Xbox Console Sales Struggling As Hardware Revenue Nosedives At Microsoft

Well when they openly and proudly advertise you don't need a console anymore to play their games is it any wonder consumers are confused by what little marketing they do? They are also putting everything on a subscription service that hasn't shown any real growth in some time and hoping that Samsung TV users as well as people that own a fire stick suddenly decide they want to game on those devices and that would be a tiny minority as most people that want to play games on a TV would probably get a dedicated device more suited to the task.

I hope there are more Xbox's. I've got so many digital games. Xbox is like my main console.

I think Microsoft are always going to produce some form of console hardware, although this doesn’t do anything to convince the shareholders that Xbox shouldn’t focus on mobile and other markets with cloud gaming rather than competing directly with PlayStation and Nintendo.

Where are the exclusives at. So far we have only had palworld while PlayStation has plenty

What did you expect xbox isnt even wanted in my country (3rd world but decent) now i cant sell my series x for a decent price after that GP proce hike....now people going to pc ...you know why ....

I mean this isn't unexpected. They are spending more money marketing that you don't need an Xbox to play the games then they are trying to sell the consoles...so it's a success?
I've just been in the Xbox ecosystem since the launch of the series X and they definitely are absolutely the worst company in the world when it comes to marketing something. I'm enjoying gamepass and the system and controller is awesome....but you guys suck ass at marketing lol.

A lot of people like to say the Xbox sales were cratering even before the news of PS5 ports, but there is a pretty big difference between the six months before that (-7, +3) and the six months after (-31, -42).

Apparently Microsoft's estimate for the next quarter is another similar year-on-year decline, so they don't expect a turnaround. I expect we get an announcement this quarter about more games being ported to PS5.

The quality and cadence of Microsoft's first-party output has been spotty since late in the Xbox 360 days. They seriously dropped the ball with the Xbox One reveal. They openly state that you don't need an Xbox Series X|S to play Xbox games. Since 2014 they've spent around $80bn buying up studios with very few new high profile and/or high quality games to show for it. They've set the narrative precedent of "why should I buy an Xbox at all?" among consumers by bringing former console exclusives to PlayStation and Nintendo systems. They've reportedly decided to stop marketing Xbox consoles in Europe and other markets, and as a UK resident I can attest that I rarely saw Xbox ads anywhere anyway. They're also "outspent" by PlayStation when it comes to marketing and "don't have large marketing budgets".

"Xbox Console Sales Struggling As Hardware Revenue Nosedives At Microsoft"? Is anyone surprised?

@Mustoe I know that. I meant I want Xbox future consoles and for them to continue to be backwards compatible.

I've got most of my consoles plugged in or at least nearby. I've been gaming since the commodore 64. Besides Nintendo (Which are my favourite), The Xbox consoles have been my favourite, great game franchises and a great controller. I've had a few PlayStations but I find the controller uncomfortable in comparison to the Xbox Controllers.

I wonder how much of an effect the PS5 ports have affected sales. Even non-gaming media were reporting the rumours of Xbox abandoning hardware and becoming a 3rd party publisher in the aftermath of those announcements. That won't have given the console-buying public much confidence to invest in the brand. The vague responses of "game-by-game basis" from MS regarding which games would eventually get ported (if any) haven't helped either.

If they could get gamepass onto PlayStation that would be it for the Xbox console.

They need to remove a few layers of the always online and needing WiFi to set it up. A good few of my mates won't get one for that reason but saying that I wasn't smart enough to know about it when the Xbox one came out, I didn't have WiFi and it was my first worst experience ever getting a new console and I have had the biggest distaste for the Xbox brand ever since especially when the service/servers go down 😂

@Mustoe it might not be a traditional console, but I could definitely see them offering some form of streaming box, or even a handheld switch-like console with docking capabilities.

The servers required to run their cloud games are currently based on series x hardware, so it’s not like they won’t be investing in this technology anyway. It makes sense to make some of this available to users that don’t have access to the bandwidth required to take advantage of their cloud service.

The steam deck and other pc handhelds have shown that there’s clearly a market for a portable pc. It might not be mass market but it would at least give the Xbox brand a physical presence.

It's almost like ...
-trashing your platform and games (to win court cases)
-releasing exclusives on rival platforms.
-struggling to release games both in terms of frequency and quality

Are not conductive to selling hardware.

Games sell consoles. Not specs, not owning a bunch of studios or entire publishers, and not "you don't need a xbox, to play xbox" subscription service. Games!

I am not hopeful about the future of Xbox as a platform. You just don't get to have two washout generations in a row and expect excitement for another.

No console? No problem!

Guess my Series X will be my first and last XBox, whether I want it to be or not.

Meanwhile, my Switch 2 and PS6 are sure purchases.

Has anyone ever considered that it could be because it's not cool to like Microsoft products? I understand preferring Xbox to other consoles, but no one is impressed by your Xbox or mine.

Xbox as a brand isn’t going anywhere. If you want an actual console, you’ll need to go PlayStation or Nintendo, or both.

Well, yea. Excessive confusion with console names. Having an inferior product like the Series S hold back the Series X due to forced console parity. The constant mistakes and horrible miscommunication from Microsoft. The showing of games that are 20 years out (yes, I typed 20). The nonstop cramming of game pass down gamers' throats, only to watch the price continously increase.

What did Microsoft expect?

@Arcticpandapopz I honestly already accepted that Xbox will eventually cease to exist at least as the hardware we know today, I stopped buying anything on Xbox and moving forward I’ll buy every game on PS5, but I’ll keep an Xbox as long as it exists to be able to play my digital library.

This isn't good news for gamers, and we'll have to see what happens with how the wider company does. Right now they're almost the biggest company in the world, and have so much money and resources they can finance Xbox with relative pocket change.

However my worry is what could happen to OpenAI. They're the tech sector's darling, and Microsoft is in DEEP with them. They've invested BILLIONS into them, and ChatGPT uses Microsoft servers and services. The problem is OpenAI are haemorrhaging money with no real sign of turning a profit any time soon.

So if they go belly up in the next year (which some say is likely) then Microsoft will feel the impact HARD as their stock valuation is linked to a lot of the AI hype, and they're a massive customer of their cloud services. When that happens MS executives will be looking to make big cuts in spending, and fast. In that case parts of the Xbox brand may be on the chopping block.

Ouch.

Not surprising, though. Microsoft is methodically dis-incentivizing console purchases at every turn. I'm not sure why anyone would buy an Xbox in 2024.

@Mustoe I still remember the anticipation of watching the tape loading in with all its pretty colours and then hoping you wouldn't get an error before 'Knight Lore' launched!

I'm afraid the hardware sales have been quite obviously going in this direction for some time. Like some others I wander just how much commitment we have to another console... it wouldn't be the first time they have said one thing and then done the other. We can pretend this is OK because we want to play it through a fire stick, or a samsung TV, but most of us who visit this site would not find that option compelling right now, so I'm sad that Xbox might not have a machine in the race in a few years. Xbox is far from my favourite place to play games, but I feel the market is in a better place with them offering some competition, so I lament that it has come to this.
Xbox were always after the casual market though and having a box for the hardcore gamers is not where never ending profit growth lies, so I guess this was always inevitable. Still sux though.

Microsoft cannot be trusted with next generation hardware.
Unfortunately why my main console and third party console is my PS5 now and not my Series x.
First time ever this has happened and been with Xbox since day one.

Ducking shame on you Microsoft for creating this situation.

@Mustoe I agree. If the rumors are true with Xbox putting a Steam app on their next system, I wonder if it will be a stripped down, Windows based system, making it look more like a traditional console but allowing other storefronts along with Xbox. and GamePass. They can make it similar the Steam Deck set up where they have "Xbox/Console OS" but also allow the option to switch over to a traditional desktop mode as well.

Well there marketing is pretty abysmal. When was the last time you saw a XBOX advertisement, on a billboard, on a bus , Train or railway stations. The cinema, we see PlayStation adverts everywhere.

Also it could be the recent speculation of a New Xbox in 2026.
Why would you invest in a console now for it to be replaced in Two and a bit years.

But overall this generation has a been poor with all the cross gen titles that we can still play on Xbox One and PS4 .

Who Knows the next gen could be a eyeopener or a confirmation that gaming has moved on from the having that box by your TV.

I await with baited breadth.

Since xbox/gaming isn’t their primary business I am wondering how the gamepass push is going to go.

Whatever Microsoft is planning, I hope they don't leave people who bought into the hardware component of their ecosystem feeling overlooked or discarded.

I genuinely cannot remember the last time I saw an Xbox advert here in the UK. It's almost as if Microsoft have held back on marketing consoles so they can say to the world "See, we're right not to focus on consoles."

The position of Xbox in the industry means they have to market their stuff to sell it. It's not Coca-Cola or Apple FFS!

Well they don't advertise the series consoles. The only time normies were advertised these consoles was before the launch. And throughout COVID since the series consoles were hard to get the hype died down. The over reliance on semiconductors being built in two places isn't completely Microsoft's fault but it played a part. And we cannot blame this generation on lack of exclusives. As the PS5 is in the same situation. The only current gen games I own for my PS5 are DD2 and FF16. Hopefully microsoft uses the leverage of their many studios to turn things around. No major new 1st party titles to PS5 and advertise. I hope that there is another next generation Xbox with a drive. If not I might have to buy another series X for hoarding purposes.

@KillerBoy Xbox no longer has exclusives. They only make timed exclusives.

@101Force prepare to be disappointed

Tom warren is a certified p.o.s....dont engage,you just pay his bills..

@Simplejohn this is not a rumour of his.

These are correct figures from Microsoft latest numbers.

@Mustoe For a while I figured they were going to start treating their console and GamePass like they do with Windows and their Surface line. Would they prefer that you buy a Surface to use Windows? Of course!! But as long as you're using Windows on any other device, that's their top priority. Seems to be the way they're shifting with Xbox. Absolutely they would prefer that you bought a console from them. But if you would prefer to use GamePass on PC, an Amazon Firestick or a Samsung TV, that's OK too.

I see there are few like me that have switched over to PS5 or something else as their main gaming hardware device and third party game device.

This is now going to lose Xbox the 30% cut they get for third party games sold on their hardware.
So even less reason to make a next generation console.

Unfortunately it is now a downward spiral that Xbox future hardware has no escape from.

When you have someone like me a day one every single Xbox console and Xbox as your main gaming console and third party games console.
Reluctantly changing that to PS5 then you know they definitely Ducked in the console hardware business.

In fairness Nintendo plummeted as they sunset Switch, and Sony's not picking up numbers that you'd think they would with both competitors in a deep slump, and are in fact dropping as well. The entire console market seems to be deteriorating rapidly, and both Sony and Xbox have flubbed this generation hard enough to cause damage to the console market overall. I don't think mobile, or PCs or technology or even the economy sunk this generation and maybe the future of consoles as a product. I think Microsoft and Sony did that by themselves. With help from the large publishers.

But seriously, go figure, Xbox sends mixed signals about their hardware support, their strategy, their studio support, their long term pricing, cuts brand marketing, and has no new major games for 2024 up to now....can't imagine why their consoles aren't selling, their sub isn't growing, and their "software revenue" gains all come from the fact that they bought a different company that always made a lot of money selling software.

They really need to think about Xbox's identity. If the consoles are sinking and the sub is stalling...what exactly does Xbox have other than a big PC and Playstation publisher? We keep hearing how it's all about cloud. But that stalled TOO.

Mismanagement Simulator (MS 2024) is the Game Pass killer exclusive.

@Mustoe I have a wired 360 controller around somewhere, but the wireless ones I have a whole BOX of drifting sticks for those things! 360 controllers were the OG drift nightmare

@Mustoe @Tintin I still think Xbox sells at least one more generation of hardware. They still need a physical box that has Game Pass on it, and if they kill the box, and the paid online, their GP numbers will catastrophically drop. So the box needs to exist for a long while even if it's just to keep the GP subscriber base stable. Even if the box is a Surface PC with an Xbox logo on it.

IDK if they were always after the casual market. I'm not sure they were ever after ANY particular market which is half their identity crisis. The OGXB was clearly all about hardcore and the windows gaming element that wasn't committed to PC. 360 started the same, then with Kinekt went hard to chasing Wii casual. Then with 1 decided to go ultra casual with TV sports, but then went back to hardcore, and now they want people who stream Miss Maisel. There's not an actual pattern to who they've been targeting. PS meanwhile went from mainstream gamer teens to hardcore, to a specifically cultivated sony-only audience, to....hyper-casual fortnite players and an ever disappointed hardcore.

Xbox is a mess, but console overall is a mess, too. Too much ambition, too much overestimation of market growth, and too long a lag time before seeing the blown bridge ahead on the tracks after jamming the throttle in full ahead and throwing all the coal in the boiler.

@lacerz The only thing worse than being an Xbox customer in 2024 is being a Nintendo or Sony customer in a year after Xbox isn't around...

@PhileasFragg If OpenAI goes belly up (ding dong the witch is dead!), with the billions invested in them, Microsoft will simply insert the extra cash and buy them to obtain their AI tech as proprietary. (Aww, sheet, here we go again.)

The Tulip Mania that is AI has derailed everything tech. From allocation of silicon, to altered business plans to everything else, Xbox is suffering partly from it but it's a branch on the larger tech limb, where the allocation of EVERYTHING into AI to cash in while the cash is hot has set everything not AI back 15 years, while generating tons of useless dead end efforts just to secure investment capital. It's like a worse version of the 1999/2000 dot com bubble.

@101Force "Whatever Microsoft is planning, I hope they don't leave people who bought into the hardware component of their ecosystem feeling overlooked or discarded."

You wrote that comment in 2019 right?

@__jamiie I think a big part of the problem this gen is, despite a strong start, once they started the ABK lawsuits the goal of the company became singularly focused on securing ABK. That meant pleading their case to governments. That meant going out of their way to make sure Xbox was NOT successful, so they could play the victim card to governments. Which became a self fulfilling prophecy because once they got out of court and got ABK secured, what they had left was a failed console that was not successful because they went out of their way to make sure it wasn't.

@OldGamer999 I considered the PS5 route briefly but then shortly after realized an Xbox-less Playstion would be a living nightmare even more than being an Xbox customer now. Sony gets Nintendo-ugly unchecked. Between this and PSVR2....PC's the only way forward for me...back to the future!

The Verge ran an article yesterday titled AMD is becoming an AI chip company, just like Nvidia where it's said:

"AMD just announced its second quarter 2024 earnings today, and the highlight was this: nearly half the company’s sales are now data center products — not chips for personal computers, not game consoles, not embedded chips for industry or vehicles."

So while I'm concerned with what will become of Xbox — will my Series S become a paperweight that nobody wants? — I'm also concerned about what will become of game consoles in general, it's hard to believe this won't have an impact. It's a shame gaming PCs are generally more expensive than their console equivalents, as that route is an obvious solution.

@NEStalgia
Each to their own, I love and always have had a hardware console under my tv playing on the big screen with surround sound, it’s the way I play and it’s simple and great for me.

Made the jump to PS5 main console as that is my only other choice. Switch is there for Nintendo AAA games.

I just don’t trust and want to invest anymore in Xbox. Been there day there day one original Xbox, it’s a shame but it’s been about a month now so getting used to it 😊

@NEStalgia
Nintendo and Sony are doing okay, maybe not as much as they would like but ok.

The console market going a bit belly up is Sony and Microsoft released to early with series x and PS5 and both never really gave reason for us to purchase. Not much has moved forward since Xbox one x or PS4 Pro, followed up with cross generation games. COD and FIFA again this year.

Look at SW outlaws some nicer graphics but not much happening game play wise and muddy shooting controls and weird slow motion camera angles. And this big AAA.
Developers have let us down big time for whatever reason this generation as well.

Higher prices for hardware and games and cross generation games and new stagnant games in return that are worse than last generations big AAA games.
They basically trying sell us crap at more expensive price.

What else did the industry expect, an uptick in sales, what a daft bunch.

I have an Xbox console but haven't turned it on in months. I've been using Game Pass on PC and I'm using it via my Firestick and it's been a fantastic experience. The idea of being locked to a box is dead, long reign the age of access on EVERY device.

Once every game in my Xbox library is streamable I'll be in complete gaming nirvana. According to Phil Spencer that should be sooner than ever. So long plastic box!

I'm afraid the writing is on the wall for Xbox. It's now not really a matter of "if" but a matter of "when" Microsoft will go the way of Sega. As an Xbox gamer from the start this sucks. Firstly, less competition is never a good thing in any industry. Secondly, if Microsoft exits the console space, who will try to fill that void? Tencent? Amazon? Better the devil you know right?

I hope Avowed, Indiana Jones, Fable, Gears and Perfect Dark plus the new CoD being "free" day 1 on Game Pass will help contribute to a huge increase in hardware sales. If NOT, I'm not sure anything will sell Xbox consoles and eventually the bean counters and top brass at Micro$oft will realize this and pull the plug.

Do a huge price drop fcuk it!

I have a feeling they're going to be leaning all in on the rumored portable/handheld so that they can compete with Switch 2 next year.

@SleeplessKnight
Totally agree but it’s not just the top games they need. They need to advertise the console, the games and game pass in unity and promote the Xbox brand and get momentum.
If they unwilling to do this as well like they are now, then the games alone will not get the console sales that are really required.

Also Xbox have totally ignored the fact the just over 50% of game pass subs are on Xbox consoles which is a good uptake, especially that’s more than all the other billions of devices put together.

I have always said sell a console you could sell a game pass subscription, especially considering the uptake of game pass on Xbox consoles.

Unfortunately apart from ABK making them money they have lost on the console front, the games front, the game pass front and cloud front.
All of which are declining rapidly or stagnating.

For me it’s like watching a loved one die extremely slowly, as I have been with Xbox since day one.

The death of Xbox continues, Microsoft gaming grows stronger. What a grim future.

@SleeplessKnight "Who will fill the void" I think it's a 1-2 combination that will mostly mean mobile. I think Apple, Amazon, other mobile-centric vendors will push mobile as the future of gaming harder and harder. Even MS for that matter. An xbox controller, an iPhone and a dongle....that's the future that will happen. I think gaming is just going mostly to mobile long term, even before cloud. ON the "premium" side, Steam deck, Ally, etc I think portends the future, followed by laptops, of PC really absorbing more of the "premium" console market. "Premium consoles" wanted to become low end PCs. Now they did. Now they'll struggle to compete with actual PCs. And mobile. Current phones are quite a bit more powerful than Switch...the line between "mobile" and "console" was already blurred by Nintendo's success. Xbox One and PS4 literally ran a tablet CPU.

@Ricky-Spanish They sold Series X for $349.99 with Diablo IV bundled at Christmas, and that was before the PS5 port announcements, and they still didn't move. They really damaged the brand.

@sonicbooming I agree, I think they're done trying to compete in Sony's "red ocean" and want to try a turn going head to head against Nintendo's market instead. Worked out well for Kinekt so I expect great things!

@OldGamer999 I mean a PC is just a really BIG hardware console. It can sit under your TV. Literally. It's not like PS5 wasn't pushing the size in that direction anyway.

And it will still harangue you to sign up for Game Pass, just like the good old days!

@GamingSince84
Why would you prefer to cloud stream games which a far inferior version of what the game looks like etc etc compared to a full downloaded game on dedicated console hardware.

I get 4K, 60fps and all the bells whistles, instant gaming etc. why would you want to play an inferior cloud streamable version.

@OldGamer999 And totally agree with #58. That's a spot on assessment.

@101Force The AI chip bubble will pop. Businesses aren't going to keep shoveling money into short term instantly replaced AI hardware, and the AI cloud providers will need to show a return to their over enthusiastic investors and turn up short, and the expansions will grind to a crawl. AMD is well diversified and can shift gears whatever way the winds blow. Sure, half their sales are AI. But half aren't. NVidia OTOH is in deeper doo doo when it pops. They go all in on one thing and ignore the rest.

Unfortunately, everyone is hurting. Sony has reported the same. They took a 30% decline in hardware sales during Q3 and I'm sure Q4 is not much better. They have even stated that they are going to focus on subscribers over hardware sales at this point. I own both consoles and I will always be a console gamer first. Hopefully, we will see a few more generations of new hardware.

@NEStalgia
Did you mean #59

@Romans12 That's the kind of nightmare with sony I'd fear most. It's pretty bleak when the focus of the console companies is just trying to turn their customers into whales and extract as much value from them as possible rather than trying to grow at this point. I guess if I'm going to be exploited, I'd rather be exploited by Nvidia? I mean the leather jacket is kinda cool I guess.

@OldGamer999 Whoops, yeah, 59.

@OldGamer999 I prefer not being tied down to a single console. I love the flexibility of streaming on the Firestick up in my office, or playing games my PC connected to my TV in the home theater. I have a console in the living room, as well as an Android TV box with a side loaded Xbox app that works perfectly that I enjoy using too. And when I'm traveling, there's always my Galaxy phone. Lots of options!

What do they expect...oh we finally have got to the point we have been aiming for what seems like a lifetime where we are about to be able to release a good steady supply of first party games on the regular ....at the same time start announcing games will be coming to playstation ....Microsoft(Xbox) circus

They need to get the cadence of exclusive releases out otherwise they should just drop.out of hardware space. I love the Series X but they're not providing killer apps for it like they should be. 360 at this point was belting out bangers and great games. Dev cycle is too long with all that power being untapped.

I love being able to play Xbox games on PC, but the console sales, would have been much higher, if they had kept all games exclusive to the console. Or done it the same way as Sony, and release their game on PC, a year or two later.

This situation is a mess.

@Steel76 I think the problem, and it's Sonys point too, is the PC power user market is small though and overlaps console market so little that doesn't matter. Console is powered by the casual masses. If the PC power users make up enough of the console never to kill it, console is hosed anyway.

Hulst thinks ps games on PC will make people buy consoles for sequels. I don't really see it playing out that way. PC players will wait for the better version. And it's not like pc players will buy their third party games on the consoles even if they do, and if they don't, there's no point selling them a console anyway, that's where the money is.

Ms has an opposite issue. Microsoft game studios was a PC publisher before
Xbox even existed. They destroyed and cannibalized that pc publishing in order to push Xbox and lock exclusives to it. So they're kind of rebuilding what they had and broke before.

I know Phil, Sarah, and others have openly discussed the next-gen Xbox but when I see numbers like these I start to wonder if it'll ever come to pass.

@NEStalgia it’s going back full circle to Microsoft Gaming.

They can’t really call the Mobile push anything Xbox related, even the play anywhere doesn’t fit with Xbox branding for me.

I can see a soft rebranding coming in.

I’ve owned every Xbox console offered. This generation will be my last. All my 3rd party purchases will be on PlayStation as of this year.

Mixed/poor messaging, TERRIBLE leadership, and uncertainty around the brand identity killed it for me.

Only the fingers in their ears and hands over their eyes die hards can’t see the writing on the wall.

@NEStalgia "If OpenAI goes belly up (ding dong the witch is dead!), with the billions invested in them, Microsoft will simply insert the extra cash and buy them to obtain their AI tech as proprietary. (Aww, sheet, here we go again.)"

If you look at the available details on the MS/OAI deal Microsoft has a REALLY sweetheart deal as they already have rights to a lot of OpenAI's tech and research already. If (or I believe when) the bubble bursts MS won't have much concrete losses, but they're so tied up in the hype the market will devalue them sharply.

We've seen what's been done to Microsoft studios when the company is making money hand over fist so god knows what'll happen when things are actually bad.

I don't mind switching back to Sony for the next generation, but I keep peering over the fence and don't see much there either. There are wider issues for the console space in general.

Also, Microsoft launched X/S without bangers though and we're STILL waiting. There is still lots to play (I'm currently playing Jedi Survivor on GP and loving it) but mindshare is vital.

MS is in for a really rough period.

They’re betting the farm on GamePass and Streaming it seems, allowing people to play games anywhere. That’s at a time where the markets (global infrastructure) probably not ready for cloud gaming yet and without having a presence for GamePass on Sony or Nintendo consoles.

If the EU steps in and opens up platforms and marketplaces, then MS could throw GamePass on PS and Switch and probably grow the market massively for their service. Until that happens but, GamePass seems to be very reliant on Xbox hardware sales to pull in subscribers yet the hardware isn’t shifting and MS messaging isn’t exactly enticing people to buy their hardware. With GamePass prices going up considerably over the years, grabbing a PS5 and just buying the odd MS game outright on PS, now they’re doing cross console releases, is probably more appealing to buyers given it also exposes them to Sonys game library.

To me it really feels like MSs strategy and fortunes would benefit greatly if the opening of marketplaces on mobile platforms is extended to home consoles, and opens up other hardware platforms to them. Not sure how they grow otherwise.

Xbox cloud streaming really isn't good enough yet. If they intend to fully use geforce now then we might get somewhere so that would be interesting to see. Then you only need a portable tablet like device that docks and that will sort hardware sales out

For Xbox, it is all about the ecosystem now and not hardware. They monthly active users shows that Xbox games still have a huge draw, the huge difference is where people play them. I do think we will still see another Xbox console but fully expect this to be an upgradable PC style model or possibly a high powered handheld hybrid with dock.

I think Xbox will also push to have Steam on the next console whatever form it takes. If they get that done and can bring the new machine in at a competitive price, they can certainly have better hardware sales, but overall, the reality is that hardware just isn’t the priority anymore.

As long as I can still access my back catalogue of games easily and still have some form of Xbox, then I see no reason for me personally to buy another console.

That said, my dream scenario is that Game Pass comes to the Nintendo Switch 2. Now that would be epic!

A real shame but this is what happens when you actively undermine your own product. Even if there is another Xbox console I doubt I will buy it. Been months since I used my Xbox for anything other than YouTube.

Cataclysmic.

Anyone who doesn't think this is due to games going to PS5 is deluded. Just read through comments on any article on this site from December and compare them to now. Look how sentiment in the Xbox brand has shifted so dramatically, so quickly.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Microsoft Gaming Game Pass Ultimate for Games.

Has a nice ring to it, really.

@Jenkinss Indirectly. They've listed only a few older games for PS5, plus Doom, it's not like so far a plethora of games have gone to PS5. While many assume it means eventually everything goes to PS5, nobody knows that, and right now that isn't necessarily true. It's not the existence of their PS5 strategy that harmed them. It's their lack of communication, lack of clarity, endless equivocation when pressed for one that broke it. The fact they let the uncertainty and rumors dictate the conversation without stepping in has given the media version of the PS5 dump its own legs and life that then drove people away along with their various other problems and miscommunications while also killing favorite studios, removing familiar faces, and replacing them with Activision heads. Though when I look back, they'd half tried to recover from the PS5 blunder and it kind of worked, people were soothed again after that. It's the culling of Tango and Arkane that really changed the mood. They took the one big hit that defined the future of Game Pass and the console, HiFi Rush, and declared it a catastrophic failure worth disposing everyone involved, after just previously praising it as their high water mark indicating nothing they say carries any weight. I think that's the point where people started wondering what even is Game Pass and Xbox? up to then they were just signaling they didn't know what to do with consoles. It was then they indicated they just don't know what they're doing with anything at all.

TL;DR Their problem is the same problem they've had for 20 years. It's not that they step on rakes, it's that they run the weed wacker whilst naked on a honey farm.

@jumpin_jeeps Yeah, MS problem isn't "the games" really. Yeah they released a console way too soon because they had to because Sony was, and it looks horrible. But if they stayed the course and kept messaging how great it was for playing 3rd party, they'd have stayed in the game. They took their eye off the ball and stopped promoting their own product, even bashed it publicly just to get ABK through, and they changed the image of their own product to negative. PS5 hasn't been doing much of anything either, and if it weren't for VR mine would have gathered rediculous dust - it's not very different from XB minus some paid exclusives here and there. But the mood of the future is so much better there.

@PhileasFragg Yes and no. I think whats happening to Xbox is the same thing that's been happening to Windows, Azure, everything in MS. Nadella's so single mindedly focused on maximizing their exposure to the AI bubble, the massive investor influx and immediate return at peak bubble, he's culling everything that can be culled to funnel those resources into more AI returns. I.E. the bad stuff is happening precisely to add fuel to that out of control growth wildfire. Having to actually make returns across myriad products due to investor disinterest might actually make them cut less.

@NEStalgia sounds convoluted and a difficult way of doing things. So most likely will do it.

Send them an email, they may even pay you a crazy sum to suggest it!

@Nexozi tbh besides the rare and few Xbox ecosystem owned IP there isn't much that doesn't mirror or come to PS+ a few months later.
How do I know? I've had both for the last two years and most of the same 3rd in party games come to both services.

None of this is surprising, as they have had less and less owned IP, console exclusive and now mostly zero completely exclusive games to Xbox consoles which are BRAND NEW releases.

I like that Xbox wants more people to play their games but if they want to sell more and more consoles they have to at least have NEW AA OR AAA 8/10+ scored reviewed console exclusives 2-3 times EVERY YEAR. Otherwise a console exclusive "streamer" game that takes off in sales or is on GamePass. They had one this year Palworld, that's it.

Xbox has frankly done NONE of that is 3-5 years at this point. Reap what you sow Microsoft.

@NEStalgia absolutely not, this is a new problem, and it's the end. From firing on all cylinders in December, the highest I've seen the Xbox brand in a decade, to the Titanic, and games to PS5 was the iceberg. They sunk the brand. No one is naive enough to think they are stopping at those 4 games, they themselves said they aren't stopping at those 4 games. Everyone knows what's happening, so no one is buying Xboxes despite continued fire sales. It's Joever.

Culling of Tango and Arkane is meaningful only to enthusiasts, no large number of people is skipping buying an Xbox because of that. No one bought the games those studios made, there's no way people are choosing to buy a console or not because of their closure.

@Jenkinss Wait...when was Xbox firing on all cylinders in December? They couldn't sell the Series X for $350 bundled with Diablo IV. Which is, I'm, pretty sure why they started putting games on PS5 to begin with. As much grief as I give Xbox for their behavior, the market was pretty loud and clear: "
We won't even take these things for a burrito and a pack of gum." And I doubt the wider market that makes up most of their customer base even heard of he whole PS5 debacle.

I'm not saying that's helped or that the conversation of those "in the know" didn't change, but I think the platform's problems were well entrenched before that, which is what led to that to begin with. If it was selling well in December, I doubt the PS5 thing would have happened, or at least wouldn't have happened when it did, the way it did.

TBH I think the downward trend started after Redfall. Phil's dejected "we lost the console war" interview IMO was stark. Internally I think it already was a write-off at that point.

Edit: What's really amazing is that Meta Quest is actually growing faster than Xbox while Xbox shrinks and Quest 3 is outperforming expectations. Imagine the day when a VR-only platform starts outperforming a legacy console. Well, at least Microsoft has Flight Sim and Skyrim VR. Things are looking up.

Again, go back and look at the comments here, reddit, anywhere. I'm talking about sentiment, which is what drives sales. I'm not moving goalposts, it's what I said, they cratered sentiment in the brand, probably permanently, with 1 move.

That's why this is all so frustrating. It's right when Xbox turned it around, after a decade of fan suffering, they mortgaged the whole thing off. "Next year" was finally not a meme, and now next year will mostly be multi plat, and it's just the first step and everyone knows it.

Well when you have ads saying ''NO CONSOLE REQUIRED'', this results are to be expected

@kuu_nousee Don't worry I know, I've had both Sony and MS consoles for the last 4 generations. My point is that getting gamepass onto playstation would mean that MS wouldn't need an Xbox. Sony are not letting it happen because it would affect their subscription service as well as impact the money they make from game sales as well.

I feel like gaming hardware sales have gotta be down all over by now. When I went to Best Buy the other day to buy a new soundbar, they had stacks of PS5's collecting dust.

I think we're just at a point in a console generation where demand has really died down.

I am still content with my Xbox One. There haven't been any killers apps for the Xbox Series, and some people are choosing to enjoy GamePass on PC instead. I think this is an inevitable result. Xbox needs console exclusives if the glory days of the 360 are ever to return.

@Jenkinss I see what you mean about sentiment vs sales, but still, back in December they couldn't give xsx away. Things seemed very opposite of good even before the PS5 announcement. And again I'm pretty sure the fact that the can't give away xsx is why they went with the PS5 plan. Clearly something went really wrong before that announcement. It's just the core fan conversation couldn't even pretend after that.