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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - What Went Wrong with Microsofts Strategy for Xbox this Gen?

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?



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I think you just nailed it with the exclusives. You know that scene from The Incredibles? "If everything is an XBox, nothing is."



They kept Phil Spencer in charge and decided to switch from Xbox to Microsoft Gaming. To fix Xbox Series X, you have to fix Xbox One, and to fix Xbox One, you have to fix the last few years of 360 with Don Matrick in charge. There is no fixing just Series X. The whole brand and division need fixing starting around 2009.



Bite my shiny metal cockpit!

It would be faster to ask what is working with xbox, as it needs only one word : Nothing.

They release all their games on pc day one, they even put them in gamepass day one, which means that you can play any of their games for less than its full price as a month of gamepass is not the price of a full price game and you can pretty much finish any of their games in less than a month if you play all days on it.

The only way for them to succeed is to say that you need an xbox for xbox games and that all xbox games stay exclusives to xboxes, not even on pc. If they did that with cod and if tes 6 had been released years ago, maybe they would have had a chance to sell xboxes.

Now, they are dead as a hardware brand and they will always be as... even if they do stop gamepass, which they'll never do, they release all games on pc day one. An xbox could have been a choice for some users with a bad pc if they wanted to play games like flight sim, but as soon as this one very demanding pc game releases on ps5, the xbox brand is doomed (As you either have to upgrade your pc or wait for its timed exclusivity to end).

You don't have to be a genius to do simple math, if all of the 30 millions xbox owners have gamepass and pay one month for a big game, it earns them less than these same people paying the game full price, therefore they are doomed as when a game cost 500 millions to do and every xbox owner (let's say 30 millions for easier math), have ultimate game pass at 20 dollars a month, it makes 600 millions per month. But, if these 30 millions all pay the full price of the game, at 80 dollars, well... 4 times that... 2,4 billion dollars. Yes, on one shot, but you have to do it 4 months in a row to make it even...

Noone has to be genius to understand that when you sell the same product (gamepass vs full price for day one release), and that one is cheaper than the other, everyone will go with the cheapest option, earning you less money...

And since everything is an xbox, as they say, and that you don't even need to have a powerful system to play their games, their hardware is doomed and it'll be from day one for the future. Who will buy xbox 5 when you already know that you will get the game even without buying a 500 euros one purpose only box with no purpose at all ?

The same happened with blu ray discs, they all are on digital shops, therefore no one is buying 4k blu ray discs. Why would you as apart from consoles, there are few 4k blu ray players with one use only and that you have to pay like double the price for the disc?

And it's even more stupid with games because sometimes, the game isn't on the disc and you even have to install it anyway, disc or not.

This generation is the first lost generation of all times, for everyone. Who can say that even a gta game will be more common than it was on ps2 or ps3 era as most people might buy gta 6 digitally, making it the least gta sold physically even though it might sell more than any other (Tell me how many of you have one, let alone lots, of gta 5 physical game dics). Yeah, ps3 versions, ok, but since then...

The last console maker to fall will be Nintendo, as their doom as a hardware seller will happen only when their games will release somewhere else (which they already do, illegally). Why would you buy a ps5 for ff7 part 3, the next god of war or the last of us ? You already know that you won't need a ps5 for these games, as you'll only need patience and a better pc (which you could afford easily since all consoles always are weaker than up to date pcs... I was playing trials of mana, a ps4 game, on a pc with only an hd610 integrated graphic card on a 50 dollars processor).

Apart if India and China become big console markets, the days of the consoles are a past and we might only see some big moments from Nintendo from now on (As of course, ps5 and 6 will sell less than ps2 since it's not cheaper and games get a pc release date at some point).

If you don't own a ps5 already, which i have, why would you even consider buying one ? Demon soul, Astro bot and gt7. Yeah, great games, but back when i began gaming, you would buy a snes for final fantasy 6, chrono trigger, secret of mana, zelda 3... And as good as the 3 aformentioned ps5 games are, they are nowhere near these snes legends. (Plus one is on ps3 and the latter on ps4).

The only reason Xbox didn't do a sega, it's because it's microsoft, who prints money like i buy candy...

Last edited by Terramlea - on 15 January 2025

I agree it was mostly the software. There are other factors that played in as well, such as the damage done through the Don Mattrick era still casting a shadow, the series X not showing a performance advantage over the PS5, the narrative about the series S holding the industry back and so on, but the major factor in my opinion was the software situation, that being the lack of compelling first party titles.

Apart from a brief window in late 2021, there was never a time when it felt like Xbox came close to fulfilling on the promise of one big game per quarter. Of having system seller games. Instead long periods of drought and disappointing console exclusives like Redfall.

Playstation had droughts too, but they are the mindshare- and console market leader, it's Xbox that would have needed to catch up.

Going forward I don't see Xbox hardware sales being competitive again, and they also don't focus on that at all. That's over. Their app, their cloud solution, yes, those can be competitive, but not whatever last console they might come up with next.

Last edited by Bizwas - on 15 January 2025

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They spent $80 billion and they have the exact same games they would have had anyway?



Hmm, pie.

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.



I truly think Starfield ULTRA-HYPE during many months (or years), and its final flop, damaged very hard the console during that 2023 Xmas season.

But the real reason of the collapse... I don't know. Maybe the price. Maybe the negative of Microsoft to "play the game" with the specialized media like Sony continually does, with lots of money, since the 90s. Or maybe MS probably focussed too hard with the ABK deal during 2 demanding years of negotiations with many public authorities, so... maybe they forgot to compete harder in the market. It was worth it, nonetheless: Now MS can perfectly launch a new generation and take advantage, as they did with 360. They now have a huge amount of new franchises to use as a release must-have for a new console.



Xbox One ruined Xbox out of the gate... And they haven't recovered since.

No exclusives, it's that simple.

What drew me to the Original Xbox was Fable, Halo 1+2... And those were games that literally guaranteed I would buy the Xbox 360 for Fable 2 and Halo 3.
Fast forward to the end of the Xbox 360's life... Halo 4 was good, but not as good as Reach, the series was in decline in terms of popularity... And Lionhead was destroyed.

Did I buy the Xbox One? Yes. On release day. But it's games library is pretty average as far as quality exclusives go.

I did buy the Xbox Series X on release day as well... But I haven't turned it on in over a year.
I have an Xbox Series S as well, had that for 2 years and never been used.

...Waiting on games.



--::{PC Gaming Master Race}::--

Yeah as everyone else is saying. First 3 years essentially looked like this:


Miles Morales
Demon Souls Remake
Returnal
Ratchet and Clank
GT7
Horizon Forbidden West
God of War Ragnarok
Marvel Spiderman 2


Vs

Halo Infinite
Flight Simulator
Forza
Starfield


And If I include 3rd parties it gets even worse.