I'd say this is a very expected picture. The more niche genre games are selling less. If I were Microsoft I'd look at this data and say the only games worth porting are online live service multiplayer and the big ones that benefit from the largest audience possible. They did say "experiment" with all four to start with and the results of said experiment are very clear. The problem is that Microsoft insists on running these experiments out in the public and that's kinda opened the flood gates.
Looking forward though it's interesting how the issue is perceived. Activision Blizzard games and Bethesda games are now Xbox first party games after the past 3 years (not even that long). And it's treated as Xbox giving up an exclusive when one of those traditionally third party games (now first party) have a multiplatform release. Part of it is on Xbox and the way they originally marketed the acquisition with Bethesda. Sony made it clear that they weren't making Destiny or any future Bungie games exclusive. Sony also gets a pass for MLB the Show because the license holder wanted it to be exclusive and Microsoft doesn't with Indiana Jones because... idk. Everyone knows they renegotiated for any amount of exclusivity with Disney. At least all the insiders and game news sites do because they also did articles about that.
It really seems like more than Xbox not being able to bottle the demon, the social side of the industry won't let them. I mean before the Nintendo direct everyone was posting about how many Xbox exclusives would be there... and there wasn't a single Xbox exclusive. There was however a Playstation exclusive, and no one really cares. The general trajectory is less exclusives and I think the industry, gamers, and publishers are benefiting from that. What really seems to be mucking it up and causing confusion is how it's being handled by the companies involved and more than that, how it's being covered. Xbox really just once again has their own marketing to blame for the can of worms. Honestly, I'd say being candid with their fans as well because it doesn't really work when you're still finalizing plans and haven't decided on a clear path for execution. It was the same when Xbox first started porting to PC and Switch: messy. Well same day PC was pretty clear. Switch ports were not and Microsoft even has contradicting statements in the wind surrounding them. And I don't think they were lying or anything. I think they like any business saw changing market trends and analytics and they changed internally and so on. The problem is that publicly they aren't displaying a strong front.
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