Asia Is Now The Fastest Growing Region For Xbox, Says Sarah Bond

It seemed a ridiculous statement to me too, @BaldB3lper78. The way I looked at it was that if you withdraw consoles worldwide, except in Asia, then yes, you will see the most growth there because everywhere else it is plummeting.

It's just the usual spinning the numbers to suit your agenda...

@BaldB3lper78 I had the same thoughts exactly

Yes they sold 58 consoles the other week in Japan, up a a few units.,
compared to the lower sales in the West where the console is stalling. Mainly due to this play anywhere, multi platform malarkey.
you gotta laugh at these crazy statements.

You guys are 100% correct, but here’s a positive spin on it—if it turns out that we get even 1 uniquely great game from an Asian studio owing to this push that we otherwise wouldn’t, then that’s a definite win.

Right so out of those hundreds of indie games how many are console/game pass sellers? How many have reached the top ten and stayed there? More and more fillers that most people use to collect their points and would never consider purchasing.

Omg… I rolled my eyes so hard they wrapped around my optic nerve three times… stuck staring at my brain right now.

Xbox… seriously…

Hang on, wasn't the growth thing discussed a while back and based on cloud/PC gaming growth for Xbox (mostly cloud)?

Of course its Positive and spin but what do you expect them to say in Asia and at their own Showcase. Of course they want to spread some Positivity and highlighting the region they are in.

Being at the very bottom in Asia too is likely to see more growth with more products aimed at that market in particular - even if it doesn't have any impact on their other Markets. Considering how 'few' Asian Devs would release their Asian games on Xbox, the fact that more and more are choosing to is 'growth'.

Even if it doesn't translate to growth in other markets or other areas, its still something that any Business trying to promote themselves and their products would cherry pick for a showcase. Its like saying they've shipped a million Consoles, but how many of them are sat in Wholesalers waiting for retailers to order more stock, how many are sat on Store shelves? Businesses count 'sales' as those they sold direct to wholesalers and retailers, not the 'sale' to the customer. Its sold from their perspective, even if it hasn't yet been sold on to a Gamer.

Point is, this isn't a Business presentation, its a Showcase to promote their 'brand' and the Products coming to it so they will cherry pick Positives and present them with little/no context - such as seeing more and more Asian Devs releasing games on Xbox - no context as to whether that made a big difference in other areas - like sales of hardware, software and/or subscriptions in those markets (or other regions) too - its just something to sound 'positive' and 'Promoting' their brand...

@BaldB3lper78 Not sure why you think they're basing Xbox's growth exclusively on console sales. Of course, when they say that they're experiencing the most growth in Asia, they're likely also referring to cloud gaming users, PC Game Pass subscribers, Microsoft Store users, etc.

And yeah, yeah, the sales are miniscule compared to PS and Nintendo, but people often forget that the Xbox Series X/S is the second best-selling Xbox in Japan, so they must be doing something right.

@Balaam_ We already had that in Hi-Fi Rush, didn’t change a thing.

I assume they mean PC rather than actual Xboxes. The difference does matter for as long as the game libraries remain separated. Play Anywhere is still only supported by a small minority of games.

I think the growth is due to Nintendo stumbling with the Switch 2. The whole play anywhere isn't a big deal in North America but in Japan it might be a game changer.

@BaldB3lper78 How is that even worse? Lol, you didn't expect the Series X/S to outsell the 360 in Japan, did you?

What is sad is that so many of you are still focused on console sales, in 2025, on an Xbox site. "Growth" means increase in total presence. They're apparently making more money and more partnerships in Asia.

They don't make money on console sales; they are likely still losing money on each console sold. Xbox sought out other avenues to sell their games. Why put a $500 barrier at every turn between you and the customer? There's already the cultural barrier in Asia.

"Fastest growing" is damage control when nowhere is growing. If you're selling 10 consoles and move to 50 consoles that's a 49% growth, but doesn't mean it's successful.

It's like when games reach number 1 on PS or Xbox Store, people freak out as if it's a resounding success, but the truth is, depending on when a game releases, it might have no competition and 5000 units could put it at #1

@theduckofdeath Xbox fans for the majority are console fans. Xbox is a console no matter how badly Microsoft tries to muddy the water.
If consoles aren't doing well, that doesn't bode well for people who have a large library of Xbox console games. Why would they continue to lose money on hardware?

Yet Xbox consoles still unavailable in ASEAN countries except Singapore. Xbox never try to sell Xbox consoles in Asia as a whole, only selected countries. Xbox skipped more than 70 Asia countries

Haven't they only sold like 1.2 million Xboxes in Japan. They're really skewing numbers this week