In a recently released joint memo by the new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and CCO Matt Booty, the executives have made it clear that they want the defining factors of the platform to be affordability, personalization and openness. According to CEO Asha Sharma, the Xbox platform is on it’s way to be the most open platform for all players and creators alike, in terms of user expressions compared to all other platforms available today.
And during a recent interview with Game File, Sharma stated that being “open” means that not only multiple storefronts can be accessed via the next-gen Xbox but it’ll also allow for more personalization for everyone: “So what we shared with our team is that we want the platform to be open for more people to create on the platform and more players to participate in customizing and extending that,” Sharma said.
In the same interview, she said that they’re also currently re-evaluating exclusivity on the Xbox platform but won’t be rushing into any decision cause of their long-term impact on the players.
“We’ll take a data-driven approach and a strategic-driven approach, and then we’ll look at our principles and we’ll make some calls,” Sharma said. “So we’ll share more when we’re ready.”
“I want to make the right decision, not the fastest decision,” Sharma said.
Xbox is currently undergoing some huge changes that’ll affect many of the platform’s core elements including modifications on the pricing of multiple Game Pass tiers, re-evaluating the exclusivity of many of it’s landmark titles and more. The platform has also slightly reduced the prices for both Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass recently, which would widen the accessibility of the subscription service to players. All of these definitely seem hugely ambitious and pivotal for the Xbox brand and it’ll be interesting to see how Microsoft executes these changes moving ahead.
