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[hinch7]

Not the downfall but it didn't really help the situation. Microsoft really needed to push out a lot of high quality games on their platform.. right after the rather lackluster 8th gen, to grow mindshare and gain momentum. Only they scuffed that up, even with Bethesda behind them and they put all their eggs in the basket for GP. Which has negatively affected their brand somewhat as the userbase are conditioned not to buy games on there seeing as there's so many titles available on the service, every month.

Which comes back to third party support. Who now are far less likely to take up exclusive/partnership deals, given how poor software sales are on Xbox. And even with cash incentive.. publishers and developers are also heavily limiting their audience and sales+ IP potential; that could and most likely will effect long term sales.

 

[Mr Moose]

How Xbox Is Changing the Nature of Exclusivity - IGN
Xbox Game Pass Growth Is Slowing Down, Analyst Says (gamerant.com)

Multiple analysts I spoke to pointed out to me that while some might have expected Xbox to rectify this situation somewhat with its recent acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, its pledge to keep major games multiplatform for at least a decade means it won’t be able to capitalize on them as exclusives to bolster those console sales anytime soon. Meanwhile, Xbox’s whole “ecosystem” situation isn’t exactly rocketing them to the moon either.

“We’re seeing slowing adoption of Xbox Game Pass even though Microsoft will claim otherwise thanks to the repositioning of Xbox Live Gold as Xbox Game Pass Core,” McWhirter says. “Our forecast estimates total Xbox Game Pass subscriptions (excluding Core/Live Gold) to be at 33.3 million at the end of 2023, which represents subscriber growth of just 13% - down from 15% in 2022. Notably, over half (55%) are currently on the device-agnostic Ultimate tier.”

Xbox Game Pass hit 33.3 million users as of year-end 2023, Omdia estimates.

The fuck is Omdia?

 

[Nydius]

because the tech is still not there yet. I have tried it on a Samsung TV. Its just doesn't feel the same. But when it works, its magic. I am betting when the tech matures, they are going to do even deeper consumer push.

I'm pretty sure I've heard this song before...

 

[BeforeU]

The fuck is Omdia?

Link

 

[Mr Moose]

Link

Estimates not even close to being official numbers.

 

[BeforeU]

I'm pretty sure I've heard this song before...

terrible comparison actually. And speaking of Kinect, Microsoft just didn't knew how to leverage it. It did voice controls way before Alexa, And google assistant, even iPhone face unlock is a mini kinect.
So yes kinect died because of too early and failed execution

 

[Schmendrick]

There are 34M gamepass subscribers by end of 2023, average price $12. why does it need to be profitable? lol look at Netflix and Amazon when they became profitable.

The difference is that Netflix and Amazon had yearly ginormous growth margins up to that point, something GP is already failing at.

 

[Victor Omega]

I've been critical towards GP because I'd like to see Microsoft figure it out.

Netflix and Disney aren't selling and renting DVDs anymore.

Choose one. Go fully digital, go fully service, go fully traditional gaming hardware, go fully exclusive games, go fully 3rd party.

 

[poppabk]

[Mat Piscatella (NPD)] - Subscription growth has flattened, and sub services accounts for only 10% of total video game content spending in the US.

10% Explains a lot.

www.neogaf.com

Growth has flattened can mean that percent growth was increasing each year then leveled off ie 2% growth year 1, 5 % growth year 2, 8% growth year 3, 10% growth year 4, year 5, year 6 etc.
Or it could mean that subscriber numbers are now static. Without the numbers or clarification we can't tell.

 

[Mr Moose]

terrible comparison actually. And speaking of Kinect, Microsoft just didn't knew how to leverage it. It did voice controls way before Alexa, And google assistant, even iPhone face unlock is a mini kinect.
So yes kinect died because of too early and failed execution

Best thing about Kinect was bone tracking. Voice was nothing special.
I want a Kinect for bone tracking.

Growth has flattened can mean that percent growth was increasing each year then leveled off ie 2% growth year 1, 5 % growth year 2, 8% growth year 3, 10% growth year 4, year 5, year 6 etc.
Or it could mean that subscriber numbers are now static. Without the numbers or clarification we can't tell.

It includes Gamepass, PS+, Ubisoft shit, EA shit, Nintendo and any other sub shit.

 

[bender]

No but Game Pass is like handing a drowning man a cinder block.

 

[BlackTron]

What downfall? What are you actually talking about

When they started to attempt this big acquisition, Xbox had some momentum earlier in the gen, mostly from nice hardware and good will from fans who didn't think they could possibly keep repeating the same mistakes. But they're so bad at what they do, that they had already lost all of that momentum by the time the deal closed and it no longer stood to support either the console business or Gamepass as envisioned at the time.

Ultimately Xbox has become a brand that needed to spend 70b to convince you to sign up for a PC sub service after two straight generations of anemic good games compared to Sony and Nintendo, and now is heading towards just putting the IPs they just purchased on those platforms anyway.

It's okay if you disagree that's a downfall, just means we have different definitions of what a downfall is.

P.S. Xbox One definitely caused major damage, but they still could have rebounded back. You could feel it in the air when Series X launched -we were willing to give them a fair shot to correct the blunder, and wanted them to. It ended up being the final nail. They could have pulled a Switch, but instead doubled-down on everything wrong with XB1 and pulled a Wii U 2.

 

[Moriarty1889]

Gamepass was a double edged sword. It killed physical game sales and has killed the console as well by replacing all of MS focus on subs over hardware. Some will argue this but the results clearly speak for themselves unless your blind.

 

[The Fuzz damn you!]

There are 34M gamepass subscribers by end of 2023, average price $12. why does it need to be profitable? lol look at Netflix and Amazon when they became profitable.

Look at the growth rate of Amazon and Netflix when they were unprofitable. These services need to be either profitable, or expanding into profitability, and all the smoke signals are suggesting that GP subs are stagnant in that regard.

 

[Mooreberg]

Xbox was getting hammered for four years before Game Pass was introduced. I think they got too comfortable with third parties carrying the brand through the 360 era. Sony learned after PS2 that consumers will go where the products they want are less expensive to acquire. Game Pass is kinda just gasoline on a fire that was already burning.

 

[Crispy Gamer]

Nah it was a life jacket but the rescue boat never came, Microsoft saw the trends at retail during the last generation so they created a good service that kept them afloat but they knew the consequences if they couldn't garner enough subs now the chickens are coming home to roost their bad management is the ultimate culprit of this failure we are witnessing in real time.

 

[NikuNashi]

Xbox's 'disruption of the industry' was about as successful as Eras boycott of Harry Potter.

 

[Saber]

Yes.

Devaluated your prime product(console) by leaving everything on a subscription service and also on PC.
Ask any normal person, what reason to buy a Xbox? Whats the point, theres no need to waste money on this.

Also, "evangelize" your fanbase to not buy games and wait their lazy ass to everything to go to Gamepass.
Later ask them why they don't buy games, but it would be difficult to even extract anything out of their brains other than "its the best deal in gaming".

 

[IFireflyl]

Am I the only one who is sick of these "Xbox is dead/dying/weird/stupid/trans/gay/impregnated-my-wife" threads? It's too much.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Applauding them for mediocrity has been the biggest issue in my opinion.

 

[cash_longfellow]

Is this an out of season April's Fool joke?

It’s always April on the Gaf

 

[THE DUCK]

How when they're tracking below XB1 numbers?

Proving my point, your automatically pointing to gamepass that caused this, vs the real reason for issues - lack of aaa games.

 

[user friendly]

I sometimes wonder if there just isn't enough space for two higher-powered consoles on the market these days. I think ultimately it's just the games not hitting as hard as they should.

 

[Nydius]

Proving my point, your automatically pointing to gamepass that caused this, vs the real reason for issues - lack of aaa games.

The state of their AAA games is due, in part, to needing to cater to Game Pass. Look at what Game Pass has done to Microsoft's first party AAA output this generation. Halo Infinite: Rushed to release in a broken state. Forza Horizon 5: Buggiest release of any Horizon game. Redfall: Just complete trash. Forza Motorsport: Launched in a similarly barebones, borderline broken, state as Halo Infinite.

Game Pass has demonstrably affected the quality of Microsoft's content negatively. It's why the mediocrity of Starfield hurt: They gave that game lots of extra time to be great and they needed it to be a major win. Instead it just fizzled into another middling "Game Pass game".

Microsoft has painted themselves into a corner with Game Pass in two ways.

One: Mandating all first party games launch on the service day/date. That disincentivizes sales. Even people who aren't subbed are less likely to buy games at full price when they know they could just pay for a single month subscription, play the game, then bail.

Two: By continually claiming they would have a future where they'd be releasing a major AAA title every quarter on Game Pass. Sounds great in theory but they've yet to deliver and it's unlikely that they'll ever deliver. Even if they pull it off for a year or two, such a release schedule is unsustainable.

 

[Three]

Proving my point, your automatically pointing to gamepass that caused this, vs the real reason for issues - lack of aaa games.

I'm not really pointing at anything in particular for the decline in my reply to you but you're claiming that it helped it "sell more units". How are you doing the exact opposite when units have actually seen a decline?

The lack of AAA games and zero exclusives on a console, in its launch window, can in part be blamed on their new strategy. They made everything about lower budget games for the service and not about selling the hardware. I would say they even prolonged releases because they were already getting subscription growth and money.

 

[bender]

I sometimes wonder if there just isn't enough space for two higher-powered consoles on the market these days. I think ultimately it's just the games not hitting as hard as they should.

The Xbox Series has me asking if there is room for just an entry level console like the Series S and if you could garner enough development support focusing on the few territories Microsoft has the most success in and dropping the others all together. I think the answer is probably "no" since we've heard that Microsoft lost more money per unit sales on the S than X, but of the two units, it's had the most success.

 

[BlackTron]

lmao wtf? Gamepass is all they want to push, and eventually thats whats going to make them ton of money
Look up Microsoft earning from any quarter since last 10 years. 365 and azure subscription makes them gazillion dollars, microsoft is ultimately a software company
As technology and internet speed progresses even more, input lag and graphic fidelity from local and cloud processing will only get better
They are building a gigantic catalogue which eventually everyone will want on their platform, think next 15-20 years down the road
It happened with software, data, movies and music. Gaming its taking longer because of too many bottleneck, but I assure you IT WILL happen. And Microsoft will be on forefront with monopoly.

In 20 years there can be different talent and different IPs that matter. MS may well end up owning a bunch of hollow shells of past greatness. Like they already do. They did as a software company before doing Xbox and now they do today in video games too (Rareware, old games on Gamepass that are cool to be there but not industry-moving).

If anything MS will just be a normal publisher with the option to release games on a different platform. Gamepass or Xbox streaming will never be on Nintendo or PS. They sell consoles at a loss to sell games on them, not to subsidize MS's failure to move their own console just to donate their client base. If Nintendo got a 50% cut of the Gamepass sub fee of $10, and because of that it kept you from buying one Switch game that month, that's too much opportunity cost for them. Gamepass has nothing to offer their model.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I don't think it was its downfall. They were already on the outs. It was their inability to cultivate IP and nurture development studios that was its downfall.

There was a time when that just didn't matter, but the more gaming became ubiquitous across PlayStation and Xbox with almost all games falling on both platforms, what became the differentiator? Japanese games and Sony first-party titles.

With or without GamePass, I think this was going to be the last generation they were relevant.

GamePass and PC Day 1 was just like a highball combination that did them in at the end.

 

[nial]

Honestly? Just take a look at the early 'Day 1 on Game Pass' titles on Xbox One; launch Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, Crackdown 3, Gears 5, Bleeding Edge, Minecraft Dungeons, Battletoads and Tell Me Why. Aside from the very few quality games in this time frame (Forza Horizon 4 and Ori and the Will of the Wisps), this is a pretty poor output, and it hasn't really improved that much years later, when looking at stuff like Redfall, Starfield and Forza Motorsport.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Not having exclusives was followed by GP then kinect.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

The downfall of Xbox? It was yesterday that it had a great presentation, and very well received by the fanbase.

I don't know what you guys are smoking, but I don't want that.

 

[Hero of Spielberg]

It’s been said a lot that last fen was the worst one to lose and I tend to agree. I think MS came out with strong hardware this gen, but lacked in games for launch until last year.

I feel like they’ve started moving in the right direction with their recent releases and upcoming games look promising. unfortunately for them it won’t turn around hardware in any meaningful way, so as most businesses do, their looking at other ways to grow.

I’m interested to see where they take things, we’ve seen it in the past, when brands are up against the wall they’ll be more adventurous and consumer friendly to win market share.

 

[BlackTron]

The state of their AAA games is due, in part, to needing to cater to Game Pass. Look at what Game Pass has done to Microsoft's first party AAA output this generation. Halo Infinite: Rushed to release in a broken state. Forza Horizon 5: Buggiest release of any Horizon game. Redfall: Just complete trash. Forza Motorsport: Launched in a similarly barebones, borderline broken, state as Halo Infinite.

Game Pass has demonstrably affected the quality of Microsoft's content negatively. It's why the mediocrity of Starfield hurt: They gave that game lots of extra time to be great and they needed it to be a major win. Instead it just fizzled into another middling "Game Pass game".

Microsoft has painted themselves into a corner with Game Pass in two ways.

One: Mandating all first party games launch on the service day/date. That disincentivizes sales. Even people who aren't subbed are less likely to buy games at full price when they know they could just pay for a single month subscription, play the game, then bail.

Two: By continually claiming they would have a future where they'd be releasing a major AAA title every quarter on Game Pass. Sounds great in theory but they've yet to deliver and it's unlikely that they'll ever deliver. Even if they pull it off for a year or two, such a release schedule is unsustainable.

I agree GP was part of the problem (though it could have been part of a winning solution with a more intelligent overall strategy) but what I want to ask is where is the link that proves that the cause of these games being bad is Gamepass?

After all Xbox sucked before Series. Look at the MCC launch, probably XBO's most important game. Complete disaster. Then they didn't even bother to fix the game for everyone who already bought it, or just out of plain principle for their platform, until they were gearing up for Infinite and wanted to repair the IP. Which they also botched at launch. Was it Gamepass, or do they simply suck?

Edit: Usually we think of big exclusive games as stars that blaze a path to success for a console with momentum. IE, get Switch for Zelda, and then some random digital titles ranging from 5 to 20 bucks over the next month. Money is being made at every step as trickle-down from your interest in Zelda.

Could excellent exclusive games, even day one, have anchored Gamepass sufficiently to hit critical mass, support itself, and become a success? Applying this concept of exclusive games to a bold new model? I guess we'll never know, because they suck!

 

[Mibu no ookami]

The GamePass strategy didn't result in them putting additional money towards cultivating IP.

Last generation, Sony created two new IP that hit 10+ million units: Ghost of Tsushima and Horizon Zero Dawn, excluding Spider-Man which was still a new arrow in their quiver.

That's also ignoring games like Detroit Become Human, Bloodborne, and Day's Gone. They also took a big swing on rebooting God of War.

The previous generation they came out with The Last of Us and Uncharted not to mention games like Infamous, Heavy Rain, LittleBigPlanet.

There are actually several mid-tier IP Sony has produced in the last 10+ years whereas Microsoft really doesn't have a single one. Sony could have continued a relationship with Quantic Dream... they decided not to. Quantic Dream by itself has done more to generate new and interesting IP than Microsoft has collectively...

Halo - 2001 (Bungie)
Gears of War - 2006 (Epic Games)
Minecraft - 2011 (Mojang)

Yeah, GamePass and PC Day 1 aren't great ideas, but Microsoft has never been interested in developing IP.

Nearly every one of Sony's IP has the opportunity to double or more in popularity when it comes to transmedia. I wonder who owns the rights to Detroit Become Human, I could easily see that being a successful tv show or movie. Although, maybe it's too similar to Almost Human.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

It’s been said a lot that last fen was the worst one to lose and I tend to agree. I think MS came out with strong hardware this gen, but lacked in games for launch until last year. I feel like they’ve started moving in the right direction with their recent releases and upcoming games look promising. unfortunately for them it won’t turn around hardware in any meaningful way, so as most businesses do, their looking at other ways to grow. I’m interested to see where they take things, we’ve seen it in the past, when brands are up against the wall they’ll be more adventurous and consumer friendly to win market share.

I think that is entirely overstated. Microsoft not having a single killer app or even a single exclusive system seller since before 2000 is the reason why they have not had success this generation, not because they lost the previous generation.

In the same span of time Sony has released

Gran Turismo 7
Horizon Forbidden West
God of War Ragnarok + Valhalla
Spider-Man Miles Morales
Spider-Man 2
Demon's Souls Remake
TLOU P1 Remake
TLOU2 Remastered
Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart
Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut
Death Stranding Director's Cut

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I've been critical towards GP because I'd like to see Microsoft figure it out.

Netflix and Disney aren't selling and renting DVDs anymore.

Choose one. Go fully digital, go fully service, go fully traditional gaming hardware, go fully exclusive games, go fully 3rd party.

Both Netflix and Disney both sell content on physical media... not sure what you're talking about.

 

[TwiztidElf]

Giving away expensive and subjectively inferior products to increase market share gamble didn't work.
/shocked.

 

[Raven117]

They lost at an absolute critical moment of gaming. The jump to digital. Xbox one release was a disaster. PlayStation killed it. Had great IP in the ps4 generation. everyone made the switch from Xbox to PlayStation, got into the ecosystem, and there ya go.

The rest has been slow decline and mismanagement from being dealt that huge blow.

 

[PendekarRajawali]

No, the Xbox One was.

This and the output of MS games. Without gamepass Xbox will be in deeper trouble.

 

[Topher]

We need a poll

 

[Kumomeme]

partly. the way they pivoted everything to it with thinking this is some another 'miracle guarantee win bussiness breakthrough' while overlook other important things that need proper attention that plague them for decades.

but to be fair, more to the blame is their management too hastily and greedy trying with quick rich scheme mindset. instead of tread the path properly, they want to dominate everything instantly. thats the main problem.

 

[poppabk]

partly. the way they pivoted everything to it with thinking this is some another 'miracle guarantee win bussiness breakthrough' while overlook other important things that need proper attention that plague them for decades.

but to be fair, more to the blame is their management too hastily and greedy trying with quick rich scheme. instead of tread the path properly, they want to dominate everything instantly. thats the main problem.

Hasty? They have been making consoles longer than the launch of the sega master system to the discontinuation of the dreamcast.

 

[Kumomeme]

Hasty? They have been making consoles longer than the launch of the sega master systdream cast to the discontinuation of the dreamcast.

i refer to the gamepass service.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Day one on PC and Gamepass, yes absolutely. Xbox is a console, not PC plus other shite even if the background tasks say Xbox (is it called game bar or something?).

Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Xbox… cool.

 

[quest]

No it started in the 360 days. They invested to much into timed exclusives and things like that neglecting building up studios. Then the platform catered and Microsoft stopped investing into xbox. Then the platform stagnated and the investment in studios came to late. Gamepass extended the platform some years but couldn't over come the years of no studio investment.

 

[IAmNotFromDelaware]

Is this an out of season April's Fool joke?

This place is bizarre. Like a tween fanboys wet dream.

 

[Jormatar]

Phil Spencer killed the brand as we knew it.

 

[skyfall]

Video game company that decided they don’t care about making or publishing quality games, not sure what they expected other than failure with that strategy

 

[newtypepilot]

microsoft is the downfall of xbox, because they never really cared or understand gaming. Video games are just another medium to push their subscription bullshit.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Without question... yes.