No other brand has come to define modern video gaming like Xbox has. Microsoft consoles tend to be more powerful than their PlayStation counterparts and have long been associated with hardcore gaming thanks to Xbox’s flagship franchise, Halo. However, even though Xbox has been a major player in the gaming industry for over twenty years, its days appear to be numbered.
The 2020s have been a difficult decade for the gaming industry, with many companies being downsized or sold off. Nowhere is that air of malaise more apparent than with the Xbox brand, which seems to have been hit harder than PlayStation or Nintendo. Now, major stores like Costco are no longer carrying Xbox products, and rumors are swirling that Microsoft plans to exit the console business entirely.
Microsoft Has Made Major Missteps With Xbox
From 2005 to about 2015, the Xbox brand was going through a golden period. The Xbox 360 was hugely successful and offered tons of great games, including the many amazing titles that were available via Xbox Live. Sadly, Xbox has never been able to match those glory days, and both of the 360’s successors struggled to gain traction.
When Microsoft showed off the Xbox One in 2013, it tried to promote it as an all-in-one multimedia platform rather than a gaming console, which proved to be a monumental misstep. Other mistakes, like early controversies involving the Kinect and online-only requirements, got Microsoft’s third console off to a rocky start, and it’s struggled to gain back the ground it lost in the years since then.
The current generation, the Xbox Series consoles, haven’t fared much better. Microsoft opted to offer two different consoles: the larger and more powerful disc-based Xbox Series X, and the smaller, digital-only Xbox Series S. While hardcore gamers understood the differences between the two platforms, it seems to have left general audiences confused, and Xbox sales have lagged as a result.
It doesn’t help that Microsoft appears to be repeating some of Sega’s biggest mistakes. While PlayStation and Nintendo continue to offer high-profile exclusives, Xbox doesn’t have many first-party games to draw in players. Virtually every Xbox game is available on PC, and one-time Xbox exclusives like Forza can now be played on PlayStation.
When Microsoft introduced the Xbox in 2001, its competitors, Nintendo and Sony, were better established, which left the company playing catch-up. While the brand gained tremendous ground during the Xbox 360 days, virtually all that ground has been lost, and now, Microsoft is floundering. Recent reports say that the PlayStation 5 is outselling the Xbox Series consoles by 3-1, putting it firmly in last place in the console wars.
To make things worse, it seems like Microsoft is losing its grip on PC gaming. Apple has made strides towards optimizing its macOS operating system for gaming in recent years, and the success of Valve’s Steam Deck, a handheld computer that can play most titles sold on the Steam storefront, is encouraging many gamers to play titles via the Linux-based SteamOS. Not only is Microsoft struggling from a hardware standpoint, but the company is being threatened on the software front as well.
Xbox Game Pass Is Turning Into a Big Bust
One of the only lifelines for the Xbox brand was Game Pass, a subscription service that offered access to a large selection of games. It was essentially gaming’s version of Netflix and allowed players to try out a wide variety of games in exchange for a monthly fee. Many high-profile titles, including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Hollow Knight: Silksong, were released on Game Pass on Day One, leading many to describe it as the best deal in gaming.
Unfortunately, Game Pass is no longer the Xbox brand’s saving grace. Microsoft once promised not to raise Game Pass prices, but the company recently went back on its word, doubling the price of a Game Pass Ultimate subscription. To make matters worse, Microsoft also removed popular Game Pass features, such as a discount on games and DLC.
After the announcement, gamers rushed to cancel their Game Pass subscriptions, and the surge in cancellations was so intense that it caused the cancellation page to crash. Microsoft responded to the backlash by saying that it planned to add more value to Game Pass plans, but without a price drop, it’s unlikely that the company will manage to win former subscribers back.
Gamers aren’t the only ones who are outraged. Even people affiliated with the brand have spoken out against Microsoft’s recent decisions. Laura Fryer, the co-founder of Xbox, went so far as to describe the move as a betrayal, saying, “Xbox threw away one of their last advantages. I recognize that this Xbox console generation isn’t over yet, but it’s almost certainly going to be remembered first and foremost for Microsoft’s greed.”
ROG Xbox Ally Is Microsoft’s Only Hope
Every major gaming company has made decisions that were poorly received, but it’s starting to look like Xbox’s days in the industry might genuinely be coming to a close. Costco has confirmed that it is no longer carrying Xbox consoles and games, and other retailers, like Target and Walmart, are rumored to be following in its footsteps. There are even reports that Microsoft is liquidating hardware and has scrapped plans for a future Xbox console.
Right now, it appears that there’s only one way for Microsoft to potentially salvage its tarnished reputation: the ROG Xbox Ally. A collaboration between Microsoft and Asus, the device is being positioned as the first Xbox handheld. The success of the Nintendo Switch and the Steam Deck has proved that there’s a strong demand for handheld game devices, and the Ally could help win back some lapsed Xbox fans.
That said, the new system might be too little too late. While reviews for the ROG Xbox Ally have been fairly positive, it’s being sold at a much higher price point than the Steam Deck. Prices for the Ally start at $599, significantly higher than the Steam Deck’s base price of $399. On top of that, the more powerful version of the handheld, the Ally X, is a whopping $999, putting it firmly out of the price range of many gamers.
At this point, it seems like Xbox is poised to follow in Sega’s footsteps and exit the gaming hardware scene entirely. It’s likely that Microsoft will continue to develop games for PCs and other platforms, but it’s possible that the company may choose to sell off some of its IPs in an attempt to recover from its recent losses. With Microsoft owning everything from Bethesda to Activision to Rare, the fall of Xbox could shake up gaming in a big way.
Beyond that, losing Xbox means losing competition. In the 90s, Nintendo fiercely competed against Sega, and the debut of Sony’s PlayStation heated up the console wars all the more. After Sega stopped producing consoles, Xbox stepped up to fill its shoes and has gone head-to-head with Sony. If the era of Xbox is truly at an end, the industry will be far less competitive than it once was, and that could have lasting repercussions for gamers.
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