Opinion: In Hindsight Microsoft Buying Activision May Have Been Worst Decision For Xbox The Console

Do Xbox executives perhaps have some buyers remorse for the way things have played out at Xbox post Acitivision merger? This writer thinks so

[Obscure_Observer]

Xbox consoles has become nothing more than just another revenue stream for their ecosystem and overall gaming business. Not more important than PC or Cloud, and certainly less important than Gamepass.

I´m believe the next Xbox will be just a powerful device for hardcore gamers that prefers high end local experience which the cloud won´t provide due input lag at the top of overall resolution and performance issues.

The good news though, is that once they´re no longer competing in the console space, they also will no longer be tied to release schedules, meaning they will be able to release its new console whenever they want.

I´m expecting the new Xbox console to out later in 2026.

I can´t wait!

[Einhander1972]

I like your optimism about the next console, you and the ten other guys who buy it should have pizza parties and stuff.

[just_looken]

Hey do not diss hot sweaty pc lan parties form the past pizza/liquid to drink i used to have a internet cafe that did xbox lan activities it was dope. Now though get more than 10 people in a room the chance of a mass attack is to high :(

[Profchaos]

You know what a Xbox Lan party is a absolute blast like a n64 goldeneye/mk64 night with mates

[RaiderNation]

Lmao!!!

[crazyCoconuts]

The lan parties were a blast. Halo on a lan with split screen is one of my fondest gaming memories for sure

[Michiel1989]

that is just wrong, for every game sold on xbox they get royalty fees, Xbox is definitely more important to them than pc.

[Plague-Doctor27]

The best evidence that shows Xbox is no longer important to them is that Phil Spencer said it was

[VenomUK]

I remember when the ABK deal went through I remember so many from the hardcore fanbase like Destin Legare, Colt Eastwood and Jez Cordon gleefully celebrating on Twitter and YouTube. Now, they’re nonchalantly tweeting about how the business has changed.

[zaanan]

@plague
well played!

[Terry_B]

Seriously..that was sarcasm..right? RIGHT?

[Redemption-64]

I don't think obscure understands sarcasm

[Obscure_Observer]

Why it was sarcasm?

[Rynxie]

@obscure

That's the spirit little girl. Never stop believing.

[MetroidFREAK21]

I look forward to more Xbox published games on other platforms. Like PS5/Switch 2

[jznrpg]

@Obscure you should start a goalpost moving company, you are good at it

[S2Killinit]

I think MS wants to diminish console importance to move away from consoles and become a service. They will release a handheld to escape PlayStation competition, and they will also release their new “console” sooner in order to avoid comparisons to PlayStation.

[Obscure_Observer]

MS will be doing their own thing, whatever there is.

They have enough studios to move forward and be their own man, just like Nintendo did.

They will release Xbox games on multiple platforms to make big money to fund and continue to release day one first and third party games for Xbox players and PC players on Gamepass.

MS lost the console war, but Xbox and PC gamers won!

[S2Killinit]

MS will do their own thing, but that will not be xbox as we know it. MS is likely going to turn xbox into a service. That doesn’t mean there wont be a next xbox console in the short term (or handheld, or both?), but xbox will become more a service (horrible imo as I’m console gamer).

None of this means “xbox” will not be a juggernaut in terms of profits made, but it does mean that xbox as a console is less than it was. I’m pretty sure you are correct that they will have a powerful next gen console/handheld, but it will not turn a lot of heads after all the shenanigans MS has pulled with console fan base.

My only issue with your comment is that yoy say “xbox/pc gamers won”. I think all console gamers lost with MS’s head turning to profits over the wellbeing of consoles/console industry.

[Obscure_Observer]

"MS will do their own thing, but that will not be xbox as we know it. MS is likely going to turn xbox into a service. That doesn’t mean there wont be a next xbox console in the short term (or handheld, or both?), but xbox will become more a service (horrible imo as I’m console gamer)."

Yeah, as a console only game myself, I would hate that too.

My hopes lies on Xbox to continue with the traditional console model rather than just a streaming device for Cloud. But with Xbox nowadays, you never know. Remains to be seen.

"None of this means “xbox” will not be a juggernaut in terms of profits made, but it does mean that xbox as a console is less than it was. I’m pretty sure you are correct that they will have a powerful next gen console/handheld, but it will not turn a lot of heads after all the shenanigans MS has pulled with console fan base."

Totally agree. You didn´t had many reasons to own an Xbox Series console other than being a console gamer only, with all of its gaming hitting the PC day and date with the console. In the future I predict gamers will have even less reasons to own an Xbox console now that probably most if not all Xbox games will be coming to Playstation sooner or later.

Besides the Xbox hardcore fans like myself, I don´t think MS has a plan to expand their console player base beyond what they have today. And that´s a shame.

"My only issue with your comment is that yoy say “xbox/pc gamers won”. I think all console gamers lost with MS’s head turning to profits over the wellbeing of consoles/console industry."

I said "won" because despite of their newly found multi-platform route, MS will keep the day one games coming and, with more resources and money made out those multi-plat games, I´m expecting Xbox to green lit more and diverse projects and new IPs while keeping quality for all games, be those indie, AA and AAA.

The best part is that we don´t have to pay more than a GPU subscription to enjoy all of those.

[northpaws]

@Obscure_Observer

So now Xbox completely getting destroyed in console war is good for Xbox gamers too... so that's latest spin... you certainly have more fate in Xbox than MS and Phil combined lol

[S2Killinit]

@Obscure
I see your point, 100% agree. I guess we agree on more things than I could imagine.

[darthv72]

Honestly... that aint a half bad idea. I mean for me personally, I use the handhelds far more than the local machines. This includes the Portal (for PS5), the G-Cloud (for Series X), the steam deck (for all other PC related games/emulation) and the Switch (in handheld mode). I find that having the screen closer to me makes for a better experience as i get older. And the ease of pick up and play is right there as I can take them with me.

[Einhander1972]

S2Killinit

"None of this means “xbox” will not be a juggernaut in terms of profits made"

I don't think the moves they are making really indicate that xbox is profitable. I think are doing everything they can to try to become profitable. They own a ton of publishers and they are trying to pay for all that development cost on the back of Game Pass which we know has never met their subscriber goals and is about a third of what Microsoft said in court they would need to become fully sustainable.

Obscure_Observer

For them to maintain a console it needs to have a certain size player base (and spend through) to attract developers to the platform. And on top of that it needs to make enough money to pay for its creation and the infrastructure and manpower that maintain the networks, software and hardware.

They are not just going to keep making consoles if that base requirement isn't met.

[crazyCoconuts]

Don't want to douse optimism, but economics factor in here - if they're not competing in the console ~ $500 price point, they're competing with PCs. They'll be dealing with lower volumes and probably won't be eager to build a lot of bespoke hardware. With lower volumes, creating Xbox specific binaries for games isn't going to be cost effective for them or other game publishers, so with that they'd just be moving to commodity PC equipment that can run any PC store front. So, like Surface, you have an Xbox branded PC maybe with some special hardware to emulate your older Xbox games (that should be interesting...locks them into AMD?). If that still excites you, cool. But you can get most of that now with a PC, sans the backwards compatibility.

[Obscure_Observer]

Gamepass will not hit Playstation, so MS needs its own console to drive and *keep* Gamepass subscribers for those who prefers console gaming. Xbox consoles still maintains the vast majority of Gamepass subs which according to FTC documents, nearly 80% of Xbox Game Pass Subscribers opt for Game Pass Ultimate.

That's a lot of subscribers for Microsoft to just turn its back on.

Not only that, but also to own their technology as a prime games development tool for first and third party developers.

They´ll release a powerful console alongside a companion handheld and that´s it.

Since they have so many studios making games for their consoles and multiple platforms, they´ll probably simple push day one gamepass on console and PC while releasing their games for other platforms later.

[crazyCoconuts]

I agree without consoles GamePass currently has no base - I think that's why they're pushing streaming and PC.
I don't get what you're saying though - if they want to retain a large portion of that base with the next console, it needs to be in the $500 or less range. I think you're saying the expensive one won't compete with consoles so that's going to be a niche market, right? And handhelds (outside of Nintendo) are niche as well... so how do they retain the GamePass base with these low-volume niche markets?
If they want to keep the base, they have to stay in the console market and go toe to toe with Sony, which they appear to be avoiding now...

[ironmonkey]

Like a peasant and wait.

[purple101]

nothing about xbox is high end. quite the opposite infact

[Obscure_Observer]

Sure... Hellblade II says hi to whatever high end game you have on your PS5. So don´t even get me started on Gears of War E-Day, Kojima´s OD, South of Midnight, Avowed, Towerborne, Fable, Flight Simulator 2024, State of Decay 3, Perfect Dark or Clockwork Revolution, because atm, Playstation simply don´t have nothing to compare to those.

Gamepass quality vs full price quality.

You see? Facts speaks by itself, and I didn´t even had to bring upcoming third party games into the conversation.

Anyway, I think we´re done here, at least of have something new to share?

Happy gaming, son.

[Rockstar]

By the last few posts of yours look to be done with the denial stage and on to the acceptance stage, cheerleading Microsoft's bottom line the whole way...

[n1kki6]

Bingo.

For those saying there isn't a reason to own an xbox, that's fine if that's how you want to game. If you are locked into PS5 only, and want to pay $70 for each MS game to only play on PS5 more power to you. The truth is, console only gamers are a growth market moving forward.

For my use case, I appreciate having game pass for $240 a year and having access to my games on Handheld, Console, and PC. I know not everyone games across multiple platforms. Quite honestly it doesn't b...

[Markusb33]

buying everything has just made them become a 3rd party publisher quicker, return on investment is always required and when your selling less consoles that the previous gen thats a problem. Also advertising NO CONSOLE REQUIRED is a terrible message and marketing for the brand, telling fans no to buy games is also a terrible idea.
I truly dont think xb sees playstation or nintendo as competition, they see them as ways to make money but that just desolves the brand more as its identity is lost with no reason to own an xbox. When the started putting out games on pc before the xbox it should have been clear to everyone

[MrDead]

All MS has achieved is industry consolidation and firing thousands so they can control some of gamings biggest IP's. The only people who have benefited from this are CEO's and shareholders, everyone else got screwed.

MS are the single worst thing to ever happen to gaming

[Obscure_Observer]

Ah... MrDead

I was wondering whenever you would show up to try and spin MS releasing all of their games on ALL platforms into a negative.

And you, as always, never disappoints.

Welcome back, my guy. ;)

[Charal]

Only you can find what is going on with Xbox branding as positive. Are you a paid MS employee?

[PhillyDonJawn]

Agreed

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Atp xbox is just losing money over Activision tbh

[crazyCoconuts]

Why conclude that? COD is still selling strong (don't know about Candy Crush) and in the meantime MS has cut workforce, so decreased expenses. On paper why wouldn't you conclude Activision is making more money than before the acquisition?

[XiNatsuDragnel]

The purchase of AVI IP essentially needs money back

[crazyCoconuts]

You mean to say that shareholders expect a return on investment? That is the case with any investment. Is Activision returning more money than the MS cash sitting in a bank? This is a really rough hackjob at accounting, but MS payed about $69B. 3% interest would be about $2B / year. Before the acquisition Act/bliz was pulling in around $550M/quarter, that's a little over $2B / year. So it seems to me within reason that they're doing ok with the investment - and after cutting fat they might be doing better than OK as long as the cash cows keep pulling in money.

[Knightofelemia]

Activision at least has stuff to offer with a wide range of ip's plus the studios they acquired. Worst purchase ever goes to Sony for wasting money on Bungie. I can't believe I am sticking up for Activision at least it isn't EA even though I hate the business practice of both companies.

[just_looken]

Hay yeah classic sony they have purchased alot of studios that did nothing or bombed and took out there core studios london/tokyo that gave us the best recent exclusives oh and do not forget they even played/liked then purchased the studio/ip/building for concord man they must have been on something for that decision.

[just_looken]

@Domdoos

Sony japan:
Shadow of the Colossus
Everybody's Golf VR
Everybody's Golf
knack

Team Asobi the astro bot games was part of sony japan studio

They helped with the making of
Death Stranding
Ghost of Tsushima
Demon's Souls

Sony london
huge maker of vr titles and the tech
https://mixed-news.com/en/s...
https://www.gdcvault.com/pl...

Made the singstar games still the best karaoke experience

They tossed out a heavy rain style game erica if your into that style

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Also like London branch did alot of localization/dev support work.

@romulus23

Please post a ps5 only game that was made buy a PlayStation studio that they purchased in the last 5 years in which got goty awards was praised like your recent monkey game or elden ring.

[derek]

@just_looken just stop. Your take is ridiculous, you're only building up those studios to make them being closed more impactful. Concord may not workout but the investment is relatively small in an area of gaming Sony needs to develop and gain experience in which is invaluable.

[CosmicTurtle]

Clap hanz made the later Everybody’s Golf. I love those games but the studio was not owned by Sony ever. They are open to working with them. I am sad because I want a VR golf sequel, but the studio is fine.

Team Ico made Shadow of Colossus.

Sony Japan made Gravity Rush. Siren.

[S2Killinit]

I think you are just upset the Activision deal has paved the way for the complete capitulation of xbox. There is no silver lining there. Xbox is DOA at this point.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I'm personally not happy that Sony shut down some of those studios, Playstation really lost some of its personality and uniqueness after doing that.

[just_looken]

Man again everyone here wants games like concord then?

Ok so we hate games like heavy rain/last of us/crash/killzone/horizon/ever ybody's golf/bloodborn etc

We now want live service game full of pronuns dei characters first that cost $40-$70 with mobile mindset of microtransaction's correct?

These comments say sony players hate single player games but want to be raked over the coils with live service games and a console they has 0 way to repair it because screwdrivers are scary.

[derek]

@Knightofelemia nope the purchase of ABK over the last 9 months has has had a net impact of a loss in Microsoft console business which is in steady decline. The impact of a xbox gamers not buying games, a decline in console sales and the huge expenditure of 80 billion on studio/publisher purchases has been a negative financially. That is why Microsoft hq has stepped in and forced xbox studios to go and start selling games on rival platforms, and raised the price of gamepass twice in the last year, this will only get worse. Microsoft investors want their money back. Bungie purchase, besides wasted opportunity to spend elsewhere ,has had relatively minimal impact on Playstation as a whole and integrating them will be nowhere near as difficult as what's going on at xbox.

[gold_drake]

u say they have alot of offer, but all they focus on is Call of Duty.

[Jingsing]

Activision was looking to sell because they were already past their peak and Microsoft is king of buying stuff that is past its peak.

[Hofstaderman]

I bet you Phil is in a world of buyer's remorse. All eyes are on him both in MS and the rest of the gaming world. Scratch that, the entire business world is looking at him and this acquisition and scratching their heads.

[crazyCoconuts]

Definitely feels like the tables have turned on him. His emails before the acquisition about his career defining move buying Nintendo, squeezing Sony, etc. While they were all focused in the courts, PS was quietly putting their consoles on sale and mopping up market share. By the time Phil changed out of his suit it seems Xbox was worse for the wear.
That's what i think was the biggest issue with Activision for Xbox - it distracted them from focusing on what they really needed to do - make Xbox stronger with better exclusives and features that excite customers.
As a financial purchase, I don't know - MS is a cash rich company and they need to invest that money somewhere. In the immediate future i don't expect Activision/King is necessarily a bad investment. But MS doesn't have a habit of making their investments better lol. After years of unqualified execs, labor unions, and just general MS corp BS I'll be surprised if we'll recognize Activision as being better off.

[Obscure_Observer]

"I bet you Phil is in a world of buyer's remorse."

You would lose. Don´t believe me?

Don´t look further than N4G and the PS loyals who refuse to sell their Series consoles rather than WAIT for Xbox games to drop on PS5.

The only PS fan who had the balls to ditch his Xbox Series X was Jim Sakai which I respect, the others will just resort to any nonsensical bs excuse to keep it. Hypocrisy at its finest.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Wait. I thought owning both consoles makes you a real gamer not a loyalist. I've been told on here numerous times that you are allowed to bash any console of your choosing as long as you own all consoles. Who's telling me the truth, you or the gamers with multiple consoles?

[Obscure_Observer]

@Outside_ofthe_Box

"I've been told on here numerous times that you are allowed to bash any console of your choosing as long as you own all consoles. Who's telling me the truth, you or the gamers with multiple consoles?"

Obviously the ones who owns multiple consoles, of course.

Whoever I would look beyond the cover if I were you because it´s very easy for me to differentiate the hypocrites and pretenders from actual unbiased gamers who actually loves games.

I won´t name those haters and pretenders because it would be pointless and uncalled since they know who they are.

But I´ll name Darth as an unbiased gamer, IMO. He mighty prefer a company over another, but I´m not expecting him to trash great games just for the heck of it.

You know, If there´s something positive that I can take off of all that MS ditching exclusive games nonsense, is that Xbox haters will now be way more careful before running their mouth and talk sh!t about Xbox first party games from now on; simply because they know those games could be hitting their preferred plastic box rather sooner than later avoiding "risks" and turn out and be exposed as a hypocrite. Reviewers, Youtubers and gaming media included.

That said, make no mistake: There´ll always exist the clueless and idiots that will refuse and leave the battle ground of a war that no longer exists because its brings meaning for their existence somehow. Depressing I know, but It is what it is.

[kneon]

I've never bought an xbox from any generation, there has never been a reason to do so

[Chocoburger]

You reap what you sow. Sega was their own worst enemy in the 90's. Microsoft is their own worst enemy today.

[Flenter]

It's the clusterfuck of the industry 🤡🤡🤡

[Terry_B]

oh really? Who would have thought that before?

[badboyz09]

Xbox accepted defeat last Gen,

[dveio]

The Xbox brand needed IP revenue. The Xbox brand went and bought Zenimax and ABK.

[mike32UK]

Not in hindsight, it was foreseen by many average Joe's on internet forums, didn't even need to be a business analyst or journo to see this coming.

[Asterphoenix]

Bobby sold because he wanted a big payout. Even though he has heaps of money.

[anast]

It wasn't hindsight. People knew that over paying for past their prime publishers was going to be an L. I even called it and I'm not even a professional.

[RaiderNation]

I think Xbox's downward trajectory was inevitable, regardless. Their console sales are still tanking. MS wasn't just going to allow the division to fail in perpetuity. I think all the Activision deal did was expedite the inevitable.

[S2Killinit]

I remember how the xbox fans celebrated purchase of Activision, even though they already could play all the multiplatform games, and now it turns out that the purchase is what will pave MS’s exit from console space into a publisher/service. The irony is strong.

[ocelot07]

Agreed, I think Microsoft are now done with traditional consoles. I think come 2026/2027 Microsoft will be 3rd party and what ever Xbox branded hardware they release next is not going to be a console we are use to. I think they are looking at the success of the switch and the success of the handheld pc market.

I think we are going to see Xbox branded handheld pc. That will have a windows UI like a console (think steam big picture mode). Able to install Steam, Epic games on it and it's going to play PC games. So it's just going to be another windows handheld system that can be docked. That's fine in fact I think that's the best route going forward for the Xbox brand. Xbox branded handhelds and desktops.

[boing1]

I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks they did it for the console is... not bright. They did it for 'Netflix' effect. And if they want be 'Netflix' of gaming, GP has to be available on everything that can support it. Yes, it means PS as well. My hunch tells me they are bringing games to PS to build a library. Give it time, and there will be GP subscription on PS as well. I don't see why Sony wouldn't allow it, if it would be on top of PSPlus. You want GP? Pay for both then.

[S2Killinit]

Karma? Perhaps. Perhaps.

Oh man, I remeber the xbox fans gloating and rubbing this into peoples’ faces… I asked if they would feel the same way if the shoe was on the other foot…

Well, the shoe is definitely on the other foot now. Maybe now they have learned the difference between a publisher and a developer.

[Crows90]

It definitely was a sign of things to come for Xbox owners but ....yeah they're a bit short sighted.

[RhinoGamer88]

Worst decisions don't stick to Phil and his VP team...

[hiawa23]

Buying Activision was great move. Xbox consoles were already not selling, so MS should just rip off the bandaid, put Xbox to bed, become Multi-platform dev/pub, and put the games on as many platforms, any device with a screen and internet connection. Why keep throwing money at the Xbox. They still can make dedicated hardware but clearly the Xbox base is not big enough. Why keep putting off the inevitable?

[rulparra]

the only thing matters on microsoft it's money, nothing else matters.

[gold_drake]

it was a scummy move more than anything.

i nbow its just Business but this move came cause yhey werent number one or felt they had to be. instead of just making better decisions.

Ms is such a huge company that this left a bad taste in alot of ppls mouths.

watever happened after the purchase, is a direct consequence of greed and sort of jealousy, and we are the one to pay the price.

if id be one of the hardcore xbox fans, id be pissed.

and Spencer makes all of it worse by having his
"needed" interviews where he talks his usual pr bs. if id be his boss, id not pet him talk to anyone every again.

like, no other ceo in the gaming space has as many interviews.

[YourMommySpoils]

Oh come on, what decision has Xbox ever made that is good? NONEXD

[Ninver]

With Mr Spinster at the helm what could possibly go wrong?

[Destiny1080]

being able to rent call of duty is a wonderful thing

Once phil gets fired you'll be able to rent him too

[franwex]

Hindsight?? Bro we were saying that from the beginning.

[jznrpg]

Xbox fans were willing to cut off their nose to spite their face.
So desperate for any type of “win” they couldn’t see that it was a huge loss in disguise.
There are still staunch Xbox defenders no matter how much crap they take and are asking for more while moving any goalpost needed to support MS.

[TwoPicklesGood]

What do xbox gamers care when they get the games day and date on game pass? It matters little if games go to other consoles. I don’t get why people are so hung up on it like middle schoolers lol. Xbox gets their games and we get some on ps5. Win win.

[RhinoGamer88]

This deal made Phil and his crew millions... #shameful