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Time for Xbox to clean house and plan the next-generation console

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
After a decent start, this has been an unmitigated disaster. This year was supposed to be a big one for them as Sony only had a single first-party release whereas Microsoft had 4 but 3 out of them fell short and the only one that met and even exceeded expectations was Hi-Fi Rush which is a smaller game. Redfall was a colossal failure. Forza Motorsport was poorly received and reviled by fans. Starfield has become a meme and is now the lowest-rated Bethesda game on Steam. They couldn't afford to fail this year but they did.

Their numbers in Europe make the Wii U seem like a runaway success and they have made absolutely no progress in Japan. Even in the US, their strongest market, the competition is demolishing them. Their sales figures have become so embarrassing for so long that they refuse to disclose them, instead covering them up with "engagement metrics". What is players having shot 1,000,000,000 bullet in Halo Finite supposed to tell me?

People should be calling for Phil's head. He took over in what, 2016? And he somehow managed to sink the brand further. The only good thing he did is Game Pass.

The experiment with the current brass has been a failure. Time to regroup, sack everyone (especially Booty, Geeenberg, and Phil) and rethink their strategy.
 
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Bernardougf

Gold Member
Obviously bethesda and Activision were not enough to allow Xbox to compete in a fair way, so I think EA and UBISOFT should be their next acquisition, we must have competition, this is the only way, is good for us, MS have to save gaming from Sony and be allowed to buy at least more 02 big publishers.
 

XXL

Member
GIF by Groundhog Day
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
What's the point of releasing another Xbox, if this one has no traction?

It's not like it was in the early 2000s when every console was a fresh start and a way to wipe the slate clean (more or less). Nowadays with digital libraries and BC, each one builds off the next. The far more likely path for them now is just to fall farther and farther behind.
 
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Dick Jones

Gold Member
After a decent start, this has been an unmitigated disaster. This year was supposed to be a big ne for them as Sony only had a single first-party release whereas Microsoft had 4 but 3 out of them fell short and the only one that met and even exceeded expectations was Hi-Fi Rush which is a smaller game. Redfall was a colossal failure. Forza Motorsport was poorly received and reviled by fans. Starfield has become a meme and is now the lowest-rated Bethesda game on Steam. They couldn't afford to fail this year but they did.

Their numbers in Europe make the Wii U seem like a runaway success and they have made absolutely no progress in Japan. Even in the US, their strongest market, the competition is demolishing them.

People should be calling for Phil's head. He took over in what, 2016? And he somehow managed to sink the brand further. The only good thing he did is Game Pass.

The experiment with the current brass has been a failure. Time to regroup, sack everyone (especially Booty, Geeenberg, and Phil) and rethink their strategy.
Phil took over in 2014, he needs more time.

glOLhAV.jpg
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Every few years this topic is made.....

Xbox is dead, releasing another console is not a solution....

They don't sell the TWO they already have on the market....
Releasing another console goes without saying. The main problem is the management. These guys need to go.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
how they considered publishing good games? Crazy startegy but it might just work.
Easier said than done. You need people who can spot and manage talent which this group is clearly incapable of doing. Sack 'em and look for fresh blood.
 

DragonNCM

Member
The experiment with the current brass has been a failure. Time to regroup, sack everyone (especially Booty, Geeenberg, and Phil) and rethink their strategy.
Their strategy is good....If you can't beat them...buy them, BUY EVERITHING & WIN :)
 

DKPOWPOW

Member
Can't kill the console when you need mindshare.

They in it to be the biggest publisher of all. Their POV is that console's will cease to exist and everything will be cloud driven.

But to jump in as cloud only now is to become a Stadia.
So hold their ground, build GamePass, and keep chugging along until whenever the cloud future takes over.

My 2 cents anyways.
 

Dr.D00p

Member
I bet there are plenty inside MS itself who would like to see the XBOX division clean house but not plan anymore consoles.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
No, now is the time to strike!

Sony’s laying people off. People are leaving, and their focus is entirely on GaaS and remasters.
Wolverine delayed until 2025.
They shot their Spiderman load and now it’s going to be crickets.

So now you come out swinging. Surprise Hexen 3! Raven was secretly working on a new Wolfenstein.
That Fable you saw was a decoy. Here’s the real Fable, and it looks just like Fable 2, but waaaay more amazing.
We hired the people that left Sony and now we hire based on experience instead of checking off diversity boxes.
Our new controllers are all using Hall effect switches.

Finish the gen strong baby! Straight to second place.
 

C2brixx

Member
Xbox as a platform is fine. Hardware is lose leader for Microsoft. Selling more Xboxes doesn't really make them more money. They need to continue on making Gamepass attractive which can be accessed from a number of devices. Folks are just stuck in the console war mindset when the ship has sailed long ago.
 

Solidus_T

Member
Or go 3rd party publishing and get access to Playstation and Nintendo installbase.
I think this is a likely outcome after this gen. Xbox will lean into the subscription model and offer their games though a service that is available on all platforms including smartphones. They will have a huge revenue stream guaranteed.
 
Xbox lost it when you didn't need a Xbox console to play their games. Then they lost it double when they didn't release any meaningful games at all. They can try again but this isn't gonna turn around. Especially since many have opted to go digital and will stay with their console of choice which is mostly Playstation. Those who did so on Xbox, if they aren't completely stupid, see where this is going and will probably opt for the safer choice which is playstation as far consoles is concerned. If they have financial stability they will get/have a PC to play Microsoft released games and that's it. If Microsoft release a new Xbox it will fail again and maybe even harder.

I have every console and a pc my household so no fanboy bs, but If I take myself as an example, i waited 2 years for Xbox to deliver something good. I'm done waiting. Next XBox is a no sale for me and I owned them all and the 360 is my favorite console on which I have the best gaming memories.
 

spons

Gold Member
Xbox as a platform is fine. Hardware is lose leader for Microsoft. Selling more Xboxes doesn't really make them more money. They need to continue on making Gamepass attractive which can be accessed from a number of devices. Folks are just stuck in the console war mindset when the ship has sailed long ago.
I doubt that. They absolutely need a larger user base, and the way to achieve that is through console sales. And on what devices do people access Game Pass? It's only remotely popular on PC. All of this is marketing hogwash.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Or go 3rd party publishing and get access to Playstation and Nintendo installbase.

THIS! Why is MS wasting time? Get OUT of the console business and make a deal with both Nintendo and Sony. 30% of all GP subs (on their systems) go directly to Sony and Nintendo. I guarantee both Sony and Nintendo say yes to this. But I do also think Sony and Nintendo would modify their "version" of GamePass and what games could be on it.
 

Three

Member
People should be calling for Phil's head. He took over in what, 2016? And he somehow managed to sink the brand further. The only good thing he did is Game Pass.

The experiment with the current brass has been a failure. Time to regroup, sack everyone (especially Booty, Geeenberg, and Phil) and rethink their strategy.

They already have rethought their strategy. They're becoming a service provider, buying all the IPs and backing the likes of Epic in trying to fight the hardware and OS companies in court. If they had a bigger vested interest in their console they would have never done this. They've moved their priority down the supply chain to become a self sufficient publisher and service provider instead.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Yea. Nintendo makes it work with 1/4 the power. Adding a new graphics card and more RAM isn’t going to do anything.
1/4th? Probably more like 1/10th and this is only the logical step to be ahead of the curve. The real problem is that inept leadership.
 

iHaunter

Member
Every few years this topic is made.....

Xbox is dead, releasing another console is not a solution....

They don't sell the TWO they already have on the market....
Which was idiotic in it of itself. I got shit on when I stated the Series S was a mistake and pointless console. And we have devs coming out stating it's holding back the XSX. I still remember when people were stating the XSS had better specs than PS5.

Not that it's relevant, Microsoft has no software worth buying currently, Starfield had a mild to negative reception as well.
 

Sushi_Combo

Member
Which was idiotic in it of itself. I got shit on when I stated the Series S was a mistake and pointless console. And we have devs coming out stating it's holding back the XSX. I still remember when people were stating the XSS had better specs than PS5.

Not that it's relevant, Microsoft has no software worth buying currently, Starfield had a mild to negative reception as well.
Which might be MS gauging if removing games that were supposed to be available on PS consoles were going to help boost sales in some capacity. Starfield had some marketing and hype but even with all of that happening, it barely made a dent. I'm sure the game would have seen more financial success if it reached PS5 gamers.
 

yazenov

Member
MS doesn't care about hardware sales anyway. Am I right?

So no need to release any hardware since all they care about is engagement. They should go 3rd party and spread those engagements everywhere.
 
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StereoVsn

Member
Or go 3rd party publishing and get access to Playstation and Nintendo installbase.
From Profit perspective, GamePass and Cloud Gaming on PC/Phones/TVs (Samsung, LG), etc... plus 3rd party releases on PS and Nintendo platforms would make a ton more sense. Not going to happen, at least any time soon, but if I was Satya, I would be side eying Xbox division pretty hard. They just spent over $80 bil over the span of couple of years just on software acquisitions so that better pan out.

That's a lot even for MS. Well, kind of, they still have $150bil in cash and more coming every quarter.
 

ThaGuy

Member
Most game companies (MS,Sony, Nintendo) start planning the next console as soon as the current one releases. It just depends on what route they're planning to take.
 
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