Bizwas said:
While I agree that it was the worst generation to lose, I don't agree that they had to end up where they are now because they screwed up the Xbox One. I heard him say this on the Kinda Funny Xcast after Redfall came out, and in the same interview he said something like "there is no world where Starfield comes out, is an 11 out of 10 and people go and sell their PS5 and buy an Xbox". But I don't buy that completely (and I actually did buy an Xbox Series X on launch day, so it's not that I hold back buying from Papa Phil). First of all Xbox had some momentum in anticipation of the Xbox series and they had some momentum in 2021 and even in the beginning of 2023. But they always f'ed it up again all by themselves (with bad games, droughts or poor messaging). Second of all, even though - to Ryu's point - I understand that there maybe are not born as many new potential console customers each year nowadays as back in the 90's and 2000's (because the younger gamers don't care for consoles anymore), it's still not a fixed number of individuals that are console owners, some fall off with age and some new ones come in, even today. So you don't need people to sell their PS5, you just need to make the more compelling product for those newly purchasing a console. And then you need to make a compelling enough offer to those that already have a PS5 and have the income to do so that they ALSO buy an Xbox (I thought that is what the Series S was for). Nintendo did not carry any digital library over and yet the Switch sold 140 million (and has software attach rates that Xbox cannot even dream of, look at their latest report of how many million sellers they have). So his comments were very defensive/ apologetic. |
The Xbox one was a huge failure. First there was the price, a device no one really wanted and the whole focus outside of gaming but also no sustained consistent top-quality games hitting the system within the crucial 2 years when the system released. Sony was hitting on all cylinders during that time and to be honest they still are. MS continue to struggle to get games out the door and when they do, they just do not draw the crowds nor do they entice people to flood to the system. MS also lately have had a bad tendency to not have games releasing during the first 2 years of the system which is a big failing for the series X. As Phil stated, this was the time when digital was taking root. People were purchasing digital, and they were also subbing to either MS or Sony services.
Blunders like the Xbox one would not be such a huge deal if MS could have come out swinging with the series X. The hardware was sound, the service was considered top tier, but the games were not ready. During the first 2 years for the PS5 Sony has come out with banger after banger while MS can barely release one game from their first party studios that would be considered AAA.
As for the younger crowd, they are just not that interested like they were before because their options for games is way larger and much cheaper than what is offered on console. That is the real key is that every teen especially in the US has a phone or tablet and they have access to multiple free good quality games. My daughter spends more time playing Fortnite on her phone with her friends then she does play on the Switch.
As for the Switch, well its Nintendo. Their system does not cater to the high-end graphics, so their cost is much lower to bring a game to market. They already have a well-established customer base and so only thing Nintendo has to do is just keep doing what they are doing. When you are last like MS is, every mistake is much bigger than the other OEMs. MS has to fight 10 times as hard and produce 3 times as much because customer habits do not change unless there is a huge shift in content.
So from here on out, either MS has hits after hits and all their first party games hit the market hard or nothing will really change as far as their position. To be honest, MS probably has already giving up and they are moving to a more PC centric console type of system and moving out of the console space.
