for people curious (the video Esparadrapo references):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4PRA18TFWY

I actually made a thread because of this video.
(here: https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread/248893/wellfare-xbox-hardware-is-declining-fast/1/)

There were rumors at the start of the gen, that the Series X was more expensive to produce than the PS5.
You think, thats no big deal, MS and XBox can eat those losses, they are insanely rich.

Wellfare doesn't think they want too anymore... after the ABK (for $75.4 BN USD)(wasn't $69bn), and $7.5 BN for Zenimax,
MS top wants to see returns on investment.

Spend ~$83bn on gameing..... management is like "what are you doing?"


He thinks the "play anywhere" "everything is a xbox" are basically ways to avoid losses on hardware sales.
Xbox would rather you play their games on other platforms, if it means they can avoid selling hardware at a loss.

I don't know yearly sales figures for the original Xbox but Welfare has said that for USA sales XBS in 2024 sold less than the ORIGINAL Xbox sold in the years 2002-2004. It was Xbox's worst performance in the US other than 2001, 2005 and 2020. So only the years where they first launched, or a console was replaced have they done worse.

https://youtu.be/O4PRA18TFWY?si=WKKzTgD2n3gxaXN9

According to Welfare's video, there is a chance that Microsoft will no longer launch hardware that sells at a loss, so if a next gen Xbox gets released, it will be an enthusiast console that isn't affordable for mass market appeal, which will mean it will sell a lot less than even the Xbox series X/S consoles sold.

If Microsoft intend to make profit off the next Xbox hardware without a change to their multiplatform strategy, sales will plummet into insignificance and hundreds more games will skip the platform. The way to counter this is turning Xbox hardware into a branded closed PC where support is guaranteed like the Steam Deck. Transforming their console store to a PC store lowers the income from 3rd party content, but ensures the best software support and decent profitability. 

I think Sony's PSN login requirement on PC is also done with the (very?) long term goal of Playstation becoming a service + a bunch of PS-branded PC's/handhelds/TV's.

If there is another Xbox, I expect it will suffer the same fate as the Dreamcast.
If they're still making Xbox consoles 10 years from now I'll be shocked.

I disagree with Welfare on that regard. They can't make a console even less popular than Series because they are already having trouble getting publishers into the platform as is. They've been pumping publishers like SEGA full of money to launch their games on the platform (directly on Game Pass no less) or buying ports like NieR: Automata. They've also been buying temporal exclusives like Stalker and my best guess is that they aren't happy with the results. That's a net loss if you don't achieve neither growth in any metric nor a profit. To end with a glory kill they are promoting Game Pass which devours the player's game time leaving them no time for premium games in direct conflict with publishers.

I honestly don't see any future for them making consoles and they'd need to tone down the Game Pass pitch to get publishers on whatever remains of their platform.