'Xbox No Longer Making Consoles' Begins Trending As Panic Continues

Since I jumped to Xbox, there was always some kind of video/news like these. Really, check YouTube or whatever and "Xbox is dead" since like three years ago. Probably more.
And here we are.
Looking forward to hear what Phil has to say but this is a perfect example of the internet being the internet and getting angry because of stuff that doesn't exist.

Next week is going to be exciting stuff. I am looking forward to seeing what this means and the vision moving forward.

The hysteria over this is ridiculous. I read another article that said two new Xbox consoles were being made, one being a fully functional, dockable handheld. Not sure if we will hear about this next week but we need to wait for real news. There’s too many rumors and many conflict with one another.

I just can't believe it takes over a week for a 3 trillion dollar company to put together a coherent press release?

As I have said before, it doesn't matter that PS5 has sold 1.93x more consoles than Series S|X, those are metrics that only mattered in the past. Microsoft's metrics are subscribers and gaming revenue and they're ahead of Sony now. They have more premium subscribers and more active users than Sony, even before the addition of ABK to Game Pass.

For Xbox, the console and the PC market is the same, with the same OS, Direct X and engines. Most console gamers buy and play third-party games. Only Nintendo is able to have an impressive ratio of first-party games per console. Most Xbox and PS games are multiplatform and most best-selling Xbox and PS games are third-party. The interesting thing is that Microsoft now owns two of the best selling "third-party" games on a constant basis: Minecraft (for a while now) and Call of Duty, so they will not just attract users to Game Pass and Xbox but also earn billions on other platforms. In short, it doesn't matter if some Xbox games are on PS as long as they are on Xbox and Game Pass.

Reasons to own an Xbox for most adopters: games (even if most are available on PS or PC), value, controller, digital library, friends, servers, cross-buy, cross-save, cross-play, backwards compatibility, Game Pass...

Most importantly, Microsoft has the best hardware engineers and they release new high-end Surface devices every year, so why wouldn't they make Xbox? On Xbox they get 100% of the revenue, so they won't give consoles up as long as there is a console market.

Last but not least, third parties will always support Xbox as long as there is PC, because they share OS, Direct X and engines. Sony has/had more or earlier third-party games because they pay for Xbox exclusions deals to Zenimax, Activision, Square Enix and Warner, but the deals expire and Microsoft acquired Zenimax and ABK. Those deals are not enough to destroy Xbox because Microsoft can afford to acquire more studios than Sony and Sony can't afford to pay for excluding Xbox indefinitely, not even to Square Enix, with most games coming to Xbox eventually.

I can’t take someone named Jez seriously

@Dimey
Maybe because like a good company, they don't let rumors and panic from idiots run their company

I would laugh if Monday turns out to be a nothingburger

The one thing that really seems off about all the everything going multiplatform rumours is there's still only 2 rumoured ports to Nintendo hardware. No mention about other Switch ports outside the original Hi-Fi Rush/Sea of Thieves rumour or even stuff for the Switch's successor.

Surely if you wanted to do a proper full multiplatform strategy, you'd port a load stuff to Nintendo hardware especially as the Switch is going to become the best selling console of all time in about a year.

@ConsoleGamer86 They will confirm that some games will be multiplatform, that is exactly what Sony will do (PC ports are real and a few are on Xbox). I don't know if they will confirm it next week, but they will announce their hardware plans when the time comes: new controller, current-gen console and even their next-gen console. Even if Microsoft intended to release every Xbox game on other platforms, that would still be a business strategy to allow them to become an even bigger publisher that still is allow to have their own hardware (console).

Microsoft clearly has a public relations problem.

Xbox announce a briefing to outline their future strategy and people still claim it’ll be nothing.

The mental gymnastics people doing on all sides of this is crazy, Xbox influencers abandoning the brand. Others saying it’s the death of Xbox.

Massive purchases and mergers have a cost.

I said from the start there would be no winners from the mergers.

It’s turning out to be true.

Level headed gamepass subscribers are gonna do ok from all the mergers.

As to new leaks about hardware it all seems like damage control. I hope Xbox are not planning new hardware for a long time yet.

Look at the front page of Push Square then come back and look at the front page of Pure Xbox. It's clear as day, Microsoft has a problem.

You are conflating a few things here, @Kaloudz, that do not actually make your case. Bungie was acquired with the proviso that they remained multiplatform. It will written large in the acquisition contract. It's probably something that has a time limit on it, but Bungie have already stated that that was part of the agreement. Effectively, it's no different to what happened with Minecraft and what will be happening with CoD. In all 3 instances there was a large and existing player community, which makes a huge difference. Secondly, it is not Sony that allowed MLB to come to the Xbox, it was the developers, who threatened to not renew the licence with Sony if they were not allowed to do so. Thus neither Destiny or MLB has any correlation to releasing something like Starfield on the PlayStation. Now, if Sony were to announce something like TLoU or God of War, or the Horizon Games in 'exchange' for Starfield, then that would be a different matter and your argument would hold water.

On the matter of consoles, yes, sure a mid-generation refresh may well happen in the next year of so, but that is not the same as making a true next generation console. The two things are different because one is fairly imminent, and it's not like you can just hop out of bed and release it. These consoles take years to design and then make, and so the mid-generation refresh (if it does indeed happen) will have been well underway probably not long after the current-gen was released.

I absolutely agree that Microsoft should be out by now correcting the narrative that is currently running out of control. We see it time and time again with them, and I can never make up my mind whether they are complacent, incompetent or simply don't care. It absolutely staggers me that they cannot see the harm being done to their brand, and the genuine fear that is running rampant throughout their community, and yet don't feel the need to respond. Even Phil's response yesterday, just threw fuel on the fire. If there is no truth to the rumours, simply say so. How hard is that? Instead, we are left to think that there must be something going on that we are not going to like. Leaving these things to run out of control will just make matters worse.

My only hope is that the management at Microsoft can see the damage that is being done to the Xbox brand, and that they row back on their rumoured demands that Xbox puts some (or even all) of games on the PlayStation. Hopefully that is why there is a weeks delay, and that they are using that time to adjust their strategy...

If the rumours suggest what we think it's going to be, I'll give them one more generations for consoles.

What makes you think that Sony will have games go multiplatform, @Banjo-? And what games are you thinking of, and when do you think it will happen?

Personally, I really cannot see that happening as having strong AAA exclusives has yielded very positive consequences for Sony, so it flies in the face of that success to suddenly announce that their games too will be going multiplatform. It took them many years to release a few games on the PC, I really cannot see them 'helping out' their biggest rival by releasing their huge AAA exclusives on the platform. Sony would rather see the demise of Xbox than throw them a lifeline...

@themightyant I read that and also thought it was pretty interesting. I fully expect MS to become a publisher at some point and end hardware, just don’t know when that is.

Xbox will still make devices to purchase and play games on for many years. I am calling them devices because I believe the console era of gaming is coming to an end. The improvement from ps4 to ps5 or Xbox one to xbox series was the smallest improvement ever for a console generation. Why wait 8 or so years to make another small jump?

@Fiendish-Beaver It's already happening. Not going to lie, stopping by Push Square to see what they think about possibly getting Xbox games and nothing... Just to find articles I'm not seeing here about games and content that actually interests me. As someone who's been anti Sony for quite a while, it might just be Microsoft themselves that pushes me back to Sony despite what I view as manipulative marketing mainly because it seems like Microsoft is giving up/in.

@Fiendish-Beaver I can see sony releasing games on switch and Xbox. It would probably be after an exclusive window. Like we are learning with the Xbox situation, it is Microsoft making the decision and not xbox. Playstation will still take orders from the accountants at Sony. If xbox demonstrates that more money can be made this way then Sony will owe it to the shareholders to seek out the extra money. We are already seeing Sony give orders to playstation by making their handheld only work with Sony headphones or earbuds.

People did say the same thing about pc when xbox went there, that sony would never even consider it.

Games like returnable, sackboy, the dozen or so live service games coming all make a ton of sense as multiplat.

If each console generation keeps selling less than the previous one (Series generation is currently trending below One generation) how does Microsoft keep third party developers interested in the platform? Sony’s entire first half of 2024 seems to be comprised of third party exclusives. Contracts that Sony can easily sign because of how much PS5 outsells XSX by. Stellar Blade was even originally announced as multiplatform until Sony later snapped it up! How can Microsoft counter this? How can they avoid a Wii U situation where eventually so few people are on board that third party support dries up?

@Fiendish-Beaver
Well Destiny 2 & MLB The Show are aready multiplatform

@Fiendish-Beaver I edited my comment to add "PC ports and a few Xbox ports". It's not my imagination that Sony has revealed that they will release their games on PC, but it doesn't happen in one day and, actually, Sony's ports are poorly programmed. They also revealed that they will bring games to mobile. I haven't said anything about Sony publishing all their games on Xbox (or Nintendo), but who knows. It might happen because Sony is having problems to sustain their console business and has a record debt, that's why they're including PC as platform. I know what you mean, but I think it's actually Nintendo the only one that would prefer to become extinct before opening their mind an inch, but they might surprise me. It all will depend on who's boss at the moment.

This is a fire that MS should have put out yesterday. Whether or not they are putting games on the PS5 and Nintendo Switch, they are essentially letting the rumors run wild.

I’m a longtime PS fan, so none of this stands to affect me in the short term, but I don’t want to see Xbox go away bc we need competition in this industry.

@ZuneTattooGuy You could also argue that a good company wouldn't find themselves in a position where leaks have led to rumours and massive hysteria all over the internet, leaving them to scramble to put together an announcement that they clearly weren't ready to make yet.

I am here for a Series S-powered handheld.

The more I think about it, the more genius the silence is. So many people are now invested in this. What if the business update is nothing more than ‘we’re going 100% digital, here’s a console refresh for this decision, and since we understand physical is still a thing, select titles will come to other consoles?’

It is really hard to switch ecosystems these days. I doubt very many people will make a switch from Xbox as their only platform to Sony or Nintendo. You really only compete for new console owners (kids) and as more and more gamers continue to game into adulthood, kids are probably just going to play what their parents prefer.

The interesting discussion are people like me who already own both. But if there is a timed exclusivity window of like a year then I still see the appeal of owning both. Do you really want to sit through a year of the discourse and then play the game once all that has died and the discourse has moved to the new hot games? I am under the assumption that it is still a case by case basis for multiplatform so the thought of wondering for a year or so if it comes to another platform doesn't sound appealing either. Continuing to own an xbox and gamepass does sound appealing though.

Phil always said: games for everyone.

I get MS doesn't want to reveal details directly to it's folks first, but this is going to keep getting worse and worse until they talk but by then the damage could be done.

Sorry, @ConsoleGamer86, I'm not sure I follow what you are saying.

If you are saying that Sony are already putting games on the Xbox, then that's not strictly speaking true. Sony are not doing it themselves, and probably not even willingly at that. Bungie, when they were acquired, were already a multiplatform game maker, with an existing community on the Xbox. It was a stipulation in the contract when they were acquired that they had to be permitted to continue to be multiplatform. That was not what Sony wanted. It was what Bungie wanted.

In relation to MLB, the developers threatened to withdraw the licence for the game from Sony if they were not permitted to go multiplatform. Again, it was not what Sony wanted, but in order to retain the licence for the game, they permitted it...

I think the difference between something the likes of Destiny, Minecraft,and Warzone, @Kaloudz, is that the 'existing community' does not refer to those that have previously played and enjoyed the games, but rather to having an group of players that are actively playing the games (often with cross-play). These are multiplayer games that require a thriving community in order to keep going. Shutting them off from a platform will reduce the number of players playing the games, thus limiting the income and making the production of further content for the games even harder, to the extent that the games would be killed off. That is why I can see Sea of Thieves going on to the PS, as it requires a larger player-base in order to thrive.

I've seen reports regarding Game Pass too, suggesting that Xbox first-party games may no longer come to the service day one, but instead have a 6 or 12 month period in retail before going on to the service. Personally, I think this is a better option than allowing the games to go on to the PS, even after a period of time elapses.

Ultimately, I think the hyperbole has taken hold because Xbox have said nothing, and people are making assumptions based off rumours in order to fill the gaps in their knowledge. This is the fault of Microsoft and Xbox above all others. They know what is happening and could do better to keep the community calm. Instead they are watching the house burn, and warming their hands rather than putting out the fire...

@themightyant I guess it depends who is making the calls in there. The console loses them money while subs and software are what makes them money.

If they’re able to get GamePass and their games on PS5 and Switch, then those execs will gladly stop making consoles and take the extra money IMO.

Why bother?? There weren't many buying in the first place so who's gonna buy a new xbox when the games will be on ps?

@Kaloudz woah,calm down there fella, you're gonna give yourself a hernia.

Hardware will be announced next week..

I mean most of it is over hyped obviously.

BUT….

Why are MS allowing this to run rampant? Why are they not trying to quell it at all? It is not positive advertising.

Waiting a week is going to make it worse. Look how many articles are on this on purexbox…. A very pro MS site.

@Dimey Companies shouldn't knee jerk to rumors and speculation. Regardless responses are carefully crafted and delivered. Ask Nintendo anything. Hold your breath, we'll wait.

@themightyant The would absolutely lose subs unless they get GamePass on PS/Switch like I mentioned. Stopping consoles isn’t a viable plan for them until that happens.

Say 20M GP subs are on console currently, if they can get onto the 139M Switch and 57M PS5, they would easily get more than 20M out of roughly 200M and make a crapload of money.

Regarding the MTX, I’m not sure what that looks like in dollar figures, if it’s more than they’d make with selling games on every system as a publisher they won’t go the publisher route. Their only concern is making more money. For now, I think going full publisher if they can get GP on all platforms would be the most lucrative.

@themightyant All fair points, I just get the feel that they’re heading the publisher direction, but obviously could be wrong.

I can definitely see GP on Switch, PS is harder as they won’t even play nice with Ubisoft+.

Not sure if it is their strategy or not, but certainly all eyes are on xbox, and that is going to be one highly watched and reported presser. Whether they open with, not only are we staying with hardware, but here are new SKUs, or, we are bringing x,y and z games to Switch and PS, or whatever it is, everybody who follows gaming will know about it

I love how the person that wanted to leak this for the public outcry thought this would change a multi trillion dollar companies mind, lol. Like...oh okay the hardcore Xbox community doesn't like this, so will just keep taking a loss and never making a profit after spending almost 100 billion on publishers. 😂😂

Another day another article about how xbox isn't going to be around tomorrow to some capacity. Like can we wait to hear from xbox themselves before we have full on existential meltdowns over trivial *****? Or better yet, can we just play games and care less about the where or why?

Full grown men acting like absolute animals over 500$ plastic boxes has been old. Can't help but laugh.

@themightyant I have to imagine the execs do not enjoy losing money on hardware so that is why I think they could exit. Maybe they find a way to make the next console profitable.

I agree with you about Sony.

If the rumors are true history will write that was the best or the worst decision ever made by a game company, there is no middle ground.

As someone that's bought a OG, 360, ONE, ONE X and Series X at launch. I don't see the need to buy the NeXt-Box, "IF" I can play Gears or Elder Scrolls on a PS6. As I've owned those systems and others for the exclusives, that's the selling point to me not Game Pass.

Though the rumored handheld I'd be keen on for a bunch of Game Pass indies.

Look, I get being upset by the idea that your preferred console manufacturer may be abandoning their platform...but that is absolutely NOT what’s happening here.

Microsoft lost the “console war”. Look at the numbers for every single generation of Xbox console, they lost every one. People will point to the 360 as some massive success, but the United States is the single territory where it outsold the PS3 worldwide. Microsoft is a Trillion dollar company, but they can only throw good money after bad for so long and...with the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King completed...Xbox are the single biggest publisher in the world and going multi-platform (whether that’s fully multi-plat or limited to certain titles) is the best possible decision for the longevity of the brand going forward.

Their hardware sales are, comparatively, poor. Their 1st party flagship titles have stagnated and aren’t doing the numbers they once were, and their smaller more experimental titles aren’t moving the needle at all. Gears 5 didn’t set the world on fire. Halo Infinite fell flat. Redfall was an outright failure on every level. Starfield is performing semi-well, but isn’t the massive success of a Skyrim or Fallout 3/4 and won’t have the legs of either. They cannot keep pouring resources into these very expensive games that people just aren’t buying (and aren’t incentivized to buy thanks to Game Pass) on a scale that supports their funding, they just can’t...and limiting those very expensive games to a single platform (and PC) just doesn’t make financial sense.

Your Xbox Series X|S isn’t going anywhere, your physical and digital libraries aren’t going anywhere, Game Pass isn’t going anywhere. There will be a Series X|S refresh. There will be at least one more "next-gen" Xbox. They're not just going to pull out of the hardware game altogether on a whim and without a long, long lead time. In the long term, sure, things can change dramatically, but in the short term the only thing that is likely to change is that Playstation owners will be able to play Indiana Jones and Starfield, people on Switch will be able to play Hi-Fi Rush. That’s MS’ whole MO, putting their games on as many platforms and in front of as many people as possible.

That’s great for Microsoft because they expand their audience to literally everyone and make more money from sales on new platforms, making the very high cost of those games and the resources required to produce them far more palatable. That’s great for PS and Switch players because they get to experience games they otherwise wouldn’t...the only people that isn’t great for is the toxic console warriors who want the other platforms to fail and want to exclude people because of some backwards tribalism mentality, and screw those people.

This is good for everyone, Microsoft especially. They may scale back or dip out of the hardware game one day, but it's not going to be any time soon.

when Xbox takes their 1st party games 3rd party my main reason to spend yet another $499 and buy a new Xbox console next generation no longer will exist

@phoenix1 ...and that's a problem how exactly?

MS has already stated (on the record, in court) that they have never made a profit on hardware sales, ever. Going multiplatform means they still get your money from buying their games, you don't have to drop $500 on a new console (especially if you have a PC), and they can slowly ramp down manufacturing hardware they're actively losing money on.

Sounds like a win for everyone involved.

@Dimey maybe it's a genius marketing strategy to get huge buzz that xbox is going to go the way of Sega, and then announce that they are doubling down on new systems and exclusivity. They may be like hey this game will be on ps5 only because it started in development for ps5 before we acquired the company and we are respectful to the company we bought. But after these games that started out being produced for ps5 all games will be xbox exclusive. Would really build hype and respect for xbox.

Whatever will be will be.
But the most amazing amount of PR for Xbox since the xbox360 days.
Microsoft take note. PR.

@Kaloudz far too sensible a response for a comments section

Releasing games on the PC is irrelevant to those that want to game on a console. Two different concepts. Now, assuming Microsoft still wants to make hardware, doesn't mean it will sell well. Decisions have (sometimes unwanted) consequences.

Releasing fewer exclusives on Xbox means there are fewer reasons to buy Xbox hardware. Why would a customer still buy Xbox, if they can have almost everything on another platform PLUS other exclusives on top? That's a very simple economic decision. Fewer hardware sales will disappoint investors, upping the pressure from their side. Fewer hardware sales will lead to people thinking the platform is still dying a slow death, then jumping ship, which lead to even fewer hardware sales. Fewer hardware sales will lead to developers skipping Xbox, because the port is not worth it economically. Fewer 3rd party games will lead to fewer hardware sales, will lead to more developers jumping of the Xbox platform, will lead to fewer hardware sales ... and so on.

Microsoft is about to create a vicious circle, that will affect everyone on the platform, no matter the amount of commitment they bringt with them. There is only one way going multi-plat would still be compatible with having a healthy hardware basis.

1) Game Pass needs to stay on Xbox and PC, for a bargain price and every first party title day one to EOL. Maybe sweeten the deal with Ultimate versions and goodies.

2) If you want to further sweeten point 1, make the games at least timed exclusives - 6 to 12 months.

3) Develop away from Nintendo and Sony and cover your own niche. E.g., I could imagine a system where the games still run on potent hardware at home, but at the same time CAN be boosted by hardware in datacenters (hybrid system) to always give the best experience visual and FPS wise. That would be a stance where they say they sell "premium" devices as opposed to the others.

In other words MS needs to have a strategy that comes along with opening up. If that's not given, not a lack of conviction and commitment, but economics and psychology on the consumer's side will destroy the hardware. Meaning, next week they will have to give us at least a glimpse of how they want to support their hardware and keep it a viable product to buy. If they don't, assumptions will keep running rampant circles that already start to hurt the brand (even more so than now).

There are bigger problems in the world...

I'm new to Xbox for this console generation, bought in with a Series S, then got hooked with Game Pass Ultimate content as I obviously had no content starting from nothing, then also bought Series X. It's pretty clear that if all the best content is going to be on PlayStation, then if I had to make the decision again it would be too buy a PlayStation. Also given that it obviously takes more work to port a game to Xbox as the S is a different machine, not like PS disc or disc less versions (as proven by difficulty with Baldur's Gate 3 port), throw in smaller & declining user base, then it's clear to see why they're is concern about a death spiral, less and less content to Xbox.

I tried to see the future, that maybe Phil envisions, do I really even need a console? I have a Samsung smart monitor, so decided to try playing my GPU on it, quite frankly, I was surprised as didn't think the monitor would have the horsepower to play well, but obviously you don't need much horsepower to stream a game.

If Microsoft decides to go the path of Nvidia GeForce Now, I don't know, maybe that is the future where you really don't need a console...?

After playing on my smart monitor, I feel like I should minimally sell my Series S, not out of anger, but it feels made obsolete by GPU streaming on the monitor, then just keep the series X for content I own not on GPU. Maybe the X will even be obsolete if Microsoft goes Nvidia GeForce Now clone.

Honestly this panic feels ridiculous. Next week will come an announcement will be made that will be different than what's expected. Xbox will still be Xbox though maybe with Gamepass/a game or two going on another platform. Honestly Starfield being released on PS5 is a solid idea. Which is one I'm thinking the most at risk of going multiplatform. As Xbox sales were obismal because of Gamepass. It would help with that deficit.

The future of gaming is streaming, do I enjoy my Xbox, and PC.. yes I do.. however look at GeForce now... You pay on average 300bucks for two years of it.. which then allows you to play games streaming with more power then this Generation console.. which cost you well over 300 to just buy one.. and in what two years or less a new upgraded version comes out... If you are stuck in the past I'm sure you still own cassette tapes... But for the average gaming consumers to pay for something like GeForce now is truly saving you money and space by just clicking an app on your computer, laptop, phone, or smart TV. I don't even see Sony staying in the console business in 10-15 years.. the technology of streaming will make console obsolete just like the 8track. Do you Microsoft and innovate like you always have. What has Sony innovated or even tried to since the walkman which was in the 1970/80. Haha

@Phantasystar77 This is just knee-jerk, reactionary, alarmist thinking.

"How do you figure its a win? They go 3rd party, Sony becomes a monopoly with high end console hardware and then they raise all prices, refuse to innovate, and their service gets worse then it already is."

We've seen exactly what happens when Sony gets too full of themselves. We get insanely expensive consoles that take an entire generation and multiple revisions to finally turn a profit and secure a solid player base. We get ridiculously overpriced, proprietary storage that kills hardware in the crib. We get niche hardware that's more expensive than the console required to use it at all. Playstation is the one Division of Sony keeping them afloat, it accounts for a full quarter of their overall revenue, screwing over PS users by jacking up prices (more than they already have) is a sure-fire way to torpedo their business entirely. Sony do a lot of stupid things, but they're not that stupid...and if they are, then they can join MS and SEGA on the bench.

"With XBox consoles gone, you can then kiss peoples digital libraries goodbye, Game Pass loses a ton of subs and the service will scale way back, raise its prices, or just flat out go away."

ALL digital libraries will, eventually, disappear...that's just the reality of online services. Servers will shut down at some point, but it won't be any time soon. MS didn't become a TRILLION dollar corp by operating like morons, they're not just going to flip a switch and kill Xbox so your console doesn't work and your library disappears overnight. None of that is going anywhere. Your Series X or S isn't going to vanish in a puff of smoke. We will get a mid-gen revision, we'll almost certainly get a proper "next-gen" Xbox alongside the PS6. Game Pass subs on console and PC have plateaued, the remedy is to offer it on more platforms, plain and simple. They might raise subscription prices, but I would argue being the largest publisher in the world, with one of the most robust catalogues of IP in the industry warrants it.

Maybe we should quit jumping to insane conclusions and making up doomsday scenarios to get irrationally angry about and wait for them to tell us what's going on and how they're going to handle things before flipping out...

@Phantasystar77 Sure, all of that that is a perfectly rational reaction to....rumor and speculation. Again, how about we wait to hear what they have to say before putting the nails in their coffin.

@Phantasystar77 Because leaks and "insider information" have never been wrong before...

Regardless, we're just running in circles here. Nothing I can say is going to ease this weird brand loyalty "betrayal" you feel, so, good luck...I guess.

@Phantasystar77 It's real, real easy to "walk back" from nothing. I don't know why I have to keep explaining this, but we do not know what their plans are. We can make reasonable, logical guesses based on actual info (like the Hi-Fi Rush multiplatform datamine), but outside of that, all this doom and gloom is still nothing but pure speculation. It hasn't been a "month of silence", it's been a week...and as soon as the rumors started spreading and people started flipping the F out, Phil addressed it as best he could in the moment, and we'll know for sure what's going on in a few days. Trillion dollar mega corporations do not reactively, hastily address every rumor that comes out about what they might be doing because actual plans take a long, long time to solidify, and even when those plans are "solid" things can still change.

And, y'know what, let Sony try to become a monopoly. Let them try and jack up their prices to astronomical levels, cause that's always worked super well for them in the past. They try to drop a PS6 that's $700, let them try to raise 1st party title prices to $80, $90, $100...all that's going to do is drive people to Nintendo and PC...and if they start dropping 1st party games on PC day-and-date or even a year after the console versions (which they're eventually going to be forced to do because they aren't flush with cash like MS and Nintendo are and cannot afford to keep spending $300 Million dollars on titles for a single platform and hope to see a worthwhile profit), you can bet your ass a whole lotta people will be happy to wait...or not play them at all.

Why is everyone reacting to rumors and speculation? It makes no sense to me. I've seen over 20 videos on YouTube today about all of this and all I can wonder is how those people wasted so much of their life making those videos that mean absolutely nothing.

I'll post the same comment I did in the other article. Why would Microsoft even bother reacting or responding to false information? Rumors happen constantly and companies rarely respond to or acknowledge them. Why is this situation any different? I find your expectation odd. I also don't understand why people are panicking and acting without knowledge. Has the human race still not evolved beyond that? Sad.

The internet is a confusing place. I watched a video last night stating that the new XBOX is releasing end of 2025 🤣

Nate the Hate has now state he's rechecked his info, found that he was wrong, and that Starfield isn't coming to PS5.

Huh...it's almost as if this game of telephone we play with leakers, "insiders" and "trusted sources" on twitter ISN'T A RELIABLE PLACE FOR FACTUAL OR ACCURATE INFORMATION.

As I keep saying, until we hear it from the horse's mouth, it's a rumor and should be taken with a planet-sized grain of salt...even when "reliable" tweeters "report" it.

@Phantasystar77 You seem to comprehend all of the things you speak of, but somehow fail to apply any of it to your own statements. People tend to not respond to things that are false and don't matter. They sure would be busy and not get anything else done if all they did was respond to rumors. Have fun with your paranoid lifestyle. I bet you're a guilty until proven innocent type of guy aren't you?

@Phantasystar77 I comprehend exactly why PR departments exist and it's not to deal with rumors or speculation. It is to deal with and communicate with people about real issues that actually exist. If you acknowledge and discuss things that are not true, that will actually lower trust and confidence. Do you have a source where the community is shattered, people are leaving Xbox and staying away, because I can't find anything that shows proof of that. You may think that's what's happening and you may want that to happen but that doesn't make it a reality of any kind. I am sure that you really believe what you're saying and that's fine, but remember it's just your own opinion. I guess I just don't care about it as much as you do because it's just video games. Also, I'll wait to react when I actually hear something from the source. I'm not going to waste my time otherwise. Maybe you should do the same because it just seems like a lot of wasted energy.

@Phantasystar77 Where is the data supporting your statement of this, "a fanbase divided, lost console sales, tarnished reputation, and people walking away from your platform"? That's all I'm asking. If you don't care to respond oh well, I guess the world will end. Oh wait, no it won't.

Update: I just called all of my local game stores and none of them have had even the slightest increase in people selling Xboxes or Xbox games since the announcement was made and I checked online sites new listings and nothing out of the ordinary there either. So I have data to disprove your statements, do you have data to disprove mine?

Site your sources please, or is it just your little group of friends making all of this up and feeding off of each other? Stop talking out of your ass.

@ZYDIO Just look back through their comments in this thread, it's all reactionary, worst-case-scenario, jumping to insane conclusions based on...nothing of any circumstance. 12th-hand "news" reported by some rando, who was told by his uncle that works at Walmart, who was told by a regional rep, who heard it from one of the custodial staff at a hotel where Todd Howard took a meeting one time.

There's probably a nugget of truth in all of this, somewhere, but it's been so inflated and wildly overblown and none of these reactions are based in any kind of tangible reality.

*Insert Dr. Manhattan: Source?/I Made it TF Up" meme