Circana analyst Matt Piscatella believes that Xbox's recent policy adjustments have been more readily supported by core fans and active social media users, but this approval has not yet translated into the commercial performance the company expects. This is an assessment based on market performance by the analyst, not an official admission by Xbox that these measures have failed.
After Asha Sharma took over as CEO, Xbox launched a plan to convert physical game copies to digital versions, reprioritized its game exclusivity strategy, and increased its focus on player feedback. Piscatella stated that the physical-to-digital conversion plan did not drive growth in physical game sales.
On the hardware front, even with Gears of War: E-Day remaining an Xbox exclusive, the company's hardware sales continue to decline. Piscatella also noted that user engagement with the Xbox ecosystem has decreased since Call of Duty left Game Pass.
Based on this, Piscatella judges that it is currently difficult to find any clear positive signals in Xbox's business performance. In his view, policy approval on social media does not equate to improvements in sales, hardware performance, or user engagement. Management may hope that these decisions will yield results over a longer period, but for now, they must wait for tangible outcomes.