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Unsurprisingly, it seems that everyone related to Team Xbox is being asked about exclusive games this week, and that includes the new Xbox Chief Strategy Officer, Matthew Ball.
In an interview with The Game Business, Ball gave a lengthy answer about how Xbox is going to approach exclusivity in the future. He started off by insisting that the mention of two exclusive titles (Gears and Clockwork Revolution) in the Xbox Games Showcase was "important" as it allowed players to understand that "this is not a one-off".
He then went on to confirm that exclusivity is the "start of a program" for Xbox:
"This is the start of a program, and players can expect a reliable pipeline that validates their historical investment in the Xbox platform, keeps them as Xbox players going forward, and everyone in the industry understands that exclusives are important to the growth and branding of that platform."
Ball then reiterated Matt Booty's comments about "large, live service multiplayer" titles remaining multiplatform games (with a mention of Call of Duty as the best example), along with previously-announced PS5 and Switch 2 titles.
What's particularly interesting is that the Xbox CSO then admitted he's aware of all the upcoming Xbox exclusives in the pipeline, but can't reveal them just yet.
"Today, I can't give you a more comprehensive answer [in terms of] "here are all the titles players can expect this year, next year and thereafter that are going to be exclusive". We know what those are going to be, we know how we're going to make those decisions, we know how we're going to be evaluated against those decisions."
"But what's important there is, that framework has to be external eventually. Everyone in this audience is an expert and aficionado of the field, and I understand why they are saying "we still don't quite get it". We have to communicate that internally, we have to communicate that to our partners, and then most of all at the end of the day, the average current Xbox player and the player that we want but don't have today, have to understand it very simply. That's where we're going, we're just not ready to do it yet."
And finally, when questioned about why a game such as Senua didn't get Xbox exclusivity despite being a single-player adventure game that was announced last night, Ball simply stated that he had "no further comment" on it.
To be honest, it feels like we're still none-the-wiser about Xbox's exclusivity plans based on this interview, but we do at least know that big multiplayer games and previously-confirmed multiplatform titles aren't in line for the treatment.
As for everything else? It remains to be seen!