Should Xbox End their Generation Early?

[Wman1996]

Zippy6 said:

If the sales don't make a miraculous turn around in 2024 then absolutely. The Xbox One sold 9.6m in 2016 and it's looking like the Xbox Series this year will be lucky to do 7.5m. If they can't keep this console selling up to even XBO standards for 3 years then they sure as hell shouldn't try and keep selling it for 8 years.

If sales continue to decline 2024 then they should be looking to replace it ASAP because at that stage we're going to have to question whether the Series can even make it to 45m. So assuming no dark magic rituals propel the Xbox Series back up to 8m+ next year, 2026 would be a good year to launch.

I pretty much agree with all of that. 

There are probably several reasons why Xbox Series X/S is tracking a little below Xbox One (which sold a lot less than Xbox 360).

-PS5s are more widely available now. I understand PS5 was already outselling Xbox before, but this year the ratio is now higher than before.

-Game Pass and PC Gaming: While Game Pass has surely helped sell some Xbox consoles, it's also a double-edged sword. Most games (and especially most big ones) are available on PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate on PC. Some people would rather spend $600 (that's lowballing) and up on a gaming PC than buying either Xbox Series console. 

-Lack of first-party games

-Switch: Yes, Switch is doing its Blue Ocean thing. But let's not forget that Series is still pretty close to Xbox One in sales. Absolutely do I think there are at least 100k people (likely more) who probably bought an Xbox One but would rather buy a Switch than an Xbox Series. Or even people who didn't buy an Xbox One that would rather buy a Switch over a Series when push comes to shove. Wii U probably didn't affect the sales of the outgoing Xbox 360 and then the Xbox One. Switch on the other hand has probably has had some effect. 

-The name: Xbox One/Xbox One S/Xbox One X were all sucky names too. But Xbox Series X/Xbox Series S also suck as names. 

It looks like a bunch of soon-to-be-disappointed people accidentally bought Xbox One X’s today - The Verge

Some of these people might have cancelled or exchanged their orders. But I have to imagine tens of thousands of people or more either haven't bought Series X/S because they're confused what it is or even bought an Xbox One instead in confusion.