There are some truth into this, PlayStation has been synonymous to gaming in many parts of the world. It’s been culturally ingrained at this point due to Sony being the big dog in the 90’s, with its products being sold everywhere in the world( plus they had aggressive marketing).
Xbox might never reach that point, as they would have to be as culturally relevant as Windows itself. Because of this, they might never win the “console wars”. However, the future is not consoles, so for the future generations, Xbox has a better chance, as the future is about ecosystem, and they are more well positioned for that.
The biggest problem for MS is how do they increase gamepass subs without increasing console sales. Because they must have tapped out their existing users. I’m not sure that the Gamepass app on TV’s is the long term answer, but maybe.
Ideally improved game quality and consistency improves public perception of the brand, encouraging more investment into the region, and ultimately leading to growth.
I think it’s simply too soon to right off game output when they have been yet to actually deliver on their investments. I’m willing to consider things being stuck where they are if Xbox delivers from 2024 to 2030 and still doesn’t see growth. Until then, nope.
You’re thinking short term, which is fair, however the silicon will get smaller to the point where they can be put on TV’s and handhelds, cloud gaming might become viable due to world wide availability of internet( due to something like starlink),Heck phones might be able to play AAA games one day. Eventually consoles would become redundant due to convenience. That’s the goal of the Xbox ecosystem, for players to play “everywhere.
Nintendo always had amazing exclusives. That isn’t the difference between the WiiU and switch. Nintendo just realised they weren’t going to compete in the same high end console space as PS and Xbox anymore.
No it didn’t. It’s seen as worse cos people didn’t like the console and most didn’t buy it.
That’s the issue Xbox has. Majority simply don’t care about Xbox games, whether good, bad or average. They don’t care. You can release a hundred of them in a week. And still those people won’t care.
The WIIU sold only 10M consoles during a very short time before being retired. It had some exclusives but compare to the switch in the same duration, it is not a shame. Just people did not care about the console.
Wii U was a major disaster of Nintendo’s console history (keyword: console). Hardly any exclusive or even a reason to pick one at full price and even if there were, it didn’t do anything to push that needle. I still remember Black Friday shopping within the same year of its release. Not only Best Buy made a tower out of it, not only it was $50 off, but it had a bundle of two games for free.
Other consoles from big three are pale in comparison when it comes to flop. No one said this marathon lasts 3 years; it will last whenever a generation is over.
I don’t like this. It’s no secret that The Netherlands is Playstation centric, big time, but what about the rest of Europe? I truly hope it will improve from here on out. I remember back with Xbox One when The Netherlands was skipped for a whole fucking year, I hated that so much but it clearly wasn’t a loss for MS. I just hope that won’t happen ever again.
I guess I shouldn’t be too shocked. Stores here have a super small section dedicated to Xbox hardware and games, while Nintendo and Sony have a way bigger section. Marketing here is also pretty much non existent. I got to the cinema a lot, always see plenty Nintendo or PS ads, never Xbox. Same with YouTube, it’s probably better in the USA, but here in The Netherlands I never see anything Xbox.
It’s an uphill battle for them. Hopefully, they will get into high gear with marketing (already going strong) and awareness across the globe (hope to see more pushes). It’s not easy, but don’t count out.
I am not a believer in waving the white flag for the European market . It’s up to Microsoft to improve market share there. They own 23+ studios, so they should be able to produce quality games on a consistent basis. Microsoft just needs to do simple things like better localization and marketing . The valid question to be asked is why would Europeans care about Xbox if Microsoft is not even taking the effort for proper localization
That’s from October when Xbox and all of Microsoft was laying low in order to complete the ABK acquisition. It wasnt until after that point that they made hardware more available and started doing actual marketing pushes.
I mean, no Zelda and no mainline Animal Crossing is terrible for a Nintendo system. It’s like releasing a Xbox without Halo and Forza.
Switch, on the other hand, released with the best Zelda game ever and Super Mario Odyssey. Also it has the biggest Animal Crossing game ever and revitalized franchises like Kirby and Metroid. The two systems aren’t comparable. It’s clear that exclusives matter.
To be fair most of the switch first 3 years were wii u ports. Even botw is playable on the wii u. I think the major issue with wii u was the marketing and not the games itself
It’s a little ironic that when Nintendo decided to go next console title with association to the predecessor aka sequel, it became a disaster. I wonder if PS decide to change the title for PS6 like not number, will it hurt them.
I mean, how can we know it? Halo and Gears of War were extremely popular in the 360 era, so it’s not like Xbox games are always unpopular. Xbox as a whole just needs more momentum, and that it’s built with years of quality games.
You can’t say that Xbox could release 100 games and it won’t matter, and that’s because they only released 5 AAA exclusives since the Series X launch, with one being a major flop. What Xbox lacks now is momentum. They launched with no new exclusives, which was a hard pillow to swallow, and the first games(Forza Horizon 5 and Halo: Infinite) came at november 2021, one year after the Series X release.
Then we had a 2022 with only Pentiment, which is a great game but extremely niche, and then the next AAA game only released in 2023, which was Redfall in 2023 (which was no momentum builder, to say the least), more than one year after Halo and Forza. That’s not a constant output of games.
Things are starting to get more stable now, with Xbox aiming to have one AAA per quarter, but up until now Xbox exclusives output was inferior to it’s competitors, so we can’t say that it won’t matter.
Yeah, they released the Xbox One a year later here as well. Dumbest shit ever.
As for your second paragraph, it’s the exact same here. Walk into one of the big electronics stores and there’s row after row of PlayStation and Nintendo games, hardware, accessories, cardboard cutouts, displays and gaming stations to try the games. Xbox? Tucked away in a corner with the top ten games (not even accurate) on a shelf and some controllers strewn about beneath. I had to search to find it last time I went when a new chain opened up… That impression is what casuals get of the brand.
This.
And also this, to be fair.
I have high hopes they will now go into full gear in more markets.