With Microsoft distracted, the Xbox console experience is suffering

[Windows Central]

On the state of Xbox, and how Microsoft's massive horizontal expansion has left Xbox console users feeling like second-class citizens.

With Microsoft distracted, the Xbox console experience is suffering : Read more

 

[GraniteStateColin]

Great article, Jez, as always. It's such an odd dilemma, because we see the huge investments MS is making in gaming, at least via acquisitions. It reminds me of fueling and burning a bonfire in wet weather where the fire spreads out but literally spreads too thin and burns out:

It's impressive to get it going (launch the platform), and once lit, there's a good hot core of coals (the core Xbox fans) that help it spread (new users and form factors). If the fire spreads to the periphery without the heat needed to sustain the flames (the horizontal growth without care for the core users), it will eventually spread outward to cover a larger area, but with less heat. The edges can't sustain their burn under the constant counter of the rain. The core heat keeps it all going for a while, but if more isn't added at the core, it all just peters out, having burned through its fuel.

Maybe not a perfect metaphor, but that's how I see Microsoft handling gaming, Windows Phone, music, many things. They start strong, expect the spread to drive growth, but lose the core needed to sustain and let the new flame burn out.

Having said all of that, I do think this could all turn on a dime as the first party games start coming to market. During the 360 and PS3 era, it was Sony who was on the ropes in spite of arguably better technology (the BluRay drive and Cell processor). Great first party games don't fix the UI, but they do fix the main concerns that affect sales of the console and brand preference.

 

[grahamf]

I've been wondering about that. I get the impression that Microsoft may be working on the next gen Xbox now, and it's going to have some dramatic changes. To the point that the next Xbox may be running Windows 12 with a Xbox experience pack, and third party manufacturers like Dell or Razer will be able to make their own Xbox hardware. As long as they meet specific system requirements.

 

[Jez Corden]

Great article, Jez, as always. It's such an odd dilemma, because we see the huge investments MS is making in gaming, at least via acquisitions. It reminds me of fueling and burning a bonfire in wet weather where the fire spreads out but literally spreads too thin and burns out:

It's impressive to get it going (launch the platform), and once lit, there's a good hot core of coals (the core Xbox fans) that help it spread (new users and form factors). If the fire spreads to the periphery without the heat needed to sustain the flames (the horizontal growth without care for the core users), it will eventually spread outward to cover a larger area, but with less heat. The edges can't sustain their burn under the constant counter of the rain. The core heat keeps it all going for a while, but if more isn't added at the core, it all just peters out, having burned through its fuel.

Maybe not a perfect metaphor, but that's how I see Microsoft handling gaming, Windows Phone, music, many things. They start strong, expect the spread to drive growth, but lose the core needed to sustain and let the new flame burn out.

Having said all of that, I do think this could all turn on a dime as the first party games start coming to market. During the 360 and PS3 era, it was Sony who was on the ropes in spite of arguably better technology (the BluRay drive and Cell processor). Great first party games don't fix the UI, but they do fix the main concerns that affect sales of the console and brand preference.

yeah, i kinda feel like the bureaucracy is what slows innovation when microsoft really starts to get going. they cant afford to let office politics and tribalism get in the way because their competitors are laser-focused on this ****, while msft is trying to do lots of different things across lots of different, tribalistic departments.

I've been wondering about that. I get the impression that Microsoft may be working on the next gen Xbox now, and it's going to have some dramatic changes. To the point that the next Xbox may be running Windows 12 with a Xbox experience pack, and third party manufacturers like Dell or Razer will be able to make their own Xbox hardware. As long as they meet specific system requirements.

i think you could be onto something there. i think windows 12 will have lots of gaming-oriented optimisations that enable these kinds of hardware experiences. it needs to tbh.

 

[GraniteStateColin]

I've been wondering about that. I get the impression that Microsoft may be working on the next gen Xbox now, and it's going to have some dramatic changes. To the point that the next Xbox may be running Windows 12 with a Xbox experience pack, and third party manufacturers like Dell or Razer will be able to make their own Xbox hardware. As long as they meet specific system requirements.

That does seem logical and a good way to leverage their gaming, OS, and OEM strengths in a way that Sony and Nintendo would not be able to do, but this has been an option since before the original Xbox launched and MS, at least so far, has always avoided this path.

I suspect the reasoning is protecting the UX: Apple and consoles all benefit from complete control over all aspects of the hardware for a perfectly optimized experience and much simplified software development (important to the game developers). Unless MS specifies exactly what the consoles must include, they lose that if they open this up. Plus, Microsoft already sells the consoles at effectively zero margin with a plan to make it up on the software side (Game Pass and game sales). That profit component wouldn't be available to HP, Dell, Razer, and others, so why would they want to make Xbox consoles?

I think the answer is that they only would if it was just a matter of licensing to add a certified Xbox experience to a laptop or desktop (or handheld) gaming system. And maybe the argument here is that as long as it's powerful enough that it can run Xbox titles at least as well as the then-current Xbox console, then that's OK, but it's tough -- would the user (or the OS) need to shut down all other running apps to ensure sufficient resources for the game? Would the OEM need to only use AMD graphics to ensure whatever tweaks the game devs used to achieve their effects and framerates apply on the different hardware? What about alerts and notifications? I suppose these are solvable, but it's a non-trivial set of problems.

 

[blaznxboxboy]

Nonsense article all doom and gloom. Anyone with any objective perspective can see what an amazing year Xbox has had so far.

We've had atomic heart, wo long, hi fi rush and many more. Soon red fall will launch. You talk about reviews, who really cares, its just nonsense anyways.

Just look at the garbage that's been released on ps5, and be greatful that we're Xbox gamers. I've gotten plenty to eat Jez.

 

[GraniteStateColin]

Nonsense article all doom and gloom. Anyone with any objective perspective can see what an amazing year Xbox has had so far.

We've had atomic heart, wo long, hi fi rush and many more. Soon red fall will launch. You talk about reviews, who really cares, its just nonsense anyways.

Just look at the garbage that's been released on ps5, and be greatful that we're Xbox gamers. I've gotten plenty to eat Jez.

It does matter for future gaming options: If the Xbox unit sales remain tiny compared with PS (per Jez' stats), ultimately, that means 3rd party developers won't care to develop for Xbox. That's probably related to Square Enix's move -- if Xbox were dominant, they couldn't avoid releasing Final Fantasy for it. That's why market share matters even for existing customers. It's not everything, but it's something.

 

[blaznxboxboy]

It does matter for future gaming options: If the Xbox unit sales remain tiny compared with PS (per Jez' stats), ultimately, that means 3rd party developers won't care to develop for Xbox. That's probably related to Square Enix's move -- if Xbox were dominant, they couldn't avoid releasing Final Fantasy for it. That's why market share matters even for existing customers. It's not everything, but it's something.

square enix is a japanese developer that has always made games exclusive to the playstation. Its been this way for decades, it has nothing to do with xbox and more the market. PS attracts plenty of people who enjoy these japanese games, while xbox doesn't. Is it because the japanese games are on playstation, or because more people who enjoy japanese games buy playstation? Its not something you can fix, and SE is a terrible example of market dominance. They are a a shadow of themselves. Besides xbox has plenty of japanese games, we've even gotten persona recently. That is all because of gamepass and it making japanese games sense on the platform even when we have almost no japanese gamers.

Bethesda is much larger company than SE is, let that sink in. Xbox is dominating, jez even mentioned the MAU of 120 million. That blows the playstation away.

 

[GraniteStateColin]

square enix is a japanese developer that has always made games exclusive to the playstation. Its been this way for decades, it has nothing to do with xbox and more the market. PS attracts plenty of people who enjoy these japanese games, while xbox doesn't. Is it because the japanese games are on playstation, or because more people who enjoy japanese games buy playstation? Its not something you can fix, and SE is a terrible example of market dominance. They are a a shadow of themselves. Besides xbox has plenty of japanese games, we've even gotten persona recently. That is all because of gamepass and it making japanese games sense on the platform even when we have almost no japanese gamers.

Bethesda is much larger company than SE is, let that sink in. Xbox is dominating, jez even mentioned the MAU of 120 million. That blows the playstation away.

I don't disagree with most of that, except the statement that Bethesda is as big as Sony. That's not right. Sony is MUCH bigger in terms of game sales than Bethesda plus all the other ZeniMax studios: Sony currently does $24.4B in annual game sales, which has been steadily increasing over the years (except for a down year in 2019). Zenimax's total annual income (of which Bethesda is just one part) is about $0.5B (I'm sure there's a spike on years of a new release of a Fallout or Elder Scrolls game, including hopefully this year from Starfield).

I don't have all the stats on this, but my understanding is that even after the Activision Blizzard acquisition goes through that Microsoft's total gaming revenue would still be less than Sony's. With Activision Blizzard doing about $7.5B per year. I that Microsoft's other studios combined do about $16 (so combined with Activision Blizzard, that would be about $23B - $24B, getting close, but still just behind Sony).

 

[ClanPsi]

Microsoft has been struggling since they released their first gaming console. They always seem to be distracted, trying to make excuses for their poor library of compelling exclusives. Wake up, XBots, this is how M$ works. It's never going to get better.

 

[GraniteStateColin]

Microsoft has been struggling since they released their first gaming console. They always seem to be distracted, trying to make excuses for their poor library of compelling exclusives. Wake up, XBots, this is how M$ works. It's never going to get better.

While historically, that's pretty fair, it's hard to suggest that will continue into the future purely based on the acquisitions and all the current games in development that will be 1st party exclusives, including Hi-Fi Rush and Starfield. Now, MS management of these studios could result in scuttling all that creative power, but I think it's way too early to jump to that conclusion.

 

[Luuthian]

Great article. Perfectly encapsulates how it feels, at least for me, to be an xbox owner at the moment.

What kills me is that Windows Phone comparison. I was a Windows Phone believer those first few years and I was burned so badly by it that I never bought in again even as I often looked at later Lumia devices and found the idea compelling. The *software* was just never there though. That's *exactly* how it feels right now to be using an xbox... The hardware is fantastic but the software? Where is it? Why is the UI so bad too? Why am I constantly being strung along? MS is in danger of burning their fans again...

My Gamepass subscription ends in late 2024 and, I'll be honest, if I'm not made a believer by then I'll probably return to Steam. Microsoft had me in the early 360 years but the later years killed my enthusiasm once word of what the XB1 would be got around. I abandoned the platform for 9 years until returning in 2018 because of Gamepass alone. And that's may be a core issue MS faces here is that as a platform they feel so *disposable*. Because everything hinges on Gamepass I can jump ship any time I want really, and just return to my owned games library elsewhere or play tons of free content available in my EGS library. I have utterly no attachment to the platform because almost every game that has mattered to me has been a Gamepass release. Early on I think Gamepass was a huge advantage for xbox. Now though... It feels like it's just another subscription i can turn on or off as I need.

Crossing fingers we see things turn around, but right now the pacing of owning an xbox feels glacial. Slow first party releases (often disappointing ones), no improvements to the UI, tons of Japanese content never reaching the platform... it's getting exhausting. Hopefully MS takes notice soon