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[Ebrietas]

All this fake outrage about the drop in hardware sales. Thinly veiled.

I also think hardware sales isn't the end all be all right now. I think maintaining an ecosystem the size of XSX can easily be profitiable if they were smarter about their software and development. The problem they have now is maintaining this 40mil userbase with the perception that every game is coming to Playstation now.

They have a 30 million user base and Xbox software sales are even more pathetic than their hardware.

 

[NickFire]

I think this performance from Xbox is bad overall and Asha has a good opportunity because there's literally no way but up from such a low point.

Oh, well, I wouldn't bet too much on that. But I'll say this. The new Diablo 4 expansion is pretty good so far.

 

[MrTired]

To be fair it actually is, all those were responses to people who brought Sony up in first place.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Oh, well, I wouldn't bet too much on that. But I'll say this. The new Diablo 4 expansion is pretty good so far.

Shit. It totally fell of my radar. I bought the first one....
Fell off

Should I give it a go at some point?

Sorry to derail

 

[NickFire]

Shit. It totally fell of my radar. I bought the first one....
Fell off

Should I give it a go at some point?

Sorry to derail

Yes. I'd imagine it will include the second one too.

They removed the passives from skill trees and changed how skill options unlock. Its actually a lot of fun. Encourages more experimenting IMO.

 

[gametimedecision]

Listening to the DayOne show and they are letting us know that even tho this is maybe the….7th livestream where they had to say "Xbox financials are down" it's actually okay because "it's completely in line with the guidance Microsoft suggested"…

With fans like these how can you really ever lose.

 

[PauloRoberto]

Listening to the DayOne show and they are letting us know that even tho this is maybe the….7th livestream where they had to say "Xbox financials are down" it's actually okay because "it's completely in line with the guidance Microsoft suggested"…

With fans like these how can you really ever lose.

So if expect to lose... and lose, then im not a loser ?! What the fu** is this thinking ?!

 

[mayham2199]

Listening to the DayOne show and they are letting us know that even tho this is maybe the….7th livestream where they had to say "Xbox financials are down" it's actually okay because "it's completely in line with the guidance Microsoft suggested"…

With fans like these how can you really ever lose.

Those guys are a joke. That's always their response when Xbox is down. "Well they expected it so it's ok".

 

[kruis]

Listening to the DayOne show and they are letting us know that even tho this is maybe the….7th livestream where they had to say "Xbox financials are down" it's actually okay because "it's completely in line with the guidance Microsoft suggested"…

With fans like these how can you really ever lose.

 

[Mr_JPF]

I think one day there will be studies done within the gaming sphere regarding Xbox derangement syndrome. I was there during the Genesis vs SNES days and even that warring never reached the level of pathetic that this is. Why is any grown man celebrating less choices for the consumers? People talked the same way about the Dreamcast back in the day. They celebrated its demise as well. Funny how people now look back at it fondly and with nostalgia. Celebrate Xboxs demise if you must, but one day people will look back on Xbox the same way as the Dreamcast.

The ABK deal mind broke a lot of people. Some users here genuinely believed that it would lead to a Microsoft monopoly over the gaming industry. The few sane voices that tried to explain that if anything the deal would only hurt Xbox in the long run were branded Xbox shills and silenced.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Nothing will save them. But keeping their only assets available on other platforms is clearly making it worse. They either try again or just close shop but keeping it status quo isnt an answer, its not even an effort

There is not clear evidence that's it's making it worse…like at all.

Unless you can prove that they would have gotten more sales by remaining exclusive there is absolutely no justification for thinking that. Whether the sales on PS5 justify the porting cost that's a debate we can have. It's a much stronger argument that ps5 helped sales look less bad.

What is clear is that doom, outer worlds 2 and Indiana jones underperformed on all platforms. I'm legit shocked they performed that bad given that they were all pretty good games.

 

[Mr_JPF]

I think one day there will be studies done within the gaming sphere regarding Xbox derangement syndrome. I was there during the Genesis vs SNES days and even that warring never reached the level of pathetic that this is. Why is any grown man celebrating less choices for the consumers? People talked the same way about the Dreamcast back in the day. They celebrated its demise as well. Funny how people now look back at it fondly and with nostalgia. Celebrate Xboxs demise if you must, but one day people will look back on Xbox the same way as the Dreamcast.

Anyone that celebrated the Dreamcasts demise should be forced to play Relooted for 10 days straight on repeat while stuck in solitary confinement.

 

[Danjin44]

Please port Lost Odyssey to PS5 or even Switch 2 before Xbox completely disappears.

 

[AtomicStarving]

They dont know what is coming lol

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Nothing will save them. But keeping their only assets available on other platforms is clearly making it worse. They either try again or just close shop but keeping it status quo isnt an answer, its not even an effort

At the end of the day, keeping their assets available on other platforms is exactly what will save them.

There is one clear path for MS to take here. Yes, you can make new hardware, but drop the loss leader model and make it boutique hardware. So, like your Surface products or even the Steam Machine. You sell it for profit and make very few of them.

But the real money maker is to go all-in on multiplatform and make damn good games. They have over 30 studios for crying out loud... with staggered releases, there is no reason they can't be releasing 5 games a year, and with each game having a 6-year dev cycle. Then make those games exclusive to their Xbox PC store, and then subsidize all third party games sales on said store by simply taking 10-15% instead of 30% off all third-party game sales on their store. Undercutting valve.

Crazy thing is, if done right, and over a 4-5 year period, Microsoft will have a better chance of dethroning Steam than they ever had competing with PlayStation. And that is where the real money is.

I get PC gamers always saying stuff like nothing will ever make them leave Steam... I say put that shit to the test. If MS can make a version of Windows that is fine-tuned for gaming and certain productivity apps, like a Windows Lite, and a fully integrated store, more streamlined installation and update processes, feature match everything Steam offers and then some, and then ensure that every game on the Xbox store is at least $10 cheaper than the Steam counterpart... I will be curious to see how loyal people will be over a 5-year stretch.

That is exactly what MS should do... that's what they should have always done... but they still will not do it.

So if expect to lose... and lose, then im not a loser ?! What the fu** is this thinking ?!

Never heard of winning at losing?

 

[riko]

I get PC gamers always saying stuff like nothing will ever make them leave Steam... I say put that shit to the test. If MS can make a version of Windows that is fine-tuned for gaming and certain productivity apps, like a Windows Lite, and a fully integrated store, more streamlined installation and update processes, feature match everything Steam offers and then some, and then ensure that every game on the Xbox store is at least $10 cheaper than the Steam counterpart... I will be curious to see how loyal people will be over a 5-year stretch.

I mean sure. But $10 discounts on ever game means they're subsidizing... heavily. And after the $80B they already sunk in to Phil's boondoggle it seems unlikely. They are going to need to see returns.

 

[onQ123]

Why so much negativity in this thread ??

Its %. It can be higher. Especially at lower unit sales, % drops are usually higher.

If they sold 3 units last year, this year they sold 2 units, it will be 33% drop. In reality they sold only 1 fewer unit.

Sadly, I think a lot of posters here know this. They just wanna make fun of it.

That's one hell of a spin move you have there kid

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

• Avowed - February 18
• Grounded 2 - July 29 (early access)
• South of Midnight - April 8
• Keeper - November 14

I might be missing more and I only included first party titles which narrows the list down substantially. If I included multiplat games like Doom, Oblivion, etc, it might paint a better picture for Xbox, but this is only about their first party, only on Xbox titles released in 2025. Even that comes with the caveat that all of these games can either be bought on Steam or will be/did release later on PS5 (like South of Midnight).

If this is all MS has to offer first party wise, it doesn't surprise me that game revenue is down so much. Also keep in mind that MS doesn't disclose sales numbers, just "pLaYeRs EnGaGeD" and all that horseshit so getting actual hard sales numbers is damn near impossible for Xbox games.

Asha Sharma just walked straight into a the 11th circle of Dante's Inferno trying to turn this game company around my dude. This is worse than I thought it would be.

Yeah.



"Lesser performance from 1st party"

 

[KanKamAndNob]

Yeah.



"Lesser performance from 1st party"

I legit don't see how Asha is dealing with this right now. This is like trying to save a cruise liner from sinking using buckets without a bottom.

 

[Viruz]

 

[Det]

Why so much negativity in this thread ??

Its %. It can be higher. Especially at lower unit sales, % drops are usually higher.

If they sold 3 units last year, this year they sold 2 units, it will be 33% drop. In reality they sold only 1 fewer unit.

Sadly, I think a lot of posters here know this. They just wanna make fun of it.

Basically, this drop is insignificant, since Xbox has already gone bankrupt anyway?

 

[mckmas8808]

If it drops far enough, it won't matter. Activist investors will step in and force a sell-off of their subsidiaries, or even the entire company.

 

[Det]

MS buying ABK is the biggest blunder in gaming history. Bobby played MS like a fiddle!

It's not a curse... it's a consequence with a high probability of happening.

Imagine a decision of this magnitude made by a clown who had sexual fantasies about buying Nintendo and who played the victim because Sony forced him to buy a "forced bundle" through internal, official emails during work hours?

Phil Spencer's only talent has always been to say exactly what people wanted to hear or should hear in order to act as he wanted.

He even fooled Nadella, saying exactly what Nadella wanted to hear to keep him as head of Xbox and still invest in Xbox... I can imagine the presentation to Nadella talking only about using Azure and turning Xbox into a service and "the Netflix of games running on Azure for 1 billion consumers".

"Let's transform Xbox into the new Office in a market with 1 billion mobile consumers, 100 million subscribers; it will generate more money than renting Office to companies."

He never cared if the plans would work, only if he could keep Xbox alive with him as its leader "until the next E3"

 

[mckmas8808]

All this fake outrage about the drop in hardware sales. Thinly veiled.

I also think hardware sales isn't the end all be all right now. I think maintaining an ecosystem the size of XSX can easily be profitiable if they were smarter about their software and development. The problem they have now is maintaining this 40mil userbase with the perception that every game is coming to Playstation now.

You mean 30 million user base.

Yeah.



"Lesser performance from 1st party"

I think you guys maybe missing the point that Welfare was getting it. The last time Xbox content and services was under $5 billion dollars the exact next month they increased the price of Game Pass from $18 per month to $20 per month. Now they are predicting to be under $5 billion dollars again for the fiscal year and that's due to them lowering the price of Game Pass to only $23 per month.

- Spring 2024: Gamepass is $17.99 per month. For this quarter they made under $5 billion dollars in content and services. MS were disappointed and it lead them to increasing the price of GP to $20 per month in July 2024.

- Spring 2026 (projection): Gamepass is $22.99 per month and they are projected to make under $5 Billion in this quarter for C&S for the first time in 2 years. What can Asha do in July 2026, to increase revenue like they did in the summer of '24?

Can't you guys start to see why Asha literally can't afford to make Xbox games exclusive now? Welfare is doing a good job here spelling it out for us as simply as possible.

 

[Brucey]

All this fake outrage about the drop in hardware sales. Thinly veiled.

I also think hardware sales isn't the end all be all right now. I think maintaining an ecosystem the size of XSX can easily be profitiable if they were smarter about their software and development. The problem they have now is maintaining this 40mil userbase with the perception that every game is coming to Playstation now.

Citation for 40 million series sales?

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

You mean 30 million user base.



I think you guys maybe missing the point that Welfare was getting it. The last time Xbox content and services was under $5 billion dollars the exact next month they increased the price of Game Pass from $18 per month to $20 per month. Now they are predicting to be under $5 billion dollars again for the fiscal year and that's due to them lowering the price of Game Pass to only $23 per month.

- Spring 2024: Gamepass is $17.99 per month. For this quarter they made under $5 billion dollars in content and services. MS were disappointed and it lead them to increasing the price of GP to $20 per month in July 2024.

- Spring 2026 (projection): Gamepass is $22.99 per month and they are projected to make under $5 Billion in this quarter for C&S for the first time in 2 years. What can Asha do in July 2026, to increase revenue like they did in the summer of '24?

Can't you guys start to see why Asha literally can't afford to make Xbox games exclusive now? Welfare is doing a good job here spelling it out for us as simply as possible.

I was just pointing out that their vast majority of games ain't doing shit.

Like, they are just that irrelevant.

Xbox can't and will not be able to exist with these subpar games.

They're spending years hyping up games that end up flopping at Concord levels and, taken together, they may be even worse financially.

 

[mckmas8808]

I was just pointing out that their vast majority of games ain't doing shit.

Like, they are just that irrelevant.

Xbox can't and will not be able to exist with these subpar games.

They're spending years hyping up games that end up flopping at Concord levels and, taken together, they may be even worse financially.

Yeah I was just trying to add on to your post and try to go a little bit deeper. I don't think people understand the depths to which Xbox software sales have fallen off a cliff. So bad to the point that even Microsoft executives are admitting it publicly to shareholders.

Again Microsoft is saying they will make less than $5 billion dollars in content and services next quarter (which is bad for them) with Forza Horizon 6 releasing in that very quarter.

When a guaranteed hit like FH6 can't save your quarter, you've done something VERY wrong.

 

[Brucey]

Yeah I was just trying to add on to your post and try to go a little bit deeper. I don't think people understand the depths to which Xbox software sales have fallen off a cliff. So bad to the point that even Microsoft executives are admitting it publicly to shareholders.

Again Microsoft is saying they will make less than $5 billion dollars in content and services next quarter (which is bad for them) with Forza Horizon 6 releasing in that very quarter.

When a guaranteed hit like FH6 can't save your quarter, you've done something VERY wrong.

I wonder if thats why they are delaying the ps5 version till later. To defer the revenue to the next quarter, or whenever it really needs a boost.

 

[MrTired]

I wonder if thats why they are delaying the ps5 version till later. To defer the revenue to the next quarter, or whenever it really needs a boost.

No i believe it's really is a case of the port not being ready in time for
alongside the other versions. Especially when due to Gamepass availability on those other platforms a PS5 version at launch would give revenue upfront instead of monetising engagement over time with Gamepass.

 

[Alan Silvestro]

Nobody want microslop console. Maybe they can turn into full 3rd party publisher.

 

[OuterLimits]

This isn't shocking. Microsoft doesn't even try to sell their consoles anymore. Even in the U.S. they no longer give a shit and spend $0 on marketing the hardware.

Maybe they will put minimal effort at doing so right before GTA6 releases but even that seems highly unlikely.

 

[kungfuian]

Presuming they have any interest in rallying around their dying hardware platform, which I kind of doubt, I wonder if we see them hedge their bets on multiplatform releases and do something more middle of the road.

For example what impact would a very 'narrow windowed' timed exclusivity have? Wonder what say a 1 month exclusivity window would do for their platform vs. software sales. Is there a math where those who don't want to wait (or those who want 'early access'), stay loyal to the brand without damaging sales on other platforms (who get their releases a month later)? I think a similar approach to Game Pass would work financially better than day 1, or a highest level tier with day one.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Yeah being completely dead is worse than slowly death. But they either shock the patient or just let it die.

Its highly unlikely that anything can save them. Buts its insanity to keep doing what they've been doing.

Thing is the longer they keep the XSX|S generation fall into irrelevance without doing much / enough and focusing on selling something else "the great big hope" the more they will have people thinking "how committed are they?" every HW they launch.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

I mean sure. But $10 discounts on ever game means they're subsidizing... heavily. And after the $80B they already sunk in to Phil's boondoggle it seems unlikely. They are going to need to see returns.

Yup.. but only subsidizing on profits. Valve, Ms... actually, all of them take 30% off every sale made on their stores. On a $50, $60 or $70 game thats $15, $18 and $21, respectively. MS dropping their take to $5, $8 and $11 would allow their store to be the cheapest place to buy those games. Period. And they would still be making a profit overall, especially compared to how things are now. And mind you, they have the benefit of being a full-on publisher, meaning their are games they make the full amount from on their store, and they make money from those games being on other stores/platforms.

This is one of those no-brainer type things that I don't understand why MS never did this. Especially being that they could somehow see it fit to spend $67B on ABK.

Keep in mind, from just being a store, Valve is making almost as much gaming revenue as Xbox... but making significantly more profit. Xbox isn't even making a profit in most quarters.

 

[CentralScrutinizer]

In about 6 hours I'll be all time high.... maybe.. Depends on how I feel.

Update for the concerted parties. I did not get all time high last night, but my blood sugar was through the roof and was hard to control, it felt miserable... so I guess I kinda fucked myself with that comment.

 

[Radical_3d]

Klaatu Verada ni… nu… niii…

 

[JohnnyFootball]

You mean 30 million user base.



I think you guys maybe missing the point that Welfare was getting it. The last time Xbox content and services was under $5 billion dollars the exact next month they increased the price of Game Pass from $18 per month to $20 per month. Now they are predicting to be under $5 billion dollars again for the fiscal year and that's due to them lowering the price of Game Pass to only $23 per month.

- Spring 2024: Gamepass is $17.99 per month. For this quarter they made under $5 billion dollars in content and services. MS were disappointed and it lead them to increasing the price of GP to $20 per month in July 2024.

- Spring 2026 (projection): Gamepass is $22.99 per month and they are projected to make under $5 Billion in this quarter for C&S for the first time in 2 years. What can Asha do in July 2026, to increase revenue like they did in the summer of '24?

Can't you guys start to see why Asha literally can't afford to make Xbox games exclusive now? Welfare is doing a good job here spelling it out for us as simply as possible.

Forza and Sea of Theives aside, their games didn't sell much on PS5 and somehow they blame that on going multiplat.

They think that mkaing them exclusive will somehow magically bring those sales figures back.

Yet, somehow the thought doesn't enter into the stratosphere that these games didn't sell well on ANY platform, which is a shame cuz many were quite good. Or that sales would be even more piss poor if they had no released on Playstation.

You cannot make this shit up.

I am simply not remotely close to seeing a realistic path on Xbox current trajectory that will bring them back to relevancy. A $1000+ box isn't going to win anyone over.

To me the only thing they can do RIGHT NOW is fire sale all the remaining Xbox Series X ($350) and S ($200) inventory. Advertise the fuck out of it. Bundle 6 months of Gamepass Ultimate. If you want to be REALLY aggressive make it a year when the Project Helix hype starts to kick off. Run promotions of games on the Windows Store (improve that POS while you're at it). Get the consoles in the hands of gamers.

Even if ran perfectly, I don't think even that would make much of a difference, but it would be BOLD and send a message to the gaming community that they are serious about being a player.

To me the only option is to fully embrace being 3rd party. No exclusives, all day and date on all platforms.

 

[Unfortunatecookie]

Presuming they have any interest in rallying around their dying hardware platform, which I kind of doubt, I wonder if we see them hedge their bets on multiplatform releases and do something more middle of the road.

For example what impact would a very 'narrow windowed' timed exclusivity have? Wonder what say a 1 month exclusivity window would do for their platform vs. software sales. Is there a math where those who don't want to wait (or those who want 'early access'), stay loyal to the brand without damaging sales on other platforms (who get their releases a month later)? I think a similar approach to Game Pass would work financially better than day 1, or a highest level tier with day one.

I think a windowed exclusivity period is just pumping more bullets into their failing business.

If they're serious about being the #1 publisher in gaming then they need to have multiple teams with PlayStation devkits, ready to go. They can't afford to have an Xbox version launch on Game Pass, experience poor sales, and then a year or two down the line try to make their money back by putting that game on PlayStation.

Day and date. Epic, EA, Take-Two, Capcom, you name it; you're not beating these companies by doing the opposite of what they do. All of these companies have the advantage of not having to create and support an astronomically expensive hardware arm and operating system, so they can put 100% of their resources towards day and date releases on as many platforms as possible. Xbox needs to learn this fast if they genuinely want to be the big dog in publishing.

 

[kungfuian]

I think a windowed exclusivity period is just pumping more bullets into their failing business.

If they're serious about being the #1 publisher in gaming then they need to have multiple teams with PlayStation devkits, ready to go. They can't afford to have an Xbox version launch on Game Pass, experience poor sales, and then a year or two down the line try to make their money back by putting that game on PlayStation.

Day and date. Epic, EA, Take-Two, Capcom, you name it; you're not beating these companies by doing the opposite of what they do. All of these companies have the advantage of not having to create and support an astronomically expensive hardware arm and operating system, so they can put 100% of their resources towards day and date releases on as many platforms as possible. Xbox needs to learn this fast if they genuinely want to be the big dog in publishing.

Agreed, but per my post, IF they decide to hedge their bets, what would a 1 month window do? Obviously we know long windows significantly impact sales on competing machines and day and date is best if they go the publisher route. This has been talked to death and is well established.

But what would a middle ground look like that works? For example what would a one month exclusive window or some thing like this do? For highly in demand games, like say Oblivion 6 or whatever, a one month early access would potentially driver early buyers to their platform and might also boost/stabilize the hardware platform some. And I don't think it would significantly impact 3rd party sales if the window is short enough and they market it as X-Box Exclusive Early Access or something like that before launching everywhere else.

Is this as good as full exclusivity if they have hardware aims, nope. Is it as good as day and date on all platforms if they want to just be a publisher, nope. Of course not! But If they are hell bent on sitting in the middle they need a plan that works there.

 

[wolffy66]

There is not clear evidence that's it's making it worse…like at all.

Unless you can prove that they would have gotten more sales by remaining exclusive there is absolutely no justification for thinking that. Whether the sales on PS5 justify the porting cost that's a debate we can have. It's a much stronger argument that ps5 helped sales look less bad.

What is clear is that doom, outer worlds 2 and Indiana jones underperformed on all platforms. I'm legit shocked they performed that bad given that they were all pretty good games.

It really doesn't matter if its making it worse tbh.

They need to sell consoles and subs to succeed, not games to ps users. Even Sony needs subs.

Other option is they drop xbox and just make games but it doesn't seem like they want that.

 

[wolffy66]

At the end of the day, keeping their assets available on other platforms is exactly what will save them.

There is one clear path for MS to take here. Yes, you can make new hardware, but drop the loss leader model and make it boutique hardware. So, like your Surface products or even the Steam Machine. You sell it for profit and make very few of them.

But the real money maker is to go all-in on multiplatform and make damn good games. They have over 30 studios for crying out loud... with staggered releases, there is no reason they can't be releasing 5 games a year, and with each game having a 6-year dev cycle. Then make those games exclusive to their Xbox PC store, and then subsidize all third party games sales on said store by simply taking 10-15% instead of 30% off all third-party game sales on their store. Undercutting valve.

Crazy thing is, if done right, and over a 4-5 year period, Microsoft will have a better chance of dethroning Steam than they ever had competing with PlayStation. And that is where the real money is.

I get PC gamers always saying stuff like nothing will ever make them leave Steam... I say put that shit to the test. If MS can make a version of Windows that is fine-tuned for gaming and certain productivity apps, like a Windows Lite, and a fully integrated store, more streamlined installation and update processes, feature match everything Steam offers and then some, and then ensure that every game on the Xbox store is at least $10 cheaper than the Steam counterpart... I will be curious to see how loyal people will be over a 5-year stretch.

That is exactly what MS should do... that's what they should have always done... but they still will not do it.

Never heard of winning at losing?

Thats not going to sell subs. Thats just being a 3rd party gaming company. Which could be a thing just not one that I think fits with MS's idea of a subscription model for everything.

People will simply never trust MS over Steam. They have way too much baggage there. They might as well bring back the windows phone and go after apple.

 

[Unfortunatecookie]

Agreed, but per my post, IF they decide to hedge their bets, what would a 1 month window do? Obviously we know long windows significantly impact sales on competing machines and day and date is best if they go the publisher route. This has been talked to death and is well established.

But what would a middle ground look like that works? For example what would a one month exclusive window or some thing like this do? For highly in demand games, like say Oblivion 6 or whatever, a one month early access would potentially driver early buyers to their platform and might also boost/stabilize the hardware platform some. And I don't think it would significantly impact 3rd party sales if the window is short enough and they market it as X-Box Exclusive Early Access or something like that before launching everywhere else.

Is this as good as full exclusivity if they have hardware aims, nope. Is it as good as day and date on all platforms if they want to just be a publisher, nope. Of course not! But If they are hell bent on sitting in the middle they need a plan that works there.

The problem is Game Pass.

A 1 month window still has to deal with the reality of "Just subscribe to Game Pass and you'll get it." So PlayStation/Windows/Switch aren't the actual barrier(s) towards high sales figures on Xbox; it's the day-one Game Pass initiative that will torch a bunch of sales (on Xbox) because 'why pay $70 when you can get it for free?*'

Are Xbox ready to kill Game Pass in order to recondition people to purchase individual pieces of software? I don't think so. Based on the latest moves by Xbox leadership, they still believe in Game Pass and what it could be in the future.

Additionally, highly in-demand games just don't have an audience on Xbox. So even if the game is published by Xbox (e.g., ES6), the audience is still on PlayStation. This is the consequential math that Asha Sharma will have to do; does she burn over 50% of sales to please a handful of online stalkers or does she handle business the right way?

*It's not actually free as you still have to pay for the subscription.

 

[mayham2199]

The problem is Game Pass.

A 1 month window still has to deal with the reality of "Just subscribe to Game Pass and you'll get it." So PlayStation/Windows/Switch aren't the actual barrier(s) towards high sales figures on Xbox; it's the day-one Game Pass initiative that will torch a bunch of sales (on Xbox) because 'why pay $70 when you can get it for free?*'

Are Xbox ready to kill Game Pass in order to recondition people to purchase individual pieces of software? I don't think so. Based on the latest moves by Xbox leadership, they still believe in Game Pass and what it could be in the future.

Additionally, highly in-demand games just don't have an audience on Xbox. So even if the game is published by Xbox (e.g., ES6), the audience is still on PlayStation. This is the consequential math that Asha Sharma will have to do; does she burn over 50% of sales to please a handful of online stalkers or does she handle business the right way?

*It's not actually free as you still have to pay for the subscription.

Yea it really surprises me they are still trying to stick with gamepass and make it work. I don't understand how you look at all the data and gaming trends and think it will work. FTP games are bigger than ever. Now you have Gachas making huge money as FTP games plus the already existing MP games. This library of games that people just play through when we know the majority of people don't play like that, it's just dumb.

This was the perfect moment to move on from it but it looks like they want to try and make it work instead. Maybe MS has decided that either they get gamepass to work or they are done with Xbox in general. That's the only conclusion I can come to.

I know HeisenbergFX4 hinted at the fact that if Asha doesn't get things working here expect big changes. Last time he said that about COD on Gamepass Phil and Sara left.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

The problem is Game Pass.

A 1 month window still has to deal with the reality of "Just subscribe to Game Pass and you'll get it." So PlayStation/Windows/Switch aren't the actual barrier(s) towards high sales figures on Xbox; it's the day-one Game Pass initiative that will torch a bunch of sales (on Xbox) because 'why pay $70 when you can get it for free?*'

Are Xbox ready to kill Game Pass in order to recondition people to purchase individual pieces of software? I don't think so. Based on the latest moves by Xbox leadership, they still believe in Game Pass and what it could be in the future.

Additionally, highly in-demand games just don't have an audience on Xbox. So even if the game is published by Xbox (e.g., ES6), the audience is still on PlayStation. This is the consequential math that Asha Sharma will have to do; does she burn over 50% of sales to please a handful of online stalkers or does she handle business the right way?

*It's not actually free as you still have to pay for the subscription.

Thats the issue for Xbox to deal with. There are no easy answers. None. All options are bad. To me trying to go back to exclusive is the worst option for the viability of the brand, but the best option to make their fanbase happy.

I do not think that they can put the genie back in the bottle.

Which is why I maintain that their best option is to go 3rd party. Ditch everything hardware related.

Nobody is going to convince me otherwise. Yes, it sucks for those who want Xbox to remain viable, but I see a future where they go exclusive, sales for the games end up piss poor and studios get closed or start releasing shovelware.

It just sucks for Xbox. There no legit good options.

 

[wolffy66]

Yea it really surprises me they are still trying to stick with gamepass and make it work. I don't understand how you look at all the data and gaming trends and think it will work. FTP games are bigger than ever. Now you have Gachas making huge money as FTP games plus the already existing MP games. This library of games that people just play through when we know the majority of people don't play like that, it's just dumb.

This was the perfect moment to move on from it but it looks like they want to try and make it work instead. Maybe MS has decided that either they get gamepass to work or they are done with Xbox in general. That's the only conclusion I can come to.

I know HeisenbergFX4 hinted at the fact that if Asha doesn't get things working here expect big changes. Last time he said that about COD on Gamepass Phil and Sara left.

Microsoft sticking to a subscription model can't actually surprise you.

 

[Welfare]

How does hardware continue to go down by such a high percentage? Welfare said Xbox was holding better than he thought just a few days ago

Post in thread 'Circana March 2026: #1 MLB The Show, #3 WWE, #4 Marathon #5 Pokopia ; Switch 2 #1 March and YTD (+12% vs Switch 1 10 Month LTD, 2nd fastest console)' https://www.neogaf.com/threads/circ...td-2nd-fastest-console.1696060/post-271501361

That's a Circana thread. Back in January I was predicting XBS to be at ~10K weekly sales by end of March and it's more around ~15K a week, so better than I thought.

So even after claiming it was doing better than he thought it still ends up worst than he thought

Using a US based statement to a worldwide revenue prediction is laughable, but the difference between -31% and -33% was only $5M, or ~10K units less than I was thinking.