Selvom de værste rygter i branchen havde svirret på forhånd, var det stadig en gigantisk bombe, da det under det stort anlagte Xbox Games Showcase blev slået fast med syvtommersøm, at Gears of War: E-Day bliver en rendyrket eksklusivtitel. Det er dog langt fra det eneste store flagskib, Microsoft holder tæt til kroppen; inXiles dybt fascinerende rollespil Clockwork Revolution blev nemlig i samme ombæring bekræftet som Xbox-eksklusivt.
Det var øjensynligt helt afgørende for tech-giganten at cementere denne nye kurs med netop to tunge spilnyheder på én gang. Xbox' nyligt tiltrådte strategichef, Matthew Ball, uddyber nu beslutningen i et opsigtsvækkende interview med The Game Business-grundlæggeren Christopher Dring (her opsummeret via Resetera):
"We could have announced Clockwork was going to be exclusive later at the end of the year, when we got closer and closer to the 25th anniversary. We could have kicked off 2027 by talking about that as an exclusive. It was important for us to include two titles so that people understood this was not a one-off. It was not commemorative. We were not saying, 'It's our 25th anniversary, it's Gears' 20th anniversary, we're returning to Xbox, here's an exclusive.'"
I stedet skal denne dobbelte magtdemonstration ses som startskuddet til en helt ny æra for det grønne team. Platformseksklusive spil bliver den faste standard fremover, og ledelsen har lagt en benhård, langsigtet strategi:
"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."
Matthew Ball anerkender desuden, at tågen ikke har lagt sig helt for forbrugerne endnu efter de seneste års skiftende strategier, men han forsikrer, at de interne retningslinjer er krystalklare. Målet er, at denne gennemsigtighed meget snart skal ramme offentligheden:
"We know what those are going to have 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."
Microsoft forventes at troppe stærkt op på Gamescom-messen i august, før de blænder op for deres eget store jubilæumsarrangement i forbindelse med Xbox-brandets 25-års fødselsdag i november. Forhåbentlig får vi her de næste konkrete svar på, hvad fremtiden bringer.
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