What Does 'Xbox Tax' Mean

Game Rant writes: "As things stand, Microsoft isn’t in danger of losing GOTY awards to a diabolical “Xbox Tax,” its priorities just need to shift toward pleasing players like Halo and Gears of War did back in Xbox’s heyday."

[eagle21]

Microsoft seriously needs to step their game up (pun intended) if they want GOTY nominations. :)

[sparky77]

They already have and got tons of games to play.

They don't get nominations because of the so called "Xbox Tax" as it's cool to hate on Xbox these days, all Xbox fans know this and when we see reviews like 7/6 out of 10 we know really that's more of an 9/8 out of ten. Journalist know hating on Xbox gets maximum hits you just have to look at N4G the hottest articles are Xbox hit pieces.

[crazyCoconuts]

Microsoft has earned their hate and market position over many years, it's not "cool", it's rational behavior.
And if you want to see what a 8/9 looks like, play Spiderman 2 for a few hours and then play Starfield and compare. How are the graphics, character models, story, polish? It simply doesn't compare and people know that.

[sparky77]

And you are proving my point lol.

Regardless Xbox fans will have their views on "Xbox Tax" while PS fans will have their own. And we all know no on is capable of changing the others mind.

[RNTody]

The difference is Sparky that we can provide mountains of evidence over a decade for why Xbox is in the position it is in and why we are critical of Microsoft and their practices. You can't substantiate your view of the "Xbox tax" beyond anecdotal evidence which is flimsy at best.

[sparky77]

Like I said you guys have your opinions we have our opinions.

Any "evidence" you can provide will be flimsy and worthless in my view, so providing it is pointless. Just like anything I say to you guys is pointless in your view otherwise you would understand what "Xbox Tax" is.

[__y2jb]

Sparky, list a few of these games which have suffered from the Xbox tax please.

[Lightning77]

The Xbox Tax goes way beyond just winning GOTY at the awards. It started when the Xbox One generaion when they tried to pull off what they did.

Most ppl forget that there 100% was a PS tax during the 7th gen. Get 2 jobs to buy a PS, over hyping the games and features etc. The industry was definitely harsh on PS3 that's no secret. How they get passed it? By being undeniable in its exclusives. Make games so great journalists can't talk crap. It wasn't one game it was multiple games that turned things around near the end of the PS3 gen. Same with Xbox what they with X1, they have to earn industry trust and needs to release hit, after hit, after hit to change the minds of the ppl. It wasn't just the DRM stuff it was the fact MS wasn't investing in games (due to internal politics) when you don't release nothing or cancel projects like they did. Yeah that trust went down the drain. Again PS can crawl out of that Xbox can as well, but the games need to be undeniable consistently.

[Hofstaderman]

Omg. Congrats you just gave me a mild stroke trying to make sense of your comment. Slow clap.

[-Foxtrot]

@sparky77

"Like I said you guys have your opinions we have our opinions"

Your opinion is literally "LALALALA NOT LISTENING LALALALA"

[S2Killinit]

xbox are really lacking in games to the point that anything that comes out for them is touted as the best thing since sliced bread. That is how thirsty the xbox fandom is.

[crazyCoconuts]

"Like I said you guys have your opinions we have our opinions."
There are just way fewer people with your opinion.
That's fine.. I say Disney ruined MCU and Star Wars, an apologist might spin it as a "Disney Tax".

[Eonjay]

Maybe Microsoft can buy the VGA and force everyone to vote for their games... and that will be okay with everyone because once everyone learns that suckling the teat of trillionaires and belittling themselves to glorify the rich is what makes them a real gamer... we can all become Xbox fanboys! An Xbox fan seems to be a fan of rich people who complain that life isn't fair to them; oh, and that only the poor should pay taxes.

[northpaws]

@sparky77 and Xbox is going downhill because of gamers like yourself that don't want them to do better.

It was never cool to hate Xbox, I have XBox Series X and GamePass, I just wish they make higher quality games. Their games quality made me regret my purchases.

[Crows90]

Keep in dreaming. Nobody gave Ori a 7/6 out of 10. It's a fucking great game. More of that would do you all down good but if you're going to pretend average games are actually spectacular...then yeah...that's the Xbox tax in a nutshell ..self inflicted harm.

[fr0sty]

Xbox Tax is copium that Xbots use to justify their purchase of a console that is sub-par.

[notachance]

well I mean, if this is the level of quality Xbox fans are willing to defend to death, we shouldn't be surprised as to why the games are mostly just of mediocre quality

their own fans are enabling them

[QuantumMechanic]

The "Xbox Tax" movement is an attempt to positively spin/vacate the strong philosophical distaste most of the console gaming community feels for MS' strategic approach to IP acquisition, game management, monetization, distribution, and ownership.

[LordoftheCritics]

XBOX TAX is an excuse that MS circle will use when their turds dont sell.

[S2Killinit]

You gotta wait till E3

[andy85]

And we all know when we see 10/10 reviews from Xbox pages we know they're 7/8 games. It all balances. They don't get nominations because they haven't released a critically acclaimed AAA in a long long time.

[RedDevils]

Sparky is a wall, you don't talk to a wall.

[RNTody]

@sparky Tell me your head is firmly planted in the sand without telling me your head is firmly planted in the sand.

Here are two facts for you that scratch the surface of Microsoft's decline:
1. Microsoft has diminished the quality of ALL of their once great franchises, namely Gears of War, Halo, Forza (see latest release)
2. Microsoft has failed to deliver or invest in new games despite acquiring a multitude of studios many years ago. The Initiative was formed in 2018 and has failed to produce a new game let alone a mere gameplay trailer to demonstrate their "AAAA" purpose.

If the above "evidence" as you call it is "flimsy", then you need to report back to school I'm afraid, you skipped a few years in critical thinking class - or perhaps you're in politics.

[MrSec84]

There's no Xbox Tax, Microsoft has released games that aren't fun, that lack refinement, titles like Redfall and Starfield are perfect examples of this.
I recently got a Series X, have been putting time into Starfield and it really lacks what even made the Fallout Series fun.
Nothing in Redfall looks fun, though I admit I haven't played it yet, but given the studio involved it doesn't seem to live up to what made the Dishonered games fun or have their polish.
Forza Motorsport 2023 is miles behind GT7 in the car handling, visuals, audio track for cars and tracks/ambience.

Sony and Nintendo have been bringing the games this gen, with inventive gameplay and mountains of polish to their experiences.
Talent and skill in game design, with the ability to make refined experiences is clearly way ahead of what we've had, waited to see and be delivered by the Xbox development community.

[VariantAEC]

@sparky77
**"Any "evidence" you can provide will be flimsy and worthless in my view, so providing it is pointless."**
Flat Earth Gaming? There is only one truth, Microsoft did poorly for 22 years straight with Xbox 360 being their most successful device with critical software for the brand... MS just couldn't make it work and that's why they're always in last place.

The evidence we have to back up our claims, MS also provided. By rejecting our evidence you openly reject the truths MS is telling you. You become a rouge fanboy rejecting facts that your favorite brand even acknowledges despite how it looks for them!

[bababrooks]

WORD, I hear you !!!!!!! N4G has always been Playstation nation even in it's old format! I don't read it for gaming info as all the threads are bias but they are amusing at times !

[shadowT]

Starfield reviewers and influencer were cherry-picked, it is well known that large publications did not receive review codes. Maybe this is the reason for the missing Xbox nominations?

[Eonjay]

The VGA awards are decided by a panel of international reviewers. It is in fact a popularity contest. The most popular games across the word win. There may be a situation where Xbox itself isn't popular enough around the world to have one of their exclusive titles become popular enough. If that is the case they are going to have to make something with greater appeal. Perhaps they can take on of the popular multiplat games they stole and improve that to increase appeal. Oh - but if the game that was once multiplat becomes exclusive to Xbox it wont reach enough people to gain popularity.

[andy85]

If that was the case Psychonauts 2 wouldn't have been on the list it's not a popularity list it's a great game list. If Starfield was top top quality then it's guaranteed to be on the list and the only people they have to blame is themselves. The facts are this year is one of the best years for games and Microsoft did nothing good enough to deserve a GOTY nomination

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

It's a particularly childish form of deflection. Hi-Fi Rush got quite a few nominations because it's actually a great game and deserves them.

Last year Stray and A Plague Tale: Requiem were nominated for GOTY. Hi-Fi Rush would have made the top 6 last year.

But it's fair to say that this year was stacked (the best year for games in a while) so it didn't make it but neither did a lot of high quality games so it's no slight against it. Street Fighter 6, Armoured Core 6, Final Fantasy 16, Jedi Survivor, Pikman 4, The Talos Principle 2, Cocoon, Lies Of P, Hogwarts Legacy, Sea Of Stars, Dead Space, Remnant 2, etc didn't make it either.

If Xbox makes more games of that quality they will inevitably get into the top 6 and could win. It's simple - you have to earn it. I'm interested to see how good Hellblade 2 is.

[LoveSpuds]

💯
Most sensible post I've seen on here for a while.

[Eonjay]

There is no Xbox Tax. Microsoft simply has not produced a game with wide enough appeal to win GOTY. It has gotten nominations like everyone else. But to be so entitled as to simply expect GOTY because Microsoft purchased Bethesda and then get mad when people don't agree is one of Xbox's biggest hurdles. The people who occupy the fanbase of Xbox believe that all it takes to win is to buy gaming publishers and horde their games from other ecosystems. They believe that success isn't something earned by something you buy. To them removing Starfield from PlayStation was the same of 'creating' the game of the year.

[anast]

HiFi Rush had almost the same player count as Gollum not to long ago...But I get your point.

[isarai]

Talk about delusional, the games aren't good enough, rarely ever are. Xbox needs to focus on the quality of their games if they want to be nominated more often, but that's clearly not something they care about. Plus that's not even the correct application of "tax" as a bias, can't even get that right.

[Vits]

This a bizarre article, they went on to explain what the "Xbox tax" truly is to finalize saying that there is no "Xbox tax". You have to be extremely innocent not to understand that the "Game Awards" is the "Critics Awards" and that this is where the "tax" comes into play. It is no more than bias for a particular type of game, there are outliers when you look at the history of the nominees and even winners, but the vast majority of them fit in the same box.

And that is where this article should end. There is no place where "its priorities just need to shift toward pleasing players" would equal being nominated when there are a couple of dozen players that really matter for the nomination in the first place. If Microsoft wants to have more nominees what they need to do is please this layer of critics that make up 90% of the voting power.

[Rockstar]

Xbox tax is the phrase fanboys use when they think a game they like is better than it is because their favorite corporation made it and put it on their favorite plastic box.

These people just need to realize that they're allowed to like/love a game that's not necessarily going to win any awards and that's ok. If you enjoyed it, who cares if it didn't get nominated for something?

Xbox tax is bs...

[PhillyDonJawn]

Xbox tax is real. Even multiplats with parity is scored lower on xbox

[jznrpg]

Some multiplats don’t run as well on Xbox so there’s that plus there are different reviewers opinions.

[VersusDMC]

There is parity between PS5 and Series X but not Series S.

Since Series S is the most bought xbox system shouldn't it be the main score? The Xbox tax is journalists reviewing a game on series X and giving the same score to S. The tax is actually a tax refund.

[PhillyDonJawn]

So based off your logic if a reviewer reviewed a game on series X that had purity with ps5 it should get the same score correct? Thank you for agreeing.

[shinoff2183]

Something xbox fans made up or ms themselves put out their pretty much saying that games are discredited that are exclusive to xbox. It's laughable at best. Redfall bad game, starfield deep down is a 7 of 10. I bought the whole system for starfield. Ms has had good games

[isarai]

Pretty much, like if there is some universal bias, what about the actually good games like Ori series, Forza Series, Hi-Fi Rush, Flight Simulator, etc?

[jambola]

It's very common on the internet
I am right, so if someone feels different there must be some flawed reasoning

[Petebloodyonion]

As I said several times the game award is there to please the majority of ppl, the game selection reflect that simply because it's been the games that the medias had the most hype or knowledge, about to begin with.
How many Xbox games did the Japanese media market play? Do you expect them to nominate an Xbox game?
How many TV stations or newspapers (they are in the voting process) played Deadspace or Hifi Rush versus Zelda?
Now before you come saying I'm wrong how about listening to the EXACT same argument from Alanah Pearce (someone who has been part of the voting process) explaining how the G.A is basically (in her words) an international popularity contest. (starts at 5:30).
https://youtu.be/TSMgYXm7OZ...

If my take is wrong well I expect ppl to explain where Alanah Pearce is wrong.

[thesoftware730]

Pete, I love how they ignored your post and continued with fanboy drivel.

No acknowledgment, no refuting, no logic, just blind fanboy jargon lol. It seems to be a major trend here, when cornered with actual points of debate, they turn to irrational comments and internet talk.

"It means Xbox fans have bad taste."

"It means cope"

Sometimes I wonder how these people debate in real life.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

The media is biased against Microsoft. Microsoft can never win awards because of factual tax against them.

Yeah I wonder how people debate in real life indeed.

[thesoftware730]

Hey outside, it's been a while.

If you read what I wrote, you would see that it was in a very specific context of no one making a counterpoint to Pete's claim. I never said he was right or wrong, I simply pointed out that no one provided any meaningful rebuttal.

Additionally, he laid out what an actual member of the voting process said nominations are based on, and spoke to possibly why MS misses the boat, he didn't make it up, he didn't pull it out of thin air, and then he challenged anyone to debunk his proof, but nope...it was followed by, as I said fanboy jargon.

It's not necessarily about the topic or people's opinions I am calling out, it's the lack of debate 101 skills, and in most cases, name-calling and jumping to something that was unrelated to the challenge posed is just a way of deflection and in real life, you would have already loss ANY, even a silly videogame debate, by any logical debate standard.

[thesoftware730]

@ronin,

You obviously don't know what a tantrum is if you think my comment simulates one. You are correct when you say it's not a debate club, but it is debate/argument/opinion, and interchangeable they should come with logical or sound counterpoints, if it lacks that it equals a loss.

As for my post adding nothing, not true, my post was to point out the lack of meaningful rebuttal/counter-point or validity of opposing opinions, which it did just that, at the same time backing up Pete's opinion and evidence.

Point made.

[shinoff2183]

That's not true at all. My post came first and I did read his post later that day.

Starfield I believe didn't make the cut cause it just flat out wasn't goty material.

[TheTony316]

It means cope

[jznrpg]

It means Xbox fans have bad taste.

[Hofstaderman]

Ones taste is acquired based on what is fed to you....

[__y2jb]

The simple truth is that Microsoft has failed to produce compelling content since the latter 360 days.

They’re chronic mismanagement of every single studio they own will be taught on business courses in the future as examples of how companies can fail despite having everything they need to succeed.

[Hedstrom]

Maybe the entire Xbox division needs to do like Bethesda and explain to people why they are wrong about their experience with Xbox games!

[Chevalier]

Really confused how Xbox fans have this idiotic victims mentality and defend garbage games instead of asking for better?! Remember all these kool-aid drinking fans telling everyone how Xbox was going to arrive when Redfall was about to release? Then Starfield and so on?

I remember clearly a ton of Xbox fans absolutely trashing Hellblade when it came to Playstation first. Then now it's exclusive to Xbox and now 3rd person adventure games are 'amazing'. Same people who complain about TLOU, uncharted, Horizon Zero Dawn etc.

[Abnor_Mal]

The new thing I’ve seen is some Xbox fans excited about single player cinematic games coming to their platform.

I remember when people would say single player games are for people with no friends, and that multiplayer games are where it’s at. Now many of those same people are cheering exclusive single player games that were going to be on their console anyways if the game stayed multiplatform. I also remember some claiming that exclusives were dead and there shouldn’t be any exclusives and every game should be playable everywhere. Wonder what happened to that sentiment. Or the sudden hate for Kojima after he announced an exclusive game for the other platform, now rejoicing a Kojima exclusive game on their own platform.

[Abnor_Mal]

Imagine if PlayStation fans called Days Gone not being nominated goty, or some other game that critics and some gamers trashed that was only on PlayStation like Forspoken, and PS fans claimed PS bias and PlayStation tax, they would be laughed right out the comment sections.

I see no difference from then to now, if the game isn’t good for whatever reason suck it up and demand from the platform do better.

[Berenger]

Give me a break. All they need to do is be able to make great games in their XGS portfolio. That's why they have done so poorly. I don't wanna hear about some wack ass, made up term to explain their lack of success. Just make good games. The business will follow.

[Markusb33]

its victim mentality, look at the biggest most wealthy company in gaming the under dog in 3rd place, why cant we compete ?
Try making high quality experiences rather than products that are designed to be put in a service, makes me laugh when you see all the 9/10 from ign and all the negative playstation and nintendo articles but its xb that cant catch a break, stop making fridges, nail polish, dolls and controller hoodies and make games, use the studios you have, where is perfect dark ? hellblade 2 ? why was halo the once flagship title released missing basic content ?

[Plague-Doctor27]

Starfield just came 18th in the players choice award for TGA. Below Honkai Star Rail. Starfield is the wrong game to point to there being this "xbox tax" nonsense

[Einhander1972]

It's due November 2027.

[Crows90]

The Xbox tax is how they haven't contributed much at all to gamers or gaming and yet they get a massive pass as if they're an actual competitor.

The Xbox tax is when you release a "successful" console but they all break.

The Xbox tax is when you force Kinect and always online with silly claims like you can't undo it only to undo it all when your console doesn't sell.

The Xbox tax is not delivering new IP for over a decade and yet get fan support.

The Xbox tax is being able to buy up 3rd party developers like crazy and get little to no industry blow back.

[isarai]

What annoys me is the grammar of the term. "Tax" as a bias is to be used when something is up charged for no reason other than a bias. For example there is a "Gamer Tax" on many things, chairs, desks, headphones, etc. all are universal multipurpose items that are suddenly upcharged once "gamer" is slapped in the box. It's quite literally how I saved hundreds building PCs, as motherboards especially will have two identical boards but one has black tint and labeled "Gaming" and charged $100 more.

Same with "Pink Tax" where identical items, especially razors and soap, are more expensive for women despite being the exact same item as the mens but pink.

That does not apply here at all, doesn't make any damn sense

[Godmars290]

The Xbox camp blaming someone other than MS for Xbox's market position after all this time.

All the hype for titles like Quantum Break and Crackdown w/cloud support only for them to crash and burn on a technical basis, showing off Halo Infinite and the vampire game expecting them to wow only to draw laughs instead, that's your "Xbox Tax".

[CrimsonWing69]

Better luck next year.

[BrainSyphoned]

Impotence, jealousy, delusional sheep, click bait for Twitter ad revenue and most importantly the next "oh poor us" marketing push from the 2nd richest company in the world. It has no meaning, it is as empty as the xbox lineup and the heads of its npc following.

[generic-user-name]

Xbox tax is a coping mechanism that was created by Xbox fans after Starfield managed to fail to meet expectations and the realisation that they'd go another year without a GOTY nominee sunk in. Similar to the 'PC = Xbox' coping mechanism that was fabricated after Xbox were forced to release their first party titles day and date on PC to try and make the dev costs back.

[Miacosa]

A fanboy term that avoids the realities of the actual real world to play as if there is some Illuminati type conspiracy against a global multinational trillion dollar corporation.

[anast]

I thought the all live service future was the Xbox tax....There's another one?

[TheColbertinator]

"The media is against me I know I know.
But believe me soon we will win and then we'll see how they should have been fair to me. We will win next year and you're going to see some changes and the world will know we are not to be mocked because we were right all along. Failing game studios...Who buys their games? I don't know. I don't know anybody who buys their games but supposedly they have the sales charts all nonsense in my opinion but they think it is fair. I tell ya"

- Phil Spencer, probably

[tagzskie]

There's no xbox tax its just the game on xbox sucks with the exception of forza horizon series.. Just make all activision game day one on gamepass and call it a day so all can be happy.

[Mr_cheese]

It means you get to write about it

[Profchaos]

It's an excuse people use to pretend that their system of choice faces persecution and unfair review scores for exclusive games from major review outlets. As an actual Xbox one owner the sad reality is that the exclusive games have not been all that good or original since the 360 era. Kameo, Crackdown, gears 1, mass effect and more I had an absolute blast on the 360 from day 1 then jumping into the x1 it felt like the play it safe box where we only got sequals from gears halo and Forza with one gem.being sunset overdrive and now it's the content over quality box and as such there's now a Xbox tax when in reality it's fans from the early days that can't fave up to where the system eventually got to after Peter Moore and his leadership propped the brand to its highest high

[maniacmayhem]

The fact that Death Stranding and Starfield hold the same metacritic score and Death Stranding's players were just as split about the game and yet DS was still nominated shows there is definitely some sort of Xbox Tax.