They built up such a good amount during the 360 days despite having issues like the RROD.
However that backfired during the XBO release especially when Sony/Playstation marketed against them against practices such as about borrowing/renting games and the fact a lot of exclusives mainly Japanese games were on Playstation and not Xbox.
XSX/XSS they kind of improved but the damage was done from the previous generation, mismanagement and bad marketing as well. Doesnt help the fact that MS' head wanted to downsize the gaming division back in 2021 (going by the latest news).
They arent looking at hardware as long term but creating a gaming service (xCloud) and providing access to games outside the Xbox ecosystem (Windows) - by buying Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, they cemented themselves with having IPs and assets which will bolster their efforts in doing the above and providing a financial net from Activision, Blizzard and King's assets.
I still think their long time plan was to eventually branch out of the console business (because its been bleeding them for years) and go into more of the software side - Microsoft's strongest point is in subscription services and digital services (Windows, Azure, O365) so it was obvious that Gamepass was made and Xcloud as well - on top of that they have WoW and Elder Scrolls Online both of which net them money.
Each of the three platform holders are going separate ways in how they are doing business. I still think more third parties will keep bringing in support for Xbox or Microsoft Gaming (if that is their end game).
I think its great to have many different options on how you can play games (console, PC, streaming, etc) - so looking forward to it. I'm interested in how they will implement b/c with Xbox, Xbox360 and XBO/Series games going forward.
