow to the brand. Unless XBOX was willing to endure the loss of over $2 billion a year.
Why exclusives still make sense
But let’s not bury the exclusives just yet. Last year, I called XBOX consoles nothing more than glorified Game Pass machines. Then Game Pass prices skyrocketed to Halo’s rings and honestly, XBOX seemed lost to me. Fortunately, those pricing decisions have been reversed.
However, in Asha’s own words, “We are increasingly becoming a platform, and to become a platform, you must have exclusive content and services.”
She specifically points out content and services, not just services. Which means Game Pass and other services aren’t the only things that should be exclusive to the platform; games should be too.
Picture this: Fableactually exclusive to XBOX. Suddenly, people have a real reason to embrace the green box, whether “pro-consumer” or not. There is a reason why Nintendo and sony have armies of loyal followers; They have games you can’t play anywhere else.
Now, I don’t think Fable will become exclusive, as it was already revealed to be a PlayStation game, but that doesn’t mean future titles can’t return to some form of exclusivity.
To sell hardware, which XBOX has had problems recentlyyou need content as a reason to own said hardware. Do you think Apple TV, Paramount or Netflix would do well if they all shared their shows with each other? Do you subscribe to more than one service to get access to more content? Maybe you subscribe to only one because you prefer that platform’s exclusive content to another.
Damn, there’s a reason XBOX console sales increased by 15% in the UK, while PlayStation plummeted 50%. Spoiler: it was Force Horizon 6.
That’s all while Forza Horizon 6 is planned to arrive on PlayStation 6. Even GaaS titles can boost sales, even if they’re just timed exclusives.
Imagine if Netflix owned everything, and Disney Plus and Amazon Prime launched its content on Netflix as well as its own services. Would you subscribe to Netflix or someone else?
Building a platform means offering something that other platforms don’t. Sure, that can come in the form of Instant Resume, XBOX Live, or something else, but if you want a console that can play God of War, Wolverine, Death Stranding 2 (at launch), Fable, and Forza Horizon 6, there’s only one console that can do it.
The problem with XBOX, at least for me, is that we spent years waiting for its exclusive games to become a reality. Every year it was a “This is Xbox’s chance,” and when they finally had enough content in the works, they botched it and started releasing it elsewhere.
As a result, we have seen year after year results of XBOX hardware drops and an XBOX without a true gaming identity. When you think of a “Sony” or “Nintendo” game, you conjure up an image of what that means in your mind.
What happens when you think about XBOX? Now ask yourself: is that game still an XBOX exclusive or can I play it on PlayStation now or in the future?
I rest my case.
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