Poll: How Optimistic Are You Feeling About The Future Of Xbox?

Microsoft, Meta, Google, will sacrifice anything for AI, including Xbox.

Gamepass price hikes (with more coming this year?), Xbox exclusives going multi-platform, the next Xbox rumoured to be super expensive…I definitely have concerns.

I went with "pretty optimistic", some great games to look forward to and already signs that we will get hardware news this year.

I have mild excitement around what the ps6 will be like and zero excitement about the switch 2 unless they do an oled model. So Xbox is winning by default anyway!

I'm sadly not very optimistic at all for XBox as a hardware manufacturer. I don't think they have a clear direction or vision on what they want to achieve, let alone how to achieve it.
While I see numerous benefits to a console/PC hybrid system, I can also see it being a means for XBox to haemorrhage income (no need for an online subscription to play the PC games, PC games are usually cheaper etc etc) as people move over to the PC side of said hybrid.

XBox as a publisher however? I think they'll do ok. I'd like to see Microsoft push for a more quality over quantity vision for some of the Activision Blizzard studios output for example (cough Call of Duty cough), but I think they're finally building the game catalogue they really needed to have in place at the start of this generation. I see XBox Game Studios (or possibly/inevitably Microsoft Game Studios) remaining for years to come.

It's hard to get too optimistic (or pessimistic for that matter) since we don't know what they're doing next with hardware. A concrete 'yes, we're doing a console-PC hybrid' or something like that would go a long way towards easing anxiousness

I'm optimistic I'm a Xbox only gamer so I kinda have to be haha
Hopefully Microsoft/Xbox have hurt pride after being spanked by Sony in console sales the last two generations and start making good moves gaming needs more than just two consoles if Xbox dies thats whats left!

Xbox is who I've put my money down with since 2008. I don't know if I'll get the next xbox until I hear more, but at least I have my Series X which has tons of life in it.

Alternative headline: How pessimistic are you about the future of Xbox?

I am feeling more optimistic now than I did a month ago

I’ve stopped buying games on Xbox because, at some point, they will only be available by streaming on other platforms …if I’m lucky

I believed in Phil, because he was a gamer, and a good egg. Now… Xbox, with particular regard to hardware, looks to be in a place that it’s not coming back from

I voted for...I'm a little concerned, but still have some optimism.

While I'm predominantly a PC gamer I've always enjoyed console gaming and still do. Yes I skipped this generation, however I'm seriously considering investing in either an Xbox or PS6 console next gen, but ultimately only one of them will get my money.

Now that Sarah Bond is gone, I’m feeling much more optimistic. I have to admit that Asha Sharma’s comments — highlighting the consoles, Xbox players, and leaving the door open to revisiting the exclusivity strategy — are reassuring. Xbox is already one of the biggest video game publishers, and the quality of their games has been steadily improving in recent years. The next Xbox console also looks extremely promising. For all these reasons, I’m very optimistic.

@fatpunkslim Yes, I feel the same way. It may seem strange to some commentators who easily fall into media drama, but for many reasons, I’m very optimistic as well !

Anyway, with Xbox it’s always a roller coaster in the media.
Xbox Developer Direct: “Xbox is back!”
Leadership change: “Xbox is dead!”
Forza Horizon 6 topping the charts on Xbox and PC: “Xbox is back!”
Xbox cancels one game: “Xbox is dead!”
Xbox Games Showcase: “Xbox is back!”

According to some media outlets and influencers, Xbox has died 30 times and come back to life 30 times.

Yet Xbox is still here, and the only metric some people seem to care about is console sales, even though Xbox is the publisher that sells the most games, and leads in content, services, cloud, backward compatibility, cross‑play, and more.

Honestly, the lack of perspective from some people is pretty depressing.

Nothing has changed for me. I am still optimistic for the future. I like that xbox is innovating instead of the old gatekeeping garbage of the past.

When we see something of substance instead of a whole load of word spaghetti as of the past week I will be able to give you an answer

@fatpunkslim

The next Xbox console also looks extremely promising

But we don't know anything about it outside of speculation and rumour?

Everything that's been said about the next Xbox has been community driven, built on the back of rumours and little else. Other than it being 'apparently' in production and powerful (the latter of which shouldn't be a key selling point), nothing else concrete has come out of Microsoft.

Sorry buddy, but to state the next Xbox 'looks promising' when there's nothing to base that on outside of a community wish list, which now seems to evolved into 'absolutely happen' even though there's nothing to back it up, is prepping for disappointment.

The Xbox community have built up this idea in their collective heads of what the next Xbox will be to the point that they're now believing it's a reality.

Well the fact is, my friend, until Microsoft officially reveal the console and actually show what it can and can't do we can only continue to speculate.

@Gemini53 I think you’re overstating things a bit. Yes, we don’t have a full official reveal from Microsoft yet, but it’s not true that “we know nothing” or that everything is just community wish‑listing. There are actually several concrete, consistent indicators pointing toward what the next Xbox will be — a Windows‑based console, open to third‑party stores, and fully compatible with the existing Xbox library.

A few examples that are hard to dismiss:

Reliable insiders like Jez Corden have been reporting for over a year that the next Xbox is built as a “Windows console,” with an OS unified across PC and Xbox and support for multiple storefronts. This isn’t random speculation — it’s repeated by people with a solid track record.

Microsoft’s strengthened partnership with AMD strongly suggests a more PC‑like architecture, which aligns perfectly with a Windows‑based console.

Phil Spencer himself hinted at this direction, saying the next Xbox would be closer in spirit to devices like the ROG Ally — essentially a Windows gaming machine, but still a console.

Microsoft’s long‑term strategy has been crystal clear: unify PC and Xbox, reduce technical barriers, and make Windows the foundation of the entire ecosystem. The next Xbox naturally fits into that trajectory.

Full backward compatibility with the Xbox library has been emphasized multiple times, and that’s far easier to achieve on a Windows‑based platform.

So yes, we’re still waiting for the official announcement — but at some point, it becomes a bit of an open secret. All the signals are pointing in the same direction, and it’s not just fans inventing things out of thin air.

Saying the next Xbox “looks promising” isn’t blind optimism; it’s simply acknowledging the very real clues we already have.

@fatpunkslim

Hints, possible clues, speculation, rumour, possibilities...none of which can be confirmed one way or another.

You've kinda proved my point, bud. 🤷

Until it's on the table and we know exactly what it is then it remains up in the air. And yes much of it is absolutely community wish-listing.

I sincerely hope it does all things you hope it does and I mean that, and there's every chance that it might, but there's also every chance that it might not. Don't set yourself up for disappointment is all I'm saying.

Personally I'd rather much see Microsoft take Xbox back to a more simpler time. A great game console with great exclusives and a centered gaming experience, one that is far removed from an experience that I already have on my PC. However, even I don't believe that is a thing and sadly it'll push me toward the competition, ie PlayStation, should I finally decide to invest in the next generation.

I feel optimistic, but I don't know what might happen. I think that in 10-15 years or so, consoles might not even exist. I'm not sure what we might be playing, let alone what will become of Xbox. Although I like to think that Xbox, along with Valve, is one of the ecosystems that is likely to still be around by then.

I'm optimistic...but I wonder, when they say going back to their roots...does that include a new version of the game genie that's built into the console? Now that would be awesome.

On a scale from 1-10, probably a 2.

I'm in a wait and see mode.
I definitely don't want to play on PC, so unless Microsoft does a traditional console which is subsidized, I won't be buying it. Looks like Sony is pulling away from PC ports as well, so buying a $1200+ Xbox branded PC that has no exclusives while the PS6 will get Xbox games and PS exclusives makes it an easier choice.

Xbox games are headed to Playstation now so as someone who only got a Series S to play Xbox games, this is the first and last Xbox I ever own.

2/10 in terms of optimism for the brand.

My confidence in the state and direction of the brand is essentially null. What I want from Xbox is no longer their priority; it mostly isn’t even on their radar.

I want exclusive games driving people to the hardware. I want that hardware to be self contained and dedicated solely to gaming. I want true permanent ownership of my games, the type of ownership that only comes with physical media (the full game contained on disc without any internet download required BS). I want a dashboard/homescreen free from the scourge of ads or ai. I want the console to be the focus of the brand and anything else to be simply a passing afterthought.

Basically I just want the original Xbox all over again, but that is not what Microsoft wants. If they had their wish we’d own nothing, pay ever increasing monthly access fees to rent content and have our eyelids stapled to our foreheads to make it easier to consume as much ai slop as they can force feed to every screen in our homes.

The sooner they tell us what the potential next gen hardware will be the better.
With details.

The more they delay telling us the more the enthusiasm and any momentum left for the brand console will die.

@Balaam_

I don't think the industry as a whole want any of the things you're asking for, which is also something I'd like to see a return to.

Console gaming used to always be about providing a unique experience, one where each platform holder delivered something different to their nearest competitor. Now consoles are leaning heavily into an environment I'm already better catered for - PC gaming.

If any of the community's wish list for Xbox come to fruition then I'm out as it'll have nothing I want and so will have to rely on Sony's PS6 providing some modicum of 'less like a PC and more like a game console'.
If not, guess I'll be looking at what Nintendo are doing, or abandon modern consoles altogether.

Any combination of Sony/Nintendo/Steam is all you need. Not giving another dollar to these clowns at Microsoft. And I was there day 1 for the first Xbox. Shame really… so disappointed.