“We Want People To Have A Reason To Buy An Xbox”: Matt Booty Explains Xbox’s New Exclusives Strategy

Once again, Xbox is pivoting mid-generation, and this time, it’s bringing back console exclusives.

During the Xbox Games Showcase, Microsoft confirmed that Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution will remain console exclusives and will never be released on PS5.

However, other titles will continue to launch as multiplatform releases. So what changes starting today? Matt Booty weighed in.

“We Want People To Have A Reason To Buy An Xbox”

Speaking on Gamertag Radio (via Kotaku), Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios content, explained the company’s focus on exclusives. According to Booty, the goal is to offer content that only exists within Xbox’s ecosystem, giving players a compelling reason to join.

The strategy aims to reconnect with console users. That’s why Gears of War: E-Day (arriving this year) and Clockwork Revolution (set for 2027) will be exclusive to Xbox Series consoles.

“We want people to have a reason to get on board with Xbox,” Booty said. “We want them to have a reason to buy an Xbox, a reason to be an Xbox fan. At the same time we want to reward all our players that have been with us for a long time. We know that exclusives are important. That’s why we got Gears coming in 2026, Clockwork in 2027.”

Booty added that nothing is set in stone. Moving forward, Xbox will evaluate each release on a case-by-case basis to determine whether it remains exclusive or goes multiplatform. One key lesson from this period, he noted, is the importance of measured announcements. From now on, Microsoft will only confirm which platforms a game will launch on once an official release date is set, not before.

“We also want to be clear, our big multiplayer games, live service, games are going to continue to be multiplatform. If we’ve promised something to players already, we’re going to honor that promise, right? (…) We’re going to keep thinking about this going forward. And I think you guys know as well as anybody that our principle is when we announce a date, we want to announce the platforms. So, it’s going to be case by case, but we’re going to be clear that when it’s got a date, it’s got a platform and you’ll know what the choice is going to be,” he explained.

What Asha Sharma Says About Exclusives

Amid the announcements that have already reverberated across the gaming world, Asha Sharma, general manager of Xbox and Microsoft’s gaming business, shared a post on X stating:

“We want people to choose XBOX because of great games and experiences. That also means giving you something that was made for XBOX. Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution will be XBOX console exclusives!”

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