With Asha Sharma now in charge of Microsoft's Xbox division, the team is going in a slightly different and more console-focused direction here in 2026, with Xbox exclusivity coming up as a hot topic for the new boss already. Whilst nothing has been confirmed publicly yet — and plenty of Xbox games are currently still scheduled to release on PS5 — there are apparently internal talks going on about this very topic over at Microsoft HQ.
In another podcast clip from Windows Central reporter Jez Corden, the journalist talks a little bit about exclusivity on Xbox, and how "there are very very very big discussions" happening internally about how Microsoft will deal with potential exclusives under the new Xbox regime. We don't really know the full nature of those discussions, but it sounds like it's something the team is keenly aware of looking into.
Here's what was said during the podcast:
"There are very very very big discussions about the exclusivity stuff going on right now. They do recognise the value - it's just about what kind of company you want to be, at the end of the day. Do you want to be an ecosystem company first, or do you want to be a publishing company first?"
Of course, more recently Microsoft has strongly veered into 'publishing company first' territory - especially in the wake of its huge purchases of Bethesda and Activision Blizzard. Whether Asha & co. want to swing that pendulum back towards a more closed-off ecosystem remains to be seen, but Corden definitely believes that it's a big talking point right now over at Microsoft.
The Xbox reporter goes on to be more speculative on this topic afterwards (both as part of the podcast and on social media) which you can take a further look at down below if you wish. We've timestamped the full podcast underneath so you can have a listen to what Corden says for yourself!