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I wrote a while ago thatwith Microsoft distracted, the Xbox console experience is suffering.
Increasingly, we’ve seen Microsoft put its emphasis on practically everything except console.
Xbox has worked incredibly hard over the years to curate a community around its brand.
This time feels different.
With the emphasis on growth, do today’s Xbox players still matter to Microsoft?
When you zoom out, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic for Xbox’s console future.
Xbox has worked incredibly hard over the years to curate a community around its brand.
There’s the promise of bringing Activision-Blizzard games to Xbox Game Pass.
A recent interview between Xbox lead Phil Spencer and Polygon seemed to just complicate matters.
In theinterview(you should definitely read), Spencer projected his trademark frankness and honesty.
However, he also discusses some of the industry’s biggest pain points.
You should make absolutely no mistake that Xbox’s competitors are having exactly the same conversations outlined within it.
They are doing so behind closed doors, however, rather than outwardly to press.
We don’t have an explanation as to why these games were chosen and not, say,Halo.
In a perfect world, this wouldn’t be a problem at all.
In a perfect world, platforms would compete entirely on their merits, and content wouldn’t be gatekept.
But we do not yet live in this world, and we may never live in this world.
Perhaps then, it will even expand the “experiment” to Halo and Forza themselves.
How would Microsoft explain that to the press?
Sea of Thieves set sail for new waters on PlayStation 5 this month, opening the doors to potentially millions of new players.
How would Xbox explain against it to CFOs Tim Stuart or Amy Hood?
How would Microsoft explain that to its own developers and teams, which have their own targets to hit?
Those targets would be a lot easier to hit without platform exclusivity holding them back.
Xbox heads Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty discuss the future of Xbox during the “Xbox Business Update” podcast.
What are the red lines, if there are any?
It doesn’t sound like there is right now.
And I’ve written this before, but perhaps none of this matters.
Devices like the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally are lining up to disrupt the traditional console gaming model.
Why buy an Xbox that only has Xbox games when a PlayStation has PlayStation and Xbox games?
In the Polygoninterview, Phil Spencer discusses real-world dilemmas that console manufacturers are facing today.
The demand for silicon is making it hard to reduce costs in console hardware.
Microsoft is almost certainly working on its own Xbox handheld, but will it just run Windows, or will I have access to my actual Xbox games on it?
Spencer talks about finding the next generation of gamers and aligning them with their habits.
To that end, Spencer discusses how these cohorts grew up in a gaming world without barriers.
“New players are great, but what about us?
Xbox is changing. Will they leave us behind?
“Spencer continues, but again … what about … you know,us?
The people who are paying you right now to build a great console platform.
What’s Xbox doing today to make the platform they have right now more attractive?
The passing of E3 and its live show extravaganzas could represent an inflection point for an industry that is morphing into something less recognizable for today’s aging core gamers. Will we be left behind, or brought along for the ride?
Perhaps adding Steam would, given the many thousands of PC-exclusive games it has there.
“But PlayStation PC games would be on Xbox!
How does this impact me as a customer who relies on developers making Xbox versions of games?
I’m already without Monster Hunter Stories on Xbox because Capcom didn’t think it was worth the port.
Maybe I can get Monster Hunter Stories on Xbox via the Steam version of Xbox, then.
But willanydevelopers think making Xbox versions of games is worth it at that point without theXbox Game Passinvestment?
Doesn’t that again just lead to a Steam Deck by Microsoft scenario?
Stupid me for believing Xbox was in it for the long haul, huh?
Etcetera, and so on,blah blah blah.So many questions, so much confusion.
I ask myself how much of it is cynicism on my part.
Perhaps PlayStation wouldn’t pull its games from the Xbox version of Steam.
Maybe that’s just the way everything is going.
All formed of open platforms, with storefronts at the forefront, services at the edifice.
I would love to see a thorough explanation of how that works.
I can see how it potentially helps PlayStation or Steam, and that’s great for those users.
But will it come at the Xbox console platform’s expense?
I, and many others I speak to, wonder if our investment will be the trade-off.
But perhaps the truth is that games themselves are the platform now.
The old way of thinking, perhaps, simply doesn’t work.
However, it often doesn’t go far enough, leaving more questions than answers in its wake.
There are still games skipping the Xbox platform arbitrarily, although the situation has improved.
Xbox the publisher, or Xbox the console platform, or Xbox the Microsoft revenue stream?
As I noted in the opening, not every Xbox community is on the doom train.
I am not claiming to speak for everyone.
Not every individual is a glass-half-empty kind of person.
I often am, but there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the Xbox platform in general.
Activision-Blizzard’s back catalog is coming to Xbox Game Pass, probably sooner than you might think.
I know that Microsoft is prototyping Xbox handheld hardware so we can take our libraries beyond the living room.
But it shouldn’t need to fall to rumors or teases to find that optimism.
I find this particularly true in an era where our digital purchases are permanently locked to these platforms.
Every dollar I drop into Xbox is there forever.
I can’t take it out.
How much are these “experiments” stressing the Xbox brand?
How much are other platforms discussing similar “experiments” behind closed doors?
I don’t want Xbox to stop talking about the future of the business as a whole.
It’s incredibly insightful.
But if they’re going to do that, there needs to be even more openness and clarity.
I want them to also talk about what is being done for Xbox’s current customers today.
Tell us how these strategies will be used to improve Xbox overall, beyond just finding new verticals.
I do feel like I’m asking for a lot here.
I know Xbox is working hard for today’s customers behind the scenes.
Microsoft is bigger than ever before and more complicated than ever before.
Xbox is more than just a “platform” to me and millions of others, though.
Because of that digital lock-in, there’s a responsibility to account for there.
I started athread on Twitter (X) showcasing some of the ways Xbox and gaming has helped people.
Give us a roadmap for major updates coming to the Xbox platform.
How will Xbox Game Pass integrate the vast operations of Activision-Blizzard?
Give us new platform features and improve the current ones, like Xbox achievements.
Don’t just tell us to trust the process; explainwhywe should.
What’s the plan?
For what it’s worth, I’m still optimistic.
But I understand why some people are not.
Xbox has more challenges than ever before, but it has more opportunities, too.
Yes, I am paraphrasing Padme.
