IT News on October 3rd: According to reports by foreign media Eurogamer, former Sony PlayStation executive Sean Layden believes that Xbox needs to clarify its position as soon as possible: whether to continue being a home console platform that relies on exclusive games, or to shift towards becoming a major game publisher by partnering with companies like Activision Blizzard. Regardless of the choice, it can no longer waver repeatedly in its exclusive strategy.

In this generation, the sales of Xbox Series X |S have been continuously declining, and Microsoft's exclusivity policy for first-party games has also undergone several changes. During the time Phil Spencer was in charge of Xbox, Microsoft initially released its own games mainly on PC and Xbox consoles only, but later gradually expanded to multiple platforms. Titles such as "Stardust" and "Halo: Combat Evolved" were released on PS5, and Xbox is now getting closer to third-party game publishers as well.

Laiden pointed out that many of the problems with Xbox stem from the fact that the exclusive strategy has not been finalized for a long time. "Or rather, even if a path was chosen, it was not adhered to for very long. Do you really want to be a platform provider? A platform needs exclusive games; otherwise, the platform loses its purpose. Or are you planning to become the largest game publisher in the world after acquiring Activision Blizzard? If you choose the latter, you will almost certainly need to cover all platforms, as that is the business model of publishers. It's impossible to have both roles."

Regarding Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who took office at the beginning of this year, Leyden believes that her series of actions in recent months have been an attempt to turn the situation around. “I hope she can succeed, I just don’t know what method she will ultimately adopt.”

Upon taking office, Charla immediately initiated corporate restructuring, which ultimately led to the reduction of 3,200 jobs; she also secured the rights to Hideo Kojima's PHYSINT, and ensured that "War Machine: Incident Day" and "Clockwork Revolution" joined the Xbox console-exclusive lineup. Leyden stated bluntly, "This is your Dreamcast moment. This path is feasible, and others have already walked it before. So my advice is: choose a path."

IT Note: After Dreamcast, Sega withdrew from the home console hardware market and began to publish games for competitors' platforms, becoming an important third-party publisher.