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I seem to recall that one of the leaked documents in the court trial mentioned that Xbox were repeatedly trying to increase Xbox Series X production but failing to meet targets so I don't think they've given up (although nobody should expect them to come close to PlayStation 5 this gen). It seems as though there is some sort of bottleneck in Xbox Series X production which makes it harder to make than PS5. They probably aren't doing a Starfield LE console because their stock is so shit.
We also know from the court trial that Xbox does not have a blank chequebook from Microsoft, Phil was pretty clear that Xbox is treated differently than most other Microsoft divisions. They have to make a profit and they have to continue to grow, likely explains why they price Series S and Series X like they do. Likely explains why they can't just outbid Sony for manufacturing space, PlayStation is a better manufacturer than Xbox and likely receives priority (in the same way that Apple does) because PlayStation has in recent history destroyed Xbox in sales.
In all honesty though, in a lot of these countries where Series X was priced match to PS5...It really doesn't change much, a lot of them were countries where Sony crushes Xbox to begin with and it wouldn't matter if Xbox was $50 cheaper or w/e, a small price difference won't be enough to convince the majority to abandon PlayStation if the major exclusives still aren't here (yet). Microsoft needs to fix stock before Starfield though because that will be a huge reason for the larger consumer audience to pick up an Xbox.
Expanding their Cloud server network will likely be an ongoing thing for the entire generation, if they want to increase user capacity, they need more Xbox consoles in the server racks, if they want more global appeal, they'll need more Xbox consoles in the server racks around the world. The amount needed will surely decrease overtime after they prioritise key markets but I think they'll always need consoles every so often to put into datacentres and expand their network, we know for example, that xCloud has a maximum capacity of 5,000 concurrent users in UK...
I also think that xCloud is here to stay (even if I have major doubts about its future), Phil didn't even seem that excited by it years ago in internal emails but they still push it, xCloud is Microsoft's future goal and they are unlikely to abandon it after a little difficulty, I think it's likely a push from the very top (Satya) as he continues to push every Microsoft product to Cloud...Now there are rumours that Microsoft wants to move Windows fully to the Cloud...It's not a surprise, Azure is Microsoft's biggest money-maker.
This xCloud stuff was part of Phil's pitch to Satya years ago as well to continue investing into Xbox...So that likely complicates things in abandoning it, Lol. Phil is trying to align Xbox with the rest of Microsoft and Microsoft wants that too, they want Xbox aligned with Microsoft's larger focus (that is Azure) so they're investing in that future. But there are other lucrative futures as well...Mobile for example, Phil has expressed in emails that he knows people don't want to use xCloud on Mobile and they want native ports.
So I'm curious what Microsoft thinks about the fact that Azure could be the thing that tanks a deal which would likely make them far more money in the short-term than Cloud Gaming would make them across 10-15 years, Lol. Are they still invested in that future? I don't think it will help them now but if I had the hindsight as the CEO of Microsoft of choosing between xCloud or Activision-Blizzard-King, I'd dump xCloud without a second thought, maybe that makes me a bit of a coward but I wouldn't bet a future gamble over losing a guaranteed multi-billion-dollar revenue/profit business.
But Idk what Satya is thinking and his mind is always focused on Azure so he may be willing to take that bet.
Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 10 July 2023
