Some publishers reportedly questioning support for Xbox amid "flatlining" sales

That’s according to GamesIndustry.biz head Chris Dring, who said his takeaway from GDC last week was that he thinks “Xbox is in real trouble as a hardware manufacturer”.

[MrDead]

PlayStation will be MS's biggest console platform to publish games on. They tried the buy-up and mass ban of multiplatform games and it's just ended up with them needing Sony for sales.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

That's the reason they bought publishers, to profit across platforms..

[MrDead]

...why were they restricting Bethesda games then? Seems a weird thing to do if "That's the reason they bought publishers", it seems more like they bit off more then they could handle and now MS is stepping in and taking over at Xbox as they need the sales.

[S2Killinit]

Its so ironic! Some of these xbox fans were soooo happy that MS was going to buy up the industry and deprive others of games they all used to enjoy. They cheered MS on, now it turned out that MS will need to go multiplat to pay for the cost of the acquisitions. Karma?

[Cacabunga]

If at the same time PS is going back to making single player games then it will be the only console of choice

[Barlos]

Exactly. How can't people see that their plan was to eventually drop hardware and go multi platform - essentially becoming the biggest publisher in the industry?

The disagrees you got shows there's a lot of people in denial over it.

[BlackOni]

If I remember correctly, they stated their recent Blizzard acquisition as a way to stay competitive with Nintendo and Sony, not specifically to profit across platforms. Of course, the end goal is always profits, but they've also made a bunch of exclusives that haven't made their way to other platforms yet, with more on the way.

I imagine the other acquisitions were for the same reason, but I could be wrong. They recognize that most of their offerings aren't to the same level of quality as what the competition is doing, hence the buyouts and porting older xbox exclusives to PS and Nintendo.

[Lightning77]

Didn't know Halo, Fable, Perfect Dark Gears, Avowed was goin on PS originally.

[YourMommySpoils]

Dude, just give up already, just throw in that towel.

[MrDead]

Well as you guys don't buy games MS may be forced too for sales. New Halo won't be much good on such a tiny platform as Xbox, but they do have the option of PC and PS to keep their games going and hit sales targets.

[ocelot07]

Halo was actually suppose to be a Dreamcast exclusive. Perfect Dark started life on Nintendo, Gears at one point did have a PS3 build.

[UltimateOwnage]

@ocelot07 Facts.

[Abear21]

No way those games wind up on PlayStation, sadly, they’ll be forced to run on Series S too and will be lesser games because of it.

[Lightning77]

There's no you guys here. As usual, here and on Twitter nobody ever makes any sense. Because internet.....

Uuh uh. Come out with new hardware only to put everything on PS and neglect their new console and forget console growth right....

Yep that makes the most sense in the world ppl. Some guy on twitter said the exact same ignorant thing. Riiight makes perfect sense....

@mommy what towel I don't work for MS? I know I make too much sense it goes over your head I know and you're frustrated because you want only one console in the market. One day you'll get it... Maybe....

[BehindTheRows]

My man, much of this dame doubt was cast upon us before those 4 games released outside of Xbox/PC and here we are yet again. Of course, Microsoft could easily put this to bed if it weren't true, but they don't. The smoke coming from whatever fire is real.

Going full 3rd party? Not quite so soon, but I'm inclined to believe the rumors of many more Xbox games coming. It makes sense as Xbox console sales have largely dried up and it would be silly to ignore the much larger userbases of Nintendo and PlayStation.

[MrDead]

Oh, er sorry you seem to be taking this news a little rough. Don't worry though PC, Nintendo and PlayStation will keep the market afloat and hopefully MS will sell enough on other platforms to make a new Halo for us all to enjoy. .. Also don't forget MS has King so you can cheer that on, lots of profit!

[Cockney]

As usual it's everybody else's fault

[VenomUK]

@Lightning78 Phil Spencer has just said in an interview that Xbox has had a ‘brand pivot’ so that it will be available on any platforms Gen Z wants to play. This interview is confirmation that Xbox games have gone full third party. It seems he wasn’t ready to say it at the Xbox event last month, now he has soft announced it.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer says multiplatform ‘brand pivot’ partly driven by Gen Z habits
https://www.videogameschron...

[The Wood]

cap n cope

[ChasterMies]

Not will be. Already are. Minecraft and Call of Duty already sell more on PlayStation than on Xbox.

[MrNinosan]

Hi-Fi Rush most likely also sold more on Playstation already.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

They "restricted" games to make their platform look like a good buy, knowing they could make a move at any time because they now own the IPs. But anyone who's been paying attention to even a little bit of their business model over the last handful of years has seen them moving in this direction. They've explicitly said themselves they want Xbox on as many screens as possible, Xbox being a brand, not hardware.

[notachance]

all their own fault

1. They trained their own costumers to wait for games to come to gamepass instead of buying from the store. I'll bet most of their customers have stopped buying games entirely since gamepass launched, with some high profile exception like Baldur's Gate 3 and Hogwarts Legacy.

2. They split their own SKUs into the weaker S and the more powerful X, particularly the weaker S needed extra effort to port games into it. With the sales flatlining there's simply not enough profit to justify the cost to do it.

[Einhander1972]

Probably sooner rather than later at this rate...

[Elda]

LMAO!! Why did MS/XB even bother in the first place. Just wasted money.

[Zeref]

Publishing certain games on Playstation makes them more money not less. So how is it wasted money? Lol

[mandf]

68billion for activision will take a long time to show profit. It was a power move that backfired

[Zeref]

@mandf
Backfired how??

You think they actually thought they're gonna profit from a 68 billion dollar deal in a year? What are you talking about my guy?

[mandf]

Zeref playstation makes up the majority of buying console players for activision games. There goes that money and let's give it out free in gamepass. If you don't understand that then you will never understand business. Playstation players aren't going to leave playstation for Xbox like ms thought or delusional xbox players thought. Every single ip 99percent sold more on playstation.

Ms started to create a monopoly and for once they aren't in control and got called out. Ms is the greediest of all corporations in this world. A lot of gamers aren't blind. I wont buy any ms produced game.

You are watching ms bow out of the console business. They couldn't bully bribe or buy their way into dominance. And now ms is very shortly going to held accountable for a lost venture. The entirety of ms console has never showed a real profit. It has been subsidized by ms. Literally a waste of money. Today they are worse then where they started..

Year 3 or 4 of this gen and they still haven't reached 30million sold. Where is all this future profit coming from.

[shinoff2183]

With ms signing that 10 year deal with call of duty. I bet they knew from the jump that they were going this route. Probably trying to figure out the best way to break it to its base. Sure 68 billion can't be made back in a year but some xbox players are jumping ship now. So what happens in 5 years when console sales dwindle to nothing. Answer the same exact thing that's happening now. You can paint rainbows and butterflies all you want but ms will be releasing even more on ps and switch. At this point it's a dud

[StormSnooper]

They have spent more than they have earned in 4 generations.

[Lightning77]

What's a waste of money?

[Christopher]

I think Elda is referring to getting into hardware in the first place. I don't agree. We need more hardware competition, IMHO.

[mandf]

I respectfully disagree. Go play Nintendo switch games tell me you think they are reviewed on the same scale as ms and ps.

Now think of it this way if ms was the only console and switch and ps5 games were on xbox. The standard of reviews changes. Nintendo has some great games let's get that out the way. Zelda has no speech in this current day. If final fantasy did this they would get review bombed and gamers would riot.

Sea of thrives when it it released has 4 enemies and a kraken that has no body hit metacritic at 7. If that game wasn't exclusive if would been review bombed.

Dragons dogma 2 just released and all we here is framerate problems and let destroy the game through the internet. Name one Bethesda gamethat never had framrate problems we overlook it.

3 consoles create a corrupt and unbalanced conversations. If a company only has to produce one not 5 games they can optimize and make a better game. Game development becomes cheaper and quality becomes better if zelda was on every platform it would become a better game. Reviewers wouldn't gloss over low poly textures , no speech, no mo cap and other industry standardized game elements.

Almost every xbox game in the last 4 years has been hyped to no end. Xbox last 2 exclusive were touted as games of the generation months before release. Then reviewed and low and behold average at best go look at the disparity of the reviews 10s to 2s. That's fishy. I'm a playstation fan and I read all the reviews on godr and I heard from some reviewers was more of the same as if it was a negative . Halo nor zelda has been called out for that. If there was only one console for those 3 games. You would see the reviewers hold games to higher or the same standards.

Competition is good when games developers go against each with same exact standard halo trying to out do gow is better on the same console instead of console vs console.

The more consoles you have the more watered down games, reviews and standards you have.

[Petebloodyonion]

Quick question Chief didn't you cancel this story earlier on?
https://n4g.com/news/259203...
What makes this one valid versus the previous one that was posted this morning?
Just curious

[Petebloodyonion]

@Mandif
I disagree the more consoles you have = the less chance an Apple situation will happen
Tell me Do you think that if Sony or MS were alone you would have backward compatibility?
Would you get a free upgrade patch?
Do you believe that Sony or MS would try making games? Just look at Valve, Epic, or simply Meta with Quest which only produces games when potential VR competitors are around (PSVR2 and Apple).
What would stop Sony from removing your digital rights on an older platform and asking you to get the newer Playstation to keep them?
Or how about MS with DRM like 2013?

[mandf]

@pete

Yes I do. Couple thousand games from last gen is profit and is stupidity if you don't. Apple literally has a small blueprint in gaming. None of the big 3 has ever charged you backward compatability.

Digital rights are a joke and a whole other can of worms.30yrs from now none of our current software will compatible with future hardware. If it is in what form. The truest way to preserve you game collection is physical games.digital rights what a joke. Read your licensing agreement. Are you going to buy a car and pay for access to your headlights once month it's just 50cents for the radio. We already lost the war on digital rights. Physical is the way to go. Playstation gamers are buying physical games that's called demand. Gamepass has made best buy and wal mart to not sell xbox games anymore. It's a gotcha moment once it's all digital we will be renting games by the month or candy crush 5dollars for 5 lives. Digital sucks and is only going to get worse once congress start taxing gamers for high internet usage. Like I said a big can of worms. Sorry man we need a couple hours to discuss this in depth.

By the way drm and digital rights are really different my other comment is about quality of games and competition between them not quality of hardware maker

[wesnytsfs]

They should like 2 years later like Sony does with PCX games.

[Eonjay]

Not exactly because Microsoft is already bringing everything to PC as well. This is about bring games to other console platforms. I would only expect Sony to release certain games on Xbox like MLB and Marathon...

[GhostScholar]

It wasn’t Sonys choice to bring the show to Xbox. The devs themselves decided not to renew the contract with Sony for exclusivity.

[dumahim]

edit: wrong thread

[GamerRN]

The Devs didn't decide not to renew the contract, MLB stepped in and demanded multiplatform

[shinoff2183]

Ghostscholar , lol it wasn't the devs. The devs are sonys studio. It was the MLB.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

They're slowly becoming a 3rd party publisher.

[VoiceMale]

what'cha mean SLOWLY?
They're already a 3rd party publisher...been that way for years.
or maybe you are suggesting ONLY a 3rd party publisher...then the answer is NO
and to be fair both consoles have their IPs on PC which makes them 3rd party by definition.

Nintendo alone remains solely an ONLY for console with 1st party IPs

i know a lot of ppl will be upset at this but they have to understand the changing industry is heading towards not all 1st party content will be exclusives to a single box, some but not all, or even timed going forward.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

You could see this coming from a mile away, we did hear rumours of a new Xbox, but I'll be very surprised if it actually comes to fruition, unless that's actually an Xbox/PC handheld they're developing.

[GhostScholar]

Well I guess farewell to my favorite plastic box. At least I have my switch and ps5. As of today I will never play another Xbox first party game. They don’t deserve my money after begging me to wait on all the first party games they were working on now they’re starting to come out and they want to reward us by putting them everywhere. Not like one person can make a difference but I’m done with them. Not even thinking this article is legitimate but it was obvious during the future business show that going multiplat was the goal. Thanks for nothing Phillip

[Lightning77]

HB2, Avowed, Fable and Indy are staying on Xbox. You realize this is only an opinion peace right? Confirming or announcing nothing.

I also believe this guy is questionable on his stances and opinions as some pointed out on Twitter. He's doomed Xbox before.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Dude it's an interview not an opinion piece but again these games are exciting but xbox needs more than this. Do the stagger releases like Sony to get ppl invest in the plastic

[thesoftware730]

Ty, I was thinking the same thing, wth are these people talking about as if this is some sort of announcement.

Games are being announced for both platforms every day lol.

[GhostScholar]

All those games will eventually go to ps5

[Ps5conehead]

Keep telling your self that .

[Lightning77]

@natsu? An interview with who exactly? Why is he or the headline "reporting" on MS behalf? It's clearly, CLEARLY an opinion. This isn't a rumor or any inside info. The guy is a journalist he was at GDC giving his thoughts. MS was at GDC did he eavesdrop on some conversation MS might of been having about bring everything over? Did MS say that to him? Highly doubt any of it.

There's nothing to report unless we're reporting interviews and opinions now. If thats the case this place would be flooded with vids just like this giving their two cents.

[Ps5conehead]

Get a life it’s video games. My goodness your hate for Sony is not right. Go out get some fresh air. And quit whining

[Ironmike]

It's news on here no where else cos they thrive of it on this site it's most biased site I have seen

[shinoff2183]

Ironmike, I've seen this reported and numerous places. You donrealize n4g is just news and articles pulled from across the whole www right

[Babadook7]

Well said. It’s not a great look at this point for Xbox as a platform. The communication to you guys has been “just wait” for a long time. And if those games come to ps there will be little payoff. Tough to wait at this point then to see if it’s still worth it.

[anast]

Starfield was the straw that broke the camel's back. I knew they overpaid for Bethesda and I'm just an average gamer.

[Abnor_Mal]

I saw this mentioned in another article saying as much, along with many publishers are questioning whether it’s worth putting games on Xbox anymore.

https://wccftech.com/xbox-f...

Okay I see there’s already another article up on N4G saying the same.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

I’m under the impression that the majority of Activision-Blizzard titles will be multi-platform. There is no point in making future COD and Overwatch exclusive as those titles are big live-service revenue generators. Additionally, Bethesda tiles such as: Doom, Elder Scrolls and Fallout will be multi-platform, as those franchises have been historically multi-platform. Xbox Studios titles, will likely be Xbox and PC only, with some smaller titles eventually being released on other platforms after a year or more.

I think If Xbox was so keen on going full multi-platform, Halo Infinite, Starfield, Forza and Flight Simulator would have been announced as multi-platform in place of the 6 year old Sea of Thieves and 3 smaller titles (Grounded, Pentiment and Hi-Fi:Rush). I don’t expect Perfect Dark, Gear 6 and Fable going multi-platform. But I could see Hell Blade 2, Indiana Jones, and Blade releasing on PS5 after a year, especially with the latter two titles being licensed games.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

"I think If Xbox was so keen on going full multi-platform, Halo Infinite, Starfield, Forza and Flight Simulator would have been announced as multi-platform in place of the 6 year old Sea of Thieves and 3 smaller titles (Grounded, Pentiment and Hi-Fi:Rush)."

The backlash would be huge if they had done that. Slowly but surely is the approach they are taking

[Lightning77]

Then why have another console then if you think that's the case?

[XiNatsuDragnel]

@Lighting

Promise that's it but don't expect 11th gen or 12th gen console homie

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

@Lightning

This is the exact approach they did with PC initially. Didn't bring everything at first until it eventually became day one.

[S2Killinit]

They dont “want” to go, they go because of market pressures, and well, you know, mismanagement and greed imo.

[shinoff2183]

Drip drip drip. You seen the panic in the base after just those 4 were mentioned. It's a slow aa drip before the aaa comes

[shinoff2183]

You better believe starfield is in development, it was before the purchase so I feel its still coming just wait.

[Hofstaderman]

The ghost disagrees. Seems somebody is in denial. The writing has been on the wall for a very long time. Only the shills have had and some still do, have their heads in the sand.

[Kiryu1992]

Could you also bring them to PC like some of the games which are missing for example, gears of war trilogy, fable among many other

I know this is a very unpopular opinion, but in my humble opinion, this is great for gaming gaming needs to be inclusive. Landscape has changed spending $250 million on a blockbuster game only to release it on one platform doesn’t make a lot of sense anymore.

[Cockney]

If you're Sony it makes perfect sense, a 75% market share of a possible 200 million console gamers which im just guessing it will be by the end of this gen is a big enough consumer base to sell to, it looks like Phil agrees

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Exclusives sell consoles, that's a fact, having said that, I'm not buying an Xbox for those few games, I'm going to wait for a PC release (most of the Fable games are there, one or two Gears games are there too). If this exclusives didn't sell consoles, Nintendo and Playstation wouldn't be as successful as they are.

[jznrpg]

After they announced the first 4 games it seemed obvious they were going mutuliplat it just gave die hards a small hope it wasn’t true. MS doesn’t care they just want money and never cared about console in the first place but for some reason Xbox fans thought they did.

[Tody_ZA]

This is exactly MS' plan. They buy up the big publishers and when the dust settles they just profit off ownership royalties. That and Games Pass. Xbox can add CoD, Starfield or whatever else, they simply don't have the fanbase and quality of first party titles to win Sony's player base over or make Xbox an appealing contender to Sony or Nintendo.

Maybe they thought owning CoD and Bethesda would make people sell their PlayStations and jump ship, but it's pretty clear Xbox is staying in third place.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

Who cares at this point. Xbox is basically dead but its games will live on by going multiplat. As long as I can access my friends list and XBL I really don’t care where I play. I’m basically shifting to PC gaming anyway.

[Lightning77]

I guess this guy confirming for MS they're going full 3rd party now? Dang I guess next he's gonna confirm they're canning their next hardware now lol.(where did MS get the Memo) All on MS behalf, I know you're smarter than that man.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

I have no idea what you’re trying to say but I’m sure you’re smart enough to form a legible paragraph right man?

[Lightning77]

You know exactly what I'm sayin. Don't be like them. You're smarter than that.

You read, what I wrote just fine.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Dude man I'm sorry 😞

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

The point of what I’m saying is that I don’t really care about MS putting their games on PS. I’ll still enjoy my Xbox and my games and that’s all that matters to me. Do I think MS will actually turn 3rd party? No I don’t but do I think MS will put their heavy hitters on PS5? Absolutely.

[Sonic1881]

It was just a matter of time

[Lightning77]

Opinions will opinion I guess. There would be no point in even having a new Xbox then, hell they would of announced they're going full 3rd party by now but they said they're releasing another generation console.

Logically this makes no sense. If everything was going on PS they would just buy it on PS or wait for a PS release. (because PS is more popular than Xbox) MS needs to sell hardware and GP and build mindshare. They won't be able to do that if everything was goin over on PS. Community based LS games yes and even AA games where they can get the most out of said AA game makes sense but their big AAA games? Doesn't make console selling buissness sense, in fact they'll be doing the opposite.

Pretty stupid statement.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Exactly, I don’t see MS going full third party unless they drop out of the console business.

[Lightning77]

If they drop out of the console buissness then yeah that's it for MS full stop.

[Ps5conehead]

Buy a ps5 so you can play everything

[shinoff2183]

Maybe ms cut a deal with sony. Ms will go portable and sony stay console only. Who knows but it's clear more games are incoming. Probably before the end of the year tbh

[Ironmike]

Or sony bring titles over to xbox

[TheEnigma313]

lol

[Hofstaderman]

Ive had a stressful day, please tell me what you taking...

[Ironmike]

Mt get a grip its a joke

[Ironmike]

How really stressful is ur life when u stressed over a plastic box get a life

[Hofstaderman]

Mate Im making a joke.

[Ironmike]

Sorry mt no offence

[Hofstaderman]

Its cool just taking the Mickey.

[jznrpg]

Whatever Phil is taking

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Yeah right man Playstation is selling consoles so there are no point doing that XD

[DivineHand125]

Playstation is making record profits, yet they are laying off people. Do you know why? MONEY

[Chevalier]

Wait, but, Xbox fans said sales don't matter though.

[MrNinosan]

Why? 🤣

[46player]

Still need my XSX for legacy Xbox games and Forza. Otherwise it’s just 3TB extended storage.

[Father__Merrin]

All Spencer's fault and Xbox fanboys who worshipped him. We told you all along but hey U just didn't listen "best value in gaming" "direct x 12" "rapid math" "who needs exclusives when you have bought COD" it's absolutely laughable when you look how Xbox was and how it is now.

They should have had minimal acquisitions and grow portfolio

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

With all the developers they do own, and the IPs that go with them, they should have had an extensive portfolio of exclusives games, but they barely made anything, just, how?

[jznrpg]

They aren’t a game making company is the problem. They are good at buying IP it only takes money but taking those IPs and sustaining them is difficult for them. You would hope they would improve IP but they have a hard time keeping them at the level they were at

[Deeeeznuuuts]

If they bring the halo collection as well as gears, I'll be very happy

[DivineHand125]

That is his opinion. It remains to be seen what Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo will do in the future.

I don't know why so many want Microsoft to leave the console business and go the third party so badly. Competition is good for us the consumer at the end of the day.

Xbox needs to do better at convincing people that the Xbox is a great place to play. People want big exclusive games and with their resources, it is not hard to get those games but they don't want to do it for some reason. If I had their resources I would make a game around popular sci-fi books from critically acclaimed others. Look at what Bandai and Namco did to get Elden Ring what Avalanche did to make Hogwarts Legacy, and also what CDPR has done with their games. The winning ideas are already there but they are largely ignored by the majority of the industry who want to take a chance and put out something subpar.

[purple101]

Not sure if anyone wants them to go 3rd party as you suggest

“Don't know why so many want Microsoft to leave the console business and go the third party so badly”.

People are speculating, this is the only option left for them or what their plans may be after the first 4 or five games they announced

Nobody wants those games and hardly any will want the other ones they have
They are finished and the whole COD / activision / FTC trial thing just left such a bad taste in everyone’s mouth lots are jumping ship

Monthly sales explain this quite clearly
There has been mahoosove drops from their ALREADY very slow numbers

[purple101]

@cinabela, cool story bro
Tell it to me again?

It’s just that sea of thieves will slow down and the other two will be straight back in the top positions within, I’d give it bout’ 3 week

Also, I expect that dish lonely and Real, PlayStation sales about 50% disc based, or rise of ronin many will have brought on disk compared with SOT where download was the only option

Nice theory tho

[S2Killinit]

I remember when MS went and bought a large junk of the multiplatform industry, there were those who cheered them on. They didnt seem to care that it wasnt good for competition, they were just happy that others would be deprived of games that everyone used to enjoy. It seems it backfired and the same acquisition they happily clapped for, is paving the way for MS going 3rd party (at least seemingly). I really dont have any sympathy left for a company like MS. They have shown that they are not a good player in the industry. So, that is my two cents on the matter.

[fsfsxii]

Killer instinct on ps5? Im down.

[Ninver]

Heck I'll take all ms IP's no sweat

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I forgot that franchise existed since it was trapped on Xbox, I would love to play that game again.

[Ironmike]

U all sit in ur rooms eating junk food playing on console suddenly u all k ow what a trillion dollar company going to do lmao

[shinoff2183]

It's no different then what the Xbox fans do. Both sides for years. Also me personally indont eat any food while I'm playing. I'm not greasing my controller up. What are you nuts

[Ironmike]

No iam just normal person who doesn't try and pretend to know what a trillion dollar company is going to do

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I don't want Cheeto dust in my keyboard/mouse or my controllers.

[S2Killinit]

Wait so people can’t have an opinion? Interesting. I thought your comment sounded a lot like an opinion. Are you sitting in your room eating junk food by any chance?

[jznrpg]

So you don’t like to think for yourself and you happily llisten to what trillion dollar companies have to say and take it at face value?

[Ps5conehead]

Ms made the mistake of day 1 exclusives on game pass.

[Ironmike]

I agree big mistake

[shinoff2183]

That's it right there. It bit them in the ass. I've been saying it myself for awhile. It was a desperate move, they painted themselves into a corner with it.

[S2Killinit]

They also made other mistakes.

As to day one, it simply means all MS first party have to have gaas elements. Otherwise the money simply doesnt work. Sony took a different approach of finding day one games on a game to game basis where it made sense for the developer.

[StormSnooper]

They also made the mistake of releasing two SKUs at the same time. Now they can’t answer a mid gen PS5PRO.

[Knightofelemia]

Microsoft going down Sega's route I would not be surprised. I just wonder if they will make Xbox a brand instead of a machine. The game may say published by Xbox studios or developed by Xbox studios.

[gold_drake]

their activision buyout was definitely something thwy should have avoided. there was no way they'd make that kind of money bk fast.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Plus, fighting the anti-competition bodies over the acquisition would have costed them too, probably a calculated risk on their part though.

[S2Killinit]

Ouuff not a good sign for the next xbox.

[HyperMoused]

They have a point why waste dev time and money with Xbox Series S and X if Xbox games are on PC and PS anyway

[BlaqMagiq1]

Can't wait to see Xbox release more "exclusives" on PS. They can't come soon enough.

[Shikoku]

With MS releasing everything on PC, game pass and the lack of Xbone hardware sales makes sense someone would say this. The title is click bait 1 person saying this isn't "some publishers". They laid off 1900 people from the physical games division, claimed it was from slow growth and for profits in a Quarter when they made 2.2 billion off act/Blizz and 7.1 billion total off the game division.....mhm, they are releasing multiplatform and they keep pushing digital sales and game pass more than Xbone hardware......not hard to see what is coming.

[StormSnooper]

This says it ALL:

On MS —> “They are transitioning from one business to another, and you don’t want to kill off your old business too quickly”

Sounds like a sinking ship.

[DaleCooper]

I enjoy playing on Xbox but, let's be honest, all momentum they had from acquiring big developers has completely dried up. They wasted all of their opportunity and good will toward gamers and not only gave in to the DEI grift, but continue to enable it.

[Abear21]

PS5 Pro will be an issue for Xbox. If Xbox doesn’t do a mid-gen hardware refresh and Sony does, we will see new PlayStation games and GTA6 running better on the Pro and Xbox will be dropping their exclusives on Series S at the same time as X. It’ll be blood bath on Digital Foundry. Pro versus Series S and even Series X for games like Skate, GTA6, etc, it’s just not going to look good for Xbox.

[shinoff2183]

At this point maybe ms doesn't care. They probably already are planning their next phase. If it's portable then clearly gta6 ain't running as good as a console anyway. If it's 3rd party then the sh don't matter