Microsoft is considering spinning off XBOX into its own joint venture with partners or a wholly owned subsidiary following recently-appointed CEO Asha Sharma’s decision to pivot away from their multiplatform strategy. The controversial strategy started under the eyes of Phil Spencer, but pretty much from the on-set of Sharma stepping into the role, it was clear she had more a vision of actually forming competition rather than establishing the console maker as a publisher.
The report comes from The Information (via Reuters) and cites three different people with knowledge of the ongoing discussions. They aren’t entirely sure what route they’ll take, it seems, as they’ll either be spinning off XBOX into a joint venture or restructuring it into a wholly owned subsidiary. At this point, talks are still ongoing.
Look, this seems like the best decision to do here, as if we truly think about it, XBOX wants to pivot away from multiplatform to some degree. They know there is value in releasing games to competing platforms, but some of the perspective big hits — Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution — are going to remain an XBOX console exclusives.
Frankly, it would be nice to see full exclusives, basically to the tune of PlayStation’s exclusivity style. As it stands, that wouldn’t benefit Microsoft, though, as in the end, they own Windows, so they get a cut either way, but in releasing games everywhere, there isn’t a reason to buy an Xbox console.
