The console war is over

[sales2099]

RolStoppable said:

It's a fitting tweet for a company who hasn't found an answer to a pressing question in the last seven years. Microsoft's defeatist attitude shone through in last week's Xbox event - I haven't watched it, but I know enough - so it's no surprise that one of their guys wants to pretend that the console war is over in order to distract from hardware sales. Microsoft wasn't in a bad position to challenge Sony's PS5, but instead of going on the offensive and being daring, they more or less quietly accepted their role as a distant third in the global console business.

That's not to say that the XSX will sell worse than the XB1. It will do better, because the XSX is merely unspectular and can bank on Game Pass (gaming for cheap matters, just look up how Steam centralized PC game sales for the most part), unlike the XB1 which sucked butt. That's an improvement for sure, but Microsoft didn't want to go any extra miles. If you want to win, you have to show that you want it. Spencer and friends showed none of that.

This stands in stark contrast to the Xbox 360 era where Microsoft seriously aimed to have the best-selling console and celebrated their NPD wins time and time again. Good hardware sales mean good software sales and high subscription rates, so of course it's important to sell as much hardware as possible. This hasn't changed. What has changed is that Microsoft doesn't want to hear about it anymore. That's because they couldn't figure out how to be winners.

Well neither could Nintendo. The GameCube was their last attempt to play by traditional rules. Now each hardware they release sacrifices specs for a unique hardware function, usually at the cost of mainstream 3rd party support. For the most part with WiiU being the exception this strategy paid off. 

I see MS hitting that GameCube point and Game Pass/Xcloud/PC day 1 exclusives seems to be their non-traditional pivot. But the difference is that they are still very much competing in the traditional space. Both consoles competing for the lions share of 3rd party content like usual. 

Imo Xbox as a platform can’t win no matter what. But the Xbox ecosystem can.