[WindowsCentral] With Microsoft distracted, the Xbox console experience is suffering

Unchained

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It can be exhausting to be an Xbox customer sometimes, particularly if you're paying attention to the news cycle.

PlayStation 5 sales in the UK have surged by upwards of 369% year over year, while Xbox's have dropped by 11% according to reports. It's a small snapshot of the overall desirability and availability of Microsoft's Xbox consoles, which are increasingly struggling to maintain their foothold in the wider gaming mindshare.

Microsoft has been on the back foot. After an incredible 2021 which saw the firm take home the top publisher award on Metacritic, it seemed as though the wait for Xbox's momentum to kick in might have ended. Sales in Japan were even looking strong, as Microsoft described the market as its "fastest growing" region. This past week, Microsoft didn't sell thousands of Xbox consoles in Japan. Not even hundreds, but instead, dozens. Meanwhile, the PS5 sold almost 40,000 units. That's a dire comparison that is near impossible to gloss over

The problem with this expansion is that it's largely horizontal, rather than vertical. The Xbox console platform is not seeing any serious growth according to what little information we can get, and Microsoft commits more and more silicon to multi-purpose cloud servers instead of home console stock levels. Furthermore, as Xbox sees its priorities elsewhere, increasingly, Xbox fans are starting to feel left behind in a variety of ways.

At times, I feel like we've been here before with Windows Phone, which struggled to keep pace with two more established, more dominant competitors. In this case, that would be Nintendo and PlayStation, who can seemingly do no wrong in recent years. It's important to note my use of the word "feel," here, because it is just that, a feeling, that oftentimes doesn't reflect the reality of the Xbox platform. By all accounts, Xbox is more profitable and has more revenue flowing through it than ever before. The monthly active user base has grown by huge amounts too, creating opportunities for recurring billing. We've not heard how well Xbox Game Pass is doing, but the fact Microsoft hasn't yet changed course on how it functions doesn't necessarily suggest it's having a negative impact — but the secrecy makes it hard to know for sure what the situation here is.

It's hard to know exactly what Microsoft's goals are with its games these days. Is it Xbox Game Pass engagement, or is it retail sales? Xbox Game Pass undoubtedly cannibalizes retail sales, but it seems as though Microsoft's investment in marketing and projections still revolve around how much these titles will likely sell. Hi-Fi Rush, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Pentiment — none of these games saw physical releases. Will Microsoft blame the developers for not selling enough digital units? Why should these games sell units, when they're in Xbox Game Pass? And if they're not performing in Xbox Game Pass, who is then to blame? Marketing? How can they perform in Game Pass when there are no consoles to buy, while the PC Game Pass Xbox app experience on Windows 10 and Windows 11 remains atrocious? Just this past week, an update to the Xbox app broke various games, including Fallout 76, Windows and Xbox continue to struggle over the delivery of the gaming experience on PC. If I had a dollar for every time I've had to run a Powershell script to reinstall the "Gaming Service" on Windows 11 to get Xbox PC games to run, I'd probably end up with enough cash to buy an RTX 4090 and switch to Steam gaming full time.

The PR mantra Xbox often uses in interviews continuously states that Xbox Game Pass is meant to only be an aspect of the Xbox gaming platform. Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer has said in previous interviews that console hardware underneath TVs will remain important into the future while noting that they expect a shift to a plurality of devices. What we're seeing with the Xbox platform in recent years is the investment to meet that multi-modal future. Where Xbox Cloud Gaming is an app built into Samsung TVs, where manufacturers like Razer and LG are building cloud-first devices, and where ASUS and Valve are building handheld PC gaming experiences that either do or can run Windows 11.

My criticism of this multi-platform strategy is that it's clearly sapping development bandwidth from the core console experience, which is where the perception of the Xbox brand lives, and where the best Xbox experience currently exists. Expansion should absolutely not come at the cost of degrading the experience for your existing user base, but that quite honestly seems to be the case right now.

Last year, we put out a survey asking core Xbox fans what they wanted to see Microsoft improve on Xbox consoles. I'm sad to report that very little has been addressed in any meaningful way.

Gamers asked for improvements to the Xbox Game DVR, and while it has improved a little in usability recently, it pales in comparison to the editing tools offered on PlayStation, or even the 2013 Xbox One. In fact, we actually lost a feature this week in the Twitter sharing tools. This could be blamed on updates to Twitter's API costs, but Nintendo Switch and PlayStation, once again, seem to still have access to this feature. Users asked for a more streamlined dashboard experience and more customization, and once again, the dashboard actually got worse. Cluttered with Xbox Game Pass algorithmic content and ads, Microsoft only recently relented, over a year later, to say they'll take the dashboard back to the drawing board. Essentially putting us back at square one.

There's no singular, major issue facing Xbox right now. It's more like a coalescence of smaller problems leaving Xbox consumers feeling second-rate. It's true that Xbox fans have been built up and let down so many times, repeatedly, in recent years. Microsoft can't afford to keep alienating its existing fans while it chases new ones with half-finished efforts like Xbox Cloud Gaming (beta) and PC Game Pass, which face strong competitors of their own.

Xbox Game Studios' first-party has expanded massively through acquisitions, has the management layer overseeing this stuff expanded to accommodate? I have no idea, but the evidence we have isn't exactly encouraging. Nobody at Microsoft seemed to be aware that 343i didn't have a live service plan for Halo Infinite, which was developed to be a live service game. It's hard to see how the franchise, which Spencer previously described as critical to Xbox, has a future. Why would I use Xbox Cloud Gaming in a handheld over something native like the Nintendo Switch? Why would I use PC Game Pass when the app doesn't even work half the time, with its shriveled library of games — many of which are abandonware that never gets updated — over Steam? Even Microsoft itself has stopped updating UWP versions of its own PC games. What right does it have to ask others to believe in its PC Game Pass efforts?

In summary, the strategy of expanding to other platforms makes complete and total sense. It's even desirable, but it shouldn't come at the cost of what is already there. It's exciting seeing the glimpses of how this could work in the future — syncing my save from The Long Dark between my Xbox and hackjob Windows Steam Deck is awesome. But, you know, it shouldn't have to be a hackjob. I shouldn't have to become a network engineer to figure out how to get the most out of Xbox Cloud Gaming. And I shouldn't install first-party games from PC Game Pass to find them broken and unplayable vs. the polished, enhanced, moddable Steam versions. All of these things require developer bandwidth to resolve, and it comes at a co
 

AshHunter216

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What's with all these Xbox people suddenly being willing to say negative things about them? Is it just a "woe is me" narrative meant to make the ABK deal seem even more necessary to any remaining critics of the deal?
 
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Johnic

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Ahh, the "there are no consoles to buy" PR speak. Sure, Jan.
Also, this entire paragraph is damage control.

At times, I feel like we've been here before with Windows Phone, which struggled to keep pace with two more established, more dominant competitors. In this case, that would be Nintendo and PlayStation, who can seemingly do no wrong in recent years. It's important to note my use of the word "feel," here, because it is just that, a feeling, that oftentimes doesn't reflect the reality of the Xbox platform. By all accounts, Xbox is more profitable and has more revenue flowing through it than ever before. The monthly active user base has grown by huge amounts too, creating opportunities for recurring billing. We've not heard how well Xbox Game Pass is doing, but the fact Microsoft hasn't yet changed course on how it functions doesn't necessarily suggest it's having a negative impact — but the secrecy makes it hard to know for sure what the situation here is.
 
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Johnic

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It makes no sense because it isn't true. Furthermore, the PS5 has been outselling the Series even during the huge PS5 shortages.

Now that the supply issues are resolved and the PS5 is skyrocketing, it must mean it's because there are no Xbox consoles to buy.

Sure. And there's not a single piece of evidence supporting this, like there was with the PS5.
 

ethomaz

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Man took almost 3 years to they release that lol
Part of the issue is that blind afanasse that take years to realized something bad that happened years ago.

The UI was terrible since launch (well since Xbox One launch to be fair).
The games never come… they release one or other game after bugs hiatus that took even years.
The GDK is a mess.
Series S is a disaster.
Series X is not that good designed at all.

Things that we are talking since day 1.

Welcome Jez to the reality.
 

Loy310

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What's with all these Xbox people suddenly being willing to say negative things about them? Is it just a "woe is me" narrative meant to make the ABK deal seem even more necessary to any remaining critics of the deal?
They tyaad of the bullshit
Tired Over It GIF by VH1
 
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Nhomnhom

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What's with all these Xbox people suddenly being willing to say negative things about them? Is it just a "woe is me" narrative meant to make the ABK deal seem even more necessary to any remaining critics of the deal?
Reality is setting in that things are going to be just as bad if not worse than last gen. Xbox will be dead by the time the ABK acquisition has any effect.

Even their most hardcore fanboys can see it now. Here comes another disappointing gen where Xbox is just a bad product.
 

ethomaz

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They still keep boasting that Publisher of the Year "award" if that meant anything. I'm glad that these people finally get a bitter taste of reality. I'm so sick of gaming conversations online, especially on twitter. I'm glad I found this forum.
They commemorate non-significant awards because they only have that 🤷‍♂️

Games matter… in quality and well quality.
You can list with your fingers how many games MS released last decade? It is too low… they don’t do the bare minimum.

People can say everything about Sony and Nintendo but they plan releases for the whole year.

Since 360 (the best Xbox gen) MS has that mentality of only release games in holiday… and after that they started to decrease the number of releases to the point that you have years without any release at all.

How do you manage a game business like that?
 

Gods&Monsters

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What's with all these Xbox people suddenly being willing to say negative things about them? Is it just a "woe is me" narrative meant to make the ABK deal seem even more necessary to any remaining critics of the deal?
NPD, UK and Europe numbers broke them. After years of shilling, being toxic and calling Sony a dead man walking, reality just hit them.

Customers don't want Xbox, no matter how hard they try to force them with acquisitions. All the IPs and studios will die on Xbox.
 
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They already closed this topic on ResetERA 😂. Guess it's just one Xbox Down Bad thread too many for them.

Although I think Jez is a shill and rampantly obsessed over Final Fantasy games not coming to Xbox, to the point he stupidly thinks he needs to crusade for more Japanese games on the platform where those Japanese games never sell...I can agree with him on one thing. Microsoft/Xbox DO lack focus right now...in fact they've lacked focus for a long time. Nintendo is primarily focused on one platform: the Switch. Yeah they're doing their multimedia thing now too but in regards to gaming, they are primarily focused on the Switch and getting games out for it.

Sony are primarily focused on the PS5. Yes, they've been bringing some games to PC (a strategy I think they need to at least partially change) and want to push more into mobile, but their push for mobile isn't very different from Nintendo's, and it's very clear they are prioritizing the PS5 experience and pushing it hard. Microsoft are just all over the damn place. They want to push Xbox on one hand, but can't decide if they want the power narrative or the pricing/value narrative so they go for both and succeed in neither. They want to push Game Pass, which minimizes the need to buy their games. They want to push Game Pass on platforms other than Xbox, which reduces the need to buy an Xbox...but they're taking up to $200 losses on Xboxes because they're trying to sell them. They want to push xCloud for mobile so you can just stream your games to a smartphone or tablet.

The problem isn't so much that Microsoft have all these avenues they want to focus on, it's that they clearly are not prioritizing the one that SHOULD be their main focus, Xbox, and some of these avenues are counter-intuitive to each other (such as wanting to push game sales, but also pushing Game Pass which has those same games Day 1 in the service). They can't establish what their core identity in gaming is. I don't think them gunning after ABK is the distraction factor people like Jez want to think; if anything their inability to prioritize Xbox while taking care of the ABK deal is a signal of upmost failure of upper management, those two things should not be difficult to balance out. Sony can balance out acquisitions while also getting their supply out there and games out, why can't a company 20x their size manage the same?

It's been 20+ years and Microsoft still can't lock down what their core identity is supposed to be in gaming. The closest they got was with the 360 (before Kinect), and that was primarily helped by the fact Halo and Gears were still in their prime, and they became a magnet for FPS games. They were dabbling in PC back then but clearly Xbox was the prime focus, and the brand had a clear identity that spoke to a lot of the market especially in the US and UK. It feels like they have been trying to run away from that ever since, and many other things fell to the wayside with it.

By all accounts, Xbox is more profitable and has more revenue flowing through it than ever before. The monthly active user base has grown by huge amounts too, creating opportunities for recurring billing.

It's "more profitable" with "more revenue" because they acquired Zenimax and rolled in ALL of their revenue and profits to the Xbox division! I love how he acts like this isn't the main contributing factor; Microsoft are looking for a similar "boost" by doing the same with ABK.

The message is clear: Microsoft need acquisitions in order to grow the Xbox division's revenue. Well, acquisitions and gimmicks like refrigerators and controller diapers.

We've not heard how well Xbox Game Pass is doing, but the fact Microsoft hasn't yet changed course on how it functions doesn't necessarily suggest it's having a negative impact — but the secrecy makes it hard to know for sure what the situation here is.

You haven't heard anything about Game Pass in over a year because it's stagnating and not seeing the growth they want it to see. It's that simple. The service is barely pulling in over $2 billion annually off 25 million subscribers, and if that Linkdin profile was true, they only have 10 million subs on the console side, which is pathetic. 10 million on Xbox and you're "stagnating" on console? Says a lot about the service's perceived value.
 
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Gediminas

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They still keep boasting that Publisher of the Year "award" if that meant anything. I'm glad that these people finally get a bitter taste of reality. I'm so sick of gaming conversations online, especially on twitter. I'm glad I found this forum.
The same dudes couldn't identify any other previous winner, that's how important that is 😂