Xbox has confirmed that it is considering a return to exclusive first-party games. When the company appointed new CEO Ash Sharma and Chief Content Officer Matt Booty in February 2026, it quickly became clear that significant changes were on the horizon. Xbox has already seen some notable moves in the months since, and now it looks like the brand may continue to undo some of its more questionable recent decisions.
The new leadership team has called for a return to the gaming giant's roots. Sharma recently announced that Xbox is moving away from the Microsoft Gaming brand in an effort to appeal to longtime fans and distance itself from the company's evolution over the past few years. Before Sharma and Booty took the reins, many felt that Xbox had lost the core of its identity, largely due to a lack of exclusives and the infamously confusing “This is Xbox” campaign. Now it seems the brand is trying to get back to what it once was, and that may include the return of exclusive games.
Xbox says it will “rethink” its approach to exclusivity and more
An internal memo shared on Xbox's website detailed the brand's new goals and next steps, including a promise to “rethink our approach to exclusivity.” This isn't a guarantee that first-party Xbox games will be exclusive again, but it does confirm an earlier rumor that Xbox is holding exclusivity talks amid a management shakeup. While the company has made an impressive amount of money by bringing some first-party games to other platforms, some have argued that the move away from exclusivity is part of why it's trying to compete with Sony and Nintendo in terms of hardware.
The report also repeatedly emphasized the need for affordability as a key part of Xbox's value statement. Sharma and company are already making progress on this part of the strategy, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate just got a price cut, though it came at the cost of it no longer being released Call of Duty games once Game Pass is launched. There's a chance that this could apply to other games in the future, as the report also listed the window next to exclusivity as one of the approaches that Xbox is reconsidering. Alternatively, “window” in this context could also mean keeping first-party games exclusive for a limited time before releasing them on other platforms, similar to how PlayStation releases its games on PC.
While a return to exclusivity is now officially on the table, some think it won't happen in the end. One insider went so far as to say that an Xbox exclusivity is “absolutely not happening” for the company's next console, codenamed Project Helix. Both sides seem to have their merits, and official comments from Xbox itself leave plenty of wiggle room, not suggesting any favoritism in one direction or the other. By now, all fans know is that there is a chance that the exclusive games could return to Xbox, but it is not a done deal.
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There are plenty of other details and little signs to pick apart in Sharma and Booty's message to the staff. It mentions offering players flexible pricing, confirming claims that Xbox Game Pass could implement a tier of choice, and also reiterates the company's commitment to cloud gaming, potentially as a cheaper alternative to Project Helix. Among all these statements and suggestions, one thing is clear, and that is the idea that Xbox is headed for a major revival.
Source: Xbox
