The Xbox Series X Proves That Microsoft Still Cares About The Console Wars

If the future of video games is the cloud, then why is Microsoft even bothering with a new console? What’s the point of selling this fancy, powerful new hardware if Microsoft has truly left behind the competition in favor of a brave new cloud war?

[Jin_Sakai]

Between having no exclusives and making them available on current gen consoles for the first 2 years holding back game development shows that Xbox Series X is is an afterthought.

[Kumakai]

For you. But you’ve never even considered Xbox so of course you’re going to say everything is a negative. I can literally predict your comments on every Xbox article. You just invert the point.

[Unspoken]

Just leave the PlayStation generation behind. Way too much stagnation in their ideology as it's the, "if my console isn't doing it then it's not worth it mentality." What a drag on innovation.

[mikeslemonade]

The war is already over. Xbox will win next generation in terms of revenue.

I’m right every generation.

[SyntheticForm]

The false premise that "the future of video games is the cloud" renders the rest of an already poor, fallacious argument worthless. Cloud is 'a' future not 'the' future.

The point (with Xbox Series X) is that they're still very much in support of local hardware and gaming. That's what the Xbox Series X proves - has nothing to do with console wars.

Forbes...

[Ceaser9857361]

mikes

"The war is already over. Xbox will win next generation in terms of revenue.

I’m right every generation."

wake up wake up Use the google and please be informative and stop lying..
Revenue wise Sony with PLAYSTATION Earned more than MS with XBOX .. You are wrong and every generation you will be wrong .

[mikeslemonade]

^Last gen I said PS4 would win in 2012, learn some comprehension

I said PS3 would beat the 360 in 2005

Yes I'm always correct on picking who is gonna win between Sony and Microsoft

Now don't strawman me again, Sony may sell more PS5s but Microsoft software sales including game pass, xbl gold, and project X cloud will be more than Sony's revenue streams. Heck, Sony even uses MS servers. Listen, most of us are Sony fans here and want them to win(including myself) but Sony is failing to adapt to modern times. Just like Nintendo can be so much better but they continue to be stuck in the past.

[solideagle]

Didn't forbes said yesterday that "There Is No Console War Because Xbox Moved On And Left PlayStation Behind". I don't understand this website. its like 2 writers mind fighting which side to pick :)

[darthv72]

Forbes has many contributing journalists and they have varied views on things which is why they can have alternating pieces come out.

[Ricegum]

Darth

No. It's just whatever will generate those clicks. Really awful journalism.

[crazyCoconuts]

@darth, I think you're right, Ive observed those patterns with them. It's really all garbage journalism using what's left of Forbes' good name

[frostypants]

A Forbes contributor said that. And a Forbes contributor countered it. I don't think people understand what Forbes is these days. It's a piece of junk blogging site with very low standards for contributor approval, using the once-respected Forbes name to polish the turd. It's NOT professional journalism. So you get clickbaity nonsense like that earlier piece about MS "leaving Sony behind" from wannabe thought leaders.

[Imalwaysright]

Ricegum

Journalism? Where?

[rainslacker]

Why profit off one side of the console war when you can play both sides fie double the money.

Anyhow, forbes doesn't have an editorial staff for their gaming stuff. It's all contributor work, so yeah, it probably is just multiple people posting multiple viewpoints.

[battlegrog]

Shows your lack of understanding business. If you think that well i guess the pc market is a afterthought.

[gangsta_red]

What games is the Series X holding back?

[mrmikew2018]

The NES and Sega Genesis ;)

[darthv72]

None of them but the Sony only faithful seem to think ALL of them. Or more specifically... the xbo will hold back ALL of the games for the SX.

[Livingthedream]

I'm willing to bet that if Sony was doing the same thing with PS5, the reception would be very different. We would see many ps fanboys praising them for not abandoning their fan base. I don't see the negative in this at all, if hellblade 2 is anything to go by the old consoles will not hold back the new hardware.

[darthv72]

That will be next gen. Pretty much anything MS does in one gen, Sony will do their own spin on in the next.

[Ceaser9857361]

FORBES : There Is No Console War Because Xbox Moved On And Left PlayStation Behind

ALSO

FORBES : The Xbox Series X Proves That Microsoft Still Cares About The Console Wars

lol!

[Zeref]

i don't know if you've been here for the past few console launches but if you were you should know that the first few years NEVER have EVER taken full advantage of the hardware. This is pretty standard knowledge

[Muzikguy]

“I don’t want to be in a fight over format wars with those guys while Amazon and Google are focusing on how to get gaming to 7 billion people around the world. Ultimately, that’s the goal.”

[thesoftware730]

I have no idea why you have so much agrees, your comment is nonsense.

Please elaborate on how having an eco system with different tiers of Xbox systems that can play all game with higher and lower performance is bad somehow. Did we also forget Ms just loaded up on 1st party devs? why are we ignoring that?

Its the same thing PCs have been doing for years Develop for the highest system specs and the other lower systems will scale accordingly. Sony and MS already dipped in the PC format with the Ps4 Pro and the Xbox X..Games can scale depending on hardware and MS is set to have one for every type of gamer, from entry level to hardcore. Sony will do the same, they just call it different names now..Mid gen upgrades.

[FallenAngel1984]

One does not simply make a new console and act like it doesn’t compete with other contemporary consoles

[Kumakai]

One does have to have a generation to transition from one to the other. MS isn’t just gonna abandon an entire model at the flick of a switch. It has to evolve into it as a transition. Of course they still want a powerful console. And that console will also prep them for the future by offering cloud services. You don’t just abandon your customers and upend them. You bring them with you over time.

[NLink0714]

That’s actually their MO though. When 360 came out Microsoft flat out stopped caring about the OG. And the same for the one but that happened even earlier as after Kinect came out Microsoft’s first party output was paltry at best (save for halo 4 and gears 3).

[madpuppy]

"You don’t just abandon your customers and upend them. You bring them with you over time. " -Kumakai

WHAT!?!?!?! That is EXACTLY WHAT Microsoft does! They are notorious for releasing a new console or product and abandoning everything that came before it. I think your mixing up MS with Sony......

[froy402]

....

[rainslacker]

Except MS entire history is nothing but them releasing a new product and not doing anything with the old. Not just in gaming, but across the board. The XSX is a rare exception for them, far from the norm.

[SolidGamerX]

Microsoft does.

[Kumakai]

It’s called a transitional generation.... you don’t just do shot in binary. That’s like business 101. Who the F writes this stuff? 7th graders?

[RazzerRedux]

"It’s called a transitional generation"

Can we shorten it to "trans gen"?

hmmm, maybe not....

[sprinterboy]

They haven't learnt anything, no AAA 1st party games this gen and their making you wait another 2 years for series X exclusives so that will basically be 9 years without 1 good AAA 1st party game? (Minus forza)

[thesoftware730]

huh?
Gears, Forza, Halo Infinite(cross platform) not AAA games? What do you mean series X exclusive? You do know a cross gen game on Xbox one or Xbox one X or Xbox series X that can only be played on and Xbox system is still exclusive Right?

I'm so confused when people say the no "exclusives" for 2 years will somehow hinder the Xbox series X? it will work just like a PC..build a game and it will run at higher RES, FPS better effects depending on which model Xbox you have. Exactly like we had with the PS4 pro and the Xbox one x, just on a higher, cleaner scale, the systems will be built with scaling in mind, and they are already BC.

[sprinterboy]

Gears has not been popular since 3, halo not as popular since about half way through 360 life cycle, forza selling poorly these days yet they continue to make them?
What I'm saying is xbox hasn't had a game on par with AAA games like gow, spiderman, gts, until dawn, DS etc in 6 years, do you want another 3 years of it?
MS must be thinking you guys and girls love average games with all the defending you do. No wonder no improvements in games have come because you defend average so they'll continue to offer average.

[thesoftware730]

You truly seem like a cherry picker..

Forza pretty much dethroned its or near did it

Just like Gears, God of war wasn't relevant anymore until a reboot of the series.

Until Dawn? Really? I liked it but hardly smashing.

And then you ignore that MS just bought a shit ton of 1st party studios..Hellblade 2 already looks stunning and is definitely more game than until dawn.

But, go look at the overwhelming reviews of the AAA M$ games I named and you will see you are in the minority about them being average. Sony has more exclusive, does not negate MS good ones lol.

[CaptainOmega]

@thesoftware730 "What I'm saying is xbox hasn't had a game on par with AAA games like gow, spiderman, gts, until dawn, DS etc in 6 years, do you want another 3 years of it?” -> was the comment.

Forza MotorSport has released a game every other year. With every release the sales get worse and worse. Sure, they may be to fun to play, but when a Gran Turismo game releases it’s par for the course that a million more people are playing it than Forza.

God of War was NOT a reboot. It simply changed the battle mechanics and started a new story for the better.

Your Until Dawn critiuque leaves ALOT to be desired. What AAA game competes with Until Dawn? OR Detroit Become Human for that matter?

MS buying studios is not the equivalent of said studios making good games. You got 1 trailer of hellblade 2 that isn’t in-game footage, calm down. The first HellBlade was quite linear with rudamentary ‘puzzle sections’ and basic dodge attack combat.

The AAA MS games you’ve named (Gears, Forza).. are not necessarily ‘average’.. but they are no longer titles that have weight behind them.

[PitbullMonster]

What's up with all these Forbes articles?

[OB1Biker]

Not only they go on and on with opposite arguments but it's all complete BS too.
Quote from previous article is full of misinformation as possibly can:
'The surprising PS5 reveal in Wired allowed Sony to focus the early next-gen discussion on the console which dovetailed perfectly with the misperception that console sales are still the criterion of success. Sony’s strongarm tactic of using PS5 exclusives to coerce players into buying the new console, the news that PS5 pricing may depend on the price point for the Xbox Series X, and PlayStation’s well-documented resistance to cross-platform play are all signs that PlayStation is still hanging on to console sales while the games industry has moved on.”

And this one is arguing xbox SX proves...jada, jada....it proves nothing. If anything it looks like a niche product like the X.

Sounds like amateurs chatting in a pub.

[SweetGM]

Pretty sure their Game Pass already says they care about the console war

[RazzerRedux]

This is what Forbes does with regularity. Throw out a combative article with asinine assertions and then a response from another writer with a different take. This is all coordinated, every little bit.

[Donnie81]

The series x is gonna do the stinger splash on the ps5

[TheEnigma313]

Delusions of grandeur

[Donnie81]

It could easily happen. No one expected the 360 to do as well as it did . Truth is it was a better system than the ps3 and it had good support. Series x is looking to do the same

[TheEnigma313]

if you say so.

[gangsta_red]

Of course they do. We've been hearing how MS is going to stop making consoles ever since the OG Xbox. How they'll abandon consoles, sell off the Xbox division, become third party, drop hardware and yet they continue to make consoles every gen.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Yeah ppl have been saying the same thing every gen. I remember in 2013 when there was a shakeup at MS they swore up and down X1 was it it, the final console. No more console from MS. But failed to understand this was the only time MS really messed up with the Xbox console.They can spread fake news and make up their own stories as they do and become "shocked" or suddenly quiet when their little fibs that so far from the truth never pans pan out.

Forbes is a very annoying publication tbh.

[knickstr]

Is Forbes now a sponsor of Xbox. A lot of questionable articles coming from them recently.

[rainslacker]

They've been like this since last gen. They were one of a handful of sites that actually defended the DRM policies before MS did a 180, and it became fashionable to say how we just didnt understand.

[knickstr]

Well they eventually did add it with Gamespass. Although an optional version of it for now.

[Vithar]

Such a strange marketing to me. Why should i buy a brand new console to play games i can already play?
I must be missing something

[Thundercat77]

They care but they don't want to be compared to Sony and Nintendo anymore because it is humiliating.

[MetroidFREAK21]

Console wars in 2020... 🤦‍♂️

[ifrit_caress]

This whole console wars thing is bullsh!t.

[Tross]

Really? I'm not getting an "all in" vibe from what we've heard about the XSX. It's like they're releasing a console to check off a box, but their focus is elsewhere.

[rainslacker]

They're releasing a console because sony is releasing one. They can't allow Sony to have that much of a head start into next gen. If and when their services take off, then they can release at their own pace, but if they allow Sony to be any more dominate than they are, it pretty much moves MS into the realm of irrelevance in the rather large console market, which is where a good portion of gaming attention resides, even though its not the largest gaming market

[Revacci]

They do care, they just know that they have no chance of beating Sony nor Nintendo.

Phil made these statements just to save face since they know the outcome before the generation even starts. Their approach of releasing a new hardware contradicts their statement, at least for the upcoming generation.

[Deadsinister]

Ps5 is for the players, greatness awaits lol.

[AK91]

Um no no they don't they are going the service route and I'm pretty sure the XSX might be the last (or one of the last) console that MS ever makes.

[Ashmedae]

Erik Kain certainly has a lot more sense than Kevin Murnane. I'm glad this opinion piece was written.

[S2Killinit]

If you have to utter the words “they still care because”, it means they’ve been doing things that makes one doubt their long term intentions.

[Zeref]

Xbox Series X is competing with PS5 but Xbox as a whole(xCloud,PC, Console) is not about competing with Sony or Nintendo anymore.

[drunkenspy007]

Xbox series X is the dumbest name for a console I've seen. Goes right along with Microsoft's failed approach with selling the system. It may be top notch, but it's marketed by idiots.

[2ndhandcorn]

Its good someone does care i guess , with less time to play these days am happy with one console.