Xbox confirms it’s ‘reevaluating’ exclusivity as it shares future mission statement

Microsoft’s new gaming CEO, Asha Sharma, has shared a mission statement for the future of Xbox and confirmed that the platform holder is ‘reevaluating’ game exclusivity and AI.

In a message sent to Xbox employees worldwide and published on the company’s website, Sharma and chief content officer Matt Booty outlined the future objectives for the Xbox brand and confirmed that as part of its changes, the ‘Microsoft Gaming’ division will be rebranded back to just ‘Xbox’.

The pair said the “new north star” for Xbox will be daily active players and indicated it will execute its new plan through four priorities: hardware, content, experience, and services.

Notably, the leadership team claimed that, “along the way, we will reevaluate our approach to exclusivity, windowing, and AI, and share more as we learn and decide.”

While the letter makes no firm commitments, it indicates that Sharma is listening to the Xbox players who feel the platform has lost value due to Microsoft’s decision to bring its first-party games to PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2.

While there are signs that the strategy has been successful for Xbox – Forza Horizon 5 alone is estimated to have sold more than 5 million copies on PS5 – it’s possible it could consider adding value to its console by implementing timed exclusivity, as it’s done with the upcoming Forza Horizon 6.

As it continued its push towards becoming a multiplatform business, Xbox released six titles for PS5 in 2025, with more planned for this year. However, it’s been inconsistent with its release strategy, with some games arriving later on PS5, like Indiana Jones and Avowed, and others releasing on day one, like The Outer Worlds 2 and the upcoming Fable.

It’s less clear what the leadership’s comments could mean in relation to AI. Soon after her appointment, Sharma – a former AI executive – claimed she would not enforce the use of generative AI on developers and “flood our ecosystem with slop”.

The letter to staff goes on to lay out Xbox’s priorities going forward. In hardware, it says it wants to “stabilize” Xbox Series consoles as “a healthy and high-quality base”, then deliver Project Helix “to lead in performance and play your console and PC games”, and “build a strong ecosystem that expands choice and reach”.

In content, Sharma and Booty state their intention to grow and extend “an enduring portfolio of franchises players love”, evolve third-party partnerships, “maintain and grow” in live games, and expand in China and emerging markets.

In services, the pair say they intend to “fortify” Game Pass with “clear differentiation and sustainable economics”, return the business to “durable growth with strong cost discipline”, improve the cloud experience, and acquire companies “to accelerate growth where organic paths are too slow”.

Finally, the Xbox leaders say they want to improve the experience for players, overhauling discovery, customization, social, and personalization “to connect the community”.

The letter opens with an admission that Xbox ‘has worked to do’. “Players are frustrated,” it says, noting criticism of less frequent feature drops.

“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.

“These changes are happening as the industry reshapes around us,” it concludes, adding that, “the model that got us here won’t be the one that takes us forward.”

Sharma and Booty state that the next-generation Xbox will be “where the world plays and creates”.

“Console is at the foundation, delivering a premium experience, and cloud brings that experience to any device,” they state. “You can play where you want, and your games, progress, friends, and identity stay with you across console, PC, mobile, and cloud.

“Xbox will be built to be affordable, personal, and open. We will offer flexible pricing so it’s easy to get started and keep playing. The experience will adapt to you, letting you customize how you play, helping you find what you’ll love, and connecting you with the right people.”

Earlier this week, Xbox slashed the price of its highest tier Game Pass subscription, and PC Game Pass, with Sharma claiming that the service has become too expensive for players. The platform holder also removed future Call of Duty launches from Game Pass, with analysts speculating that its inclusion into the service had made little impact on subscriber numbers.

Commenting on the Xbox leadership letter, Christopher Dring, editor of The Game Business, said that the new company target around daily active users would help focus the Xbox business.

“Xbox is a complex business with multiple elements that can, at times, conflict with one another. I’ve long asked the question: what is its primary goal? Is It subscribers? Console owners? Game sales? The answer is actually far broader, it’s daily active players.

“This will focus everything the company does. It does suggest a focus on live service and multiplayer experiences, which might trouble some fans. But this has been an area that Xbox has specialised in since the first Halo. As an analyst and journalist, I feel I have more clarity on what Xbox actually is in 2026.”