Asha Sharma, who took over as CEO of Xbox after Phil Spencer, publicly warned about the crisis in the availability of next-generation consoles. According to her, the rapid growth in the cost of components makes the traditional "iron-at-a-loss" selling model practically unviable for mass audiences.

"We should think about other ways to price the console, how to create different plans so that more people can participate in the console generation," said Sharma. She noted that the next Microsoft console (working name Project Helix) could enter the market in a fundamentally different way: among the options considered are subsidized equipment in exchange for subscription, models with advertisements, and less powerful devices, relying on cloud streaming and AI to ensure image quality

Sharma outlined specific areas of innovation: new data compression techniques, flexible storage and game creation solutions optimized for limited device resources. She emphasized, "We have reached a point where it is hard to imagine that a mass audience could spend thousands of dollars on a console generation."

At the same time, the head of Xbox commented on a return to exclusive politics. Recognizing the inner contradiction ("you want your games to be everywhere"), Sharma explained the current course by the need to strengthen the platform: «Our business is not particularly healthy... therefore we start with one or two famous exclusive games and, as the business improves, we will strive to do more. This calls into question the long-term stability of the strategy: if Game Pass, iron sales, and games do not grow in the coming years, the price may well change again.