Real Talk - where next for Xbox?

[Cell 425]

Even with an unbiased take on the current situation, a few things have played out over the last few days against a bigger picture for Xbox as a whole which has been going on for 10 years now. Objectively, Microsoft wants to be number 1 in the console market, they wouldn’t be in it if they weren’t and it’s a two horse race between itself and Sony, as Nintendo plays it’s own game (very successfully too over the last 5 years). 
 

The One X by all measure was a flop relative to the PlayStation, it never got over it’s own terrible launch and Microsoft failure to cultivate first party studios who could repeatedly put out AAAE first party content was exposed during last gen, a trend which hadn’t gone away. They have taken incredible steps to remedy this, with studio acquisitions totalling almost as much as Sony, their only competitor, is actually worth (105 Billion). 
 

I can’t see this as sustainable in its current form, so I’m genuinely wondering, what happens next. Let’s be real about Starfield, the reviews are far from bad, but just skimming over much bigger forums than this and you don’t see a unified story about how this game is the 95+ on MC, must have, console shifting masterpiece it was promised to be and with the current narrative I cannot see it persuading the Playstaion crowd to buy an Xbox which is ultimately what they need to do. They have nothing else on the horizon capable of being that ‘console shifting masterpiece’, and gamepass has plateau’d on a good but not good enough to give new games away on it for the sole price of a subscription. 
 

What next for Xbox?

[jehurey 3,238]

If Gamepass is still stagnating, they're not going to continue dumping more money into it.

 

Netflix/HBOmax and all those streamers eventually stopped accepting losses at some point.

 

Its painfully obvious that Microsoft's accounting is clearly hiding money that they are losing on GamePass. They're trying to sneak by a $2-$3 increase and hope that doesn't cause a noticeable downturn in subscriptions.

 

But if people aren't going to play Starfield for the next 12 months, because there's 1001 planets of almost nothing, then I would imagine there will be a downturn in GamePass subs.

[kaz 2,439]

THE STARS! ...oh they are already there. But it's only the beginning.. GODfield is a BANGER. Pretty obvious COW TEARS are flowing. MS will win

[FIREPOWER 729]

Time to shut it down.

 

$7.5 billion down the drain. Time to go full multiplat and shut the console division down. GamePass is basically bleeding money and the consoles aren’t moving either. Starfield won’t do shit for them in that area either.

 

Nothing they have exclusively to the ShitBox carries the hype and potential that Starflop had. Their best move forward is hoping the ABK deal goes through and they can get multiplat money from Activision’s games.

Edited September 2, 2023 by FIREPOWER

[MalaXmaS 648]

lmfao this is such a cow circlejerk.

Xbox is doing fine.

They have more games to show off, and based off their activity, they are still doing more mergers, expanding their gamepass catalogue, getting more subscribers and getting more releases.

You should worry about Sony which from the looks of it, they don't know what they are doing.

I mean, they keep on releasing hardware without any use.

At first, they released POS5, which relied heavily on remasters and remasters of remasters, then released that pos paperweight PSVR2 with next to no support, and now they just released a useless handheld with no purpose.

 

[Remij 4,682]

They're going to release this... make a ton of money... and then release Forza, and make a ton more money.. and so on...

 

The game has an 88 Meta you clowns.... It's reviewing well.

[JonDnD 2,637]

They shut down xbox. Its going to happen soon. You guys have been saying it for 20 years now so its gotta be right around the corner.

[sugarhigh 519]

Even if 7/10 turns out to be too harsh for Starfield, it's still a terrible spot to be in for Xbox. They've got 6-8 games well into development that just don't look great. I don't think Hellblade, Avowed, Perfect Dark, and Fable is the lineup you want to go up against Playstation.

 

They really need some surprise announcements that aren't in the distant future. A new project from Id, a solid return for Gears, an ambitious new IP from Double Fine. Stuff that will change the whole conversation about their 1st party plan.

[Quad Damage 1,738]

no bait/fanboy bs, xbox is dead. you can call the time of death 8-31-23 9AM.

 

xbox was never going to catch playstation- idiots only realized this very recently like this year after phil’s concession speech - but starfield could’ve at least been like halo was during the ps2 generation. xbox was never going to win that gen either, but halo was a major feather in xbox’s cap that they built on for the future.

 

you can pretend that there’s no difference in the real world between starfield’s reception (going down as more critics get review codes) and that of true home runs like the original halo back in the day, god of war, zelda, or elden ring, but you would know deep down you’d just be telling yourself that to help you sleep better at night.

 

no instead xbox’s biggest game from its biggest developer/studio by far is .. on the level of fallout 4. a game no one cares or even thinks about today.

[JonDnD 2,637]

34 minutes ago, Quad Damage said:

no bait/fanboy bs, xbox is dead. you can call the time of death 8-31-23 9AM.

 

xbox was never going to catch playstation- idiots only realized this very recently like this year after phil’s concession speech - but starfield could’ve at least been like halo was during the ps2 generation. xbox was never going to win that gen either, but halo was a major feather in xbox’s cap that they built on for the future.

 

you can pretend that there’s no difference in the real world between starfield’s reception (going down as more critics get review codes) and that of true home runs like the original halo back in the day, god of war, zelda, or elden ring, but you would know deep down you’d just be telling yourself that to help you sleep better at night.

 

no instead xbox’s biggest game from its biggest developer/studio by far is .. on the level of fallout 4. a game no one cares or even thinks about today.

😕

[Cooke 2,030]

2 peoples opinions from 2 websites does not dictate how well a game will do and how well the console will do because of it. It's a very well reviewed game and will be huge for Xbox. And it's not like a 7 means it's a bad game either. Was probably lacking enough intersectional feminism or something. Or maybe JK Rowling said something positive about it.