NeoGAF - is Xbox dead?

Is Xbox dead?

  • Yes, as of today

  • Yes, as of when they announced their multiplatform plans

  • Yes, as of the first major round of layoffs/closures (Tango etc.)

  • Yes, as of when they announced all their games would hit PC day one

  • Yes, as of the Xbox One reveal

  • No, they are not dead yet, but they are headed there in a few months

  • No, they are not dead yet, but they are headed there in a few years

  • No, they are not dead yet, but they are headed there with their new hardware

  • No, and they won't be


Results are only viewable after voting.
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They messed it up but I don't think it's completely dead. They definitely have shitty mindshare among consumers despite 99.99% of all games being identical between the platforms. That seems more like a marketing issue to me and not just because Sony has ~20 exclusives while there's thousands of other games to play.

I've no idea if they'll ever turn it around though. The fact that they're still nickle-and-diming for online play and proprietary accessories when they're so obviously the underdog is just bizarre to me. Nevermind that treasure trough of IP and developers they've been pigging out on.
 
You cannot tell me that this isn't down to bad management before anything else. Over 10 years time, huge loads of investment money and thousands of highly skilled employees and what have they got to show for it? If it was just one studio, or a team they were trying to build from scratch all by themselves. But they're running everything into the ground, they have the reverse midas touch. Everything they start to manage turns to shit. And the best thing is, management never has to take responsibility for it. They're still padding themselves on the back. I don't understand how shareholders are still patient with them. Sadface Nutella should be gone by now, too.
 
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This killed Xbox:


Everything after that is just it's extremely slow and dragged out death.


Funny think is the Xbox One reveal showed what Xbox was meant to be all along, it was the culmination of 15 years work.

Get Windows and Microsoft services onto the TV

People rejected it, and Microsoft were left wondering what to do with Xbox.
 
Dead? Sega wasnt dead before they left the console business.
If Xbox wasnt with MS then they wouldnt stick around or have the money to operate past Xbox One.

MS is just overstaying there welcome. Their console business is not gonna get better, its gonna get worse, so in that regard they are dead.
They are better off just hurrying up and saying they are Publisher only, zipping their mouths and work on game or give those IPs to people who can make use of it
 
If the next Xbox is a small form factor Steambox/Game Pass machine. It isn't dead for me. I game on the go, mostly, so portability is huge. When I don't feel like lugging it around, the ROG will be my go to.

I still think people underestimate a console that can play PC games too. I don't see the excitement here, but I do on Facebook and other sites. It comes down to how it is implemented, but if MS can pull off a simple UI that allows Steam as well as Xbox/Game Pass on a convenient set top box, that's big imo.
 
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Xbox hardware is dying. Microsoft Gaming is not.

Well....seriously, who the fuck knows when a company lays off 15k people when it is raking in record profits and is the richest company in the world?

jon stewart smh GIF
 
Why continue with console gaming? What has changed? You have been able to play PC games for decades (I have). You have been able to play portable PC games since laptops were invented (guilty). You have been able to play handheld PC games for years now (recent convert). You have been able to aggregate gaming libraries for years now on PC (I don't bother). Continue on consoles if you like console gaming for the same reason it has always been.

I play on consoles and PC. Nothing has changed for me other than how I might approach my next PC build and which OS I choose.

For the record your honor. 😜

I advocate for people to make their own choices and choose what is best for them. I have always done that even when I was managing an EB Games/GameStop. One of the few rules I had in my store is that employees were not allowed to push their preference of consoles on a customer. Let the customer decide because they are the ones taking it home (with little chance of a refund). If someone wants to switch over to PC, go for it. It is fun. However, don't do it because it has become the new talking point. Social media warriors are not going to refund a purchase if someone is not happy with it.


Just for fun, I asked co-pilot is the ROG Ally X considered a gaming console or a handheld PC.
I mean when everything is a PC / Steam box we're just choosing the form factor. Console gaming going full PC like Xbox is not console gaming anymore to me, it's 3rd party stuff. If Xbox is just software now, ok let's be clear and not say that a new hardware/console generation is coming as if everything still the same.
Of course each person chooses what to buy, i'm just saying that Xbox existence is becoming absolutely irrelevant. It will be just another "steam deck" or "prebuilt pc" like dozens in the market.

I noped out after X360, i loved that console. And by the way it's funny that people that blame Piracy are nowhere to be seen, maybe because Xbox scene has been dead since Xbox One.

Hope Sony or Nintendo don't end like this in a near future and continue to offer a slightly different experience than PC.
Or else i'm just gaming on PC and don't bother anymore.
 
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"When they announced all their games would hit PC day one" was the beginning of "When they announced their multiplatform plans". So technically, the former is the correct choice if you chose the latter.
 
My answer isn't in the poll. Their death sentence was GamePass. The standard response on GAF for that is: they wouldn't have past the One generation without it. Well…
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Just look at Nintendo. They more than survived the Wii U generation. The only thing they had to do is release every single game they announced in the E3 2014 (go watch that conference, is wild), release Series X in 2020 and remake all the previous titles as Nintendo does from their obscure generations. That's it. Would they beat Sony? No. Would they be in the financial position to need to release their games in PlayStation because they've become a bloated publisher in order to feed a service that isn't taking of? Also no. They'd be another happy player and maybe we'd still get Perfect Dark and a reason to own a Series X beyond using the backward compatibility to play Halo 3 while crying. Anyways I digress.
 
They need to get out there and start communicating what the future of the brand is because its not a good looking for them right now.
They've already done that. Several times. The future of their brand is having their games on every screen. And their hardware is not locked to any specific store. All your games in one place. That's it.

What they need to communicate is why they keep sacking people and cancelling games left and right even when they're getting record numbers moneywize.

It makes no sense to do these things while also talking about how great things are.

Things are either…
1. going well and you hire people and start studios and invest for bigger things in the future.
…or…
2. not going well and you trim the fat to survive a challenging future.

And they need to explain why devs can't take risks on smaller projects with an uncertain outlook anymore. They said that's what was so great about Gamepass. Indie devs has said that's why Gamepass is so good. Why can't their own devs take risks anymore?
 
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No, they trimmed the fat. Bloated management has been an anchor to the creative side of this hobby. The Initiative, a product of said management, was never going to produce anything good.
 
Well Xbox has been dead for at least 18 months for me because that is the last time I used my Xbox Series X. I also cancelled my GamePass Ultimate subscription in May 2024 and haven't missed it one bit. Xbox Series X will be my last Xbox console, which is kind of sad really as I loved Xbox during the experimental and more exciting original Xbox and even Xbox 360 era. It all went wrong with the release of Xbox One and the platform has never recovered from that in my opinion. Consider this, the Xbox Series X launched with basically no new first-party games for the first FOUR years of its life. That really is quite staggering in my opinion and is no doubt a big part of why the hardware sales have flatlined and the subscription numbers have stalled.

That's not to say I haven't been playing some excellent Xbox games though. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was excellent as was DOOM The Dark Age but I play those on Steam which is a far more reliable platform that the terrible Xbox app in Windows. Also, Oblivion Remastered was a very nice surprise but, ultimately, disappointing since it shadow dropped with major performance issues on consoles and PC that has still not been fixed as of today's date (which is over two months since it was released which is inexcusable!!!).

The fact that I can play Xbox games on PC kind of makes Xbox as a console completely redundant. I own a PS5 Pro, Switch 2 and PC with two of those hosting Xbox games.
 
Radical_3d Radical_3d Nintendo still has those 1st party titles that keep selling every generation and they get some 3rd party love here and there.
A game like The Last Story for the Wii or Astral Chain for the Switch personally makes me interested in buying their consoles.
I bought a Wii U mainly for XCX and Bayonetta 2 back then. :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 
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I don't understand guys like Jez. All he does is sugarcoat things to postpone certain disappointment. That, among other things, is what's gotten Xbox to where they are now: users who swallow everything and demand nothing better. Well, luckily, most people know this by now, which makes it all the more surprising why he keeps doing it^^
 
Well, something happend..

I don't think anyone can deny that something has been rotting the innards at Xbox and MS..

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I don't know though, everything seems good to me 🤷‍♂️

A true mystery of our times we'll never get to the bottom of :unsure:

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Radical_3d Radical_3d Nintendo still has those 1st party titles that keep selling every generation and they get some 3rd party love here and there.
A game like The Last Story for the Wii or Astral Chain for the Switch personally makes me interested in buying their consoles.
I bought a Wii U mainly for XCX and Bayonetta 2 back then. :messenger_grinning_sweat:
You are drop naming 2 of the best selling systems of Nintendo. And then you bought the Wii U for whatever but, only you and like 13 million people more.
 
You are drop naming 2 of the best selling systems of Nintendo. And then you bought the Wii U for whatever but, only you and like 13 million people more.
I know Wii U didn't sell anything. The games weren't there also, no Metroid and even the new Zelda released so late that was cross gen.

I'm just saying that even for a person like me, who doesn't care that much about Mario or Donkey Kong, their consoles ended up still interesting me.
If they went full multiplatform like Xbox why would i need to buy more consoles?! I would game on PC and PS. It's just my personal example.
 
So, a company that practically wrote the handbook to become third party with their decisions and in your post there is only examples of their DEI decisions (that other companies also do).
Stupidity Are You Stupid GIF
So most of that played zero part on the massive decline we've seen over the last few years in regards to gaming on Xbox or the decline of sales and crap games, ergo, pushing it third party..? :unsure:

Amazing you came to the conclusion it didn't 🤷‍♂️
 
XBOX is kinda like AIDS in the 90s, you could stay alive if you threw money at it. So yeah, XBOX is the AIDS of gaming and you're gay if you own one.

not that there's anything wrong with that seinfeld GIF by myLAB Box
 
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I've always wondered if GamePass is profitable.
Last month I paid £10 for 1 month and played through Doom The Dark Ages and Indiana Jones. Both £50+ titles.
Sure it's great the gamer but is it good for the publisher and Microsoft?
Is it one of those services most people keep month to month or are people more savvy with this kinda thing are only use it in short bursts?
 
The lethal blow to Xbox (as consoles) came years ago when they announced that all new games would release on PC as well. Another huge hit was the idea to acquire ABK. Suddenly the whole gaming side of business had to take cuts and start making profits.

I don't think a lot of future decisions from MS would surprise me at this point, maybe the announcement they're leaving the gaming business completely.
 
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The lethal blow to Xbox (as consoles) came years ago when they announced that all new games would release on PC as well.

Another huge hit was the idea to acquire ABK. Suddenly the whole gaming side of business had to take cuts and start making profits.
The lethal blow was pushing crap games no one really wanted, or utter skinsuits of once great I.Ps.
 
Sure it's great the gamer but is it good for the publisher and Microsoft?
Is it one of those services most people keep month to month or are people more savvy with this kinda thing are only use it in short bursts?
I prepay to get it cheap, several years at a time, I think I'm at year 6 now so about $300 total, or about 5 full priced games.

Same thing as with Spotify and Netflix, I use it to save money.

Once I'm out of cheap deals I plan to jump in for a month at a time when new games arrive. I do that for Apple TV+ when new TV shows are out, jumping in again at the next Silo season.

MS say that Gamepass is profitable so I assume lots of people just go with a standard subscription like with Netflix or Spotify.
 
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