Xbox’s new leader, Asha Sharma, had promised to consider adjusting the Xbox’s exclusive game strategy. At the Xbox game launch this morning, Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Butti clarified Microsoft’s position on the exclusive game.
Matt Butti said in Gamertag Radio: “Our big multiplayer and online service game will continue to maintain a multi-platform strategy. We want the player to have reason to join the Xbox camp, to buy the Xbox and to become an Xbox fan. At the same time, we want to give back our long-standing support to our players, and it is very important that the game be monopolized.”
As to why the multi-player model, War Machines: Days of Change, was the exclusive game of Xbox, Matt Butti did not specify why. It was reported that War Machines: Days of Change had initially planned to land on PS5, and it appeared that the transplant scheme had been cancelled, and Microsoft had never stated that it would be on the PlayStation platform.
“If we make a commitment to the player, we will do it,” Matt Butti stressed. He added that when Microsoft announces the date of distribution of the game, it also publishes the platform of the game, so that the player knows what he needs to do. Nevertheless, Matt Butti indicated that Microsoft had not yet defined its final strategy. He indicated that Microsoft would continue to reflect on the issue and would decide on the specific platform for the new publication, depending on the circumstances. The key is to make “right decisions, not hasty decisions”.
That sounds familiar because former Xbox executives Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond have said similar things. In the case of exclusivity, they all indicated that Microsoft would make a decision on exclusivity on a case-by-case basis.
In 2021, when the Star Sky was first published, it was written as “Xbox Monarch”, and in 2023 Todd Howard again stressed that the Star Sky was better because it landed on Xbox rather than PlayStation. By April 2026, however, the Hall of Stars came on line PS5, with good sales performance. This has forced the outside world to question Microsoft’s commitment, although this is not uncommon within the industry and many companies may change their minds after the market changes or for other reasons.
At today’s exhibition, Microsoft announced that the War Machine: Things Change Day and the Revolution would be the exclusive Xbox host game. Microsoft claims in his blog that it will “return to monopolization” and further emphasizes that War Machines: Times of Change and the Revolution are more than “time-limited monopolization”, as if it were a sign that two games will not land on other host platforms in the future.
The statement also states: “The games that have been announced to be distributed across the platform will continue to be planned, and we are committed to investing in and developing the Xbox, be it host or other platforms.”
Asha Sharma had expressed her wish to “reorganize” the Xbox business, and Microsoft “must” have exclusive content to help revitalize the Xbox. This may be true, but, according to Alessandro Barbosa, a well-known game analyst, Microsoft’s current propaganda strategy in terms of monopolizing content is confusing.