Reaction: Should We Really Be Surprised By 'Declining' Xbox Console Sales?

I’m not surprised. I mean I love my Xbox consoles but nothing has pushed me to buy a series x yet.

Why would it? If your strategy isn't selling consoles you won't sell as much. It's a different approach from ExclusiveStation.

Bigger issues in my life than worrying about corporate greed and ads in games…

It’s clearly important. That’s why they are doing another console for next Gen. if it wasn’t they wouldn’t do it.

Engagement is a nonsense figure. Just because I’m engaged spending 70hrs on starfield, or 100+ on football manager, Doesn’t mean I’m spending any more than my GPU fee. Engagement only matters if it’s equating to more $$ coming in.

On the flip side of course it’s great that there are various ways to play. But cloud/internet/infrastructure just isn’t there fully for everyone to play this way. Have MS set themselves up to be in a great place if it does? Absolutely.

But does Microsoft help themselves in Europe? In the UK you barely see any marketing. Most competitons are for US only. It can come across at times that they are more focused elsewhere.

What we also know is GPU isn’t hitting is targets ( they were abit ridiculous anyway) most recent observers have stated that subscriptions have started to plateau across the board.

ABK stuff hasn’t hit properly yet, maybe that will boost things once again. As gamers we know all about it. But do the casuals? Do they know they can play GP games anywhere without needing a console?

But my biggest question is why are the sales dropping off so much?! It’s not like it’s a bad console, has issues like RRoD and there’s a budget version, why aren’t people getting it as a second console? What isn’t coming across as “good” to the consumer?

Oh and there is nothing wrong with 3rd place, it’s still sold what 25mil? You can also bet were the sales doing awesome it would be shouted from the rooftops. (Hence the use of other metrics)

I would be happy to see GamePass on PlayStation in the future, and I personally think this will be the case in a generation or 2. No matter the acquisition, Microsoft will find it very difficult to catch Sony, as brand loyalty is very high for PlayStation, so in Microsoft’s favour, they now own a considerable amount of high engagement titles which would definitely work towards them being the largest publisher in the industry bar none. Then I would definitely believe Phil Spencer’s chat about wanting to bring more games to gamers. As it is, I only subscribe to GamePass for the release of a game I want to play, Starfield and Forza for instance, but I cancel in between times and play more on PlayStation until the next Xbox exclusive arrives. If there was a Gamepass on PlayStation, I genuinely think I would keep the subscription running longer, as I find it hard to enjoy anything like Forza Horizons on PS4/5, but I don’t really like jumping between consoles all the time. I stay mostly on PlayStation for personal preference, the exclusives and for sure brand loyalty also, but I wouldn’t do without Xbox games, even though my Series X spends a lot of time packed away. I know I’ll have it out for Hellblade 2, but I do hope for the day that I can just click on the Gamepass app on PlayStation 6 and enjoy games from everywhere on the console I prefer to use! 😄

I mean, of course. I don’t get the surprise, honestly. Phil Spencer has been saying for a long time that hardware is not the goal. Microsoft has stopped reporting on hardware sales themselves.

And let’s be real: the Series has had a rough start until this 2023, even going over a whole year without a AAA exclusive that gets people rushing out to buy machines. They hardly even advertised until this year. These all were factors.

But MS has its eye on a consoles-free future; hardware sales are not meaningless — it’s still lost potential revenue and helps them get the market foothold they desperately need — but they’re not the endgame either.

Lack of install base and split sku is likely to see more 3rd parties skip the platform.
You can argue that wont matter as PC will always get the games anyway.
But if you are a single platform gamer who has always played xbox, you want the ability to play as many games as possible. That a huge corporation gets its money anyway is no consolation to your format of choice if games you want start skipping your platform.
Trying to pretend it doesnt matter really doesnt doesnt ring true at all, and I was hoping that Xbox would see this and make efforts to at least stem the flow, if not reverse it.
Have the best line up in GP history coming for Xmas with one month free for every purchase in December for instance - that would help shift boxes. Very little announced for Christmas virtually kills your USP just at the time when many will be choosing what they want to buy for the hollidays.

I'm sure they will make money anyway - they always have, but this is a site for people who want Xbox to do well, not for people who celebrate a huge corps profitability. I dont want to see Xbox slowly die, that's no good for any gamer and I hope MS wake up and do something.

It's not surprising. Can anyone give me one reason that Xbox should be my gaming platform over a PS5 or PC?
Microsoft recognizes that lots of gamers can't come up with an answer for that question so they are adjusting their business strategy to focus on software rather than hardware.

Not surprising giving Microsoft is clearly on the direction of jumping off the gaming ship. Anybody serious about games has PC, PS5, Switch, or a combination of the 3. As is Xbox is bringing less and less to the table and becoming more hostile platform for developers to even make games for.

The difference is clear - when MS opted to merge 'Xbox' as a separate side project catering ONLY to the Console gamers into Microsoft and become their Gaming Brand, the Console sales was always going to suffer.

If you want to play Mario, Zelda, God of War, Spider-Man etc when they launch, you have NO option but to buy a Switch or Playstation console. If you want to play Forza, Halo, Gears etc the day they launch, if you don't have a Series S/X console, you can still play on PC, SteamDeck and numerous other devices - inc Last gen Xbox consoles (no need to even upgrade) - so why buy something that isn't needed or necessary to enjoy those games?

Hardcore, Dedicated and/or affluent gamers may well choose to buy or upgrade PC's instead of buying a Console that is already 'dated' and with DLSS, becoming easier/cheaper to hit higher visual quality and much higher frame rates too. Others may choose to play on what they have - their XB1S, their SteamDeck, their mobile/tablet/TV, their laptop etc instead of spend money on a Console to play games they can play anyway and buy a Playstation to play the games they can't elsewhere instead.

Of course the Xbox consoles still exist for those that prefer the 'Console' experience - the bang for buck they provide, the ease of use and less hassle, the convenience of them - but its still just an option. Anyone who 'prefers' to play on Cloud or PC aren't buying an Xbox and even if they 'prefer' PC, still may buy Playstation/Switch to play games that are ONLY on those Consoles.

I don't care if MS owned even more Publishers, I doubt it would suddenly make their completely optional Console be the best selling 'Console' with absolutely NO reason to own it other than its your 'choice', the way you 'prefer' to play games. But not 'everyone' prefers or 'needs' to buy an Xbox...

In Portugal there are almost no Xbox promotion at all if any
I never see an xbox add in the streets....

For example in Fnac Stores and in other portugueses Tech Stores , the xbox space is 1/3 of Playstation space in the store.

Its hard to sell Subscriptions and hardware when there is no promotion.

From a business perspective, I do not understand why so many people are clueless about what is the Microsoft priority in 2023. I will state this again, IT IS NOT CONSOLE SALES, IT IS SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE MEMBERS. How many gamers can we get to join Game Pass. That is their focus. From that perspective, the xbox is the number one gaming company by a landslide. The competition is not even close. It baffles me that the majority of gamers still believe that console sales is the benchmark in 2023. Yes, Sony still thinks that which is why they are a billion dollar company and Microsoft is a trillion dollar company. It is a very atiquated way of thinking. The future is paid subscription services, not console sales. Fact. And on a side not, I love my PS5 and Switch. I love it all.

I'm pretty sure that the shareholders of MS are bothered by the stats. They aren't fan boys wanting excuses, they want a return on billions spent on R&D for the next console, plus advertising plus distributions, manufacturing. If its all just game pass then selling 100 million series consoles means 100 million more potential buyers than none.
I also wonder if MS aren't supposedly competing with PS and don't care about console or leave the console business and become a service, will that leave then competing more with Valve?
And if they stop making Xbox's as people here suggest is a win, then all of us as console enthusiasts won't get an MS box to choose from in future. yes we can play GP on the mobile, tablet, fridge but will any of us actually do that? Losing the MS hardware and the choice in future is a disaster. Just accepting it as this article is trying to spin things won't help. Its a disaster and MS need to treat it as such.

@Widey85 Yes, I do understand that completely. But I do know a great number of gamers that own all consoles and almost none of them subscribe to PS Premium and all of them subscribe to Game Pass. Hopefully Microsoft will start advertising Game Pass more in the future. They are off to a great start though, because of all the platforms that you can play Game Pass on (most recently now on the new Samsung tv's that do not require a console which backs up what I stated about console sales not being a priority). I mean, you can play Game Pass on probably 10-12 different devices that do not necessarily include owning a console. You cannot do that with a Playstation. That's why Sony is limiting themselves in the long run. Again, I own all consoles and love them all. But, I play games on Game Pass the majority of the time.

It's really difficult to believe but it looks like Microsoft, might actually achieve the impossible task of having the Series X|S sell even less than XboxOne/XboxOne X. Like Spencer observed: -They really messed up the generation that actually mattered.
I don't ever see them having comeback like they had with the X360, but I'm good as long as they work hard and keep GamePass firing on all cylinders, I'll stick around since Xbox represents much more than just a console.🙂

@Romans12 the most recent observations (circana or w/e they are now called) have said that subscription has been levelling. (Across Sony too). MS admitted that it hasn’t hit its growth numbers in its most recent financials.

It’s going to be a combination of the two, until you can stream as good as a console plays. And again, if MS did not see it as a priority in 23, then why are they developing a console for the next gen? That’s going to be what 4-5yrs away?

It’s very easy to say they are not focused on something when it’s not going well.

Yes its concerning, if they dont want to sell consoles they wouldnt make them! more concerning is why? Does the compétition offer a better consoles ?better service? Better prices? Better games?
Ps5 for me is the worst generation of sony consoles in all means!!! And they get rewarded for it

At the end of the day exclusives push sales and Xbox just hasn't had enough. I have a Series S because the PS5 is too big to go under my TV and I value access to my back catalogue, not because it has the best games.

The difference is that Sony and Nintendo need you to buy their console to get you into their 'ecosystem'. MS does not need to sell you a Console at all to get you into their Ecosystem.

Yes Sony do eventually sell their games on PC - once they have 'exhausted' that titles Console selling power as their 'new' exclusives are used to shift Consoles so they can sell it on another platform to maximise its sales revenue from those gamers that refused to buy a Playstation to play it. Its still a separate ecosystem though.

Microsoft decided to merge their Windows based Console gaming customers with their Windows based PC gaming customers - all Microsoft customers - into one Ecosystem and invest in Cloud Streaming to reach more Customers on whatever Hardware they have or 'prefer' to play on.

If Sony have 100m PS5's sold, that's 100m in their Ecosystem and only 'grows' with each new Hardware sold. MS's ecosystem can 'grow' without selling a single Console - everyone has some device they 'could' join the Ecosystem with. With Millions of gamers on Mobile/tablet, PC etc more than on Playstation, Switch and Xbox consoles combined, they have the potential to reach EVERY gamer without selling a single Console, get them into their 'ecosystem'. So whilst Xbox Consoles may not be as 'popular' as they are purely optional, it doesn't mean that MS has much less reach or even a smaller Ecosystem. Its a fraction of the ecosystem compared to Sony/Nintendo'ss whole...

Companies like Asus, Lenovo etc maybe will make 'living room' PC's in the future to connect to TV's and give a 'Console-like' gaming experience - no need for MS to compete with a much more 'limited' console, locked to just MS etc - much like they don't need an Xbox handheld console with SteamDeck, Asus RoG Ally and many other options all offering Game Pass/Xbox games to play day 1. So even if MS don't make their own Hardware, plenty of third party PC hardware specialists can offer and 'compete' on price/specs too...

@StonyKL

Just accepting it as this article is trying to spin things won't help. Its a disaster and MS need to treat it as such

If its a disaster as you suggest, than Microsoft would do something about it but they clearly don't see it as such. Microsoft can afford to go the way of Sega and just become a big third party publisher, whilst dabbling in game streaming until it becomes a viable proposition. They can come up with something akin to Stadia but with the might of Gamepass at its core and offer alternatives to Sony and Nintendo.

Xbox just isn’t a cool brand anymore - like it was during the OG Xbox and 360 days. They definitely aren’t prioritising the games and gamers.

If and when Microsoft becomes a publisher only re gaming, I wonder if they'll simply revert back to Microsoft Game Studios and lose the Xbox moniker altogether. I'm a little disheartened with Xbox's struggle this generation much like the last one as the hardware is clearly fantastic value - running Microsoft Flight Simulator on a relatively high end PC then on Xbox Series X proves it's a beast from a technical perspective. I've certainly got my money's worth with Gamepass over the years and sincerely hope small screen devices/game streaming aren't the only future options.

@DonaldMcRonald The future of Microsoft, which is the future of gaming and entertainment, just to be more clear.

Xbox truly are the new sega just on a larger scale. Weird to see the support for the direction Microsoft are taking, it's just a shame there isn't somebody else willing to enter the console space because sony will become a nightmare without any competition

@Widey85 Definitely understand this, but I still feel that Microsoft is equipping themselves with a lot of ammunition (Activision/Blizzard acquisition). Of course, it now depends on what they do with that. But, I think going forward, Sony will always have a place in gaming. But they should rethink their brand and know that just simply stating "we are Playstation" doesn't mean they will always be first. Analogy - the band KISS. They are still (unfortunately) touring currently. And if you listen to them, they will say how they are still in their prime. Much like Sony, they are always number one. And that mostly comes from Sony. If you say something enough, people will listen. Eventually, people have to think "are they really?" Just a thought. It doesn't mean I'm correct of course.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner I think we are easily a few console generations before Microsoft even considers not making consoles anymore. There will always be a market for that. But, it's like comparing streaming services to going to the movie theater. There will always be a market for movie theaters, but clearly, more people pick streaming from their couch over movie theaters. The future is going towards that with gaming. It's definitely more important who subscribes to your service over how many physical consoles are sold. And now Microsoft owns Activision/Blizzard which Sony clearly did not want. That's huge for their future. Hell, we all know Jim Ryan left Sony prior to the acquisition because he probably couldn't bear to see that happen while he was the boss. Just my thoughts.

It's simple business. Xbox doesn't have to sell consoles to make money now. Call of duty alone will make them a fortune, no matter what platform it's played on. And if you look at King's profits the last few years, they're quids in in the mobile market now too. And as cloud gaming improves, it's only going to make them more money. As for the magic 10 year deal re call of duty, you'll likely find that it remains on ALL platforms, forever. Why on earth would they stop a cash cow from being milked? I can't see xbox going into administration anytime soon, put it that way lol.

I think I’m right in saying that Microsoft could have given away 134 million Xbox Series X consoles (@$500 each) instead of buying ABK (134,000,000 x 500 = 67,000,000,000)

That might have ‘won’ the console war over night?

Just a thought.

@Bionic-Spencer its coming, dont worry,another console from ms and then its full time publisher time with a game pass app ,it makes sense for them,they'd love game pass on ps and switch ,they just have to make the deal worthwhile to them.

@Feffster the majority would sell them to buy games, for playstation and switch though 😁

I understand what Xbox are aiming at the bigger eco system.
Why tie your games just to a console that you have to produce when you can put games on other devices.

But for whatever reason it isn’t really working.
Console sales they are starting to get spanked badly and Games Pass is hardly rocking the world.

And whilst all this is going on the competition in the gaming market are killing it both Sony and Nintendo and if the masses are drawn to them then it’s less drawn to Xbox.

I mean Europe and UK really is showing now that Xbox is unfortunately an after thought the momentum is almost zero and masses are buying PS5 and Switch and games etc and those brands are gaining momentum.

Xbox has lost its mojo, its thing, it presence and almost its existence in Europe.

And we can shout bigger eco system and game pass etc but if no one wants, then the masses will continue with Sony and Nintendo and the PC gang buy the games they want and not GP. The phone gang will just play what they want.

Console wise series consoles are down about 11% on Xbox one, no dam company can be happy with that, unless they want out of the console market at the end of the day.

But I don’t buy all this stuff Xbox say, they are getting a dam good spanking and Microsoft won’t be happy at the end of the day.

You the biggest thing that no one is taking away from all this.
If Xbox can’t sell consoles.
If game pass subs are getting stagnant

It means no matter what device Xbox studios games or subscription service are available on.

NO one in the terms of the masses want those Xbox games.
Because if they did Xbox consoles and game pass subscriptions would be selling like hot cakes.

That is why PS5 and Switch consoles are selling because the masses want to play their games.

That’s the bottom line make some games Xbox that the masses actually want to play then you might sell some consoles and some game pass subscriptions until you do you will not sell many of either.

If Xbox games since three years ago the start of this new generation sold their games on PS5 for example Forza Horizon 5 would be the only game I would buy in three years from Xbox studios.

If Xbox studios back in PS3 days made games for the PS3 then I would have bought many many many of them.

It’s all about the new games Xbox.

If I was Microsoft I would take the Xbox brand off the market and hardware.
Now hear me out.
Take Minecraft be it the game or merchandise, the masses don’t know Xbox own.
Microsoft don’t really advertise that, even on merchandise that Xbox own it.
The same with the COD drones, it’s COD.
The same with candy crush.
Microsoft don’t need to link the Xbox brand to any of these games, those games sell themselves and the dlc and the merchandise.

They just need to follow this up with amazing games and let the brand name of the game do the work and get rid of the word Xbox.

PS, I said it first let’s see what Microsoft do, but Xbox is under the big Microsoft brand now and not sort of independent, just watch the Xbox brand disappear as a name and be replaced with Microsoft studio and the game name.

Clock is ticking on Xbox. They're just waiting for the right time to pull the trigger.

@Kaloudz yes. This isn't the ps4/ xbox one era. This the era where technology is forming into new highest form.

Really winds me up that people still refer to the UK as part of the EU. We ain't European. We're British thnx.

I think this year has proven people just buy Playstation for the sake of it. Sony have released next to nothing for the PS5 and don't have a road map of upcoming big games, yet are on course to have their best ever year for console sales. At this point it's just brand recognition and their borderline rabid online fans who put every game Sony make on a pedestal above all others

@carlos82 every fan does it, just like people who scream Starfield was a 10 and they experienced 0 bugs.

But if people are willing to spend 500£/€/$ on a ps5 why are none of them opting for the cheaper series S for instance. What is Xbox doing wrong that isn’t connecting with the general public? Is it just because people don’t trust Microsoft? Or what?

@jedinite

We ain't European. We're British thnx

Are you sure about that mate? Just because Britain left the EU doesn't mean its no longer part of the (geographical) European continent 😅...even with the Brexiteers selling bridges to the masses, some perspectives need to be kept 😉.

@Deljo

because sony will become a nightmare without any competition

If that happens it will be interesting to see the reactions from the constant evangelising Sony cult. 😅

@PsBoxSwitchOwner not every fan but yeah there's certainly a subsection across all fandoms but there is a bias towards PS. I even saw articles celebrating the success of the "PS5" game Baulders Gate 3 at a time when it was literally only available on PC.

Xbox has certainly done itself no favours over recent years and when you think it's biggest gane this year was Starfield, a game which would have been on the Xbox anyway without the acquisition. That kind of illustrates where Xbox really are and are still trying to recover from last gen in terms of their first party output. More so these days, many gamers now have large existing libraries, making a change between platforms more unlikely.

@Feffster
I think I’m right in saying that Microsoft could have given away 134 million Xbox Series X consoles (@$500 each) instead of buying ABK (134,000,000 x 500 = 67,000,000,000)

Reading stuff like that depresses me. I still think it would have been better to spend the ABK money on buying other studios (MS could have owned Tomb Raider), pour money into their own current studios (Revive some IP and get Perfect Dark back on track), bought marketing rights to Call of Duty, AND done a permanent 100 dollar price drop on all their consoles. And all of that would have been cheaper than the ABK deal.

Buying ABK doesn't convince me that XBox has a console future. If anything, it makes me think that MS is positioning XBox as a publisher or cloud service.

Well I was disappointed with the xbox. Felt like a downgrade to me after switching from PS4. Not talking about the games, but what you can and can't do. Like on the PS4, you can record your gameplay up to an hour and upload to YouTube. You can also trim your videos. You can't do any of that on xbox. And you have to have an external storage to record up to an hour. So yeah I was disappointed about that. Also don't like the xbox controller. I've switched to PC now so don't really care anymore.

@Utena-mobile - it depresses me too. I wasn’t advocating that MS should do it, I was just illustrating a point and giving the ABK deal some context. The actual number of consoles they could have given away is likely in excess of 150million, as it will cost them less than 500$ to manufacture each. More still if we are talking Series S instead of X. Heck, that might be closer to 300million potential freebies.

Sobering numbers.

I assume M$ have some sort of plan for Xbox and Gamepass, but I’m lost to know what the business model is. Anyway, I’m perfectly happy with my Series X and Gamepass, so this is probably all way over my head and above my pay grade.

@carlos82 @TakeItEasy hey guys check this out https://www.pushsquare.com/features/reaction-ps5s-success-is-not-luck-because-sonys-spent-years-putting-in-the-hard-yards

some commentators on this pushquare article feel the same way

@OldGamer999 You raise some very legit points. But again, Xbox is seemingly in an odd place, because on one ends it makes the biggest industry shifting moves (buying ABK, putting CoD on GP eventually etc). Meanwhile it somehow manages to remainn the most niche and boutique brand of console and gaming.

A large part of this is due to their poor handling of their AAA catalogue, a couple years back Xbox was deeply critiqued for relying on Halo,Gears,Forza cycles. Either intentionally (last Gears game was 2019) or unintentionally (Halo Infinite's 6 year long dev cycle, failure at launch and very slow recovery), Xbox set aside this reliable trio (outside of the FH games, mainline Forza was also retired for years) and then never made anything as big or important to fill their place. So as much as having just Halo and Gears is meh, we now have neither on top of having no other cool thing either. I would be very happy to get Halo, Gears, Forza on 3-year dev cycles each instead of 34 Indies and 7 AA games.
But again when you whole strategy is GP, you cannot have 200 AAA juggernaut games there, you always need smaller and niche titles so that you can make a "fat" offering with acceptable cost.

Sure, the console sales are not good but Xbox wont be stopping making consoles anytime soon. As for GamePass on PlayStation, I cannot see happening. Think about it, would Sony want cross platform games being part of GamePass on the PS? People would play and potentially not buy -that would hit fit with the PS business model.

Sony want to be an exclusive club and they have worked relentlessly to achieve that goal. Their brand is now so strong that fans would buy a paper bag for 50 quid if it had the PlayStation logo on it. It is so powerful. The loyalty has blinded many to the fact that they are now anything but consumer friendly.

For me, Xbox is the better console, GamePass is brilliant and I love the experience.

Whilst the focus is no doubt about cloud and gaining more players overall, Xbox won’t bow out of consoles anytime soon and as for anyone thinking that Xbox will leave the gaming market altogether, that just is not going to happen.

Xbox leaving would be bad for gaming. Interestingly, we hear lots about Xbox wanting to dominate gaming yet it is PlayStation who have been the most aggressive to achieve that aim.

We still need competition because it is that that makes gaming better for all of us.

@BaldBelper78 I seriously believe it would be a different version of gamepass on a future Sony console.

One that won’t include third party games. But seeing as though MS own a mass of IPs it would still have a big selection.

Sony get a cut, MS obviously makes more money as it’s hitting potentially more people too. It’s something neither would have without cooperating. And if it made financial sense they would do it.

A lot of folks fail to see the wood through the trees when it comes to this topic. Yes Microsoft has expanded their gaming scope to PC and other non-console platforms. Xbox as a brand isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, it’s doing fine overall. That’s the trees though.

The wood is the fact that this ever-shrinking market share is leading to a gradual degradation of the console experience. When Xbox players very regularly comprise less than 20% of overall playerbase for games then developers simply forgo Xbox-specific optimisation and bug fixes, or even skip the platform completely (e.g. Kena: Bridge of Spirits). I’ve seen it happen too many times now for it all to be just coincidence.

Take for example Lords of the Fallen; a recent game that has been objectively demonstrated by Digital Foundry to have multiple issues on Xbox consoles. Have any of these actually been addressed in the many patches the game has received since launch? No they haven’t, the devs have been too preoccupied with fixing PC and PS5 issues instead. The devs simply don’t care about the Xbox community. As someone who purchased the game at launch it frustrates me to no end to see issues persist on Xbox for so long after launch.

There are so many other examples of games performing/looking worse on Xbox hardware vs PlayStation and having an increased number of bugs. Alan Wake 2 made waves because it was one of the few games that bucked this trend and actually performed better on Xbox, but this the exception rather than the rule. That’s why it’s important that Xbox sells well. A healthy market share is the only way that developers will care about providing the best experience possible for Xbox players and not just treat us an an inconvenient afterthought.

I don't know why people here think that there is no reason to get a Series X before a PS5 or a gaming PC. For me, it's the opposite. That said, if Microsoft has the most successful gaming subscription and will be ahead of Sony and Nintendo in gaming revenue with ABK on board, haven't they won already?

I also disagree with people thinking that they will stop making consoles, when they have stated the opposite. They also make desktop PCs, laptops, hybrids, tablets and smartphones. All of them are high-quality and smartly built like Series X. Do you really think that they need to be the number one hardware seller? It's just part of their business and it's working so far, according to Game Pass numbers like the record they set with Starfield launch after having removed the $1 offer, before anyone mentions that as the explanation. Imagine what Call of Duty can do.

@Widey85

it's because you've advertised it to all the gaming enthusiasts already, you need to get it in front of new eyeballs.

With that I agree. I thought about it regarding advertisement and Xbox shows. They are targetting their fans. My conclusion is that they spend money on acquisitions because great hits sale on their own (Minecraft), but it wouldn't hurt to boost the Xbox brand as a whole, although it seems that they are starting to do that now, after this huge acquisition. They wanted to be humble and quiet before it.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner If GamePass did end up on another console, I would see it being on the next Switch more than PlayStation.

@jedinite UK is not part of the European Union now, but it has always been part of Europe geographically, like many other islands. UK citizens are European, but not European Union citizens. I find it funny when people (not you) imply that UK is a continent 🤣.

@InterceptorAlpha I have a Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X. That's my choice but it doesn't mean I'm not serious about gaming.
I love the access to so many games with Xbox and GamePass and personally I find PlayStation less consumer friendly.

But the idea it makes me any less serious a gamer just isn't the case at all.

It was reported that the recent PS5 sales boost was due to solved stock issues. PS5 has sold 1.86x times as many as Series S|X so congratulations, but it's not the massive difference some people/sites pretend, at least so far. Remember also that Series S|X games are available on PC, Xbox One via Cloud and handheld PCs, which Microsoft are starting to support officially.

@Romans12

Jim Ryan left Sony prior to the acquisition because he probably couldn't bear to see that happen while he was the boss.

That makes him officially the biggest Sony fanboy ever.

@carlos82 That's true, I find PS5 the most disappointing PS console to date, only exclusives this year the Spider-Man sequel and a VR climbing simulator and future software uncertain with service games and VR development. The console itself is bigger and less powerful than Series X, but PS has very active fans that pretend that PS5 is technically better and that everyone prefers PS exclusives. Reading some comments, it's like there are no great games to play on Xbox and that Series X is a paperweight.

@nomither6 i really dont like PS5 and how greedy sony is in this gen and the live service direction that lead to leak of exclsuives
Sony is winning because they are the trend loved by critics and journalists for its ps4 basically anything sony do is good for the community even increasing prices is for the greater good somehow and anything xbox does is very bad for gaming including series S gamepass cloud gaming and acquisitions

I m a flexible person and i did buy ps4 for the sake of persona 5 and some jrpgs also to play the backlog i missed on ps3 (gow 3, unchearted collection, the last of us remastred)

But this gen i m sure i dont need a ps5 and xbox saving me money and give me exclsuives i like (huge horizon 5 fan and enjoying halo infinite and loving hifi rush psychornaut 2 and of course im so in love with starfield and any bathesda game

So what im ganna do is skip this PS gen and buy the PS6 to play the backlog (ps5) and keep up with the gen but if i have to pay 10€ for next gen bull*** upgrade im out

@Romans12 There are still less people subscribed to Gamepass across console, PC and whatever other means there are on playing it than there are XBox consoles sold and I would guarantee the majority of users are on console. So would it not make more sense to aim to sell more consoles in order to increase the subscription you say they are aiming for as their priority?

They also don't heavily promote Gamepass to anyone outside their own Xbox userbase for the most part so they are still heavily relying on those who buy their consoles. So in this case selling more consoles would be a good Benchmark as to how many subscribers they can get. Also by the last numbers released PlayStation has nearly double the amount of subscribers Xbox has so I would hardly say they are in any metric the number one gaming company by a landslide.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner but that would potentially cut into peoples wallet and they might not subscribe to Sony’s online money maker. Sony makes a lot of money off PSN. The online play portion of that alone. Would gamers pay for GP on PS and for PSN to play PS games online? Not so sure Sony would go for that.

@HonestHick you already need xbox and PS to get anything anyway. So your wallet is no more hit than it currently is

@Sol4ris Do something about it like spending £60 billion on the rivals most successful 3rd party developer? I'd say thats an extreme reaction! And the disaster is the fact they may become the way of Sega and no longer make consoles. It would be a disaster to us - the people who like playing on Xbox console. It may not be a disaster for MS, but I don't care about MS profit sheets.

Microsoft is embarrassing right now. Make some good games and things will change. Two year drought ending with redfall and starfield. Starfield isn't terrible. It's pretty good and I enjoyed it. But let's be honest it's divisive and it's nowhere near enough. What now? There's literally nothing interesting for there foreseeable. What happened? The big play has now been and gone.

I really think once they start pumping out exclusives regularly it’s going to turn around, when multiple games start piling up that people want to play, and can only play, on Xbox they are going to see a higher adoption rate. It’s that simple

@Mephisto2869
I think you should try actually reading the comments. There's a healthy mix of people here who are praising and criticizing MS. As someone who has been on all three websites for several years now I can say that Xbox fans tend to be the more critical and unforgiving of their console. Imo I think a lot of it has to do with all the mistakes Xbox has done last gen.

Is this gen going to turn things around? I personally am more worried than optimistic, but the moves they made are so huge and far reaching that the discussions generated from it are worth reading.

But for anyone that absolutely loves their Xbox and agrees with what MS is doing, what's wrong with that? Sony and Nintendo get to have their die-hard fans so why not Xbox? They're also home to a whole generation of gamers.

@Mephisto2869

comments section of a xbox site,everyone thinks the ps5 is poo and xbox is better,in an article about xbox as well...truly truly shocking

Yep, and the sales are reflective of just that, totally outrageous 🤣🤣.
Frankly I'm surprised you managed to pull yourself away from PushSquare and it's sales articles to come here and be shocked 😅

@Utena-mobile

But for anyone that absolutely loves their Xbox and agrees with what MS is doing, what's wrong with that?

For a start, Microsoft should start bundling full mortgage payments with every Xbox console they sell, that should make their consoles fly off the shelves and make people happy 😉.

Xbox had 3 major things going for them this Gen: Game Pass, Backwards Compatibility, & the Rewards System. They ended the BC Program, and they reduce or flat out axe a way to earn Rewards Points every month. All they have now is Game Pass - they're not really getting/keeping as many AAAs or popular Indies on board as you'd hope, and we're only just now seeing some exclusives from all those acquisitions. One was Hi-Fi Rush, which was really good but a small project, and the other was Starfield, which is an arguably worse Fallout 4. Forget them getting Activision-Blizzard - aside from a bunch of old games coming to GP, we're not seeing anything come from that until the next consoles. But by then so much could change for better or worse, so it doesn't matter in the now. And the now is when they need to be getting people back on Xbox. After Sony crushed them last Gen, most people just stuck with the PS since their library carried over. Microsoft needs to be increasing the number of things going for them, and every day is just more bad news. It's beyond frustrating.

If you check on amazon it gives you sales of consoles . Series s sold around 10k+ series x 10k+ , this mint , that’s in uk though , so maybe in other countries might be same on their Amazon

@PsBoxSwitchOwner for us fan’s that own both sure. Lot’s of people only get one console and do one online gameplay plan. Not sure they would want Xbox and PS services on one console. But maybe. Plus if GP becomes 3rd party only they wouldn’t need the deal for 3rd party and other stuff, so maybe it would keep cost lower and certain things not offered on it. I just ain’t sold that Xbox is leaving the console space. They are developing a new ARM chip with AI built in it to run most of their services. I think we see another long console cycle from Xbox.

I’m not surprised. While I feel both Xbox and PS have been lukewarm this gen I do think that as far as motivation for buying a new system PS does better due to exclusives (xbox has exclusives but they aren’t setting the charts on fire aside from starfield). Gamepass imo keeps you in the ecosystem but I don’t think it draws in series x buyers.

@Lup I see what you did there 😉

@Utena-mobile noice

@Ryu_Niiyama ms don't advertise game pass for some reason ,the average potential buyers haven't even heard of it.

@shoeses I think as time goes on more and more AAA games, apart from first party will not be on game pass ,itll cost ms too much ,its just not viable ,so it'll be first party and a load of indie planting potatoes games.

@Reptilio so what your saying is..just wait?

@Sol4ris residents of the UK dont class themselves as European, even when we was in the EU,we are very arrogant.

@Cakefish that'll be the devil that is the series s ,blame that monstrosity 😂

Most people who would want one, have one by now 🤯

@Lup Fun fact Xbox had more 1st party games coming to it then PS5 did this year and from the sounds of things the same applies to next yes but yes sorry Sony is the only one that does exclusives while MS happily didn't cancel PS5 versions of Starfield and Redfall and isn't making the likes of Hellblade 2 exclusive or paying for timed exclusives like Stalker 2 or Ark 2.

If Microsoft would stick their money into making exclusive story driven games instead of focusing on cloud and how many TVs they can put gamepass on, they wouldn’t be in this mess.

@Sol4ris but UK isn't part of the European 'continent '. The UK is a separate island land mass. Apologies for late reply.