Xbox 'must have exclusive content,' CEO Asha Sharma says exclusives to be selected on thoughtful case-by-case basis

Exclusivity is coming back to Xbox in some form as CEO Asha Sharma reiterates the importance of must-have content that's only available on one platform, but no specifics have been revealed yet.

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Microsoft's break from game exclusivity has significantly benefited the Xbox business, boosting game sales and per-quarter revenues. But Xbox hardware is a different story, and de-anchoring exclusive software further weakened Microsoft's already-compromised presence in the console market. While previous management took a more aggressive approach to multi-platform, Xbox's new CEO Asha Sharma is open to exclusivity and wants to use it to help strengthen the platform as a whole.

"I think exclusivity is a tough topic. Look, we're the #2 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, in order to be a platform, you must have exclusive content and services," the Xbox exec said in a recent interview with Bloomberg Technology.

There won't be blanket exclusivity, though, and it'll be a thorough and very particular vetting process. Not every game would make a good exclusive--something like Minecraft, for example, or something like Fallout 76--but perhaps an original core DNA franchise like Halo could go back to a full-on Xbox exclusive. That is, after Halo Campaign Evolved launches on PS5 in a month or so.

"We're looking at [exclusivity] very closely, I think we have to be very thoughtful about each title, and how we want to think about it and learn from similar cases in the industry, and that's what we're doing," Sharma says.

No business model updates have been revealed and these are mainly just insights into how Xbox is being guided without offering specifics on what gamers can expect moving forward.

Microsoft currently operates one of the largest video game businesses in the world and has 20 individual gaming franchises that have made at least $1 billion lifetime revenue--some franchises, like Call of Duty, have even made more money than the Marvel Cinematic Universe, per Sharma.