I can't help but feel they haven't got a clue what they're doing with Xbox at the moment.
Then they first announced those five acquisitions at E3 2018, it was a big moment. FIVE? At once? Wild! Especially as it wasn't that long after Lionhead & Press Play (along with others) were shuttered by Phil & Microsoft. I'll never forget the story of the Lionhead employee who got flowers from Microsoft on week because they had a child, then were laid-off along with rest of the studio the next. Nobody talks about Press Play, but I explicitly remember they ran a poll asking the Xbox community what game they should develop next, then the studio was shut.
Ninja Theory at the time seemed like massive get, and it's interesting how now with all that happened after they've almost been pushed to the side conversation. Playground Games was an obvious buy, and yet might be their most important. Jury is still out on Undead Lab, but it seemed to indicate Xbox wanted to commit to an IP and bring it inhouse, something they hadn't done in a long time (as they had a terrible track record of maintaining IP, Ryse 2? Recore 2? D4 ep 2? Sunset Overdrive 2 etc).
Compulsion Games was random, remained random, and yet also showed a desire to go into the realm of single player. And finally their own Sony style studio, The Initiative (heh, what a disaster).
Each of these at the time all made sense together in their own way, it felt considered and like Xbox had a direction they wished to go in. For existing and new IP, to challenge their own weaknesses.
Fast forward until today, what is Xbox's future vision, complete control? Their buying spree to me isn't a sign of confidence, but utter desperation. Yes Hi-Fi Rush was great, but that seems like a fluke when Redfall released in an embarrassing state and Starfield has underwhelmed (remember when people talked about Elder Scrolls and Fallout for months if not years after their releases, it felt like Starfield was done within a week).
ABK has been a whirlwind. Okay they have them, now what?
And what of Xbox Studios? 343i had massive layoffs, they keep failing to impress. The Coalition (one of their successful studios) had layoffs too. The new Forza Motorsports has underwhelmed everyone.
My biggest fear is a total lack of focus and cannibalisation. Too many studios, too many projects. Games in the same genre clashing under the same studio. Are they serving Xbox? The console? Game Pass? Or just their own studio self-interest, fighting other studios?
Does Bethesda and ABK end up fighting each-other for daddy Phil's attention? Where does that leave the likes of inXile or Double Fine?
If you've spent almost $70B USD on Call of Duty, suddenly you're not going to be that interested in pushing State of Decay if the marketing effort needs to go towards recouping via Call of Duty (and we've already saw a sign of this with that obnoxious CoD pop-up on the Xbox home page, what a disgrace).
Ninja Theory seemed like such a big deal at the time, now they almost seem irrelevant if the big draw cards are the most mainstream common denominator IPs via Bethesda or ABK.
The cost of this all would be massive, all the employees, HR, budgets for games and this is all meant to be supported by Game Pass? Because you're going to end up losing sales. And in the world of live service, each wants your attention forever.
It makes sense in a way that Microsoft would want to shove their games on other platforms to make that revenue up if they'd face a shortfall, but they're the idiots who invested billions upon billions into panic buying. It's like they started a considered journey to rebuild their brand, then just decided their brand didn't matter so to buy other brands instead.
What is the Xbox brand? Bethesda still goes by Bethesda. ABK still goes by ABK.
And at the end of it all, their console sales haven't improved. It's almost as if, instead of focusing on a selection of considered games, thoughtful studios and focus/time lovingly spent to each. Tossing every ingredient into the pot doesn't make a meal more appetising.
I bought the Xbox One on its launch day. I bought Ryse. I bought D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die, and watched as Micrsoft just cancelled it follow-up episodes. I've stuck with Xbox, even when they pulled stunts like the once planned always online, or whatever the heck deal with Phantom Dust was. I played Crackdown 3 and enjoyed it, even though it was considered a joke by most. I bought MCC at launch, I remember how broken it was and how disheartening it was. I still remember feeling gross as so many launch titles of Xbox Online like Powerstar Golf, Ryse, Crimson Dragon and Lococycle were chock full of microtransactions for seemingly no reason, as they were not ongoing service titles. I have been through the song and dance of improving the IU multiple times, from the massive Kinetic friendly blocks of the OG Xbox (remember when apps would crash all the time lol) to now, when they still refuse to listen to the main feedback, which is let us hide ads. I remember when they had interesting features like Snap Mode, then got rid of it. How the bought Mixer, then decided they didn't want it. How they left Super Lucky's Tale in the heat by being the launch title for the Xbox One X. How Phil wore a Recore shirt on an IGN Australia podcast, talking about how proud of the game he was, but then it clearly released in a state it was not ready for.
How many times have we gone through this as Xbox players.
So forgive me if I look at Bethesda & ABK as not being a sign of hope, but just a sign of another chapter of Xbox's endless blunders. And the funny thing was... they were so close, if they had just stopped the buying spree at Double Fine and stuck to their guns to focus on what they have, then we might not be once again questioning the future of Xbox.
Because that is the only one throughline from the latter 360s day until today. We keep asking over and over and over and over, in different contexts, but the same question with a worried expression.
What is the future of Xbox?
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