After massive layoffs, studio closures, and a change in Xbox's strategy, the industry is increasingly asking: what should Xbox truly become – a gaming platform or the largest publisher? According to former Sony and Microsoft executives, the company can no longer combine both roles simultaneously.
Shawn Layden, former head of PlayStation America and ex-chairman of Sony Worldwide Studios, stated in an interview with Eurogamer that a successful console platform needs strong exclusives, while the largest publisher, conversely, should release its games on all possible devices.
According to Layden, these two directions contradict each other. Nintendo develops its platforms with Mario and Zelda, and PlayStation with franchises like Astro Bot, Horizon, and God of War. If Microsoft wants to become the world's largest publisher, it needs to focus on multi-platform releases.
Layden also noted that during his time at Sony, the goal of internal studios was not to take market share from third-party publishers like EA or Activision, but to create games that make the gaming ecosystem more attractive and expand the market.
John Kimmich, former lead specialist at Microsoft Games Studios, who participated in shaping the original Xbox lineup and helped the company acquire franchises like Halo and BattleTech, expressed a similar view. He now consults gaming companies through his own firm, Software Illuminati.
In his publication on GamesBeat, Kimmich stated that Microsoft is trying to be too many things at once: a Netflix equivalent for games with Game Pass, a PlayStation competitor in the console market, a Steam rival on PC, a cloud gaming platform, and the largest third-party publisher. In his opinion, these directions inevitably conflict with each other.
The expert emphasized that Xbox can develop several directions simultaneously, but the company needs to define the main one. All other services and products should support the central strategy, not compete with each other.
The authors also point out that in recent years, Microsoft has repeatedly changed its priorities. First, exclusives were called the most important part of the Xbox ecosystem, then the company began actively releasing its own games on other platforms. A similar situation is observed with Game Pass, premium game sales, and the promotion of the "This Is an Xbox" concept, which blurred the very notion of the platform.
According to Layden and Kimmich, the new Xbox CEO, Asha Sharma, has inherited a division experiencing an identity crisis. Staff reductions and restructuring may temporarily improve financial performance, but they do not answer the main question – why does Xbox exist and what role should the brand play in the gaming industry in the future.