ShadyAcshuns
Member
I don't keep up with sales, scores and trends, but as a gamer I've enjoyed my Series X and S this year so I don't see what the "problem" is. *goes back to enjoying gaming*
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Time for Xbox to clean house and plan the next-generation console
- Thread starter Gaiff
- Start date
Sorcerer
Member
Do you mean if they exit gaming altogether? If they feel generous maybe they will let you re-download for a year, maybe 2? But they will pull the plug altogether eventually. And your console is going to Heaven sooner or later.
King Dazzar
Member
"why not make Xbox like ABK"? I fully get how he's respected in terms of business acumen. But would you really like Xbox to be like ABK? Just pause for a moment and think about how Diablo IV was designed with monetization in mind. And how CoD now is. Do you want Xbox to be solely commercially more successful or would you like Xbox to be a better place for gamers to enjoy games....
Personally I dont have the full answer. But for me, Bobby Wanktit definitely isn't it.
Reave
Member
I don’t see a future where Microsoft doesn’t have Xbox hardware on the market. However, I do think their vision, investment, and projections will change significantly.
Ultimately, I don’t think Microsoft has any desire to compete with Sony’s hardware 1:1 anymore. We are already seeing this hold true to some degree since Phil Spencer already confirmed no “Pro” console will be coming. I expect even more deviations like this to happen in contrast to Sony’s strategy.
My guess is that Microsoft will continue to position Game Pass as their true platform, go mostly all-digital to force people to subscribe, and relegate future Xbox hardware as an optional native avenue of enjoying Game Pass among others to come (including cloud/streaming).
Whether that will be successful or not is another story.
Ultimately, I don’t think Microsoft has any desire to compete with Sony’s hardware 1:1 anymore. We are already seeing this hold true to some degree since Phil Spencer already confirmed no “Pro” console will be coming. I expect even more deviations like this to happen in contrast to Sony’s strategy.
My guess is that Microsoft will continue to position Game Pass as their true platform, go mostly all-digital to force people to subscribe, and relegate future Xbox hardware as an optional native avenue of enjoying Game Pass among others to come (including cloud/streaming).
Whether that will be successful or not is another story.
Mibu no ookami
Member
GamePass is dead.
Even if they could replicate EA Play Pro not EA Play, they wouldn't want to do it for 10 dollars and EA Play Pro is 15 a month.
Negotiator101
Member
"They couldn't afford to fail this year but they did"
Stopped reading right there
Microsoft can afford it, don't worry about that 
Negotiator101
Member
30 million people say different
HeisenbergFX4
Gold Member
But people on forums want you to care about sales and if you didn't buy their plastic box you are a dumb dumb head
So stop having fun on your Xbox
Sorcerer
Member
My goodness though, how much will Gamepass cost to make it profitable? My guess was that they would keep raising prices on it every other year until it reached 50 bucks a month in about a decade. But if it is their only means of gaming income it certainly will become worse than that even sooner.
I guess one could argue that Sony could have a $600 console and still charge $50 dollars a month for whatever their top service tier is called so I guess that is one way of looking at it.
Last edited:
Alan Wake
Member
Xbox as a console brand may soon be history. They're moving towards Xbox as an app for your phone, tablet, TV or other consoles, meaning it'll basically be a Game Pass and cloud service sold for a monthly fee.
Sad for all of us who have been Xbox consoles gamers since the beginning, building our physical collections. But it's been fairly obvious for some time now that Microsoft don't give a shit about physical media either, so the mid gen refresh of Series X is just one step in this direction.
Hawking Radiation
Member
Yeah I had an Xbox Series S. Only bought it because PS5 consoles were sold out everywhere for months.
Sold the Series S because I bought a PC.
No need to have the Xbox hardware and there's nothing that interests me on the Xbox platform in terms of software. Forza, Halo, Gears all went stale and these were the games i bought an Xbox 360 for back in the day.
There's nothing out there that I can say I need to buy a Series X for. This won't apply to everyone but there's an obvious decline in people wanting to experience what Xbox has to offer. Hopefully their first party studios have some killer games cooking becuase they need it. We all need them to step up their efforts.
ChuckeRearmed
Member
I wonder if people will open these threads everyday.
Xbox will generate more money than Sony - and all in a single ecosystem with a handful of games available on other platforms, while Sony is struggling to maintain their margins above 10% despite selling a lot of consoles...And people are worrying about Xbox People should be worrying more in regards of what Microsoft will acquire next and what developers and publishers Sony will lose 
Post ABK, Xbox is secured as never before so it does not matter how much would it sell. Considering that Satya regrets cancelling Windows Phone, the idea that Microsoft will do that with Xbox is laughable.
Xbox will generate more money than Sony - and all in a single ecosystem with a handful of games available on other platforms, while Sony is struggling to maintain their margins above 10% despite selling a lot of consoles...And people are worrying about Xbox
People should be worrying more in regards of what Microsoft will acquire next and what developers and publishers Sony will lose I mean, it is like a cult - dancing around sale charts in hope that Sony will generate more money. But the truth is that no matter how many consoles Sony sell, the platform won't get future titles (aside certain ones) from all the publishers Microsoft will acquire.
Post ABK, Xbox is secured as never before so it does not matter how much would it sell. Considering that Satya regrets cancelling Windows Phone, the idea that Microsoft will do that with Xbox is laughable.
Last edited:
Zuzu
Member
If the PS5 had a more comfortable controller and quick resume I’d probably never play on Xbox again outside of backwards compatibility and the odd console exclusive multiplayer game (the better VRR is also nice). Those are the only things really that keep me buying games on the Series X. The Xbox controller is much more comfortable to me and quick resume makes gaming a bit more convenient. But in nearly everything else the PS5 is better.
Last edited:
ShadyAcshuns
Member
I don't game on PC, so Xbox is the only way I can play some games. I agree Xbox needs to step it up with their first party titles, but if they don't I always have Switch and PS5 as well.
elmos-acc
Member
Hey! It is my turn to post this tomorrow!
As much as I am happy to not be an Xbox gamer right now, maybe they will turn it around. Maybe the Indiana Jones game will come out and blow us all away. Maybe Activision or Blizzard will deliver some pretty fresh exclusive IP for MS, maybe Bethesda will remake New Vegas or something like that. Maybe Avowed knocks it out of the park immediately at launch unlike Sea Of Thieves.
Time will tell. People in NeoGAF assure me every day that GamePass is their favorite way to consume games, their Series S is a small beast in their bedroom and HiFi Rush is their favorite game of the year. Who am I to tell them different?
Video games are works of art. They are audio visual entertainment. They are also consumer products. Unfortunately Microsoft is really awful at creating art, providing entertainment or designing high quality consumer products. It is not in their DNA. They have more in common with Amazon than they have with either Nintendo, Sony or even Sega. It almost seems like they got lucky with the first Xbox, and even luckier with the 360. But for the past 10 years or so they have been irrelevant in the conversation because they do not have the slightest clue what gamers want. Series X might a pretty good piece of hardware, but specs are not worth anything if they are not being utilized.
As much as I am happy to not be an Xbox gamer right now, maybe they will turn it around. Maybe the Indiana Jones game will come out and blow us all away. Maybe Activision or Blizzard will deliver some pretty fresh exclusive IP for MS, maybe Bethesda will remake New Vegas or something like that. Maybe Avowed knocks it out of the park immediately at launch unlike Sea Of Thieves.
Time will tell. People in NeoGAF assure me every day that GamePass is their favorite way to consume games, their Series S is a small beast in their bedroom and HiFi Rush is their favorite game of the year. Who am I to tell them different?
Video games are works of art. They are audio visual entertainment. They are also consumer products. Unfortunately Microsoft is really awful at creating art, providing entertainment or designing high quality consumer products. It is not in their DNA. They have more in common with Amazon than they have with either Nintendo, Sony or even Sega. It almost seems like they got lucky with the first Xbox, and even luckier with the 360. But for the past 10 years or so they have been irrelevant in the conversation because they do not have the slightest clue what gamers want. Series X might a pretty good piece of hardware, but specs are not worth anything if they are not being utilized.
Bernardougf
Gold Member
The possibility of what I said could be possible mistaken for something serious is really fucked up and telling about xbox/phil spencer fanbase
I'm not saying they were the gods of video games before but you can clearly see a difference before and after 2016 as a result of Phil's policy.
Topher
Gold Member
I wonder if people will open these threads everyday.
Xbox will generate more money than Sony - and all in a single ecosystem with a handful of games available on other platforms, while Sony is struggling to maintain their margins above 10% despite selling a lot of consoles...And people are worrying about Xbox
I mean, it is like a cult - dancing around sale charts in hope that Sony will generate more money. But the truth is that no matter how many consoles Sony sell, the platform won't get future titles (aside certain ones) from all the publishers Microsoft will acquire.
Post ABK, Xbox is secured as never before so it does not matter how much would it sell. Considering that Satya regrets cancelling Windows Phone, the idea that Microsoft will do that with Xbox is laughable.
Eh.....just as cultish "dancing around" hoping Microsoft acquires more publishers.
Skifi28
Member
Well it's the Sega strategy. It goes like this
- Release a new piece of hardware to replace the last one that failed a couple years ago.
- ????????????????
- Profit
ChuckeRearmed
Member
At least in my case I get games in Game Pass. So the god gives his grace
digoutyoursoul
Member
The saddest thing is , in my opinion, the potential for the brand is massive and no where near being realised. For all the complaining I do about them , I do care and want them to improve and do much better.
They had a sense of momentum building with Xbox 360 despite its flaws (it’s still their best system imo) and since Xbox One it’s been pretty shit with a few positive things sprinkled on top.
With all that money they could have the best first party offerings (I know it’s easier said than done), much better third party relations and deals, a better product management line, licence IP for their own exclusives like a X-Men, a Ninja Turtles, a Matrix, a KOTOR etc but they refuse.
Even the minuscule things such as the features like themes are half hearted. They aren’t even a improvement on PlayStation 3’s themes never mind PlayStation 4. If they are going to offer stuff like that then do it better then the competition or don’t bother. After six years they are still getting many requests to improve the Achievement system.
“We hear the feedback” you should not need to keep having to resort to this. They should have teams capable of taking the initiative and having the talents to providing the best user experience across the board on console but are instead obnoxiously obsessed with a subscription service that was even the template for a UI design to market it before many fans overwhelmingly negative feedback so they had to save face and changed it. Yes they changed it but it should never have been that sort of thinking in the first place.
And for the people saying “it’s fine “. That’s hardly a fucking glowing endorsement is it?
They had a sense of momentum building with Xbox 360 despite its flaws (it’s still their best system imo) and since Xbox One it’s been pretty shit with a few positive things sprinkled on top.
With all that money they could have the best first party offerings (I know it’s easier said than done), much better third party relations and deals, a better product management line, licence IP for their own exclusives like a X-Men, a Ninja Turtles, a Matrix, a KOTOR etc but they refuse.
Even the minuscule things such as the features like themes are half hearted. They aren’t even a improvement on PlayStation 3’s themes never mind PlayStation 4. If they are going to offer stuff like that then do it better then the competition or don’t bother. After six years they are still getting many requests to improve the Achievement system.
“We hear the feedback” you should not need to keep having to resort to this. They should have teams capable of taking the initiative and having the talents to providing the best user experience across the board on console but are instead obnoxiously obsessed with a subscription service that was even the template for a UI design to market it before many fans overwhelmingly negative feedback so they had to save face and changed it. Yes they changed it but it should never have been that sort of thinking in the first place.
And for the people saying “it’s fine “. That’s hardly a fucking glowing endorsement is it?
Last edited:
Caio
Member
This is not the way to go, and Gaming do not need to be saved by MS. Competition is always a good thing, but acquiring everything will probably bring to a even worse situation in Gaming, and thanks God it will never happen.
Actually I'm happy with my XSX, and I'm a bit surprised by these very low numbers in Europe, I was not expecting this.
MS already have their plan, with the Next Hardware coming in Nov 2028; they have just to put more effort in delivering more 1st party AAA games, and I want to believe they will come.
Holammer
Member
Here's a solution, drop the Xbox brand, install a patch and your Series X is now a Windows 11 PC.
Everyone would be happy and game support would be better than EVER. They won't have every user chained to the walled garden/company store, but every unit sold would still add value to MS's eco system.
Seriously thou, the brand was super edgy back in the early 2000's. Now it's just a ball and chain. If you think Elon's recent re-branding of Twitter was super awesome, let's agree to disagree.
Everyone would be happy and game support would be better than EVER. They won't have every user chained to the walled garden/company store, but every unit sold would still add value to MS's eco system.
Seriously thou, the brand was super edgy back in the early 2000's. Now it's just a ball and chain. If you think Elon's recent re-branding of Twitter was super awesome, let's agree to disagree.
ByWatterson
Member
Remove the word "console" from the thread and I agree.
They could be a truly powerful publisher if they would drop the hardware, focus on first party, some version of Gamepass on other platforms, etc.
The answers are right there, and have nothing to do with hardware.
They could be a truly powerful publisher if they would drop the hardware, focus on first party, some version of Gamepass on other platforms, etc.
The answers are right there, and have nothing to do with hardware.
cireza
Member
Come on, we have all seen the leaked Xbox that looks like an ashtray. Or a trashcan.
Fuck yeah. And stop being that asshole that's third place on the podium !
Last edited:
Snake29
RSI Employee of the Year
Last edited:
cireza
Member
He's a hobbit though, not a man.Only one man can save them
Last edited:
FIREKNIGHT2029
Member
Time for them to go full third party. Their strategy isn't working and I don't think there is any room for them in the console space.
tusharngf
Member
People here are experts and they are telling everyone it's dead. Game Pass is dead. Console sales are dead. Game sales are dead. 75 billion dollars is going to be wasted again. It's just like PC is dead back in the 360 PS3 days. I remember people discussing 600-dollar console in 2006 and how Sony is doomed. I doubt we will see Microsoft closing down its gaming business anytime soon. They have the biggest money chest out there and can sustain longer than the other two.
Dr. Suchong
Member
Lets hope he can find him.Only one man can save them
Physiognomonics
Member
Clean house? They are going to fire Spencer? I doubt it.
They are going to repeat the same mistakes as before. It's Microsoft, a trillion $ company, they don't need to "do better to succeed".
They are going to repeat the same mistakes as before. It's Microsoft, a trillion $ company, they don't need to "do better to succeed".
ShadyAcshuns
Member
Wii U and Vita actually are dead, but I still enjoy them like I did when they were new. Sales, scores, trends, threads, fans, popularity etc. all are meaningless to me. My PS5 has only been turned on a few times this year for FFXVI and a few other PS+ titles, so being popular hasn't helped it become more useful for me.
Dick Jones
Gold Member
bitbydeath
Gold Member
Would going third party even help?
Gamepass is expensive, most would rather buy games outright, than join yet another service.
Getting their studio’s in order is more important than anything else at this stage IMO.
Negotiator101
Member
What difference does it make? Them making hardware doesn't change their prowess as a publisher. The games are coming regardless, unless you're specifically talking about supporting PS hardware? All that would achieve is more sales but that would mean giving people less of a reason to sub to Gamepass. No chance Sony would have Gamepass on their system as it would cannibalise their subscription model.
They'll continue to create hardware as long as there's a market for it. Gamepass is the long term strategy which goes beyond just consoles and that's what Spencer has had in mind for years now. All the acquisitions and the major IP are all geared towards making this an irresistible proposition to gamers.
Thirty7ven
Banned
If they don’t fight and give all they got in the second half of the gen like PlayStation 3 then forget about next gen.
Bernardougf
Gold Member
The fact that my initial sarcastic post continues to be taken seriously says it all you need to know about Phil's spencer fanbase reputation. Shame.
Generic
Member
PlayStation having monopoly on console market would be pretty sad, especially considering how anti-consumer Sony is.
Mythoclast
Member
They dont need to restart the generation. Hardware is not the problem. They just need to start making movie games that get 90+ Metacritics. It’s unfortunate because Microsoft is one of the few companies that support creativity and innovation with their games (Hifi Rush, Pentiment, etc etc)
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
I kinda wanna see what happens if MS exits the console game and people here get what they want. I doubt anyone else would step up to the plate. Apple already makes obscene revenue from gaming without bothering with a console.
Sony vs Nintendo solo match. Let’s see how pricing goes. They just arbitrarily raised the price of Ps+ with 0 improvements. A Sony with 0 competitors in the “high end” console space will be hilarious.
Sony vs Nintendo solo match. Let’s see how pricing goes. They just arbitrarily raised the price of Ps+ with 0 improvements. A Sony with 0 competitors in the “high end” console space will be hilarious.
Klayzer
Member
Generic
Member
Yeah, imagine a console market dominated by a company who doesn't even allow consumers to refund their games. Stuff of nightmares, especially considering the next-gen will probably be 100% digital.I kinda wanna see what happens if MS exits the console game and people here get what they want. I doubt anyone else would step up to the plate. Apple already makes obscene revenue from gaming without bothering with a console.
Sony vs Nintendo solo match. Let’s see how pricing goes. They just arbitrarily raised the price of Ps+ with 0 improvements. A Sony with 0 competitors in the “high end” console space will be hilarious.
Bumblebeetuna
Gold Member
Redfall was doodoo. Their other games in 2023 have been great. You have to be really jaded to think games like Forza Motorsports or Starfield are trash or something.
Also what is the “big year” this was supposed to be for Xbox? Phil wasn’t lying when he said a slate of great games wouldn’t change things. Just look at sales. Sony has done fuck all in 2023 and are setting records. People laughed and console war’d like crazy when he said that but it was right. They put everything on GamePass and other consoles/PC. People are still relying on sales when MS stopped doing that years ago.
They’re already planning the next generation, as are Sony. That starts when the current gen ships.
Also what is the “big year” this was supposed to be for Xbox? Phil wasn’t lying when he said a slate of great games wouldn’t change things. Just look at sales. Sony has done fuck all in 2023 and are setting records. People laughed and console war’d like crazy when he said that but it was right. They put everything on GamePass and other consoles/PC. People are still relying on sales when MS stopped doing that years ago.
They’re already planning the next generation, as are Sony. That starts when the current gen ships.