TheGameThrifter

@NeoRatt
Raised consoles prices twice in 4 months.
Stopped doing console updates the last half of the year.
Raised Game Pass prices 50%.
Cancelled games.
Closed Studios.
Gave up completely on this generation.
Stopped advertising consoles and switched focus to PC, Cloud and mobile.
Tried to raised the price of games to $80.
They released some okay games, but still nothing incredible that moves the needle for most people. Their games tend to lack heart and feel more corporate than anything.

@Weebleman Yes, they say it's making a few dollars per console sold, and that could be true, but they don't count marketing the PS5 in that number. The PS5 is likely not making anything per console sold. At most maybe a few bucks.

@themightyant If you're coming off 60 million sold and you sell half that the next time, it's a failure.
Your thought process is exactly why people think Microsoft is leaving hardware behind. The thing is, people bring up PC, but that's dominated by Steam and no one cares about Cloud gaming. Consoles was always going to be the way Microsoft got most people into gaming. If people really wanted to play games through the cloud on a phone or Tv app, they would have. That's been a thing for YEARS now.

If it were a traditional console, I'd say $600-$700. I don't want a PC or something with other PC stores or anything though.
Since Xbox has nothing exclusive or unique, I'll probably skip Xbox for the first time ever.

@OldGamer999 @OldGamer999 They don't make money on the hardware, they sell hardware to make money on software ((Selling games)) and microtransactions as well as subscriptions. You can get more subs and sales and microtransactions with more consoles sold. This is why consoles are subsidized and usually sold at a loss.

@PressR2 Hardware is expensive to make and losses them money.
No on is buying their consoles currently.
Every quarter their hardware is down 30% or more, which loses them hundreds of millions of dollars.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner No exclusive games.

@themightyant Well it's all pretty trash numbers coming off the Xbox One which was looked at as a failure at almost 60 million sold. If 60 million was bad, what's 28-33?

@Markatron84 People are leaving Xbox consoles because it doesn't seem like Microsoft give a damn about the console anymore. They aren't as entrenched as you believe.

A year later and nobody really cares.....

@themightyant There's some analytics that put Series consoles in the 28 million range. I mean for the past couple of years it seems they've sold 2 million or less per year.

The source isn't reliable, but even if it were...how did the Xbox One push 60 million, the console that tried to steal gamers rights....and Series consoles less than 35 million?
That's some poor management choices....

@Skedaddle I can show you where Microsoft said it was "just 4 games" and "no official change to their fundamental exclusive game strategy".

I can show you where Phil Spencer said buying Zenimax was to put exclusive games where Game Pass exists.

Would it have been concerned trolling to point out that it sounded like BS back then and evidence proved otherwise long before anything officially came out?

New hardware could mean anything, and from the rumors we've heard, it's a PC with Xbox branding and it'll run full Windows. Which isn't a console. The consoles that people think about aren't going to release anymore from Xbox.
They might not even be producing Xbox Series consoles at this point. It's not concerned trolling to point out the obvious. Trusting a 3 billion dollar corporation who couldn't be bothered to do an end of year wrap up doesn't exactly scream that they'll support hardware very much longer.

@SeaDaVie GT7 might have outsold every Xbox first party game combined over the generation.

@Skedaddle What would you call it? They, themselves are saying it'll be more of a PC. They are pushing Play Anywhere because if everything is Play Anywhere and on PC, people don't technically lose their games when they stop hardware.
Multiple big retailers aren't even selling Xbox's anymore.
Multiple countries stopped selling Xbox altogether.
Microsoft doesn't advertise their Xbox consoles anymore.
Microsoft raised prices 2 times in 4 months.
Microsoft offered no discount on consoles even during the holidays.
Xbox hardware was outsold by Nex Playground.
Microsoft cancelled their own handheld that would have played console games due to Steam Deck sales being so low.
Microsoft cancelled the revision of Xbox Series X which was codenamed Xbox Brooklin (which was a rounded Series X with some enhancements) and cancelled Xbox Sibile which was the haptic controller.
Everything is pointing to them phasing out hardware as we know it in terms of a console.

I'd normally buy around 30-40 games per year on Xbox, but since last Feb's "Just 4 games" announcement I've only bought 4 games. I can't really justify building my Xbox console library when I'm not sure it'll exist very soon in the future.

The user avg was 6.7 and the Meta was 7.7, I just don't think that's GOTY material at all.
I beat the game, it's very short and repetitive. It plays like an Xbox 360 game to be completely honest.
People can have their own opinions on it, but I don't think this was even in the top 20 games this past year.

@swedetrap I know, but I also realize Microsoft is phasing out their own hardware. Sony isn't going to phase out their hardware, so exclusives are still important to them.

Rumors that Microsoft is just releasing a PC next generation, basically offloading fans to the PC in the process. They're trying to get as many games as possible to be Play Anywhere so when they do stop hardware they can say "Well you can still play it on PC".

I'm just saying it doesn't make sense for Sony to actually give up their mainline exclusive games in any way, especially on a platform that isn't being sold in many stores or territories now.

@Elbow What GTA game hasn't won GOTY? 14 years in the making.

@swedetrap Helldivers was a GAAS from a studio not owned by Sony. Sony didn't have anything to lose by letting the studio put it on Xbox since that studio is moving on from Helldivers and doing a different multiplatform game next. Gran Turismo is a Sony staple and I just don't see a chance at it ever coming to Xbox. Forza Motorsport failed and GT wouldn't be worth the time to port.
Putting Gran Turismo on Xbox would be like Xbox putting Halo on PlayStation. It would signal the end of the brand basically. No one is buying Xbox because there's nothing exclusive to it anymore. Sony is a hardware company that knows they need exclusive games. I'd say they're already well into GT8 production by now. Since it leaked that Sony cancelled the PC port in the first place, I'd say 100% it won't come to Xbox.

@swedetrap They cancelled the PC port, and why would Sony put a game doing amazingly well as a PlayStation exclusive on Xbox? It wouldn't make any sense at all.
It's foolish to diminish your viability as a console by not keeping exclusive games.

@Elbow Insiders say it's content complete already. They are just spending the next year polishing it. I can't see it getting another delay. It'll automatically win every GOTY award.

The funny thing is that it could be 32% or 29%. They just said it's not 30%. All of their actions are those of a company desperately trying to hit a high percentage of profit.
You don't raise Game Pass 50% and the price of your consoles 50% in the same year if everything is okay. You don't fire thousands of employees and try to raise game prices to $80 if everything is going okay.

LMAO!
GTA6 is winning everything next year.

@Oldgamer03 It's 100% Windows bro. You cannot play console games on it at all. It won't be able to play GTA6 and it can't play College Football ECT

It comes with Windows Teams and Defender in fact...lol

@Darylb88 Ya, an Xbox fan who's tired of being a Beta Testing for PlayStation.

Would love to tell you, but Microsoft apparently couldn't afford to do an end of year Wrap up. A multi-trillion dollar company couldn't afford to show fans how much they gamed this year....crazy times.

@Oldgamer03 Those are PC handhelds, they don't play console games lol

They'll want to make sure their first new Gears launch on PlayStation is great! Surprised they won't have Xbox gamers beta test it before the true launch on PS5.

Yet no end of the year Wrap up....thanks Microsoft.

Microsoft clearly gives ZERO F's about their fans...

@Oldgamer03 Series X is a console, Steam is for PC games. PC is an open box and a console is a closed box. A console cannot run PC games, not because of power, but because of what they were developed for.
Console games are specifically targeted hardware and games are fully optimized for them. PC games tend to not be optimized and have to allow for a million different types of potential specs and setups.

@Eejay Right

@GamingGod I noticed...

Multiple months now where all the updates are for PC, Mobile, handheld and cloud.
Microsoft remembers they have consoles, right?

If they were meeting people where they are they wouldn't have raised Xbox prices twice in 4 months and raise Game Pass by 50%.

They're trying to gain subscribers back who left when they raised prices lol

@Chip-Douglas What has Xbox done for their console owners that would make them happy?

Why would Microsoft bother doing something for their fans?

Here's the problem with this. Emulation laws are very clear, you can emulate games you own, however, if Microsoft SELLS these games in their store, they need approval and licenses from each and every game or publisher. That was why the backwards compatibility program stopped in the first place.

It's always "wait until next year" with Xbox.

Microsoft continues to make other platforms the more attractive place. Make it make sense!

If you want to quit hardware, DO IT! Just stop screwing with everyone and making them think you care about consoles.

@eduscxbox It adds fuel to the narrative that Microsoft doesn't care about their own hardware. Why would anyone trust them after they've literally given up back to back generations?

They quit YEARS before they're allegedly launching anything new.
Where did the other 30 million Xbox One owners go? They haven't bought a Series X/S yet. Why?

Rare has done only Sea Of Thieves in the last 8+ years and this 1 person just embarrassed them completely.

@Exerion76 There's many reasons for this. Developers aren't taking chances or risks anymore. Avowed played a lot like an Xbox 360 game and was fairly low budget.
Studios and developers are also tending to cater to a crowd of gamer that is incredibly small and in some cases doesn't even exist.

The thing that sucks as being an Xbox owner and fan is that they delay features for Xbox fans just to build up things so when they release the game on PlayStation it has all these fancy new things that we didn't get because of delays in order to get it on PlayStation in the first place.
Hellblade 2 is the perfect example, they could have done a 60fps patch anytime, but they waited until they launched on PS5 to do so. It sucks to be a Beta Tester for PS5 games....

A.I. doesn't belong in our videogames period.

45% compared to what? Microsoft loves word salad. I guess when you have nothing else trending up, you have to come up with something.

This Play Anywhere stuff is funny. It's been around since 2016 and hasn't caught on. According to all reports, Play Anywhere won't even be a thing next generation because Microsoft is releasing a PC. There probably won't be a console specific version anymore for any of the games for it. Which makes Play Anywhere redundant.
They're just using it as a buzzword to make it seem like a good deal currently.