IT之家 10 月 3 日消息，据外媒 Eurogamer 今天（3 日）报道，前索尼 PlayStation 负责人肖恩 · 莱登认为，XBOX 需要尽快明确自己的定位：究竟继续做需要独占游戏支撑的主机平台，还是凭借动视暴雪等业务转向大型游戏发行商。无论挑选哪条路，都不能再在独占策略上反复摇摆。
本世代 XBOX Series X|S 销量持续下滑，微软对第一方游戏的独占政策也几经变化。菲尔 · 斯宾塞执掌 XBOX 期间，微软最初几乎只在 PC 和 XBOX 主机上发行自家游戏，后来逐步扩大多平台发行，《星空》《光环：战役进化》等作品都登陆了 PS5，XBOX 也越来越接近第三方游戏发行商。
莱登指出，XBOX 的许多难题正是源于独占策略迟迟没有定下来，“或者说，即使选过一条路，也没坚持多久。你到底要做平台方吗？平台需要独占游戏，否则这个平台就失去了存在的意义。还是说，有了动视暴雪以后，你准备做全球最大的游戏发行商？如果挑选后者，几乎就必须覆盖所有平台，因为发行商的商业模式就是如此。两种角色不可能兼得。”
对于今年年初上任的 XBOX CEO 阿莎 · 夏尔马，莱登认为她近几个月的一系列动作是在尝试扭转局面，“我希望她能做到，只是不知道最终会采取什么方式。”
夏尔马上任后启动企业重组，最终将裁掉 3200 个岗位；她还签下小岛秀夫的《PHYSINT》，并让《战争机器：事变日》和《发条革命》加入 XBOX 主机独占阵容。莱登直言道：“这就是你们的 Dreamcast 时刻。这条路走得通，而且以前有人走过。所以我的建议就是：选一条路。”
IT之家注：世嘉在 Dreamcast 之后退出主机硬件市面，转而为竞争对手的平台发行游戏，并成为关键的第三方发行商。
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IT Home, October 3 news — according to foreign media Eurogamer's report today (the 3rd), former Sony PlayStation head Shawn Layden believes XBOX needs to clarify its positioning as soon as possible: whether to continue being a console platform that depends on exclusive games, or to pivot into a major game publisher by leveraging businesses like Activision Blizzard. Whichever path it chooses, it can no longer keep flip-flopping on the exclusivity strategy.
This generation's XBOX Series X|S sales continue to decline, and Microsoft's first-party exclusivity policy has changed several times. During Phil Spencer's tenure at XBOX, Microsoft initially released its own games almost only on PC and XBOX consoles, then gradually expanded multi-platform releases — titles such as Starfield and Halo: Campaign Evolved landed on PS5, and XBOX grew ever closer to a third-party game publisher.
Layden pointed out that many of XBOX's problems stem from the exclusivity strategy never being settled — 'or rather, even when a path was chosen, it was not sustained long. Are you going to be a platform holder? A platform needs exclusive games, otherwise the platform loses its reason to exist. Or, now that you have Activision Blizzard, do you intend to become the world's largest game publisher? If you pick the latter, you must cover all platforms, because that is how the publisher business model works. The two roles cannot both be had.'
For XBOX CEO Alyssa Shahm, who took office earlier this year, Layden believes her moves over the past few months are an attempt to turn the tide — 'I hope she can do it, I just don't know what form it will ultimately take.'
Since taking office Shahm launched a corporate reorganisation that ultimately cut 3,200 positions; she also signed Hideo Kojima's PHYSINT and brought Gears of War: The Day into the XBOX console exclusive lineup. Layden put it bluntly: 'This is your Dreamcast moment. This path works, and someone has walked it before. So my advice is: pick a path.'
IT Home note: after the Dreamcast, Sega withdrew from the console hardware market and instead published games for competitors' platforms, becoming a key third-party publisher.
