What Went Wrong with Microsofts Strategy for Xbox this Gen?

[Signalstar]

The Xbox Series S/X and the PS5 launched within days of each other, yet Xbox sales lag far behind and the gap is growing. Most people acknowledge that the Xbox One had a disastrous launch and that the S/X launch was an improvement yet it now appears unlikely that MS will match its sales from last gen?

Where did MS go wrong this time? They launched with two models, one that is cheaper than both models of the PS5. They offer Game Pass, which some people still argue is the best deal in gaming. Yes, the PS5 has some major third party games that are not on Xbox but these alone should not account for such a large gap in sales.

I think it is the lack of true exclusives that hurt Xbox this gen the most. Not only are all MS games day one on PC, some of them have even jumped ship to PlayStation and Nintendo. Sony also releases some of their games on PC, a few of them same day, but many arrive a while after the PS5 version releases. I think the availability of both Xbox and PS games make the PC even more attractive and the Xbox consoles less so.

What can MS do going forward to make their hardware sales more competitive?