Xbox recently announced that it has selected Asha Sharma, the company's new CEO, and under her leadership, along with a bunch of other executive-level departures and entries, Xbox will be entering a genuine strategic reset. But what does that mean exactly? And how long will this newfound directional change last?
Windows Central's Jez Corden has reported from the ground floor at Summer Game Fest, speaking with several Xbox executives and developers. Corden admits he was somewhat pessimistic about Xbox's new direction, given the company's history of empty promises and various strategies that have hurt Xbox fans. However, Corden reports that after speaking with Xbox executives and developers, he believes there is a genuine desire to rebuild the Xbox brand to its former glory, and one way to do that will be through exclusives.
The report states that Microsoft's push to make everything an Xbox significantly hurt its brand and weakened the Xbox ecosystem as a whole, but now, with the shift toward exclusivity, having two titles already announced and on the way, new Xbox leadership is viewing exclusivity as not a financial burden, but as a means of rebuilding the Xbox culture, community, and fan trust.
Probably the biggest takeaway from the report is that Xbox executives have met with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to discuss whether Microsoft is truly committed to Xbox and gaming long-term.
Corden said those executives are convinced that Nadella and Microsoft are fully committed to gaming long-term, and even said they were considering declining their offered positions at Xbox out of this fear, until they sat down with Nadella and heard the reassurances.
So, what does this mean? Hearing there is genuine excitement from new Xbox leadership that Microsoft has approved a long runway to make this new future for Xbox possible is very reassuring. However, this is still corporations beholden to money. So, I'd remain cautiously optimistic.
