In an exclusive interview with Game File, new(ish) Xbox boss Asha Sharma and Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty explain their vision for Microsoft’s gaming division
Great get with the interview! Look forward to reading the transcript.
It’s interesting. So much of Xbox is big decisions that take years to materialise into something. Will be fascinating to see — aside from the price drop — what else they do to win back their core customers in the short term.
If they bring back exclusives, and include multiple storefronts on project helix, I think it will actually compete for the next generation. Insiders are saying that project helix will considerably outspec the next PlayStation. So if we got the most powerful console with the addition of pc storefronts, and can also bring your entire library of games with you, that is like the dream console I’ve always wanted. Will finially be able to check out the last of us and god of war, see what all the fuss is about lol. Great job with the interview, and I have been very impressed with Asha sharma so far. If she brings back exclusives, she will save Xbox
Nice work Stephen. For my two cents, I think the only thing they can do to "stabilise" the Xbox Series consoles is to drop the price. History has taught us again and again that price is the decisive factor in console launches (Saturn, PS3, Xbone). If you are more expensive than your competitor, you lose.
Would a big, headline grabbing price cut for the Series machines work this late into the generation? Who knows but it's the only play I think they have - unless they decide to take all their titles console-exclusive again, which would be a catastrophic move in the wrong direction IMO.
Their best bet would be to drop the price with the launch of GTA 6. There will be a wave of new players picking up systems just to play that game. If they went in with a really aggressive price (significantly below PlayStation), I’m sure they could pick up a lot of new players.
That's a great idea. They could go one better and do some aggressively-priced GTA bundles too. They also have a few big opportunities for that coming up this year with their in house games - Forza, Fable, Gears and Halo.
I do wonder how aggressive it would have to be to be move the needle at this point though. Certainly I would think the Series X needs to be at least $100 less than the base PS5, and Series S at least $200.
Exclusive of the year. Well-timed with receipts, amazing. I think going forward, "Xbox exclusive" will be a term of the past. I like Asha's energy in the face of all this.
What players want is simple: create amazing, fun, must play games. I found it funny with their released statement that it didn’t seem to focus on that before all this other marketing rhetoric.
Hasn't a big criticism since literally the Xbox One been Microsoft's continued focus on the added-value features of the console hardware instead of trying to make a really good video game playing machine with really good games to play on it? Even the latest marketing move of "(literally everything including your smart fridge) is an Xbox" played into that
That was Phil’s marketing scheme the everything is an Xbox. Asha scrapped it immediately, and she is already on record talking about bring exclusives back
All of the stupid marketing rhetoric you heard the last year was all Phil Spencer’s doing. Asha immediately scrapped everything is an Xbox. She dropped the gamepass prices and is refocusing on exclusivity and hardware. That is focusing on making better games, she can’t go into the lab and do it for them. That’s on the devs
Great get with the interview! Look forward to reading the transcript.
It’s interesting. So much of Xbox is big decisions that take years to materialise into something. Will be fascinating to see — aside from the price drop — what else they do to win back their core customers in the short term.
If they bring back exclusives, and include multiple storefronts on project helix, I think it will actually compete for the next generation. Insiders are saying that project helix will considerably outspec the next PlayStation. So if we got the most powerful console with the addition of pc storefronts, and can also bring your entire library of games with you, that is like the dream console I’ve always wanted. Will finially be able to check out the last of us and god of war, see what all the fuss is about lol. Great job with the interview, and I have been very impressed with Asha sharma so far. If she brings back exclusives, she will save Xbox
Nice work Stephen. For my two cents, I think the only thing they can do to "stabilise" the Xbox Series consoles is to drop the price. History has taught us again and again that price is the decisive factor in console launches (Saturn, PS3, Xbone). If you are more expensive than your competitor, you lose.
Would a big, headline grabbing price cut for the Series machines work this late into the generation? Who knows but it's the only play I think they have - unless they decide to take all their titles console-exclusive again, which would be a catastrophic move in the wrong direction IMO.
Their best bet would be to drop the price with the launch of GTA 6. There will be a wave of new players picking up systems just to play that game. If they went in with a really aggressive price (significantly below PlayStation), I’m sure they could pick up a lot of new players.
That's a great idea. They could go one better and do some aggressively-priced GTA bundles too. They also have a few big opportunities for that coming up this year with their in house games - Forza, Fable, Gears and Halo.
I do wonder how aggressive it would have to be to be move the needle at this point though. Certainly I would think the Series X needs to be at least $100 less than the base PS5, and Series S at least $200.
Exclusive of the year. Well-timed with receipts, amazing. I think going forward, "Xbox exclusive" will be a term of the past. I like Asha's energy in the face of all this.
Haha your
Comment didn’t age well. Asha just said today they are revisiting exclusivity
What players want is simple: create amazing, fun, must play games. I found it funny with their released statement that it didn’t seem to focus on that before all this other marketing rhetoric.
Hasn't a big criticism since literally the Xbox One been Microsoft's continued focus on the added-value features of the console hardware instead of trying to make a really good video game playing machine with really good games to play on it? Even the latest marketing move of "(literally everything including your smart fridge) is an Xbox" played into that
They need to make the next elder scrolls, fallout, wolfenstein Games all exclusive
That was Phil’s marketing scheme the everything is an Xbox. Asha scrapped it immediately, and she is already on record talking about bring exclusives back
All of the stupid marketing rhetoric you heard the last year was all Phil Spencer’s doing. Asha immediately scrapped everything is an Xbox. She dropped the gamepass prices and is refocusing on exclusivity and hardware. That is focusing on making better games, she can’t go into the lab and do it for them. That’s on the devs