Console owners have to go through some trouble to share digital games with their friends. If the Xbox One has its way, that could change.
Xbox's Sarah Bond talks leaving console exclusivity behind, but ex-Blizzard president Mike Ybarra believes Nintendo is doing it right.
Microsoft always hypes their direction for Xbox, but they often fail. What happened to what they used to say about exclusive games being important? Isn't that why they buy studios? XD
MS buying Acti Blizz will be the pinacle of MS blunder.
Other previous blunders ~ they could've survived from that even after compounded.
But that sale from Kotick is what's ruining and what will ruin Xbox. (We lost so many interesting 1st/2nd party games, coz lack of funds after that 68Billion Call of Duty purchase).
Till even the Bethesda deal all seemed fine.
Nah, the facts don't back up what you say. People have been saying what's gonna ruin xbox for years now. Sony far, it hasn't happened.
The way I see it is a company that sucked at managing game studios went out and bought more game studios
@crazyCoconuts
they sorta were getting better at it, after Series X launch .... but then they got greedy after the BGS deal
MS Execs have lost touch with reality and they are living in an alternative universe where console and exclusives are no more .... i guess they got what they deserved as they were never in this business for the players but simply to satisfy the pleasures of the board !!!
Literally, take everything that comes out of MS mouths and flip it to know the truth. Literally.
I mean I'll keep buying their games (as long as proper physicals are made) on Switch 2 and PS5
Well that isn't going to be a lot of games, I think most Xbox games are not on disc. That is by design.
I know. I have Gears Reloaded and will get Ninja Gaiden 4. Here's hoping the Halo campaign remake is on a proper disc
It's obvious to everyone except Xbox how important consoles and exclusivity is to innovation and driving the industry forward. Someone told me I'm taking her comments out of context but it seems Mike Ybarra also didn't get the memo.
Nintendo stayed true to their exclusives and innovated with Switch while Sony and Microsoft chased specs and branched out into live service games, subscription services and went multiplat with their biggest exclusives, either on steam or the opposing platform.
Xbox seem like a lost cause, Sony need to find their footing again after betting too many resources on cancelled live service games, while Nintendo seem to be striving.
It seems like a turning point in the industry. I'm interested to see what the landscape will look like in 5+ years.
Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has criticised Microsoft's recent price hike of Xbox consoles in the US, stating "console price increases are not tariff issues, they are profit issues".
I mean... he would probably have more insight into the cost of Xbox than most.
If this is true, I think we can only be so surprised as Microsoft has been telegraphing their desire to ditch hardware for some time. It also comes off as profoundly greedy. They literally have more money than anyone.
I am not an economist but from my basic understanding, profit issues and tariff issues are going to be closely related I would think.
Not suggesting MS won't milk the situation but I can't imagine any consumer electronics company wants to raise costs over time.
Perhaps Yabarra is running cover for that orange cretin?
No. He is implying that the first price increase was for the tariffs and the latest round is just using the tariffs as an excuse to jack up the price again.
"No. He is implying that the first price increase was for the tariffs and the latest round is just using the tariffs as an excuse to jack up the price again."
They are raising it because of tariffs. Raising it just because doesn't benefit them at all. Less people buy your system, you get bad press for raising it a second time, etc.
Price only went up in the US. It's Mr. "Freedom of Speech for only those I after with" 's fault.
It makes absolutely no sense to me for Xbox to raise the prices on their hardware when it was already struggling to sell at their previous prices, tariffs or not. Or maybe I'm just viewing their hardware sales as 'poor' when compared to PS5 and Switch sales.
That is not the point. If your cost goes up because of tariffs, note consoles are not exempt from tariffs, you can choose to sell at a loss or hike prices. It’s not that difficult. Ms can sell games beyond the consoles so they don’t have the same incentive as leg Sony. Thank TRUMP for this
Yeah, I know very well how tariffs work. My comment was that it makes no sense. Just stop selling the product if no one was buying it here in the US at the previous prices. Sales aren't going to get any better with this new price hike.
And Ybarra's point was that tariffs was the main reason for price hikes back in May but that is not the case now:
"In a later response, Ybarra added the previous price increase in May was justified due to the rise in tariffs at the time, but that's not the case with this new rise.
He's not wrong how in the world can Xbox justify selling the series X for more than the ps5 pro
MS is an American company that manufactures in products in china. Sony manufactures the Playstation in Japan.
Hate to burst your bubble but while you’re right about some consoles being made in Japan. They are also manufactured in china. Also a majority of the actual components are from more than one country.
https://www.slashgear.com/1...
It's to the point where a Series S costs just as much if not more then a base PS5 with out a disc drive.
Mike Ybarra: "It's simple to me. Xbox should strive to be the world's largest publisher of entertainment content.
Get rid of everything else and get focused. Do not be afraid to say what you are. Embrace the lane."
Their console business and GamePass go hand in hand. If they were to stop consoles, they would be, in effect, killing GamePass. The vast majoirty of GP subs are console gamers. If you remove the console, you no longer have 30 million gamers embedded in your ecosystem. The majority will never move to PC gaming and buy a $2000 PC. They will go to Playstation where there is no GamePass.
I can’t see Sony or Nintendo killing their own games sales. GamePass will be a PC only thing for a while with Xbox logos slapped on random devices. GamePass probably dies at some point without enough subs
Could work... if they were publishing anything worth having. Bethesda is just making the same tired stuff over and over. Obsidian is a good studio, but they have been slipping hard. nXile isgreat,bit the last thing they even talked about was wasteland 3. Activision/blizzard is either the devil, or his closest friend.
Even if Xbox only sells 50 million consoles next generation, Microsoft still wins. Why? Because Game Pass is the foundation of their long-term strategy — and it’s working. With 35–40 million subscribers paying monthly, Xbox doesn’t need to dominate hardware to be highly profitable.
Here’s the real model:
Xbox sells a console.
Players sign up for Game Pass.
They buy accessories.
Microsoft sells games on other platforms, which ironically pushes Game Pass even more: “Why pay $80 for this game on PS5 or Switch when you could play it for $20/month on Xbox or PC — and access hundreds more?”
Let’s break that down: $80 for a single new game, or four full months of Game Pass with dozens of AAA titles, day-one launches, and rotating third-party hits. For a lot of people — especially casual gamers, families, and budget-conscious players — the choice is obvious.
Most subscribers aren’t hardcore gamers hunting for deals. They pay full price month to month, often seeing it as a low-friction, all-in-one gaming service. Microsoft is counting on that — and it’s paying off. A large percentage of users also forget to cancel subscriptions, meaning passive revenue continues to roll in until they notice. That’s the psychology behind the success of the subscription model across industries.
And don’t forget Microsoft’s first-party firepower. With all the studios they’ve acquired, they’re in a position to release at least one major exclusive every month. Combine that with partnerships to bring in second-party and third-party titles, and Game Pass becomes a constantly evolving platform — not just a library, but a service with momentum.
Bottom line: Xbox isn’t going the Sega route. They’re not stepping back — they’re going deeper. Game Pass, not hardware, is the centerpiece of their strategy. The console is just the gateway
Series aren't even at 30M yet. Thinking it could reach 50M next gen is a joke. Move on.
I highly doubt the can push 20 million next Gen. The console is dead and watching these folks trying to reanimate the corpse is getting kinda morbid.
you do realize console is dying. Not to mention next gen console might be hybrid meaning it may not just be gamepass but also Steam. Meaning ppl will end up buying games from Steam rather Gamepass.
The statement : “We’re looking at both from a Windows standpoint – well, what’s our policy of the Windows Store? How many people can play concurrent? How do you share? We’re going to merge those two topologies soon so that a whole new model for how you share games across that will be in place. We’re actively working on that now to try to figure [it out], but we want to get to a much simpler model and potentially one that lets you do more… have a little bit more freedom in what you can and can’t do.”
It could be huge if we can also sell and trade digital games.
"Console owners have to go through some trouble to share digital games with their friends." ps4 has shareplay which is pretty much straight forward. Pretty sure Microsoft can take ideas from that.
Nice.
Sweet, now how about some reasonable prices for Digital games