Microsoft is unwilling to continue paying for third-party exclusives

Appearing at the ChinaJoy 2015 event, Phil Spencer leveled about Microsoft’s strategy regarding exclusives going forward, especially from third parties, "My strategy is more around our own first-party franchises, and investing in franchises that we own, and probably fewer exclusive deals for third-party content," he said. "I want to have strong third-party relations, but paying for many third-party exclusives isn't our long-term strategy."

While we’re soon to see a small pile of XB1 first-party exclusives like Halo 5, Forza 6 and Fable, appearances such as Rise of the Tomb Raider are going to see a drop off now that they’ve made it clear they’re not as willing to pay for the rights to these as they previously have been.

In the same interview, Spencer also confirmed that digital purchases made on 360 will carry over to XB1, assuming that title is included in the backwards compatibility program, he also made mention of the fact that Microsoft’s presence at the upcoming Gamescom event will be heavily leaning on Xbox exclusives.