This current generation remains to be the most questionable for the state of console gaming. While platforms like Nintendo continue to thrive, competitors appear to be grasping at straws to break even. For the sake of Xbox especially, many were convinced via unconfirmed sources that the platform would be giving up its IPs entirely. However, beyond the initial four, there are no plans to branch out says Xbox boss Phil Spencer.
Additionally, the decisions Microsoft pursued for the gaming initiative is to blame. In one aspect, Xbox Cloud Gaming can be blamed. According to one internal document, the initiative was platformed in favor of the Xbox Series X|S SKUs as resources were used for cloud. Even more, the further Xbox Game Pass push has hurt studios. One report tells that the subscription ‘cannibalizes’ games with no proper support outside of the business model.
From gamesindustry.biz, head Chris Dring from his recent excursion to GDC this month reveals that many firms are questioning whether to continue backing the platform. You can watch the segment of the show in the video below:
“You can follow our monthly coverage in the games market and you can see that Xbox sales are falling, and it’s been falling all throughout last year and it’s falling even harder this year,” Dring states. “The other thing I heard—I heard it from a very prominent company and one not so prominent—was Xbox’s performance in Europe is just flatlining.”
One of the biggest concerns was the skyfall in support for Xbox physically in recent reports this year. Now, general focus on the game system is in jeopardy according to teams that spoke with Dring. “The phrase one major company who released a big game last year said [was], ‘I don’t know why we bothered supporting it’.”
He continued: ”We mentioned on a previous podcast that we’d heard retailers in Europe are considering or had already been cutting back their Xbox stock on their shelves—hardware, games, that kind of thing—and now you’ve got third-party publishers going, ‘we’re putting in a lot of effort trying to create a Series S version and an X version of a game when, to be honest with you, for us the market is PC and PS5’.”
What are your thoughts on the state Xbox is heading from these reports?
