TheGameThrifter

@TheEstablishment
PS5 sales are up over PS4.
Switch is the best selling console of all time.

The only console falling behind is Xbox, and it's because it lacks exclusive games.
How long do you think Microsoft will stay in hardware at this rate?

Are you a fan of the Xbox or Microsoft's financials? For me, if it's not the Xbox console, there's no point.

Selling Xbox consoles isn't a path for Microsoft....lol

So in 2025 he's promising more hardware.

In 2024 he promised "just 4 games going to PlayStation".

In 2021 he promised Zenimax was bought to provide exclusive games where Game Pass exists.

So, which do we believe?

@Ricky-Spanish They're counting King games like Candy Crush, which is almost 300 million MAU in and of itself.

The Xbox consoles are factually selling pretty bad currently.

Almost 300 million of this is through King games like Candy Crush though....

If they put Xbox games on Switch 2, why would anyone buy Microsoft's alleged handheld? You could get Switch and Xbox exclusives on the Switch 2, or just get Xbox stuff on their handheld....

Back when they were actually TRYING! They made everyone feel like they were a part of something bigger and fun. The interactions with fans on social media, the executives would join in on little podcasts and hype up Xbox...I miss those times.

Microsoft pulling out from the looks of things. My guess is that they stopped production of Xbox consoles for a while to "catch up" to the demand or lack thereof.

@BacklogBrad Nobody is buying Xbox's. They continue to drop almost 30% every quarter. People are not coming to their senses, they're leaving the platform completely.

If you can get a PS5 or PS6 and it plays PlayStation exclusives, Xbox exclusives and gets the 3rd party games Xbox doesn't get, why would people buy an Xbox that only plays Xbox games and likely plays them worse than the PS5 Pro versions?

Xbox really hates Xbox...lol

There's more people using an Xbox One than an Xbox Series X. I mean, let that sink in.
Xbox One sold around 58 million units, Xbox Series X/S split about 28 million units so far, so there's 14-15 million Xbox Series X consoles in the wild.

There's a reason MS says they have more console players than ever, it's because MILLIONS are still on Xbox One playing Fortnite, COD, Madden, Apex, Minecraft, Roblox ECT

I only play my Series X. I couldn't care less about mobile gaming or gaming on a PC.
I suspect people who grew up gaming on a console will continue to do so.
As an adult with a wife, kids and full time job, there's no room or time to do other types of gaming, and when I have time to game I want it to be relaxing on my 72 inch OLED with my Series X playing these games the way they were intended, not some shrunk down 6 inch phone screen or whatever. And certainly not some laggy streaming service.

Microsoft spent years telling people not to buy an Xbox. So they aren't buying them.

Now they advertise smart watches as an Xbox.....and people still aren't buying an Xbox.

This is a SCARY situation, very much reminds me of Microsoft and the Windows Phone.

Clearing talking about stuff like Silent Hill 2 Remake, Wu Kong, Final Fantasy.

@ALK How would they make any money that way?

Microsoft subsidizes the console hardware and takes a loss because they make up for it by selling software, subscriptions and microtransactions.

They wouldn't earn anything from a Steam 3rd party game sale or microtransaction on the Steam Store. Furthermore, Microsoft charges to play games online, so people would circumvent paying to play by simply playing Steam versions.

There's honestly no way Microsoft earns money that way.

Sorry Satya, you don't get to define what an Xbox fan or gamer is. You can continue to try and twist and destroy the brand with asinine decisions, but I'll always remember the better years and how amazing it was to actually be an Xbox gamer and by Xbox gamer I mean the actual Xbox consoles.

Imagine the Xbox's Microsoft could sell if they kept their exclusives exclusive in 2025?
Avowed
South Of Midnight
Doom
Fable
Outer Worlds 2

People would finally start to take note of Xbox and they'd turn that corner. Instead, PlayStation will get 3 of the 6 published games on day 1. Likely take their 30% cut and buy more PS5 exclusives to keep off Xbox altogether.

Make it make sense!

@TheEstablishment They aren't even close to revenue that Sony makes. What a ridiculous statement.

The problem is that they HAVE A BOX and therefore should either decide to support it fully or get out completely and be a publisher.

Why cheer on Microsoft revenue? I don't know about you, but I'm a fan of the actual Xbox and always have been. I'm also a fan of competition, which is when we get better hardware, software and prices.
Sony literally doing NOTHING and getting away with it because Microsoft isn't a threat.

Also equally as funny that Sony is trying to put Xbox out of business and every first party game they put on PS5, Sony turns around and buys exclusive games to keep off Xbox. Black Myth, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Final Fantasy 16, Silent Hill 2 Remake, KOTOR Remake, Stellar Blade ECT

So, basically Xbox fans get nothing exclusive and Sony buys even more games to keep off Xbox. Real losing proposition to own an Xbox.

Sony is literally trying to put Xbox out of business and Microsoft is helping them do it faster by putting first party games on PlayStation.

It'd be like getting murdered and handing your attacker a gun....

Xbox has no install base to make it worthwhile, and Sony knows it would kill their image and brand.

So, he closed 4 studios and got the name wrong of 1 of the studios he closed. Published more Xbox first party games on PlayStation and Nintendo than Xbox. Did a "one more thing" announcement from Gamescom which was Indiana Jones coming to PS5, delayed Avowed, had the Obsidian head harass and discriminate against people, and yet he's winning awards?

Console gamers aren't interested in Steam Machines or anything like that. Simple plug and play all the way.

Here's the bottom line. We know there's at least 20 million Xbox Series X/S consoles sold, and half are Series X with a disc drive. Why disregard the people who bought a console with a drive?

We can sit there and say "it's the future" all day long, but the bottom line is people who bought a disc drive based Xbox deserve to be catered to.

Pronouns in the game? CHECK!
Studio head confirms game is ultra WOKE? CHECK!

I mean seriously, can we just get back to making games fun and stop the virtue signaling? I refuse to support the deluded game developers of the world who are catering to the less than 1% of people and hating on anyone who doesn't fall in line.

LMAO!
Holidays are here, so let's advertise why you shouldn't buy an actual Xbox...yikes

@BolkaRover So, a rental service is a reason to buy a $600 console in the future? What massive hits are Microsoft releasing every year to make spending $250 a year on Game Pass worthwhile at this time? There's not a single Xbox first party game this year I would have bought....

@Fiendish-Beaver Why would they make it a timed exclusive? It's a multiplayer focused game that they would see benefit from day one launching on PS5 or PS6, same with Halo.

There's going to be zero reason to buy an Xbox next generation.

Who would buy an Xbox if you can play Xbox and PlayStation games on PlayStation? He's not too bright.....

@Titntin They haven't done any good scripts...Did you see the stuff they wrote in Suicide Squad and Forespoken? Sheesh....Not to mention they bullied Compulsion Games to switch the character from white to black or they would tell everyone they were racist.

Wushu Studios was doing the updates and content for State Of Decay 2.@themightyant

It didn't live up to the hype at all.
First of all, it was the game they chose to show off Xbox Series X way back in 2019.
The first Hellblade was made by 15-20 people and took 7-8 hours to complete, had multiple people attack at once and was also quite linear. It got a 60fps upgrade on Xbox One X and Series X.
Hellblade 2 is about a 5-6 hour game, plays incredibly slow and was made by 80 people. I think many of us expected a better game due to more money, time and developers.
This was never going to be a game for the masses, I just hope Ninja Theory goes and makes something more for the majority next time.

@BAMozzy Game Pass isn't free though. It's over $200 a year and will continue to rise. As an Xbox owner, I think they definitely need to offer something to differentiate their console over PlayStation, and a rental service isn't going to do the trick.

Next generation if someone can pick up a PS6 and it'll play all Xbox and PS games, why buy an Xbox that has nothing special on it? And 3rd parties are starting to skip Xbox and take it less seriously due to low install base as it is.

Xbox lacks identity, personally draw the line at Halo, Gears, Forza, Fable, Perfect Dark, State Of Decay ECT
If it's Activision I don't care where it goes, but they did promise Zenimax was about getting exclusives for where Game Pass exists.

Great show that perhaps could have really pushed some Xbox console sales. Immediately followed by a bumbling Phil Spencer saying they're putting more exclusives on PlayStation 5.

I swear it's difficult to like Xbox anymore....

@Gamer_X
Phil Spencer said buying Zenimax was about giving people exclusive games wherever Game Pass exists.
So far, what exclusive games have Xbox owners gotten from this deal? They even took away Hi-Fi Rush, I'm guessing Starfield is next.
Anyone who thinks the next Elder Scrolls, Fallout or Outer Worlds will be exclusive are crazy too. They've owned Obsidian for years now as well, and still 0 exclusives from them as well.

Xbox was a nice console once.....
Pretty much no point to it if they put all their games on PlayStation.

Microsoft NEVER gives any actual info on anything. Growth this and growth that. But with something as seldom used as cloud gaming, any amount would pretty much mean growth...lol

@BacklogBrad How would Microsoft make any money off PC stores on an Xbox?
New 3rd party Steam games are $50 compared to Xbox Store's $70. And Microsoft gets $0 from those sales.

Also, Microsoft makes people pay to play online, but if you bought games through Steam, obviously you're not paying to play that online, so people would skip out of paying Microsoft yet again.
There's no money for Microsoft in allowing these things. They only make money off 3rd party microtransaction, sales ECT off their own stores. Hardware is sold at a loss because they recoup that by subsidizing it to us and make it up in sales on software, subscriptions and microtransaction.

@HonestHick I seriously doubt a casual will spend $200 a year to subscribe to a service to game. Casuals don't even spend $1 on mobile games.
I also double-doubt any casuals will pay $70 or more for a game to stream. Kinda insane if you ask me.

Phil Spencer has killed Xbox, and when I say Xbox I'm talking about the console.
He constantly talks about growing the industry and what's good for the industry, well ya know what's good for the industry? Having 3 consoles selling well.
Developers allowed to make their own visions and not have to work on Call Of Duty nonstop. Rewarding great games like Hi-Fi Rush.
Not having every developer worried that they didn't meet some weird metric none of us knows about!

Why on earth would they go the handheld route? Nintendo has that absolutely locked down with Switch and upcoming Switch 2.

Steam Deck has only sold around 3 million units in the years on the market. Asus Rog has only sold 500k units. So why leave the console space to chase a space even more dominated?

If it's not a traditional console I'll have to pass. And would be the first time I've ever not bought an Xbox.

@NEStalgia PlayStation doesn't confuse their gamers. If they randomly started putting their exclusives on Xbox and Nintendo I'm sure you'd start seeing the massive drop that Xbox has recently.

My point was Microsoft's plan makes zero sense. They own so many multiplatform games as it is, why did these other games have to go elsewhere to keep the lights on?
COD
Warzone
COD mobile
Minecraft
WOW
Candy Crush
Fallout 76
Elder Scrolls Online
Overwatch

It's a slap in the face as far as I'm concerned. Xbox needs reasons to stay relevant so people will buy one. Even if profits are up, obviously profits on console hardware is not up. How long will they take a loss? And then how long with our digital libraries be available? Guessing not long.

@TheLastHarbinger
4 old niche games?
Hi-Fi Rush released a year ago.
The entire Xbox first party lineup of 2022 is on PlayStation.
As Dusk Falls
Pentiment
Grounded
That's not doom and gloom, it's factually disappointing.
These games are running better on PS5. Sea Of Thieves has PS5 exclusive in game content (Which Phil Spencer supposedly said he'd never do?)
If people think they can wait and play Xbox games on PlayStation, where's that leave Xbox?

I mean in July of 2023 we saw Xbox Series consoles at 21 million combined, so figure around 23-24 million currently. That's not great. People act like Microsoft will take losses forever on those things.

@NEStalgia The game industry always has up's and down's but currently is bigger than movie, TV and music industry combined. PlayStation brand is also making more money than Xbox, and I'm the farthest thing from a fan of PS.
Microsoft is losing Game Pass subs and sales of Xbox consoles are at rock bottom. Gamers are confused because they're not sure what's staying on Xbox and what's not.
The 2 consoles with firm exclusives (Switch and PS5) don't have these perception problems. We know God Of War isn't coming to Xbox and we know Zelda isn't coming to Xbox. While there's not a single Xbox game that I'd bet money on staying exclusive at this point.

@NEStalgia Steam Deck is at 3.2 million sold in the years it has been on the market. Rog has 500k sold.
This whole ecosystem thing is a sham because Xbox is selling poorly. Phil Spencer spent 100 billion on becoming a 3rd party platform. It's only going to get worse because people will assume every game is going to PlayStation.

We already see Xbox "games" playing best on PS5. They are hurting the perception of Xbox itself. Xbox will never be a game on PlayStation imo

@BAMozzy Listen, if Game Pass were so great people would be buying Xbox's and buying Game Pass.
Game Pass was at 25 million and Xbox Live Gold was at 12 million. They switched it to Core and added it to Game Pass which should have been 37 million, but it's only 34 million. Which means they've lost millions of subscribers.

I don't think the avg person cares about playing Xbox on a phone or app, which is why they gave away rights to stream their games in the EU to Ubisoft.
Anyone could have spent 100 billion dollars and turned 3rd party to make profit.

@NEStalgia Their brand "Xbox" doesn't mean console to them anymore.
It's an app and anywhere someone is playing an "Xbox" game. To me, that's not Xbox. I would have rather seen Microsoft compete and push the console. Having 3 healthy consoles selling well in the industry could do wonders.
Xbox is confusing to even casuals because no one knows if or when an Xbox game is going to PlayStation.

Next gen would be a real wash for them if they port anymore games to PS. I can see a situation where Xbox sells worse than a Wii U.