Same, a PlayStation Fan since 1995. But you got to give credit where credit's due, MS has turned things around for the brand of Xbox. Compare them to where they were at the start of the current gen back in 2013 to where they are right now, it's a staggering improvement. Game Pass is insane value, they've got the most powerful console, their pricing for Series X is absolute steal. Only wish they didn't introduce a lower powered next gen sku
I dont see that from same standpoint. And on last get switch 360 were the most popular xbox, now they have "what is xbox?" situation and "80% of games in stores are for ps4"*
That they would have turned things around:
- still no advertising, I havent seen ANY xbox ads in years, while ps4/5 ads are running regular basis on many medias + stores
- still no system seller games, and games sell consoles
- lack of current gen support have left bad taste to many
- still too "American", buzzwords, lot of loud talk, American style payment plan deals, still halo+forza+gears dudebro combo as main seller
- Xsex is too expensive, official price seems to be now 509,90e, many places still have 590€ as pre-order price. If/when PS5 standard will be 499€ = DOA xsex
- Xses is too expensive, official price is 309,90e and if/when PS5 DE is 399e, it is too close to turn people from "the game console" to non-existent brand which doesnt have fans.
- I checked gamepass, 12.99e / month. I checked games. Not many interesting ones at the moment. So value isnt that good.
- From long time ps4 gamer standpoint it doesnt have much value because XBOX DOESNT HAVE ENOUGH EXCLUSIVES. Like, I already have most of those games + 7-8 years of ps+ have given me even bigger library of old games, kind of similar what gamepass offers but ps+ is 3.75-4.5€/month. (12 months is 35-45e on many sales during the year and even full price is 59e)
- assuming 12.99e - 4e = leaves 8-9e month after ps+, that is 12 to 6 games / year when buying from sales or used ones. Or few full priced ones
- Xbox user base is tiny, assuming that xbox have sold 30-40 million in US as it is the biggest area, it leaves around 25-35 million outside of US, while PS4 have maybe 65-85 million users outside of US
My point is, that I would argue that majority of long time Playstation gamers will continue like that, so to them xbox is too expensive + gamepass is too expensive. And to get it as 2nd system, they would need more exclusives or be cheaper. Xses doesnt have disc drive so it removes the option to buy really cheap physical games.
To new gamers it may offer better deal, but outside of US xbox is so weak that I find it unlikely that people would get xbox instead of ps4 or ps5
This "netflix for gaming" is kind of like real netflix, it does offer lot of stuff, but it would be cheaper / similar to buy those few movies/series invividually, specially outside of US where netflix offers tiny amount of stuff compared to US.
Having multiple subscriptions isnt feasible to many people, financially or it just feels like waste of money as there is limited to to enjoy from it.
So, main audience of xsex/xses could be non-playstation gamers that play a lot and are willing to pay for high monthly fees. = smaller group than normal gamers.
Then there are "fifa gamers", that buy only 1-2 games / year. so to them gamepass isnt good deal. better to buy that one game / year and pay for online, if they really play only 1 game.
My end point is that even if Xbox would do everything right, it would still be really really difficult to even tie up with PS5 sales. My guess is kind of 50/50, either Xses helps to sell better than current gen, but still loses clearly to ps5, or lack of exclusives + brand loyalty makes next gen even worse to them. But 0% chance that they would come even close to ps5 globally
* from European standpoint