Buckle up, everyone, it’s time for the annual Xbox pivot! Now that Asha Sharma is at the helm of Xbox, it seems she plans on making massive changes to the brand. Not only is it seemingly reverting to Xbox Gaming, but the company is going to revisit its decision on exclusive games, although nothing is promised.

In a refreshing moment of honesty, the open letter to the Xbox team addresses the current failings of the brand quite quickly.

“Players are frustrated,” admit Asha Sharma and Matt Booty. “New feature drops on console have been less frequent. Our presence on PC isn’t strong enough. Pricing is getting harder for people to keep up with. And core experiences like search, discovery, social, and personalization still feel too fragmented. Developers and publishers are asking for more, too: better tools, better insights, and a platform that helps them grow faster.”

The letter discusses a lot of the various factors contributing to the problem, including changing market conditions, how games are taking longer to make and costing more, how some of the big hits have been small titles from indie developers and more.

Toward the end, Sharma and Booty explicitly mention that the team will “reevaluate our approach to exclusivity, windowing, and AI, and share more as we learn and decide”

This does not mean that Xbox is backtracking on releasing titles on PlayStation and Switch. It isn’t a promise. But, interestingly, they are at least considering it. What shape that could take is anyone’s guess: timed exclusivity for Xbox? Maybe some games will stay exclusive while others will not? Or maybe it will remain exactly as it is. Perhaps the upcoming Forza Horizon 6 will lead by example, as it launches on PS5 months after its Xbox and PC debut.

“The model that got us here won’t be the one that takes us forward”, says the duo of Sharma and Booty in their letter. So what’s the new model going to be? Well, apparently,  “Xbox will be where the world plays and creates.” That’s a lovely vague statement, so let’s break it down.

For starters, “Our new north star will be daily active players.” This may simply be because sales of Xboxes are weak and the games aren’t doing much better, so swapping to players is a way of reframing the argument, especially if they consider everyone playing on across various platforms, which they likely will. Playing Halo on PlayStation? You’re one of the active players.

“Console is at the foundation, delivering a premium experience, and cloud brings that experience to any device. You can play where you want, and your games, progress, friends, and identity stay with you across console, PC, mobile, and cloud.”

The wording seems to suggest that Xbox will remain a presence across every platform possible, but again, it’s kept vague enough to ensure that Sharma and her team aren’t promising anything.

“Xbox will be built to be affordable, personal, and open. We will offer flexible pricing so it’s easy to get started and keep playing,” continues the letter. We just saw this the other day, when Game Pass received a price drop with a caveat – CoD will no longer be a day-1 title on the service. There have also been rumours of a more flexible Game Pass system where users might be able to opt in and out of certain elements to adjust pricing.

Speaking of the subscription service, Xbox wants to “Fortify Game Pass with clear differentiation and sustainable economics.”

As for the next generation of hardware, Xbox remains committed and reiterates that the next console will play both Xbox and PC games. They aim to “Stabilize Gen9 as a healthy and high-quality base” and “Deliver Project Helix to lead in performance and play your console and PC games”

We don’t know what form this PC/Xbox hybrid is going to take. Will it basically be a PC with a Steam and Xbox storefront? Or a PC with an Xbox storefront? Whatever the details, we can safely say that it will be the closest to a PC that Xbox has ever been.

The letter issues a strong statement for the Xbox brand, and makes me a tiny bit hopeful. But just a tiny bit. Xbox has said many words in the past, many times, some of which have come true, and others which have not. At this point, the brand has no reason to be trusted, so only time will tell.