Banjo-

@Coletrain Yes, it seems that they are working on the remote features. I always use shutdown. I love the second addition, it's cool to choose between the typical tiles and the cover artwork as if it was a physical collection.

I'm looking forward to E-Day as I love Gears of War 1, 2, 3 and 4. It's not another shooter, it has a trademark gameplay and vibes, just like Halo has its.

@abe_hikura Yep, I know what you mean.

@somnambulance They seem to really be doing this data-driven and strategy-driven approach. I agree about Fable and even Halo being too late to be cancelled for PS5. It will be interesting how this strategy develops. She just arrived and we're seeing lots of changes already.

@MinervaX76 Regarding Tango Gameworks, this is what Krafton stated back then:

@TrollOfWar I think that you are right about stock and memory price. She said that they are in more difficult situation than others [Sony & Nintendo] because of the decisions made previously and I think she was referring to not have stockpiled components. I believe that they can't meet the demand because Series X|S has been sold out for months in many countries, but that's because they were not prioritising stock as they focused on a multiplatform approach, relying on people playing Xbox games on a phone... or on another console.

You're definitely right about the cross-gen period and that's why now they are focusing on their current platform and users more than anything else. Asha's strategy is definitely long-term. She has done a lot of things already, but she said that "This will take years."

@McKeownPlayz Yes. As posted by other users, when Xbox focused on exclusives, their profitability was 10-15%. With their multiplatform strategy, it plummeted to 3%.

Outside Minecraft and massive ABK IPs like Call of Duty, their games haven't performed particularly well on PS5 besides Forza Horizon 5, but Forza Horizon 6 has been a massive success on Xbox and PC despite the already announced PS6 port. On top of Sony and Nintendo having their exclusives affecting Asha's decisions, making certain games exclusive is a viral marketing campaign. I see a connection between console exclusives and slashing budgets for marketing, even more now that we know that the numbers got worse with the multiplatform strategy and that they were significantly better with the exclusivity approach.

@somnambulance Right, but at the same time when you launch a game you need to be positive about it. At the end of the day, some people will like it. I played Redfall late after the patches (on Series X, single player) and I enjoyed it. It's fun, has great shooting controls and performs extremely well technically. I agree about not launching games in a poor state, something that also affected Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 until they were improved considerably.

I agree about exclusives. Outside Minecraft and massive ABK IPs like Call of Duty, their games haven't performed particularly well on PS5 besides Forza Horizon 5, but Forza Horizon 6 has been a massive success on Xbox and PC despite the already announced PS6 port. On top of Sony and Nintendo having their exclusives affecting Asha's decisions, making certain games exclusive is a viral marketing campaign. I see a connection between console exclusives and slashing budgets for marketing, even more now that we know that the numbers got worse with the multiplatform strategy and that they were significantly better with the exclusivity approach.

@MinervaX76 Yes, let me check. The thing I know for sure is that the founder and key producers had already left before Xbox got rid of them and that probably triggered the decision. I thought that the studio was kept alive until the new partnership. For the record, I love Tango and rated Ghostwire Tokyo 10/10.

@somnambulance I love Phil Spencer, but I criticised his hands-off approach in regard to the management of the Xbox studios many times.

@MinervaX76 No idea where you got that from. You are right about some staff leaving, but they left earlier because of internal disagreements. The founder had left along with the main producers before Xbox got rid of the studio. The studio was breaking down before the decision. I've read that Microsoft kept the studio alive until they found a new partner, but I'll double check!

@MinervaX76

Xbox started to lose me when they shut down Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks. Any studio that they plan to purge should be given some path towards existing, be it a path to independence or selling them.

FYI Tango was not shut down, it was sold to another parent company after the director and some of the producers left. They are pretty much alive and kept the Hi-Fi Rush IP, as they wanted.

@Helix I respect your stance, but still being a console, with backwards compatibility and where you can play PC games is something that has many people excited. If you are a console player, it's already appealing. If you are a PC player, you either want the high-end option that is ridiculously expensive (more than ever before) or you are looking for alternatives like a handheld PC, a cheaper PC or a hybrid console-PC like Helix, as long as its value makes sense to you. Another extra value, and I think it has been the main value of Xbox for a while, is being able to play the same game on several platforms (console, PC, handheld) with a single purchase and free cloud saves. Add Game Pass on top of that offering. Helix won't be cheap, granted, but it will be much better value than a PC with equivalent graphical capabilities (not equivalent raw specifications). There will be other options, whether they are manufactured by Microsoft or a third party like Asus, because she also mentioned that in the interview.

@Godot25 I agree. Whatever the required margins then, hardware was sold either at loss or even and there was not enough stock available in many countries to begin with. Phil thought that ports would be the easiest way to improve revenue, but instead of the additional players on PS5, as I said above, numbers didn't work out as planned. Sarah thought that Cloud would be a lifesaver increasing Game Pass numbers. Sarah was right about not needing hardware and that potentially is pure benefits, but she had no clue about the gaming business. In between, until recently, the only Game Pass tier that had Cloud was the most expensive, so "This is an Xbox" made even less sense. I said here long ago that she looked like a saleswoman not believing her own words, because she didn't really know. Asha is the extreme opposite. Whatever she doesn't know, she's willing to assess and sort out.

She reassured the interview's listeners that Helix is what we expect in terms of technical capabilities and also confirmed that it will let us play PC games, but she has never mentioned Steam and that aspect is the one I'm most intrigued by, despite not having a Steam account. I have been considering these three possibilities:

1) Not include third-party storefronts on Helix. She has confirmed that it will allow players to play PC games, but third-party storefronts might not be available on Helix because she hasn't addressed that.

2) Include third-party storefronts but release their first-party games on their next-gen console-PC Xbox store exclusively (also available on PC, obviously).

3) Include third-party storefronts and also release their first-party games on them, not giving their next-gen store any advantage.

The first and second choices are what make the most sense to me. The third option doesn't make any sense and doesn't match the data-driven and strategy-driven approach.

With this highly unusual honesty and fresh eyes, Asha is the perfect person to reboot Xbox and make it a better competitor across all markets. Basically, Xbox is making a fortune and it has lots of active players, 50m+ on console only plus PC and mobile, but numbers are not working out as they should (3%). That needs to be fixed.

The fifth section is the most interesting and the real reboot she talks about. A massive company with lots of dependencies, relying on vendors, not reacting fast, not communicating internally. She mentioned the latter right after she started her tenure. I think that fixing the fifth is what will make Xbox much more efficient.

Considering how the industry is right now and what Sony and all the other big publishers have been doing recently, I somehow expected this. Xbox has sold Tango and shut The Initiative down. Being a new and messy studio, I agreed with the latter, but still wished that Perfect Dark was handled by Crystal Dynamics who, in between, have been sold and bought several times already, despite being geniuses. I always wondered why Xbox didn't acquire them instead of Embracer. Crystal Dynamics reminds me of Playground Studios, a studio that can handle themselves very well and will do well whoever owns them.

Knowing that these comments won't affect their decisions, I wonder what are your favourite Xbox studios and what are your least liked, or which one would you close or sell right now if you were forced to. I'm not sure. I think that Double Fine makes something different for the Xbox catalogue. It's true that Ninja Theory takes a long time to make short games, but they are a small studio. I'm not the biggest fan of Compulsion, but I liked South of Midnight. I haven't played Inxile's games yet. I didn't like Deathloop, but Arkane is making Marvel's Blade, a high-profile game. I loved Avowed, so I can't choose Obsidian. Hard decision but I'm going to say Ninja Theory or Compulsion Games.

@Gabrie Making a game exclusive seems more effective marketing these days than any campaign that Xbox could make.

@abe_hikura I don't know if Tango would like to hear that they have been killed. They are pretty much alive because Microsoft kept them until a new parent company was found. I love Tango, in between, although the masterminds (founder, producers) had already left the studio because of internal disagreements before Microsoft got rid of it.

We know that we'll be able to play PC games on Helix, but they haven't given any details and although others have, she has never mentioned Steam. We'll have to wait and see how they tackle that. No Xbox exclusives on Steam? Steam library available and installable but no storefront on Helix? It's intriguing.

The only problem with fully supporting PS5 is that it's a walled garden that takes but not gives, it's their competitor in the home console area, where PS is number one and on top of that they want to hurt Xbox and keep third-party games off it, so it's logical for her to reconsider how to deal with all that and how that affects their platform.

This generation I've read people saying that PS5 is outselling Series X|S 13x, but the final figure in 2026 is 2.6x. Same people that listed reasons and excuses when Xbox outsold PS, because even an isolated success for Xbox must be pictured as a failure. In reality, hardware sales is the least important number. Forza Horizon 5 was the most successful Xbox game on PS5. Others failed on PS5 and Forza Horizon 6 sold millions in a few days without PS5. PC is the biggest market, by far.

The data-driven and strategy-driven approach they speak of is the best strategy. Nothing is set in stone but that applies to PS, too. Until recently, they were interviewing people for a job title that included the word "Xbox" and we still don't know anything about their future plans because they haven't said absolutely anything publicly. Do we want Xbox to not say anything about anything like Sony? Because they will be criticised either way.

Some people act is if Helix needs to be a massive success right from the start, and that's not the case anymore with long cross-generation periods and people still playing on Xbox One. The important thing is to keep their active console users (50m+), attract more users and retain/increase number of subscribers on their ecosystem.

Xbox is fully supported by most third parties and they have the greatest first-party output. They have a new console coming, third-party devices with Xbox on PC, a next-gen store with console-PC games... That flexibility will attract PC and console gamers. Yes, Steam fans will be Steam fans and PS fans will be PS fans, we know that, they know that, but Xbox has everything they need to be competitive in a market where is no longer this console versus this other, but whole ecosystems and users across several platforms. The biggest change made by Asha is give consoles the importance they deserve, as Sony and Nintendo do.

Unless you are a Sony fanboy and Xbox hater, you can at least see some good value in Helix or an Asus Rog Ally or whatever Xbox device they release. If you are a Nintendo fan, you probably will see the value in not missing new third-party games or playing them in better form, with lower price tags and better-value subscriptions. I'm sure that Xbox will be fine but, until the next generation comes, all we can do is wait or, better yet, play!

@TheFakulty After watching the interview today, I think that she is confident and knows she was hired for rebooting Xbox with fresh eyes. I also noticed that she's a bit uncomfortable when asked about the past because it doesn't involve her and she needs to focus on the present and future. She's like, "Look, I have more than enough work to do, don't give me more headaches." I think she cares little about what's been done wrong and haven't worked recently (not meaning not learning from the past, but being stuck on it) and wants to restart with the things that worked consistently and the new things that are wanted and needed under the current circumstances. This will take years and she doesn't have all the answers yet.

What she says and this article have little in common. She gives a positive answer. ABK makes a fortune in revenue every year. It's true that console sales have not been great, but there are other factors that explain that: marketing (This is an Xbox), PS5 ports, stock shortages...

It's sad that some studios have been shut down across every big and not that big publisher, I agree with that. I wanted to list them all but I'd still missing a dozen. Still, for the huge size of Xbox now, they have closed fewer than other publishers, Sony included:

1) The Initiative, a new studio that didn't do anything until Crystal Dynamics joined the development of their first project that was eventually cancelled, Perfect Dark.

2) Tango Gameworks, that was not shut down, but they kept until it found a new parent company, and who kept the Hi-Fi Rush IP.

There were ABK studios whose workers moved to other ABK studios: Alpha Dog, Roundhouse Studios. Vicarious Visions became Blizzard Albany. They also created a new studio, Elsewhere Entertainment.

I would like to see how hardware sales improve from now on. They have improved already in UK thanks to Forza Horizon 6 that is a exclusive to Xbox and PC until its PS6 launch.

I'm watching the full interview. By "return of Xbox" and "platform" she means "reintroduction of exclusives". The biggest market is PC with 1.8b players, so surely they can find something there besides the 50m+ Xbox active users they have on console (Xbox One+Series) today and want to keep playing on Xbox enjoying their libraries. The only people that claim that Xbox is doomed are Sony fanboys, but at the same time they don't really care about Xbox, so what's the point?

It's worth watching, in between! The questions are very good. I know that most of the content has been posted, but the whole thing sounds different. She honestly admits why she lowered the price of Game Pass and teased more Game Pass options. She talks also about "new techniques" and "compression" for hardware that @fatpunkslim has mentioned before.

There will be several options, but when asked about the memory crisis and Helix, she says "a console that also will allow you to play your PC games, it's going to have backwards compatibility, it's going to have leading performance, but there's material work to do to make sure that it is available to the people that want to play and so we're working on that."

I like that Xbox is releasing three wonderful and iconic games in a short period of time! Halo, Gears of War, Fable. I see these premium editions and upgrades are an optional way to support the IPs and developers. As long as you can also buy the game separately, it's fine. It never bothered me playing four days later or whatever. It would be much worse if you were forced to buy the whole premium edition while being subscribed to Game Pass for accessing the additional content. The first upgrade of this kind I bought was Forza Horizon 4, but my reasons were the additional content, and Xbox gave me (and others) the base game for free in the end 😁.

The worst practices have been stopped or slowed down. In some countries loot boxes are restricted by the law, and I don't see pay-to-win microtransactions these days. In mobile games? Probably — ugh. Maybe an extra herb and whatnot in a single-player game like Resident Evil, but it's not competitive and I find those little goodies anecdotal. My favourite ones are soundtracks and art books, even when they are digital.

The physical edition of Fable is awesome: Jack of Blades statue, hard cover art book and steelbook case.

I would use the word "resurrected" for Banjo, not for Crash.

@ZeD Yes. Every next-generation Xbox game, first or third-party, will be Play Anywhere by default. This was confirmed at the 2026 Game Developer Conference, one of the slides showing how Xbox games development was separated from Windows development until now, requiring an Xbox port, and how it will be merged next generation, no longer being separated builds.

On top of that, as you said, you don't have to buy the same game on two platforms nor pay for the same game on the same platform like the upgraded versions of Nintendo and PS.

@RentedPanda I think she's referring to a differentiated platform, not just a platform, and by that she means with exclusives.

@Stocksy

Stream playing games still isn’t the big draw many seem to think. More people in the world have internet connections that make it a horrible experience over a good one so I still don’t think play anywhere is the huge pull people here think

Play Anywhere is not the streaming version. Play Anywhere means one purchase for a game that is playable on console, PC and handheld. Streaming is one of the included features of Game Pass.

Edited for clarification and adding quotes.

The advantage that Xbox has is that next generation, Xbox games will be the same as PC games. If they overhaul their store as they should and make Xbox on PC smooth enough, they surely could reach all their console fans and lots of PC players, on top of those attracted by Play Anywhere.

@datamonkey It's funny how much better Wii Remotes and nunchuks feel, not to mention how better the Wii IR pointer works. What's the point in ditching a sensor if you need to recalibrate the controller every 30 seconds?

They joy-cons are designed for handheld mode, but still there are better, more ergonomic options. Even the button placement is annoying, like the minus button over and close to the left stick.

@betterthings @fatpunkslim That's exactly what I think that will happen: a premium console and more devices, whether they are manufactured by Microsoft or not. Partnership. Better distribution and reach. She's basically confirming more devices, because she also acknowledges the price barrier. The advantage of the next generation for Xbox is that it will have the same game builds for PC and console, so you could play any game on any Xbox or PC and games would have settings optimised on the official Xbox devices. None of her words is suggesting Cloud as the only option. The only place where I can see advertising happening is on a free and very limited Game Pass tier.

Poor little guy.

@dskatter I'm not sure it will ever replace "serious" gaming because even with fibre broadband, most users experience lag and streaming flaws. I've never had a perfect experience with game streaming. If that day without hardware comes, agreed, let's tackle our backlog on the last real consoles. 😁

I buy most Xbox games I really like despite my subscription to Game Pass, except small projects or short and linear games like Keeper or Hellblade II. It has helped me to discover excellent first and third-party games.

@dskatter Cloud will be optional. She's basically saying that there will be a premium console and cheaper hardware. There could also be more handhelds with different specs by Asus. This makes sense because Xbox will run the same games as PC and they can use predefined technical settings for each device, like the Helix profile, etc. This was explained in their last meeting about hardware that was revealed later, when they explained the unified OS and software. You can play Xbox game streamed on a phone right now, that won't disappear and some people play like that. Not us and they know that.

@datamonkey Basically, a Brook adapter for using Xbox controllers on Nintendo systems. I also have Mobapad M6 HD for the Nintendo Switch OLED in handheld mode. I ordered the 8BitDo Ultimate 3-mode Controller for Xbox - Rare 40th Anniversary Edition four days ago. 😁

https://images.purexbox.com/c59f6833a9a01/8bitdo-unveils-its-first-xbox-wireless-controller-to-celebrate-rares-40th-anniversary.large.jpg

@Dm9982 The new Rog Xbox Ally X20 (OLED) is more than tempting me! They are improving Xbox on PC now so Helix and Rog Xbox Ally X go smooth and that will benefit all these devices.

@Dm9982 Honestly, I prefer the better performance and graphics on Series X (and controller), but it's great that Switch 2 is getting so many ports, and I'm looking forward to Ocarina of Time. 😊

@Dm9982 I love that Square Enix is 100% multiplatform and proudly: "Multiplatform at launch." Nintendo is fully supported. The only problem is hardware limitations that may delay some ports and explain why it's getting older games now.

@Dm9982 A remarkable first-party announcement although the Direct itself was bland. I hope Majora's Mask is next!

@J_Mo_Money Yes, that's right. I'm very happy with all the third-party support this generation. It has been great. I'm sure Stellar Blade 1 will come to Xbox because the studio is bringing the sequel. It's just a matter of time.

We've come a long way from 10 years ago all those plus Yakuza, Tales series ect ALWAYS skipping xbox.

Indeed. Who would have thought that Series X would have more Final Fantasy than PS5, including backwards compatible titles in 4K, after Final Fantasy VII being a PS-console exclusive for 6 years?

@Elbow You have a point as Sony has signed Xbox-exclusion deals before. Publishing rights expire, but perhaps they haven't expired yet and thus there is just a Switch 2 version, for now.

@fatpunkslim That's nothing. A Sony fanboy on NL said that the Xbox show was "rubbish" in the comments section of Ocarina of Time. I'm a huge fan of that game, so I was there.

This year, Xbox had the best show. Summer Game Fest was also quite good.

@Martsmall It looked like III graphically so maybe not? 😂

@rhyno_888 They may be announced later. Stellar Blade is almost guaranteed because the sequel is coming and the first one was just announced for Nintendo.

I don't mind paying again for Kingdom Heart Collection on Xbox after playing them on PS4, but there's one thing that scares me...

@J_Mo_Money So we could say it's a brand new game, after all.

@Millionski I'm sure they could hit that price tag after removing Ubisoft and Fortnite.

@abe_hikura I agree, but all publishing deals expire, so that's how Death Stranding and Stellar Blade 1 (likely) come to Xbox. Not the same case because of self-publishing, but the funny case is Final Fantasy VII Remake. Who knows what the clauses were in that case.

@abe_hikura I thought it was a new original game. It looks great, though. I love the Octopath Traveller trilogy.

I love Klobriller's roadmap. It's like a museum pamphlet.

@Elbow Too many (not complaining). 🤣

Nintendo's Direct was filled with old third-party games launching on Nintendo, but Kingdom Hearts IV and Final Fantasy Resonance were remarkable announcements besides the Ocarina of Time remake and new Xenoblade Chronicles. It seems that from now on, Final Fantasy games will be real-time RPGs and they made a new series for turn-based RPGs. Nothing wrong with that. My only complaint is where is FF IX remake? Like others here, I love that Square Enix if fully supporting Play Anywhere, who would have thought, huh?

EDIT:

I played the Kingdom Hearts collections on PS4, but I probably will get them on Xbox now that there is a complete bundle.

@StonyKL I'm sure that there aren't enough Xbox consoles being manufactured for all markets and I said that here weeks ago. Reasons? Either the RAM crisis and/or the previous leadership not believing in Series X|S.

@fatpunkslim Honestly, even if it's two console exclusives per year it would be on par with Sony's first-party output, but I think it will be more than two per year. The best that Xbox could do is completing the Play Anywhere plans they started one decade ago and finally merge the Xbox and Microsoft stores – something I requested in the surveys they sent me years ago. They own Windows and all PC games run on it, so it makes total sense, when you also consider that PC is the biggest market and console players like us are happy to have a console to play on. That's more than enough to nurture an ecosystem and keep it competitive in a difficult scenario where PS5 owns the console market outside Japan and still tries to keep third-party games off Xbox.

@carlos82 You are right and I agree about the Microsoft store missing tons of PC games and some Xbox third-party games not being Play Anywhere, like Resident Evil Requiem. However, because the next-gen storefront will be the same for Xbox and PC, it's not going to be crippled like the Microsoft store for the simple fact that publishers have been supporting Xbox greatly for the last two generations despite being the third console, thankfully!