Xbox’s new Chief Strategy Officer, Matthew Ball, has said this week’s announcement of console exclusives are just the beginning of a wider program, and that players can expect a steady stream of Xbox-only games going forward. Speaking at The Game Business Live event during Summer Game Fest, Ball addressed the announcement of Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution as console exclusives, calling it “the start of a program” rather than a one-time decision tied to anniversaries or special occasions.

“We announced yesterday that there were two titles, one coming this year, one coming next year,” Ball said.

“It was important for us to include two titles so that people understood this was not a one-off, it was not commemorative.”

He added that players can expect “a reliable pipeline that validates their historical investment in the Xbox platform.”

This marks a notable shift in Xbox’s recent direction. Over the past few years, Microsoft moved toward releasing its biggest games across multiple platforms, including rival PlayStation consoles. Ball confirmed that approach is now changing, saying the company has “an internal framework and strategy” for deciding which games will be exclusive and which will not.

Not every Xbox game is moving to an exclusives-only model, though. Ball pointed to a separate category of titles that Microsoft has already committed to releasing on other platforms, including Fable and Halo: Campaign Evolved, both of which are still planned for PS5. Large live service games like Call of Duty will also continue to release on other consoles, in line with Microsoft’s earlier public statements.

Ball also addressed comments made by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who recently said she needed to “reset” the Xbox business and return it to growth after a period of declining hardware and subscriber numbers. Ball echoed that assessment directly: “Asha has been clear that our business today is not healthy. She’s been clear that we are turning around the business.”

He acknowledged that Xbox still needs to do more to communicate its exclusives strategy clearly, both to the industry and to everyday players. “The average current Xbox player, and the player that we want but don’t have today, have to understand it very simply. And that’s where we’re going. We’re just not ready to do it yet,” he said.

With two exclusives now confirmed and a broader framework reportedly in place, Microsoft appears to be laying the groundwork for a more defined exclusives strategy, though the full details of that plan have not yet been made public.