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Chris Dring at GDC: Xbox sales flatlining in Europe, majority of Xbox games coming to PS5 at some point, MS putting less focus on GamePass

XBOX's best days are behind them. The 360 era was peak XBOX for Microsoft. Then they had that horrible PR disaster that was the XBOX ONE reveal event back in 2013 that they've never been able to fully recover from. They're still paying for their mistakes more than a decade after. Going third party makes sense now.

If you're a consumer and you're going to buy a video game console, there's no reason to buy an XBOX. You're either going to go with PlayStation or Nintendo, that's what MOST people have in their households.
 
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Topher

Identifies as young
We will revisit this thread in about 11 weeks or so

"wait for E3"

Trying Not To Laugh Rooster Teeth GIF by Achievement Hunter
 

Luigi Mario

Member
The fact that he specified that it was a company that "launched a major game last year" makes me think it was Warner Bros. Here were the sales numbers for Hogwarts Legacy in France:

PS5 - 558,668
PS4 - 208,508
Switch - 206,870
PC - 186,949
Xbox One + Xbox Series combined - 173,376
Could it be Capcom?
I remember RE4R sales splits looking pretty awful in the UK and considering that most of Dring’s contacts are probably from there it would line up.
 

baphomet

Member
XBOX's best days are behind them. The 360 era was peak XBOX for Microsoft. Then they had that horrible PR disaster that was the XBOX ONE reveal event back in 2013 that they've never been able to fully recover from. They're still paying for their mistakes more than a decade after. Going third party makes sense now.

If you're a consumer and you're going to buy a video game console, there's no reason to buy an XBOX. You're either going to go with PlayStation or Nintendo, that's what MOST people have in their households.

The second half of the 360 gen was their downfall. Vastly overinflated sales numbers since nearly everyone had to purchase at least 2 consoles when their first one failed. Some purchasing far more than that. Then Kinect and completely forgetting about making core games that people wanted.

That continued straight into the Xbox One.
 

Wulfer

Member
1. Fire Phil
2. Single SKU going foreard
3. All 1st party games available on GP but not at launch
4. No more games on PS5, Switch and PC unless it’s an indie game - you want to play ESVI, you buy an Xbox

Satya, call me anytime.
Yep that's how you fix it!

Not sure about firing Phil but, a direction change is needed. Phil can speak it but, Xbox and the brand gotta back those words! PHil's magic has been getting studios to agree to join MS. However, he hasn't done much more to grow the brand. Xbox One messaging was so bad its been a hard road back to this point. Should MS throw in the towel? No, because that's the easy way out. MS will likely get to sell its games on PS and other brands. Question is will that be enough? Sony would in fact control the hardware MS would in fact control a great bit of the software. Reminds me of a certain Nintendo/Sony team up that didn't work out. Maybe this time will be different but, I doubt it!
 
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Radical_3d

Member
I think that was just one month (April 2022 or 2023 or something). It's much closer now, I think Series X is selling more than S these days.
That was lifetime sales until 2022 in the papers that MS uploaded. Even if that have changed the needle can only move so much.
 

Crayon

Member
I agree with this in spirity, but to test the waters again I built my first "dedicated" gaming PC a couple of weeks ago, just to see how I like it hooked to the TV. In the past, it's lack of plug and play drove me nuts, time to try it again. First question I have to tackle is can I wake it from sleep with a controller without a ton of effort........

giphy.gif
 

fallingdove

Member
With the exception of the RROD, I don't see any major issues with reliability with these consoles.
The kinect wasn't good hardware — it
chased the Wii’s success with poor software and distracted the business with gimmicks as opposed to developing a strong library of core products.

The Xbox One wasn't good hardware — it sacrificed power to include a peripheral nobody wanted.

The Series S has hampered the Series X and has added unnecessary optimization cycles to the console development process. Not good hardware.

I fail to see how the Xbox is superior in the hardware space when they have set records for unreliability, are routinely underpowered, and were easily persuaded by fleeting trends — quickly abandoning their core fanbase.
 
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It's almost like they wouldn't shut up about putting their games on competing hardware even before they unleashed the four horsemen and it has made people think they should consider a PS instead. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

They have a great sounding lineup coming this year. They should focus on promoting that as much as they can. They have the games at a time when the rest of the market is looking a little dry.

Seriously though, the slowdown could also be due to the holiday sales since interested users may have bought then instead, or due to limit supplies if the disk-less model is launching this year.
 
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Yep that's how you fix it!
That really is all they needed to do but managed to do the exact opposite under Phil. All that money and all those studios and they STILL couldn’t or wouldn’t do what they needed to succeed. Phil destroyed xbox and could care less. He is an absolute piece of shit. Ashamed what Xbox has been reduced to under his abysmal leadership. Downright embarrassing putting their games on the direct competition that has been outclassing them for so long……..unreal but happening under Phil.
 
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Tsaki

Member
Is this a real quote?
Yep, from a major publisher that released a major game last year. My guess would be Capcom (Street Fighter 6/RE4) or EA (Jedi Survivor). Don't think it's WB since it sold well enough everywhere.
 

Taycan77

Neophyte
We can all have our fun and chat about this hobby - even take sides like a sports team.

But can we take a moment to lament how ******* delusion the last remaining hardcore Xbox fans have become. We're well past the point of reasoned discussion - it's full-on conspiratorial ******** to explain away what's happening in the market. Seasoned industry veterans are spelling out just how awful the situation has become for Xbox - the only ones still pushing back are the paid-up shills like Jez Corden.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Wireless keyboard probably, but gaming controllers are not that well integrated into Windows OS.

I have one for setup, was hoping to ditch it for day to day though. Once I have steam big screen set to autoboot at least that should boot up.
 

Klayzer

Member
We can all have our fun and chat about this hobby - even take sides like a sports team.

But can we take a moment to lament how ******* delusion the last remaining hardcore Xbox fans have become. We're well past the point of reasoned discussion - it's full-on conspiratorial ******** to explain away what's happening in the market. Seasoned industry veterans are spelling out just how awful the situation has become for Xbox - the only ones still pushing back are the paid-up shills like Jez Corden.
Fucking preach.
3IekylB.gif
 

Iced Arcade

Member
Huh? That's gameindustry.biz. Ain't some random nobody my man.
Oh yeah? Shittt maybe they should hire help cause 3k subscribers is lower than the kid down the street who posts flossing videos 💁

My bad lol


Anyway...not wrong, Phil shit the bed and spent most of his energy BSing and saying "we hear you"
 
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K' Dash

Member
We can all have our fun and chat about this hobby - even take sides like a sports team.

But can we take a moment to lament how ******* delusion the last remaining hardcore Xbox fans have become. We're well past the point of reasoned discussion - it's full-on conspiratorial ******** to explain away what's happening in the market. Seasoned industry veterans are spelling out just how awful the situation has become for Xbox - the only ones still pushing back are the paid-up shills like Jez Corden.

They downfall of Xbox has a name and started the day they presented the Xbox One to the world, even if they finished third with the 360, they had the games and the brand awareness to give Sony a fair fight again and they fucked it up, there's no coming back from that.
 

Crayon

Member
If by unchecked you mean, no PC, Nintendo or portables exist, then yeah, Sony is left "unchecked"

I shudder to think, what type of fuckery Microsoft would drop on the industry, if they were the market leaders.

Answer will be: Dur, dur, DURECT competition.
 
This news isn't surprising to anyone that's being paying attention to sales trends for both hardware and software the past couple of years. The numbers for Xbox have been looking disastrous for years now, and some people kept hand-waving the terrible numbers, and telling us that developers and publishers were okay with the bad Xbox software and hardware numbers. Telling us that GamePass was all that was needed and as long as GamePass was successful Xbox would be successful regardless of how bad the hardware and software numbers looked. People thought MS had infinite money, and infinite patience to keep subsidizing Xbox through GamePass and buying out publishers. Now with Microsoft's own games going to Playstation and Switch, it's now abundantly clear that even MS themselves need alternatives to recoup money from floundering Xbox software/hardware sales. If Xbox sales aren't enough for MS themselves to make money off the platform why do people think third party will be okay to stick around with tanking software/hardware sales on Xbox?

This news shouldn't shock anyone. Microsoft trained the Xbox fanbase to shun buying games and instead subscribe to GamePass. I know a lot of people on Xbox that haven't bought a single game outright for Xbox in years. On top of that, MS made things worse by telling people they don't need to own an Xbox to play Xbox games day one. The messaging for years has been that MS doesn't care whether you buy their games or their consoles as long as you subscribe to GamePass. That wouldn't be a problem if GamePass was this wildly successful subscription service but unfortunately for MS it isn't. MS has been jumping from one mistake to the other since the Xbox One reveal in 2013. Their too many mistakes over the years and mixed messaging have finally caught up with them. The brand is very damaged and I don't think they can overcome their problems this time. The Xbox Series consoles will be the last traditional consoles we see from MS. I think the rumors of them going a hybrid route next gen are true. Problem with that though is that they risk going head to head with Nintendo, a company that's even more dominant and aggressive in the handheld/hybrid space than Sony is in the console arena.
 

K' Dash

Member
If by unchecked you mean, no PC, Nintendo or portables exist, then yeah, Sony is left "unchecked"

I shudder to think, what type of fuckery Microsoft would drop on the industry, if they were the market leaders.

you're delusional if you think Sony wouldn't drop some stupid shit, they actually have been making really stupid decisions.

Also, you know Nintendo is not playing the same game as Sony, neither is PC.
 
you're delusional if you think Sony wouldn't drop some stupid shit, they actually have been making really stupid decisions.

Also, you know Nintendo is not playing the same game as Sony, neither is PC.
isn't this ironic that Sony's stupidity made for Xbox better years?

so, if Sony is unchecked then they will make stupid decision for competition to spank them.

So, unchecked Sony is a win-win scenario.
 
The platform is burning, it's obvious at this point that even with MS cutting big checks it's getting increasingly untenable to spend the time and resources to make an Xbox version. MS trained Xbox gamers, what few there are, to not buy games and only "wait for Gamepass" so of course developers don't want to deal with that on the platform which is also the one with the smallest install base and only in 1 country. The developers can sell to the entire planet on PS5 and Switch, but they are limited to only the US on Xbox, and most of those gamers don't even buy games.

The amazing thing is MS did this to themselves, by focusing on subscribing to games instead of buying them and acquiring studios instead of developing titles and adding value to the industry. And we are now looking at the Windows Phone Ending for Xbox. RIP in Pieces, no one will miss you except like 6 really vocal people on Twatter who still claim to love Windows Phone to this very day.

No developer wants to develop a game for Xbox when sales numbers look like this:
bhu3GY2.png
 
PCs can do that without even paying for online.
What is your problem? What are you trying to prove? That an experience on a 2500.00$ machine is better than a 500.00$ console? We already know this. No need to self insert your pc master race ideoligies into every conversation when it console to gaming. This is an "A & B" conversation between Xbox and curious Playstation console gamers. So you can "C" yourself out and go jerk off to your donut glazed KB&M.


jack off please GIF



Tv Show Smile GIF by Ash vs Evil Dead
 
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Mr Moose

Member
Like what? Also smaller games isn’t what the article mentions.
There was a smaller game cancelled recently, there was a thread on here about it. I think there was another a few weeks back too.
Bigger games? Not yet but maybe in the future.
S SneakersSO also mentioned it would happen weeks ago.


"Europe and Japan are small and irrelevant markets, only the United States matters"

What does that say about it being Xbox' 2nd biggest market?
 
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lol nonsense. Sales split show 15-20% sales go to Xbox. 55-60% go to PS5 and the rest of the 15-20% go to PC in UK. So if they stop portin games Xbox, might as well stop shipping games on PC.

20% might sound low but sometimes it comes down to whether or not you are profitable. So if they skip Xbox, they better hope to make that up on PS5 and PC. And good luck with that.

MS just needs to kill gamepass because they have trained their users to not buy games and wait for them to show up on gamepass. Xbox userbase always used to spend more per user than the PS userbase up until the X1 era. It was only after gamepass did we start to see lower spending on the box. Kill gamepass and you will see people spend more.
I hope that you are aware that UK is not exactly the perfect representant for Europe. In reality, is the only nation in Europe were XBox sale have been somewhat significant. On the contrary, PC sale percentage are smaller than, for example, Germany or most of East Europe, where PC gaming is more diffused that console gaming. Between your split numbers don't work : if XBox and PC are at 15-20%, PS cannot be at 55-60%, but must be 60-70 %
 

Jimmy_liv

Member
I am not planing on supporting Sony though for various reasons. I will stick with MS as they have always been the only relevant company in terms of good hardware (lol @ Nintendo), so MS better turn this shit around. Otherwise it will be Nintendo and retro consoles, which honestly is largely enough considering the free time I have available anyway...
This always makes me life 'supporting Sony' or 'supporting xbox'....seriously...the only decision here is how you facilitate playing games. That's the only decision that matters, not if you do or don't support billion dollar companies!

Blows my mind how people thing in any other way outside - what games do I want to play.

I don't actually like Sony, and Nintendo mKe some very strange decisions but I like their games as much as anyone's.
 

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
So what if I told you they were likely going to ramp up Gamepass, investing more into it

Not sure if there is another tier coming, sounds like possibly

Fairly Oddparents Burn GIF
Well, I guess they aren't quite that stupid then. But, as you imply with the gif, that's no good either.
They're subscription numbers have hit a brick wall, and their game quality and production values are sinking. No matter which way, they take, they've set themselves up for failure.
 

DavidGzz

Gold Member
"We're putting a lot of effort into creating an Xbox Series S/X version of a game where to be honest with you the market for us is PC and PS5."
Below is a photo of said executive getting interviewed by Dring.

eJjIiYc.png

Damn, I didn't know Phil was 7 foot tall to be able to hold a fat ass PS5 under his arm like that. Gigidychad, hnnnnnnng
 

Woopah

Member
Are still there dreamers that think it’s a 5-games and done deal?

It’s obvious more are coming soon
I don't know how soon it will be, but I do expect more games in the future.
It'll be really interesting to see what happens with the Switch 2.

I think Nintendo has an opportunity to really capture significant market share again if the system is powerful enough. If Switch 2 is a hybrid, I think they'll be hard pressed to compete with the PS5 head to head, certainly not the PS5 Pro.

Sony is in a really unique situation and if they produce a handheld that plays the same skus, that's a big boon for developers but Sony as well.

I think that is where we see some potential growth. I think at this point Microsoft's presence in the industry is probably a distraction more than anything.
I think it would be foolish of Nintendo to take on Sony with a product that is pretty similar, just with worse graphics and online.

I'm predicting that Switch 2 will still be a hybrid, but with raw power of a PS4 but with more modern architecture.

This would allow it to retain the flexibility and strong first party output that made Switch a success, but also give it better third party support with ganes that look "good enough".

That wouod help Nintendo be more competitive in key markets like Europe, even though PS5 (and then PS6) would also sell very well.
 
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Mr.Phoenix

Member
What is your problem? What are you trying to prove? That an experience on a 2500.00$ machine is better than a 500.00$ console? We already know this. No need to self insert your pc master race ideoligies into every conversation when it console to gaming. This is an "A & B" conversation between Xbox and curious Playstation console gamers. So you can "C" yourself out and go jerk off to your donut glazed KB&M.


jack off please GIF



Tv Show Smile GIF by Ash vs Evil Dead
Like that annoying kid in the front of the class, that is always putting up his hands and screaming me! em! me! me! Thats how I see anyone saying get a PC in a console thread.


on another note... I have been saying this...

"This is why I do not trust MS".

And people focusing on the demise of the platform, are not even seeing what I was worried about. This was going to happen, everything MS touches has a way of turning to this. What I was worried about with regard to all those acquisitions they were making, is that to me, I feel MS/Xbox is going to kill every single one of those IPs.

I dont know how anyone having looked at the history of Xbox over the last two decades thought it was a good idea them buying up established publishers and their IPs. Thats like being excited that EA just acquired Tomb Raider IP.
 

Ashamam

Member
I dont know how anyone having looked at the history of Xbox over the last two decades thought it was a good idea them buying up established publishers and their IPs. Thats like being excited that EA just acquired Tomb Raider IP.
Oh thats easy, they didn't look at the history. Get the games for free on GP, thats as far as it got in a lot of peoples heads. I mean its attractive if you don't think past your own personal benefit.
 

onQ123

Member
Kind of a double edged sword though. Most people are content with their dealer. Offering a handheld that doesn't include Steam support would probably be a death sentence. If it supports Steam and Xbox/Game Pass PC, that would be optimal. But then it wouldn't be any different than existing Windows handhelds and would really need to do something to differentiate itself from everyone else. And given that they're just in the prototype stage, they're years away from any potential release. That's years for existing players to refine their existing products. The handheld market when/if Microsoft launches one will look nothing like the handheld market they're looking at today.
They are probably planning something like S-Mode on the handhelds so you would actually have to go out of your way to unlock the device to use Steam but it's there as an option .
 
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Hestar69

Member
Both of these points were repeatedly destroyed in the last massive rumor thread before the announcement of certain games going to other platforms.

That "34 million subs" figure includes the newly converted "Game Pass Core" customers. In the major leak of FTC documentation, as of April 2022, Microsoft had 21.9M Game Pass subscribers and 11.7M Xbox Live Gold subscribers -- 33.6 million total, combined, not including PC Game Pass. This year they're bragging about having 34 million "total Game Pass" subscribers, including PC Game Pass. That isn't an increase in subscribers.

As for the second quote, no, I don't think they bought Activision to go third party but as soon as they realized they weren't going to be able to magically turn all of the properties into exclusives without causing an anti-trust shitstorm they discovered they could make a fuckton more money by keeping the games multiplatform. Which likely made shareholders question why they were keeping other games exclusive when they could make a lot more money by selling those games on other platforms with larger install bases.

Xbox as a hardware brand is in its death throes. Game Pass is stagnant. Their entire brand has conditioned people to spend as little money as possible on a hobby that is highly expensive to develop for.
Sure jan.gif with the aloy avatar :messenger_tears_of_joy:

34 million is stagnant. you might..you know what never mind,your obviously a fanboy.
 
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