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.
I got my first Playstation in 1997. I got the PS2 at launch, and the fat PS3 before anyone knew if bluray would win out. I had a PS4 at launch.

Somewhere in there, at some point in time, I bought an XboxOne to play with a buddy of mine who moved far away. I downloaded a bunch of exclusives, then sold it off after a year or 2 of not playing. Fast forward to the pandemic, and I had money to burn and boredom to kill, so I bought an S series, figuring what the hell, it's economical and Gamepass seemed intriguing.

I booted it up, and was greeted with a prompt to redownload all my old games. Hmmm? What's that mean? Surely they must be talking about compatible games? Nope. Every Xboxone game I had owned, I could bring forward. Then I plunked down my cash for gamepass, and signed on figuring it would be some sort of scam. Nope--great full-length games, available to download at my liesure.

I am going to say this as plainly as I can: I am convinced that the xbox hate on this website is not only completely inorganic, but a coordinated astroturf campaign by invested parties to tarnish Microsoft's reputation.

I am a rational, middle-aged consumer. I have owned more consoles than most. I have no system, game franchise, or corporate loyalty. I play PC games from the 90s for nostalgia, Nintendo games with my son, sony exclusives... I've trophy farmed with the best of them. I platinumed Uncharted before you knew what Uncharted was. For the LIFE OF ME, I cannot fathom why any rational, red blooded American video game player would have anything bad to say about Xbox. And no, trying to get me to boo hoo about developers losing money isn't going to cut it in a post-gamergate world. 99% of studio costs are bloat to bring women and men dressing as women onboard for panoramic goodboy social media pictures.

The steady drumbeat on here of Xbox being a failing brand is sickening, and has nothing to do with actually playing video games. They have an amazing sale right now: I just bought so many ps3 era games for like, 4$. Why? Because I don't want to keep a PS3 plugged in in my living room, with a jet-engine volume level disc drive burning a hole through my entertainment center, just to be able to play Bioshock. Now, with a 3$ purchase, I'll have access to that game for the next 20 years, digitally. There is no way, as a consumer and fellow gamer, you could hear that and be like "yeah... but," unless you are an Indian paid by Sony to post "yeah... but".
lool, this is beyond sad at this point.
sincerely hope you guys are at least paid for this type of shit.
 
I would bet massive amounts of money they will not kill all their existing hardware anytime in any remotely close future
They will not INTENTIONALLY kill it, you mean?
it is not impossible for some switch to be flicked in the future that borks existing Xbox consoles which happened in an innocent fashion. The only way this can be avoided is if Microsoft was kind enough to patch out the need to sign in. That was the entire point why many of us see the need to sign in as a bad idea. And yes, PlayStation does that too. No need to remind me. But Xbox is the one with the more likely chance to abandon their hardware of the two right now.
 
Also Satya is probably eyeing the opportunities to sell the entire thing off if he can reinvest that $ into AI tomorrow instead - it's just that - selling an even bigger publishing arm after the ordeal they already had - probably isn't on the cards anytime soon.
Even ignoring the legal side and stock owners and board approval etc that is incredibly unrealistic.
They make money from the software side. And they've just started tapping into Sony's and Nintendo's big userbases, still nothing on Switch 2 but they'll do that too. Numbers will go up no doubt. They've never had a userbase this big before for their software, except with Minecraft, there must be a couple hundred million people that can access their games now.

It's the hardware side that needs to show that it's worth investing in. And considering the multi year AMD partnership they seem confident in it's future, for now.
 
I wish for a big tiddy baddy to shlob my knob.
Man Boobs GIF

Wish Monkey Paw GIF by Leroy Patterson
 
Depends on how you define Xbox. The brand seems alive and confused. The console and its exclusives and pull, as in the Xbox OG and 360 era? Yeah, those days are long gone.
 
This is a great post imo

So many posts about xbox shills on here we know what's really going on....
This is a very ironic considering the humungous tantrum you had when users were highlighting the poor reputation Asus has in the hardware field to you. Which led to one of your trademark meltdowns, with personal attacks directed at users, others were labeled Sony shills and warriors blah blah blah.

Later you admitted you were to blame for the sorry episode. But no apologies for anyone on the receiving end of your tirade or for the epic thread derailment.
 
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This is a very ironic considering the humungous tantrum you had when users were highlighting the poor reputation Asus has in the hardware field to you. Which led to one of your trademark meltdowns, with personal attacks directed at users, others were labeled Sony shills and warriors blah blah blah.

Later you admitted you were to blame for the sorry episode. But no apologies for anyone on the receiving end of your tirade or for the epic thread derailment.
I imagine that Dench reached out privately to anyone he felt the need to make amends with. It appears he saw no need to do that with you, Holt.
 
I haven't checked any box. I'm just not sure. It's dead in the sense that things have changed, and are changing, but that's only natural. Reinvention is the mother of change.
 
Physical game ability with the next (x)box?
No clue honestly all I can say is the last I heard Phil talking about it he said your entire Xbox library was important to them

Granted this was many MANY months ago (though timing still tracks) and from the same guy that gave us "Its only 4 games"

So take it for whatever its worth
 
I think MS is going to find out that yes you get a small boost up front for putting your games on other consoles but the long term profits will sink as they loose their customer base .. which they will because people like sports and want to cheer for a team. Eventually they fizzle out before the great app switch where everything becomes on app on multiple devices.
 
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Remember when sony fans cried so hard about PC ports, insominacs head went on twitter and said "what the hell is wrong with you people". Both sides are hilariously goofy. Xbox fanboys and their "all part of the plan". And sony fanboys bloodthirsty defense of exclusivity, and desire for everyone to only play on sony hardware. I mean, half the banned neogaf posters, end up in iconera, ffs.

lol at the fake impartiality
"both are bad®", amirite ?

And the thing is, you actually think people fall for this kind of shit.

Don't be dumb, be more discrete 😉
 
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In gamings darkest day; these brave men stepped forward into the (green) light and shows those doubters that men can still be men. That green dick is better than blue dick.
 
Remember when sony fans cried so hard about PC ports, insominacs head went on twitter and said "what the hell is wrong with you people". Both sides are hilariously goofy. Xbox fanboys and their "all part of the plan". And sony fanboys bloodthirsty defense of exclusivity, and desire for everyone to only play on sony hardware. I mean, half the banned neogaf posters, end up in iconera, ffs.
Could you post your Twitter here?
 
This is a great post imo

So many posts about xbox shills on here we know what's really going on....
Remember when sony fans cried so hard about PC ports, insominacs head went on twitter and said "what the hell is wrong with you people". Both sides are hilariously goofy. Xbox fanboys and their "all part of the plan". And sony fanboys bloodthirsty defense of exclusivity, and desire for everyone to only play on sony hardware. I mean, half the banned neogaf posters, end up in iconera, ffs.

It's not even remotely equivalent.

All of the Xbox SX's marketing was geared toward FUD, and all of the Xbox fanboy rhetoric was created by Xbox itself.

"Only we have sustainable performance"
to say that the PS5's performance was unsustainable. FUD.

"RDNA2 is exclusive to Xbox"
to say that the PS5 had a capped RDNA. FUD.

The sources that said the PS5 caught fire were all from Xbox itself


Why did Jason talk about the PS5's inflated performance due to a last-minute overclock on a Spanish-language website?

Because Xbox fanboys would translate the news to spread it online, but it wouldn't gain traction in the mainstream media, which might perhaps try to clarify it.

Publish enough for Xbox fanboys to spread, hidden enough to not be officially questioned.

While PlayStation fanboys have their own opinions and are not coordinated by Sony, MS uses Xbox fanboys as a weapon and organizes and coordinates their rhetoric.

Sony doesn't do this because it knows that surrounding itself with an echo chamber undermines its assessment of reality.

A bunch of idiot fanboys claiming Redfall is a GOTY doesn't help the company in the real world.
 
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This is a very ironic considering the humungous tantrum you had when users were highlighting the poor reputation Asus has in the hardware field to you. Which led to one of your trademark meltdowns, with personal attacks directed at users, others were labeled Sony shills and warriors blah blah blah.

Later you admitted you were to blame for the sorry episode. But no apologies for anyone on the receiving end of your tirade or for the epic thread derailment.

He won't learn. He had a massive meltdown when wukong was reported to be exclusive to playstation by Paul Tassi etc. He apologised after embarrassing himself but here he's back again.

Funny how he's having all these meltdowns when he claims he mainly plays on pc. Lol.

And when he calls others shills? Oh my god. That's funny as heck.
 
This is a very ironic considering the humungous tantrum you had when users were highlighting the poor reputation Asus has in the hardware field to you. Which led to one of your trademark meltdowns, with personal attacks directed at users, others were labeled Sony shills and warriors blah blah blah.

Later you admitted you were to blame for the sorry episode. But no apologies for anyone on the receiving end of your tirade or for the epic thread derailment.

I was hoping you had put me on ignore.

If you actually read my post you would see that I was actually angry at ghg calling me a shill. Which is the tactic a lot of sony users on this forum use to downplay any positive comment about any company that isn't sony.

Say something positive. Sony fans say you are a shill. And I got triggered.

Anyway. Feel free to ignore me Alt.
 
This last couple of years it's been all been intentional I think.

Starfield needed to be a big success in terms of console sales and Gamepass subscriptions.

It failed to achieve either and after that they felt they were just wasting their time and losing money.
More and more I feel like Starfield was their big test of the strategy of buying the industry and making it exclusive to Xbox

Starfield failed that test in a big way and then they tried to double down in a big way by trying to acquire Activision Blizzard and take a huge franchise like Call of Duty exclusive

But they ran into more resistance from government antitrust regulators than they anticipated at the same time that Xbox sales were flatlining

So now I guess they'll just be a third party publisher. That's honestly the best outcome for gamers. They would have destroyed the gaming industry has they been allowed to monopolize it like Windows or Office
 
Personally... I think the hardware of Xbox is dead in the traditional sense. I think they're going to use the leverage they have with their monumental IP collection. What they do with it? I can't think, right now. But, if they don't make games that people actually like, with the IP they have, then I can see said IP weaken in value, as it already has been happening with Starfield, etc. They keep hyping up stuff and when we play, it turns out to be boring shit. That's how I see it in a nutshell.
While I liked Starfield, I still felt it was a huge fucking letdown. Also, if they do Fallout 5, they should do the entire United States and go fucking BIg; all-out for it. It could probably happen, but after they ship or get close to shipping ES6.
 
Did you remember to send them socks after posting this?

Look I get it, you predict a bright future and you wish to immortalise the list. You might be right in the end but that post is still cringe.
Personally... I think the hardware of Xbox is dead in the traditional sense. I think they're going to use the leverage they have with their monumental IP collection. What they do with it? I can't think, right now. But, if they don't make games that people actually like, with the IP they have, then I can see said IP weaken in value, as it already has been happening with Starfield, etc. They keep hyping up stuff and when we play, it turns out to be boring shit. That's how I see it in a nutshell.
While I liked Starfield, I still felt it was a huge fucking letdown. Also, if they do Fallout 5, they should do the entire United States and go fucking BIg; all-out for it. It could probably happen, but after they ship or get close to shipping ES6.

It depends how much of an asshole they want to be. They can certainly do a massive rugpull on games come nextgen having gained the large audiences for their acquired games. The cancellation of Perfect Dark tells me that they don't much care about the smaller IPs they own which was what anybody with half a brain was saying to those who repeatedly said "once they buy ABK they can put studios like Toys for Bob on Banjo/Conker or revive ABK IPs instead of all studios on COD". If they do anything it will be with big IPs they own. Minecraft, Fallout, ES, Forza Horizon, etc. Maybe exclusive RT in games like Minecraft like they were planning this gen, total exclusive, exclusive content, etc.

Some of their moves definitely seem to be about retention for xbox, eg "we don't mind if you buy discs you can sell on PS but we won't release physical on xbox for this game". so there is still some fight in them about where they keep their audience. In any case it will be interesting to see what they end up doing in the near future. Full rugpull/arsehole mode for Phil and co to shift the audience or keep this current course of selling games everywhere without the "slimy platform things". I personally predict slimy platform things come nextbox because they still do them in the background with third party deals and now they won't need to come next gen (even though I still believe GTA6 marketing is with xbox, unlikely as that may be).
 
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Did you remember to send them socks after posting this?

Look I get it, you predict a bright future and you wish to immortalise the list. You might be right in the end but that post is still cringe.


It depends how much of an asshole they want to be. They can certainly do a massive rugpull on games come nextgen having gained the large audiences for their acquired games. The cancellation of Perfect Dark tells me that they don't much care about the smaller IPs they own which was what anybody with half a brain was saying to those who repeatedly said "once they buy ABK they can put studios like Toys for Bob on Banjo/Conker or revive ABK IPs instead of all studios on COD". If they do anything it will be with big IPs they own. Minecraft, Fallout, ES, Forza Horizon, etc. Maybe exclusive RT in games like Minecraft like they were planning this gen, total exclusive, exclusive content, etc.

Some of their moves definitely seem to be about retention for xbox, eg "we don't mind if you buy discs you can sell on PS but we won't release physical on xbox for this game". so there is still some fight in them about where they keep their audience. In any case it will be interesting to see what they end up doing in the near future. Full rugpull/arsehole mode for Phil and co to shift the audience or keep this current course of selling games everywhere without the "slimy platform things". I personally predict slimy platform things come nextbox because they still do them in the background with third party deals and now they won't need to come next gen (even though I still believe GTA6 marketing is with xbox, unlikely as that may be).
I really want to respond, but.. I ate through a 6 pack of Stella Artois plus some cognac. I need to revisit this. Later. :messenger_confounded:🤷‍♂️
I generally agree, though.
 
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I was hoping you had put me on ignore.

If you actually read my post you would see that I was actually angry at ghg calling me a shill. Which is the tactic a lot of sony users on this forum use to downplay any positive comment about any company that isn't sony.

Say something positive. Sony fans say you are a shill. And I got triggered.

Anyway. Feel free to ignore me Alt.
Never understood why people publicly announce their ignores, seems playground stuff.

But when users are citing facts and sources, which go against your opinion, doesn't make people shills or warriors. You can counter the claims, also with facts, instead you had a meltdown and attacked users. Usually see people banned for that kind of thing in here.

Luckily in that instance you weren't moderated wildly.
 
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I remember early Xbox days, they were losing over 100$ per Xbox just to survive, now they don't seem bothered if Xbox survives or not, next gen consoles are further out then ms think, they really need get Xbox series s down to $199 remove day one from game pass, Xbox first party handheld for under $500, but they are not doing any of that. They are finished 5 years if they don't light a fire ur thire ass asap.
 
The nature of their business is changing. They are going to be more profitable than ever by leaving the hardware space to merely be the largest publisher on earth.

"Xbox" as we know it is over but Microsoft gaming is going to be a massive juggernaut.
 
The nature of their business is changing. They are going to be more profitable than ever by leaving the hardware space to merely be the largest publisher on earth.

"Xbox" as we know it is over but Microsoft gaming is going to be a massive juggernaut.

What makes the most money is the walled garden, charging 30% of everything sold by others in your store. Of course, if you fail in the walled garden, it's obvious that stopping production of defeated hardware will increase profit.

What makes the most money is having a successful walled garden.

Then becoming a third party.

Yes, the least profitable of all the models is the walled garden where everyone inside is proud not to buy anything.

And they won't be profitable "much more" at all, it will be like any third party in terms of profits.

There's no improvement for Xbox. The original plan failed, and now it's damage control.

The megalomaniacal plan was:

1. Continue selling games as usual.

2. Rent games on the service to those who bought games and, even more so, rent them to those who would NEVER buy games.

3. Sell Xcloud to those who play p2w on their phones.

It was a very megalomaniacal and somewhat idiotic, wishful thinking plan, believing that people who buy games would continue buying Forza Motorsport, and those who didn't buy games would now subscribe to a game rental service.
 
What makes the most money is the walled garden, charging 30% of everything sold by others in your store. Of course, if you fail in the walled garden, it's obvious that stopping production of defeated hardware will increase profit.

What makes the most money is having a successful walled garden.

Then becoming a third party.

Yes, the least profitable of all the models is the walled garden where everyone inside is proud not to buy anything.

And they won't be profitable "much more" at all, it will be like any third party in terms of profits.

There's no improvement for Xbox. The original plan failed, and now it's damage control.

The megalomaniacal plan was:

1. Continue selling games as usual.

2. Rent games on the service to those who bought games and, even more so, rent them to those who would NEVER buy games.

3. Sell Xcloud to those who play p2w on their phones.

It was a very megalomaniacal and somewhat idiotic, wishful thinking plan, believing that people who buy games would continue buying Forza Motorsport, and those who didn't buy games would now subscribe to a game rental service.

It certainly wasn't their intention to become a third party, it was initially about making Bethesda and Activision games exclusive to Xbox and Gamepass.

Microsoft Gaming can now be successful as a third party, but they really need to improve management for their remaining studios.
 
The nature of their business is changing. They are going to be more profitable than ever by leaving the hardware space to merely be the largest publisher on earth.

"Xbox" as we know it is over but Microsoft gaming is going to be a massive juggernaut.
Hate to be the one to break it to some but they aren't leaving the hardware space

Not yet anyhow
 
I would say it depends on the perspective. As a console brand? Xbox seems to be. As a publisher? The recent cancelled projects don't inspire confidence but with some time maybe this will work out for them.
 
I think is no longer their call.
What you don't get about Microsoft is "It's always their call!" Sega was forced off the shelf at the electronic stores and toy stores because they had no money to keep products on the shelf. Microsoft can keep Xbox on the shelves long after your gone and your grandchildren have moved on if they want too. Microsoft won't remove products from the shelves unless they want too. They buy the space, the store doesn't decide what sits on a shelve. Now, what might happen is Microsoft might pull its products from the store shelf because it doesn't think those stores are relevant anymore. I thought this day would never come but, digital downloads have sped up a lot of things. I still think MS won't pull its products from store shelves because they want the Xbox presence around.
 
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Well MS hasn't pulled the plug yet, we are getting at least one more gen out of Xbox


I feel like it will be something of a transitional generation. Im very curious to see how it all pans outs.


Im thinking their console approach will be something akin to the surface /OEM/reference model with third parties making their own variants. Could possilky see a small boom in ITX sized mobos for custom console builds. and if steam is truly going to be making a home console with a AMD APU along the lines of what is in the (base?) next xbox/PS6 then maybe they are preparing for a future where steam and xbox OS/windows clash more directly. Im just guessing just like everybody else here. can only go off the bits of rumours we hear. But I agree Xbox isnt going anywhere. Just maybe the idea of a static box is.......at least for Xbox. and maybe thaat is the differentiator they need to continue to exist. To stop being a console in the traditional sense and be more of a PC gamebox, with simple to upgrade parts. steam was probably always going to end up being their true competitor once the console market platued. the first steambox didnt really penetrate the 'living room' crowd but things have changed a lot since then.
 
Until they show their new product and proposals. Xbox one to Series x for me has been shite. Apart from backwards compat. Series X collecting dust. PS5 Pro and Switch 2 is where it's at at the moment. I move to what I like.
 
Microsoft will make their own consoles but the market for xbox consoles will be driven by 3rd parties like Lenovo, Asus, etc.
Just like their surface devices in the PC space. Common knowledge at this point.

They will make them but few will purchase them due to price....surface laptops are fine but no where near worth their price point.
 
Granted this was many MANY months ago (though timing still tracks) and from the same guy that gave us "Its only 4 games"

So take it for whatever its worth
Well he technically didn't lie, "only 4 games" as of at that very moment and we shouldn't take it as a signal for more to come, which essentially meant they can bring more in the future. This mf uses his words so carefully, you couldn't even sue his ass for lying.

The average Joe was mislead and felt safe, which was the point I guess.
 
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To the people who voted, "No, and they won't be":

Why don't you think they are heading out the door? Are you considering Xbox as a brand instead of a console, and thinking the brand will be fine? Or do you think the consoles are going to stay in the game? I'm not saying anyone is wrong, but I am genuinely curious what the reasoning is. It's easy to understand why some people would say, "No, but it is heading there," or even "Yes" in some situations. I just want to understand the perspectives from some of the, "Hard no," crowd.
 
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