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[PendekarRajawali]

As someone who's deeply invested in the gaming world and owns consoles from Sony and Nintendo, I can't help but notice the recent struggles of Xbox. With Microsoft being one of the biggest companies globally, boasting vast expertise and resources, it's baffling to witness some of the missteps they've been making lately.

From lackluster game releases to contentious business decisions regarding exclusivity deals and marketing strategies, Xbox seems to be faltering in areas where they should excel. As gamers, we've seen Microsoft's potential with previous Xbox iterations, so why the sudden downturn?

I'm eager to hear your opinions on this matter. Do you believe it's a failure of leadership, a disconnect with the gaming community, or perhaps something else entirely? How do you think Microsoft can leverage its vast resources to turn the tide and reclaim its position as a gaming powerhouse?

 

[Daxter32jak]

 

[Danjin44]

More like whats up with western gaming industry.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

How do you think Microsoft can leverage its vast resources to turn the tide and reclaim its position as a gaming powerhouse?

Not sure they can. They should have invested that 70B into what they already had instead of purchasing Activision. I think that plus less focus on Game Pass would have made a world of difference.

Game Pass conditioned their fans to spend as less money as possible and now it has become an issue.

 

[nick776]

I think the damage is done as well. I do not think it is possible to revive the brand at this point. Baffling decision after Baffling decision is evidence that whomever is in charge has no clue what they are doing. At least, they may think they know what they are doing (in pursuing greater returns for investors) but in reality they are only condemning the Xbox brand as an ecosystem. I am done spending my money on the Xbox ecosystem and the numbers would tend to indicate lots of people are doing the same. It is nobody's fault but upper management. The brand was run into the ground.

 

[Loomy]

Xbox seems to be faltering in areas where they should excel.

I don't know if they should inherently excel in any of these areas. Looking back, with all this happening, it makes you wonder if the only reason they were so dominant in the 360 era is because of their 1 year lead, and Sony's direction with the PS3 architecture. Xbox Live was a game changer, but by the end of that generation, things had pretty much evened out with PS3 ultimately outselling the 360.

Do you believe it's a failure of leadership

100%

How do you think Microsoft can leverage its vast resources to turn the tide and reclaim its position as a gaming powerhouse?

Microsoft leveraged their vast resources in spending almost $80b on Zenimax & Activision acquisitions, not to mention the half dozen other smaller ones they've done and they're in the position they're in today. They need to leverage their HR department in put different people in key positions.

Whatever direction they choose to go in, there's a lot more layoffs on the horizon.

 

[T-0800]

You don''t give medicine to a dead person. Let it go.

 

[violence]

Gamepass growth has stagnated. It must be a lot higher to justify the acquisitions.

 

[Pimpbaa]

I have a friend of a friend who has a cousin that has an uncle who works at Xbox. Apparently bad shit is happening. You heard it hear first!

 

[Arsic]

“Recent struggles of Xbox”….

Bro it isn’t recent. Xbox died in 2013. It’s over a decade of a corpse being puppeteered around by Microsoft , money, and the king of shit mountain , Phil Spencer.

Any other company would’ve closed doors but thanks to Microsoft’s deep pockets they can keep it around.

Phil Spencer should get a documentary as the greatest con man ever. He convinced Microsoft to keep Xbox around, keep sinking billions of dollars down the toilet, all while he destroyed the entire brand laughing to the bank.

 

[Methos#1975]

The Xbox biggest issue is that it does absolutely nothing to differate itself from the Playstation and they want to invest even more in the big tent pole like AAA games that the Playstation is known for. Issue is they aren't Sony and they lack the culture needed to excel at those type of games. They are never going to be able to out Sony Sony which it seems is what they are trying to do. They need to chart a path that gives them a clear and distinct identity such as Nintendo has done and go in a direction that paints them not as rivals to Sony and Nintendo but as a viable distinct and unique alternative.

 

[unlurkified]

I think a lot of people have already hit the nail on the head. With the recent ABK, etc acquisitions, the Xbox division of MS is now big enough to affect stock price which necessitates more meddling/oversight by higher ups. The closing of Tango and Arkane definitely doesn’t seem like a long term play.

 

[ByWatterson]

 

[Methos#1975]

I don't know if they should inherently excel in any of these areas. Looking back, with all this happening, it makes you wonder if the only reason they were so dominant in the 360 era is because of their 1 year lead, and Sony's direction with the PS3 architecture. Xbox Live was a game changer, but by the end of that generation, things had pretty much evened out with PS3 ultimately outselling the 360.


100%


Microsoft leveraged their vast resources in spending almost $80b on Zenimax & Activision acquisitions, not to mention the half dozen other smaller ones they've done and they're in the position they're in today. They need to leverage their HR department in put different people in key positions.

Whatever direction they choose to go in, there's a lot more layoffs on the horizon.

I think the XB360 was legimataly an exciting product for its first few years and it did offer for a while a lot of unique experiences that differated itself from the PS3. But I think midway through that gen is when MS started to go off track as well. Many say it was with the Xbox One but I think around 2010/2011 is when Xbox started it's trend of bad decisions.

 

[Edmund]

Lately? What do you mean lately? It's been fucked since people started worshipping Phil Spencer and forgave him for every fuck up.

 

[Loomy]

I think the XB360 was legimataly an exciting product for its first few years and it did offer for a while a lot of unique experiences that differated itself from the PS3. But I think midway through that gen is when MS started to go off track as well. Many say it was with the Xbox One but I think around 2010/2011 is when Xbox started it's trend of bad decisions.

Yeah, that would make sense. It's not like they woke up on the morning of the Xbox One announcement and decided "what if we made all bad decisions starting today?"

Looking back again, and the 360 was obviously designed as a social gaming platform where you as the player (outside of any particular game) was an important part of the whole experience. The PS3 experience, on the other hand was very much game focused. I think both PS4 and Xbox One did a good job at balancing the two, but Microsoft spent the first half of that gen fixing or walking back their entire Xbox One strategy that by the time they got things mostly figured out, they turned around to see that their first party studios had been sitting on their hands.

 

[bender]

Even at the height of its' popularity, the Xbox brand hasn't been able to expand its' reach beyond a few core territories. While Sony stumbled at the beginning of the PS3 era, they were able to regain their footing. The same can't be said for the Xbox and the One generation. A lot of the maneuvers Phil Spencer and company have tried have encouraged users not to buy Xbox hardware and worse yet, encourage users with their hardware not to purchase games. The latest strategy of acquiring lead some within that executive team to think they could spend Sony out of business, but failed to realize that the investments were so large that the mothership wouldn't allow them to execute on this strategy as it would be cutting off their nose despite their face. So here we now with all the media outlets that bent over backwards to coddle them and all but the fringe hardcore saying, "enough is enough". If they were smart, they'd get out of the hardware business like they've done is so many other sectors, but we'll probably see another generation of Xbox that will preform worse than the last and maybe a handheld that will perform worse than them all.

 

[TexMex]

Thank you for finally making a thread where this is being discussed

 

[NikuNashi]

Releasing a new console without a launch title was the moment I knew something was very, very wrong at Xbox.

Since then gamepass was a disaster, devaluing games and training xboys to not want to buy games.

Then Starfield launched and it was average. The hyped up game changer game was an 8/10.

Now they desperately try to release their games on competitors consoles to scrape back sone of their investment. It really is over, who would buy an Xbox now over a PS5.

 

[semiconscious]

As someone who's deeply invested in the gaming world and owns consoles from Sony and Nintendo, I can't help but notice the recent struggles of Xbox...

i hear you, op. as someone deeply invested in my car, I can't help but notice that it's leaking oil big time...

 

[Hero of Spielberg]

Thank you for finally making a thread where this is being discussed

A fresh topic of discussion for Gaf

 

[drganon]

 

[Fox Mulder]

I think it’s done and they’ll move to a massive third party. Gotta make the shareholders and Nadella happy now.

Xbox never really recovered from the xb1 launch damage and spent like a decade trying to win back people with stuff like gamepass or backwards compatibility. Now people are turning on Phil Spencer and MS is mismanaging studios again.

 

[Shubh_C63]

it's baffling to witness some of the missteps they've been making lately.

only lately ?

 

[marquimvfs]

Well, like discussed previously, Xbox isn't struggling now, it, somehow, always struggled. First iteration was an awesome machine, but they got fucked by Nvidia and couldn't consolidate enough.

Second iteration they started better, but were plagued the most by the transition to leadless solder, and despite having sold well enough, had a massive loss due to RROD. They also lost they momentum at the end of the generation, leaving the last third of the Xbox 360 life with fewer quality titles than the competition. Even being great, Xbox 360 ended the last on consoles race again that generation.

Xbox One didn't have a chance, and Series had it all to be a success, but lacked the games.

It's like the entire lineup of Xbox consoles where composed by Wii U, Gamecube, Virtual Boy (replace "TV TV TV" with "3D 3D 3D") and Nintendo 64, in that exact order. Don't get me wrong, aside from Virtual Boy, they were all great consoles (like every Xbox is). But that fact alone couldn't save them of being worse than the competition and the ultimate collection of failures from Nintendo.

 

[IAmRei]

As someone who's deeply invested in the gaming world and owns consoles from Sony and Nintendo, I can't help but notice the recent struggles of Xbox. With Microsoft being one of the biggest companies globally, boasting vast expertise and resources, it's baffling to witness some of the missteps they've been making lately.

From lackluster game releases to contentious business decisions regarding exclusivity deals and marketing strategies, Xbox seems to be faltering in areas where they should excel. As gamers, we've seen Microsoft's potential with previous Xbox iterations, so why the sudden downturn?

I'm eager to hear your opinions on this matter. Do you believe it's a failure of leadership, a disconnect with the gaming community, or perhaps something else entirely? How do you think Microsoft can leverage its vast resources to turn the tide and reclaim its position as a gaming powerhouse?

It's because the leadership decisions. Based of usual everyday discussion here. Their decision is the opposite of good sense. Their decision left sours for their fans.

Btw, i guess based on Your Name, we might be from the same origin country or region, salam kenal

 

[MayauMiao]

Microsoft got too greedy and tried to make Xbox the new "water cooler", the jack of all trades entertainment system appeasing TV TV TV Sports Sports Sports crowed rather than gamers.

 

[MaestroMike]

gotta trim some fat don't need all those studios

 

[Damigos]

MS never bought the studios for the people that work there.
They bought the IPs.
That way they can use them as exclusives in their ecosystem if things go well.
Or, as things go to shit right now, use the IPs as a huge 3rd party publisher.

The $ 70 bn deal, plus the other studios they bought, is a safety net to keep them relevant in the gaming business.

As Steve Jobs once said, MS lacks the culture. Endless money, zero culture. Thats whats going on

 

[Fredrik]

Why do you buy a Nintendo console?
Because that’s the only way to play a new Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc.

Why do you buy a Playstation console?
Because that’s the only way to play a new Uncharted, The Last of Us, Spider-Man, etc without having to wait for years.

Why do you buy a Xbox console?
Because that’s the only way you can play a new Gears, Halo, Forz… No, wait. All those are on PC now, day 1.
Because that’s the only way to access Gamepa… No, wait, that’s not it either..
Because that’s the onl… No, actually I have no idea… Sorry.

So for me their failure is a lack of exclusives. Simple as that. They’ve teached their previous fanbase that their games are better on PC and they’re there day 1 and there you don’t need to pay for online gaming and there you get mods and now they’re even doing betas first on PC (Bethesda does this with Starfield). So why would I want to have a Xbox? Now that I have a living room PC the console is literally just used for old BC titles. My youngest one use my Series X for Skylanders, that’s it.

Can they go back from that? No I don’t think so. I think Xbox as a traditional console is dead.
They could turn their platform into a launcher, that’s about it. And they could make that accessible on every screen and have a subscription service with exclusives. And I think that’s exactly what they’re doing. Will it work? No idea. I’ll be on PC observing what they do until they give me a reason to invest again.

 

[kikkis]

Seamless sub second switch between windows and xbox os on the next xbox series 2 would save xbox in my eyes. They need to something sony really can't.

 

[justiceiro]

It's no secret really, just look at every studio that worked with it closely and what they had to say after it ended. Bungie jumped ship as soon as it could, even after literally carrying the brand to it status in the first place.
Look what insomniac did under Microsoft, and then after getting acquired by sony. Look at remedy game when they were exclusive for Microsoft, and what control became.

Tell me one person on Xbox leadership that is know for getting close with game development and making games better? Microsoft simple don't know what makes games great, they only know what corporations like. They chase trend after trend (motion controls, cloud, subscription services), buy a lot, and fire a lot more. Microsoft just don't nurture talent first and foremost. You can't become a great game developer without talented people.

 

[YuLY]

I hope the Gears collection is real, one of the last things I want from them before the entire brand implodes and all that is left is CODs and Candy Crush.

Also, Phil Spencer is a clown, but at least he is a gamer. Once he leaves I'm like 100% sure they will put another MS corpo that has no idea about games and the brand will become even more soulless and cutthroat. Basically it is done.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

I don't think it's dead.
I don't think this is the beginning of the end for "it" (meaning Microsoft's gaming branch).

This is just a very rocky, stressful transitioning for them. Most of the problems they face are the exact same that everyone in this industry currently struggles with.

I'd argue Microsoft, although it might not look like it to many right now, are actually in a good position to come out of this in good shape. They have Azure/XCloud. They have the services and the talent. They have the IP.

All they need to do is get rid of all the old Xbox hardware/traditional console platform related crap, continue improving XCloud, continue consolidating everything between their accounts and services to have one nicely packaged MS Gaming (or whatever they'll call it) product/service as a one stop shop for everything they have to offer, get that mobile app store going and continue offering their service on everything including competitors platforms. I could even see niche hardware having some success if they do it well. They'll have Steam and GeForce Now as their main competitors then, and I don't think it's hard to comprehend why they have a fair shot and doing well.

 

[M.W.]

Bring back Mattrick

 

[DirtyBast8rd]

Let's not.

 

[geary]

 

[peish]

Sadly for gaming, i do think the end is coming for Xbox.

Looking back, remember how Phil looked so broken, i guess thats when he received directives from Nutella time to trim the fats.

Microsoft's Phil Spencer candidly admits the company lost the console wars to competitors

Microsoft "lost the worst generation to lose" with Xbox One, says Phil Spencer.

www.vg247.com

 

[ULTROS!]

Honestly even back in 2013/2014 with the launch of the Xbox One, I didn’t see the point of the Xbox and was thinking it’s gonna be niche down the line. Come 2024 and it’s even more niche as heck.

 

[Red5]

After closing down those studios, one sentence to describe them is "creatively bankrupt".

 

[Fredrik]

Bring back Mattrick

The always online DRM and his meme replies about it was bad PR like nothing else, but in the end he still did a better job than Phil and his team. Released more exclusives, sold more hardware, didn’t bury the brand.

And if Phil somehow has this great plan to fix the industry and grow gaming or whatever then why isn’t he talking about it? Are they waiting for the June show? Is anybody going to be hyped about anything they do by then?

This is just like when the multiplat rumours popped up. Total silence. It’s like they think they can just sit still and wait it out and then it’ll all be good. Well they sent an unprepared Sarah out to die live on Bloomberg. Great plan.

Idk, for someone who usually talk too much Phil is oddly quiet now, he’s just playing Fallout apparently, while supposedly making $10m per year. Good for him I guess.

 

[midnightAI]

More like whats up with western gaming industry.

That's probably why MS is in the mess it's in, it's not their fault, it's western gaming industry at fault, they are just victims.

Well that and the fact that their management teams appear to be incompetent, out of touch, double down on mistakes, have little reason to own their console, buy up a good chunk of the industry and then don't appear to know what to do with it, don't understand that great AAA games sell consoles (again, no reason to if on other platforms day one), concentrate on 'engagement', still lose money on every console they manage to sell even after 4 years, manage to piss off the majority of the industry when they close the studio that actually made a good game recently.

Other than that, they are doing a great job.

(And to be clear, I actually want(ed) MS to do well, it was healthy competition between the two but the missteps MS have made for a while (ramped up lately) are making it very hard to support them, but the situation they are in is their doing)

 

[panda-zebra]

i hear you, op. as someone deeply invested in my car, I can't help but notice that it's leaking oil big time...

More like what's up with the western automobile industry.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

I think anyone following Gaming and being a little bit informed, could describe a detailed timeline of how Xbox went to hell.
However, I've listened to some Xbox centric podcasts and it's interesting to see that there are still people, either out of denial or ignorance who don't realize the gravity of the situation and still want to cling to the idea of Xbox as something they loved growing up.

That's fascinating because it speaks to how powerful a brand's identity can be in someone's life. it's even more impressive when one considers that the best years of Xbox were since OG Xbox and the first half of the 360 Gen. since then, Xbox has been in a slow but steady decline.

The Spencer era is a tragedy worthy of the best Greek stories and today it would be absolute cinema.

The closing of Tango is so damn poetic; it signifies the definitive death of that xbox
that fans have been longing with so much enthusiasm and expectation, expectation than with it the passage of time has become in uncertainty, frustration and anger. it's extra symbolic since Hi-Fi is a game reminiscent of those Sega early Xbox games. A game of a bygone era....

..."a breakout hit in all key metrics" and MS/Xbox not only turn its back on it, but flatly rejected it... and yet, there are people who swear by Xbox and will follow it till the end as a sign of unwavering loyalty.
how amazing is that? In their minds, these individuals see themselves as the knights of Xbox, constantly fighting against the Xbox Tax, the unwarranted "hatred" towards Xbox, misinformation and the unfair representation of reality.
And like a good tragedy, the realization that you've been fighting for a brand, for an executive who doesn't give a fuck about you or your dreams, the perpetual waiting, always looking to the horizon at the slightest sign of some glimmer of hope. And when the light finally peeks over the horizon you realize that they are 100 billion arrows on fire approaching indiscriminately towards your direction.

some people break ranks and flee, others will fight each other or faint in defeat
and others will resign themselves to that arrow to the knee.

a beautiful sight to behold

 

[Danjin44]

That's probably why MS is in the mess it's in, it's not their fault, it's western gaming industry at fault, they are just victims.

Well that and the fact that their management teams appear to be incompetent, out of touch, double down on mistakes, have little reason to own their console, buy up a good chunk of the industry and then don't appear to know what to do with it, don't understand that great AAA games sell consoles (again, no reason to if on other platforms day one), concentrate on 'engagement', still lose money on every console they manage to sell even after 4 years, manage to piss off the majority of the industry when they close the studio that actually made a good game recently.

Other than that, they are doing a great job.

(And to be clear, I actually want(ed) MS to do well, it was healthy competition between the two but the missteps MS have made for a while (ramped up lately) are making it very hard to support them, but the situation they are in is their doing)

I’m not saying MS has no fault here, they do and you could even say they fuck it up good but it seems western gaming industry as whole are also fucking up.

 

[Optimus Lime]

They overreacted to the failure of the Xbox One by putting all of their eggs in the live service/subscription basket. They believed that people wouldn't care about a lack of meaningful exclusive content that was only for their console because they'd be so grateful for the flood of stuff through Gamepass.

The strategy failed, and now they're fucked.

 

[N30RYU]

Basically this...
Sheeps = Studios

 

[ChoosableOne]

reclaim its position as a gaming powerhouse?

 

[midnightAI]

I’m not saying MS has no fault here, they do and you could even say they fuck it up good but it seems western gaming industry as whole are also fucking up.

They are, but they are two very different situations (mostly, there is some cross over with redundancies etc due to various factors such as over staffing during COVID, cutting costs all across the board due to expensive game development etc). But I think MS have mostly dug their own hole, it's the combination of zero exclusives and Gamepass that are the main culprits (that and very strong competition). They have also backed themselves into a wall, there is no exit plan from either of those without killing the brand completely.

The 'best deal in gaming' that everyone pushes really is the best deal for gamers if all you want is access to 'free' games all the time and only pay a sub. For Microsoft this is an anchor around their neck that is slowly choking them. This isn't an industry wide problem, this is a Microsoft problem.

 

[MALpractice311]

I don't know why people are surprised by any of this. MS as a whole lost it's desire to innovate and create decades ago. Their only modus operandi is to buy out their competitors and then bury them, because they can never design products that are actually better than their competitors. It was only a matter of time before that mentality made it's way to the Xbox division.