Xbox isn't leaving you behind - But it is moving forward

Gaming
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That is fine but I do hope the community chills out a bit,

Some points that seem to get glossed over

  • Hardware is not going away - they have new hardware coming this fall and have committed to next gen hardware and we are probably getting dedicated mobile hardware. Xbox is really going to be everywhere and NOT just a box under your TV. Phil has been talking about this for years and those plans are actually happening now If you just refuse to believe what they say and still think hardware is going away no one can help you as you are ignoring what they are saying. Now in 20 years it is easy to see how hardware might not be a thing but the industry will get rid of hardware when the industry is ready and that is not now or next gen. But if local hardware EVER goes away it won’t be until they have a replacement in play that can reach the same audience as consoles

  • They CANNOT tell you exactly which games may be ported when: They are not time travelers they have laid it out as an experiment. literally saying this. This is a VERY volatile time in gaming and plans are going to change. Do not try and push them in a corner demanding exact future info no one has. If it bothers you that much assume EVERY game they put out is going to Sony and Nintendo and deal with that accordingly.

  • MS is the largest game publisher platform holder in the industry: MS is HUGE now as a game publisher, you have to expect since Consoles are not growing anywhere for anyone that they will need to figure out how to spread their games around to supplement costs. You cannot expect one of the worlds Largest game publishers to reduce itself to ONE piece of hardware. If you like Xbox games and Xbox studios you want them to succeed.

  • Physical discs will be a limited supply niche going forward, sorry collectors but this part of gaming is definitely dying, not only are retail stores not carrying ANY physical media anymore even for movies and music but games are going that way as well. Please prepare for the digital only world, PC gamers have been in this boat for 20 years and PC gaming is doing better then ever. Plastic discs are a complete waste of plastic and should go away if only just for the environmental impact.

Now if the community can just accept and wrap its head around these things everything else should work itself out.

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Personally, I see discussion around Xbox/Microsoft being one of three things -

  1. Positivity. No matter what Microsoft does or doesn’t do, there will be a small segment of fans who’ll remain positive or try to spin what Microsoft has decided to do as being positive for the Xbox brand and Xbox fans/consumers.

  2. Wait and see approach. There will be another small segment of fans that will simply take a wait and see approach before deciding to be positive or negative. Problem is that I think of these fans are simply tired of waiting and seeing.

  3. Negativity. This is where I believe the biggest segment of fans are at right now since that business meeting. Reasons why are simple, if you’ve been a fan since day one in 2001, they’re simply not going to be a happy Xbox fan because you’re going to feel like Microsoft cares more about those who play on other platforms than they do their own. This will also include those who after almost 16+ years started to believe that Microsoft truly wanted to compete with Sony and Nintendo in console gaming by acquiring studios in June 2018 and then by acquiring Bethesda in 2020. Once they acquired ABK, I would think that every Xbox fan would look at it like, holy shit, they’re not fucking around anymore and going to heavily compete with Sony and Nintendo but three months after the acquisition becomes legally finalized, it all goes down the drain because of their horrible decision making in regards to Xbox and console gaming.

Fans have simply lost faith, trust and confidence in the Xbox brand because of the company behind it all which is Microsoft and the vast majority of fans at the very least wanted to believe that Microsoft would use ABK to further compete and build up the Xbox brand and their console(s). To basically quit and give up after acquiring the biggest publisher in gaming history basically tells fans that well, if they’re quitting after acquiring ABK, what happens if things get worse for the Xbox brand and their console(s)?

I also seeing it get worse before it ever gets better and it started with Marvel’s Blade. No Xbox branding or logo or anything. What did they and others expect to happen? I mean come on. Fast forward to post-Business Meeting and I don’t blame GamingBolt or gaming media or YouTubers or Fans or those on Twitter or any of them for saying “when is this game coming to PlayStation?” because it’s not on any of them. It’s not on the fans. It’s not on anyone here. It’s not on me. It’s not on gaming media/websites/forums or any of them.

It’s 100% on Microsoft because they alone made their decision and instead of the conversations around the games being positive and if the games are great or not, it’s going to be about one thing - when are they coming to PlayStation?

When the Showcase happens in June, everyone should fully expect to see that question for every first party game that Microsoft reveals and shows. It’s a more than fair question to ask simply because when you look at Sony and Nintendo - you know exactly what they are, what they do and that they never pivot to the degree of what Microsoft does which seems to be every few years.

With Sony, you know they care about their brand, their dominance, their PlayStation console and will continue to pay for exclusive games and content because they know it not only works for them but it’s what their hardcore fan base wants and even those who aren’t hardcore like me also wants.

With Nintendo, everyone knows they aren’t giving anyone anything ever. Period.

With Microsoft, it’s always up in the air all the time. Nothing is ever certain with them. They pivot way too often, never show the confidence that they should have in their Xbox brand which is entirely on them due to mixed messaging, empty gaps, not wanting to pay for exclusive games and content to perhaps fill those gaps to bragging about their console hardware being the standard for 60FPS yet it’s Sony who’s as of right now delivered in this aspect.

The worse part of it all is that Sony bounced back with PlayStation 3 by releasing excellent exclusive games and content the last two years to basically jump in front of Microsoft with Xbox 360 putting Microsoft in 2nd place, 3rd place if you include Nintendo Wii. They then went on to dominate with PlayStation 4 and are continuing that domination with PlayStation 5. Nintendo bounced back with Wii after two disappointing generations in Nintendo 64 and Gamecube but then had one of the worst consoles of all time in Wii U but yet bounced back again to their dominant nature with Switch.

Point being is that if Microsoft releases their next generation console (and im sorry, it should just be one freaking console, stop all this other bullshit that isn’t going to work because the interest in the Xbox brand isn’t there so stop over saturating your own market which has and will continue to do more harm than good) in Fall 2026 at $500 maximum with a great lineup of exclusive games and content along with a great looking road map which would give them a two year head start on Sony, im sorry but no one can tell me that they’re not capable of bouncing back when the other two have done so and in regards to Nintendo, did it twice.

This is why I believe that most Xbox fans and just discourse in general are negative towards Microsoft and the Xbox brand because when you acquire the biggest gaming publisher in ABK and are poised to make one hell of a run if you just stay the course a few more years, they simply quit and gave up like cowards which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. But hey, works out great for Sony and Nintendo.

This is how I simply see it and why there’s more negativity than anything else when it comes to Xbox. It’s not that Xbox or anything related to it is actually bad, it’s that Microsoft makes it always freaking look bad and second class or this or that and I believe a lot of people who aren’t all of a sudden 100% all in with their yet again, new direction are just simply sick and tired of Microsoft and how they run the Xbox brand and how they treat and see the Xbox fan base.

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Strongly disagree with this because we are in a bubble. This segment of what we see online is but a niche of a niche of a niche. Most fans dont participate online. The biggest number of fans dont even know this is even happening.

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All I’ll say is messaging needs to be clear going forward. I feel Microsoft still doesn’t have proper control of their messaging which allows things to spiral. It was foolish to allow the 4 ports to Playstation/Nintendo to go out of control that made non gaming media and social media to pick up on it and go out of control.

Their strategy could work, but they def need to find the proper balance of not giving too much away to other platforms. I think many gamers are okay with waiting 12 months for xbox games if it means they dont have to sub to service and spend $500 on a console.

Anyway, Microsoft is in a very interesting spot and this plan could work if they control messaging to tell us their plans and not allow things to spiral. I think whatever plan they reveal in the next 2 years they need to stand by it and tell us why it would benefit somebody that’s on xbox ecoystem. I think the rumor of multiple store front is interesting and would be a product I can see myself staying in. Again, these are all rumors and Microsoft messaging will be the most important thing they do here.

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Perhaps. We’ll know for sure within the next few years. One aspect I believe you and many underestimate is the word of mouth and those who have friends/relatives/co-workers who discuss this stuff with casuals who aren’t on Twitter or forums. But as of now, it’s all a wait and see.

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While I believe everyone overestimates that. We truly are in a bubble and have little to no impact on the matter at all.

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That I will agree on which makes the doom and gloom even more pointless. For the most part these changes are going to happen regardless of the forum postings and complaints, Xbox tends to listen to the community more then other platform holders but even then some of these things are simply the reality of gaming now and some people are still at the begining stages of acceptance.

It will eventually be a case of accept the change in the industry or move on. I’m happy about this cause anything that brings down the decades and decades of console wars is a good thing. I want this dumb war to end the walls to come down and the gaming community to be more of a whole then a bunch of little communities always fighting with each other making everyone miserable.

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It’s interesting then in other discussions about f.e marketing, suddenly word of mouth exists and is the way to go…

The people you talk about will just find something else within gaming to fight about, it’s a certain kind of people who behave like that.

I however think the non-toxic competition between the three major console platforms have been a fun ride and the diversity added a lot of extra to my gaming experience. Like finding this place.

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From a high enough over-view, I feel marketing doesn’t matter for anything in any area, it’s all a way of burning good money. Yes, I am quite negative about that entire field. Better to spend that money on absolutely anything else, especially if it’s put towards product improvements or product creations instead.

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That’s a fair view to have, I actually agree on the overall sentiment. But being the only one in a market who doesn’t do marketing is not the way either in my opinion.

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So for people who are very against the new strategy, are you no longer buying stuff on Xbox, switching systems, going to PC?

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First of all, I am a console playera and going to PC is not an option for me.

This gen I bought Series X and then PS5, so I already have many multiplaform games on Xbox. For the rest of the gen I will buy multiplaform games on Xbox but watching Microsoft moves closely. If sooner or later all or most of Xbox games release on PlayStation Next gen I wont buy a Xbox console simply because I am a console player and I always end up with all consoles. In that scenario I wouldnt need a Xbox console, Game Pass is not enough incentive. Time matters.

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But what if they don’t drop these games day and date on other platforms? So for example, TES VI, day one in Game Pass, but no indication when it will come to PS. Will you wait? I won’t, I want to play that game as soon as it’s released, and like you said, PC isn’t an option for me neither.

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Yeah that’s fair! I was on the fence but I think I’ll stay Xbox unless things start going day 1. I love halo too much still to risk not having it day one. And elder scrolls 6.

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That would be the point where Xbox totally loses it, if they bring these big first party titles day one to the other platforms. I cannot imagine they would be THAT fucking stupid. Game Pass is one thing, but it isn’t the end all be all. People have no problem buying a game like TES VI full price for their system. They absolutely won’t buy a console for Game Pass, especially the PS only players and even the loyal Xbox players will likely abandon ship.

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Yeah 100%, I was a little timid after the business event on what could happen next but as long as it isn’t day 1 releases I don’t mind, still enough of a selling point for me personally.

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I think I could wait, we are talking a 500€ + GP sub investment minimum.

Sorry to doom again but knowing Microsoft and seeing how involved they are with Xbox recently, I could totally see them shortening the delayed releases simply because staged releases is not the option that makes more money. I hope I am wrong but I think they would end up “sacrificing” Xbox consoles not next gen, I know the biggest technical leap is in the making, but probably after that.

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Only time will tell. Plus I think in two generations the industry is going to look so completely different anyway who knows where it’s at.

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What if the next Xbox is simply a console like PC? Much like the Steam Deck currently does ‘console’ better than much of what the PS and Xbox already does.

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Yep. I’m on PC now. Still very excited in the first party lineup and still sub to GP PC, but not interested in investing in a console ecosystem that Microsoft doesn’t seem to have a willingness to fully back.