Daneel Elijah
Gold Member
Xbox exist only because Microsoft want to stop Sony from having too much success. Not in those words of course. And this is not the only time that Microsoft react to another company success. With such a flawed reason to exist, they are one cut away from destruction. Unlike Sony, Nintendo, Sega... Microsoft does not need gaming. And that will always be the problem for Xbox. The all or nothing mentality that they have to make happen, and failed to for more than 20 years now.I think the Xbox brand will be fine even if it stays Microsoft forever.
You don't have to win against Sony or Nintendo, you have to be profitable and find your space. The kicker here is that Microsoft had that at some point with the X360, and lost it.
They'd love to be market leaders but I think Microsoft is the worst brand for that to happen, I think most people realize that as well. They need to negate that with an open approach, like nvme hdd's and keeping things as standard as possible. They make a good job on the controllers, and on the dev mode thing... shit job everywhere else. The bad negates the good in this case.
It also appears to me that going for activision has made things worst for them as it's a very divisive topic, and these leaks haven't made things better. Phil Spencer didn't have a bad image, now he does have a bit. Not to say that it changes anything or that he should resign.
The issue with Xbox stems from him as well, but is mainly down to mismanagement of their IP/companies. He says he'd love to buy Nintendo, the issue is not that (albeit scary) it's what they did with other purchases they did, selling to Microsoft is not a good deal if brand longevity is the objective. In fact I'd say conglomerates are not good at that. Disney has been good at fucking their newly acquired IP as well, Netflix is both bad at building IP and good at canceling it. Microsoft is similarly as mid.
The takeaway is that they're good in everything they're not mid at. main Forza is great, flight simulator is great. They have to stop trying to make games for everyone.
Fable seems great because it doesn't appeal to at least half their userbase. Starfield is also to be commended. They just need more of it.
Forza Horizon is mid. But needed as an entry point/gateway drug for kids.
Xbox can be a profitable business, but nothing short of a monopoly is interesting for Microsoft. What did Sega do when they found out that they could no longer be a manufacturer? They moved out. When Nintendo was getting destroyed by the PS2? They stopped competing frontally with Sony and found another way, the Wii. When Sony PS VITA failed ? They stopped making portable consoles and let the market to Nintendo. I am curious to know how much money Microsoft lost in the first Xbox and the 360. This is a strength as well as a weakness. Gamepass forced Sony to make the Playstation collection among other things. But Xbox need someone to tell Microsoft that they need to be more concerned about their place in the industry than to do all they can to take Sony's place. Because buying all they can is not what will make it happen, being good in answering the market demands is what they need to do. Sony got there by being the best console for gamers and devs. Why can't Xbox do the same?