Sega did the right thing exiting console business and they are still profiting from software business.

Microsoft should follow suit.

Right now, they are wasting their money for this planned new consoles with over exaggerated specifications. They are clearly ignoring the fact that most gamers are more interested in games than new console.

They aren't going to pay for new console if no games are in the pipeline.

Microsoft has some good games and should focus on that.. or better go back to PC business and focus on Windows OS support.

I support competition. Genuinely, it has brought us great content and hardware over the years.

I don't think it needs to be Microsoft, however. I go further and say it shouldn't be. They use massive capital (which in any functioning regulatory framework wouldn't even have HALF of their current market cap) to pursue what is largely unfeasible for others. Purchasing major publishers to control their IPs? Day One AAA (in budget, anyway) sub service content? Quite difficult to follow them in this regard. If we take their word on it, did they not also say they're the largest publishers on their competitor's platforms? If true, I need you to think about that: your direct competition is the largest publisher on YOUR platform.

Something is very wrong with that picture.

If you have competition with similar resources, it becomes an actually competitive field. None of this trillionaire company nonsense. Sega vs Nintendo was exciting and brought out plenty of innovation. Playstation's best years were the earlier years in the space.

Competition works when creativity and passion are in the driver's seat. I think the industry is better served without Xbox hardware (where they can seriously weaponize their "biggest publisher on PlayStation and Nintendo" status) and are replaced by a company that isn't.

Keep game pass or whatever, but they shouldn't be allowed to compete in the console space if they're the biggest publisher on rival platforms. Alternatively, break up their game studios. It's telling that they obstinately refused to break off Call of Duty to make the acquisition easier. Bargaining chips. A reminder that they wanted to buy Nintendo and, in fairly recent emails, are still interested in doing so and are playing a waiting game.

You can despise Sony. I really don't care and I have my problems with them. But let's not pretend Microsoft is not operating in an imperialist, cancerous way.

Seriously I’m slowly coming to the same conclusion. Their behavior has been very anti-console gaming. I think we trusted them too much and they turned out to be a bad actor in console gaming.

I dont think they need to exit, but they hardly have any games for their system that makes ppl want it.
it also doesnt help when their bosses tell customers "there aint a reason to by an xbox".

also phil needs to stop talking to the press, thats more important id say.

They should, but they have so much money, they don't have to. They can just continue being a waste of space, while cutting through their losses on their own tax.

Nearly nothing. They'll release 4 games but we still don't know them... It's only those 4... For now. And Diablo 4 for 34 millions users of Gamepass. But in those 34 millions they are Gamepass Core players so maybe not 34 millions of players... Geez why a company of this size can't deliver a clear communication for once....

Their "adorably digital" console will hopefully be their last.

They wanted to and are still trying to normalise the industry on digital. This mostly benefits publishers as distribution costs are almost eliminated but game prices stay the same. This is what shareholders want. Microsoft and it's shareholders will be ok with dropping the hardware side of the business as it costs a lot of money to develop and no guarantees the consoles will sell.

I really just can’t understand why people can’t just enjoy gaming on whatever console they choose to buy and also just respect and allow others to enjoy gaming on their console of choice? This toxicity in the gaming community is disgusting.

No they don’t but they need to change their approach about gaming.

Yes, it should. And I think they will. I think their eventual plan is to become a third party developer.

They should get out of hardware because that looks like what they actually want to do. That nonsense event a day ago or so was full of mindless rambling, double talk and contradictory statements. I think the higher ups at Microsoft want to do that but others like a Spencer or Booty still secretly dream of putting Sony/Nintendo in their place going by their email conversations.

Every year these articles come back. The literal definition of insanity. Nothing changes and xbox hasn't gone anywhere. Get over it.

Even if you hate ms and xbox, you should want sony facing competition.
If sony is the only console maker theres no reason for them to push innovation. You end up with less game sales, weaker hardware, more expensive games, no backwards compatibility, no push for higher resolution, higher framerates.
You have to admit, even if you're a diehard playstation fan. Xbox pushed for backwards compatibility, Xbox pushed for better hardware, Xbox pushed for higher frame rates.
Competition breeds innovation, no matter what business we're discussing.
Console wars, love or hate them, it pushes the industry forward.
I dont mention nintendo because they're in their own world.

I remember when the xbox came out.. with games like panzer dragoon, mech assault, halo 1-2, jade empire, morrowind, the Star Wars games like republic commander, knights of the old republic.. and a lot more.. also splinter cell took advantage of the Xbox graphics and the 480p resolution at the time and was superior.
I had a ps2 and my friend had an Xbox and we played morrowind just about everyday and halo..
From a gamer perspective it did revolutionize online gaming at the time in a way. Even though most my friends on ps2 played rpgs’s and racing games and everything between.
When halo 2 got real popular we had the lan connection with like 4 Xboxes playing halo2 and that to me was game changing..

Then the PS3 and 360 era.. Xbox offered a better online experience before PlayStation Network got better.
I enjoyed the PS3 online experience was free and R:FoM kept me entertained for months on end, and Warhawk and later CoD4..

360 was making PS3 better.. they had good games too.. crackdown, dead rising, lost oddesey, bioschock was exclusive for awhile. And of course gears and halo 3.. and their marketing scheme with EA and the DLC first on Call of Duty had the 360 outselling PS3 for the first 3-4 years almost..

I say that to say this.. as a PlayStation fan, it really made PlayStation better.. and now to be honest Xbox has never been the same since the 360 era.. they lost a lot of their image with the Xbox one and it’s hard to recoup from that..

If they exit, I don’t really see it hurting PlayStation gaming and innovation..

XBOX is a powerful brand that will live in Microsoft ecosystem for years to come 😊
Competition & Passion drives USA companies to succeed to win.

Roughly five years ago, had you said that PlayStation would follow Xbox and start releasing games onto pc on a more regular cadence. You’d be attacked by the peanut gallery. But now that is a reality. PlayStation just had their first day and date drop on two different platforms. The bar has been slowly changing and I don’t see it stopping. Especially after Sony CEO just said that they are doubling down on different platforms. Many are in denial mode, just like they were five years ago.

They mismanaged the Xbox brand since Bungie was sold and haven’t had a true must play exclusive in what seems like forever. I personally love watching a slow dumpster fire so no, let them continue.

They will. They need to do it legally, so their followers only feel a bit ripped off, but not enough to file lawsuits.

Hope they will Keep on releasing consoles. I Like Xbox plattform better than the direction Sony has taken. Maybe they can buy the socom series from Sony also, and make it great again.

Written by a fanboy…

One of the reasons I’d rather they don’t exit is because competition keeps the players in check. Problem is xbox has been playing…with their feet. They need to wake up & focus on making some good games. Yes yes the games are coming well they’re late.

How much has Microsoft invested on Xbox since year 2000? I'm not speaking only about 70K millions on ABK or 3K million in the 3redlights fiasco. I mean... all the invest (including what is paid to Microsoft Azure division each month for Game Pass and other Xbox services). Bing does not give me any liable data about this, only something from here and there.

What has done a console on each generation? A platform with good sales made developers improve and try harder to squid the possibilities of the machine. Without this, gaming industry will advance slower... Look now, we have NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR working everywhere, from consoles and PC to smartphones, smartwatches and TVs. It makes developers lazy. Is this what we want? Well, it is what Microsoft wants. Will Sony and Nintendo go in the same team as Microsoft with this? It seems... yes, but a good exclusive hardware that sells as cookies can help otherwise. We need a new Xbox with AI and more possibilities than Xbox Series, as well as we, as gamers, need a new PlayStation and a new Nintendo platform capable of things that current gen is not able to replicate or improve.
It is not competition only, it is progress... we all need a new Xbox, not only Microsoft, but Sony, Nintendo, Valve and Apple... we all need something new, better and more capable (AI, haptics, energy efficiency, etc.) Products that make us look back and say "this is how we played then".
BTW, you can say that the hardware can be in the cloud and improve servers... it is easier for developers to work with only one platform. But no, we are not yet there. We need more generations of home gaming consoles, Xbox included.

It was bad enough having four consoles plus the PC when the Dreamcast started that generation. I don’t care for Xbox console now. No interest in VR, they could’ve just made the Series X compatible with headsets already on the market. The cost of gaming now, 2 consoles from Sony and Nintendo is good enough for me.

I would rather they get there sh!t together and deliver at a level they used to in the ogxbox/360 days, but that just doesn't look like their intention anymore

If they could get Gamepass on Playstation and Nintendo, they'd probably have already exited.

@Gridknac The Original Xbox did 480p most of the time with the slight potential to upscale to 720p.

I agree, if only because R&D for consoles each generation is insane. They could use those funds to continue improving their XGS quality and output and get their games to more platforms more efficiently.
Their hardware just doesn't sell like Sony and Nintendo and they develop exclusively multiplatform now. Might as well dump the hardware and go full Netflix at this point. Biggest third party publisher now, regardless if I like them or not.

I think another company could do a better job than Microsoft imo

MS went into gaming with a different mindset from the get go. Imagine a crew of people that are not part of your scene, invading it purely for the purposes of profit and taking a huge stain with corporate American structure Sorry, but it used to be bliss before these c*ntz showed up via me-too grift. Their consoles are. nothing but marking puke for gullibles that think flex is a thing for gamers (they don’t understand actual gamers, just main stream consumers).

Why cant they fund and create system selling must play games you can only get on xbox/pc like Sony did with helldivers 2?

Microsoft will sooner or later go the way of Stadia, but better preparation and game support. You buy the controller, stream everything through the cloud. You can buy games digitally or subscribe to Game Pass. Microsoft is better prepared than Sony. Back to the roots...becoming mainly a software company.

phil needs this gig

maybe get rid of the forza team for using textures for wheels and probably the halo team for embarrassing phil and the halo community by releasing craig upon the world

It's incredibly difficult to put into so few words why this opinion is valid and accurate, and N4G only gives you 4,000 character's which goes by really fast so, I'll see what I can do.

Anyone whose been following gaming since the Xbox 360 would know and understand the validity of this point. When all of my friends had PS2 consoles, the Dreamcast was dead and I was looking at getting an Xbox because it seemed so much like the Dreamcast 2, I'd be stayin the night at my buddies and we be up late in the dark talking about next gen consoles. He was getting a Gamecube and when I told him I wanted the Xbox, I got a long dissertation from him (a big PC gamer) on why Microsoft was the devil and the Xbox was poison to the industry and they didn't belong in console gaming. Needless to say, I didn't listen and got an Xbox, and it wasn't for Halo, it was for Hunter the Reckoning and Sega titles.

Now, what you have to bear in mind here is who Xbox's friends were through all of this. Xbox is an American console and just like High School, gaming has clicks and everyone likes to hang out in their clicks, so who do you think buddied up with Xbox? Electronic Arts and Activision. Xbox was the new kid on the block, PlayStation and especially Nintendo has spent a long time building and having to EARN those relationships. PlayStation provided a cheaper way to publish games backed by Sonys reputation while Nintendo wanted to avoid piracy, CD's were cheaper with more storage space to create games. Nintendo, as a result, and having a reputation already for being monopolistic, lost a lot of support to Sony and Sony already had a reputation of having the edgy attitude of Sega for teenagers so Squaresoft left.

So, how was Xbox going to compete with this come Xbox 360? Peter Moore who hadn't been with Sega long and was only with Sega for a few short years, you'd have thought Bernie Stoler or Tom Kalinski would've been approached by Xbox but it was Peter Moore for a while who after Xbox went to EA, and who do you think Xbox appointed to run Xbox? John Shappert who came from Electronic Arts who was then followed by Don Mattrick who came from Electronic Arts. Do you see this pattern?

So what's wrong with this and what does it have to do not only with the history given and this article? It's how Xbox did business that Sony sort of came along for the ride to try and stay relevant and what Xbox's influence has done to gaming. See, Xbox didn't have long relationships so they turned to their strength, deep pockets and instead of showing developers what was best for them and the industry, they simply bought them off and the first game that really caused disruption and abruptly made that change was Grand Theft Auto IV. Do you remember the Ballad of Gay Tony? That's what Xbox did, they couldn't establish exclusivity deals like Sony had done to earn trust, Xbox went after exclusive content instead with PAID DLC. See, before all that, what you paid for was what you got. DLC started out as an extension of a game, but that's now how it goes today. Today they complete the game and before it goes good and they go on vacation, they dissect the game and sell you 60% of the game and store 40% of the game elsewhere to sell you as DLC or Season Pass. You're paying full price for 60% of the content and they'll milk you for the rest of it later. Street Fighter 6 is a good example of this, if you watch the documentary of the return of Killer Instinct on Xbox One and it exposes the whole sham, but again, I only have 4000 characters. And it still can't be done. [SEE PART II ABOVE]

[PART II RESPONSE]

This is a small example of what Xbox has brought to the industry with it trying to play with the big boys. Honestly, Xbox isn't even really needed. Microsoft has had a steady track record of failing hardware that isn't glitchy. How everyone put up with the Red Ring of Death is beyond me, that, according to Peter Moore, nearly killed off Xbox the first time but, Steve Balmers arrogance and ego pushed him to spend the money he normally wouldn't have, and Peter Moore knew it or he wouldn't have been so timid is taking it to him. Sony has a track record of solid hardware, not perfect, but moreso than Xbox. Recently, Xbox and PlayStation consoles are so similar, that you wonder why we have to buy both when they're so close. You'd suspect corporate sabotage is going on, and Microsoft would have the money to pay someone to do the job, Sony doesn't have unlimited funds, but Xbox can easily be done without because of that track record and the fact Xbox and PlayStation share the same internals. It wasn't always that way, PlayStation was built by innovation with lots of proprietary parts where Xbox 360 used off the shelf PC parts just like the Xbox before it. It's always been that way with PlayStation that caused disruption for Sega. So, if the consoles are going to be practically the same, why do we need to buy two and who builds more solid hardware? We're buying a console twice, not including the normal mid gen refresh which is a crock. Slimer consoles, okay, but now your buying a new console every three years.....

This is just one example. Paid DLC, microtransactions, and loot boxes and card packs in the console business, courtesy of Xbox. PlayStation is now trying to go back to the old model with Ghost of Tsushima getting Legends as free DLC, because you bought their game. God of War Ragnarok, you get Valhalla free because you bought their game. Even Capcom came around a little with Resident Evil 4 VR free DLC because you bought their game, the way it should be because you spent your hard earned money to buy their games, not get your pocket picked. This is just one example

PlayStation lovers can flame me if you want, but even if Xbox is in distant 3rd they still add pressure to Sony and keep them from complacency. Also, who cares if Microsoft doesn't sell many consoles. It is merely an option at this point for gamers. Microsoft may be more invested in PC gaming than Xbox, but who cares. Some like myself, prefer the simplicity of gaming from a dedicated console. I always own every system Nintendo, Xbox and Sony so this doesn't affect me, but why should it affect anyone. Why would anyone want Microsoft to cancel the Xbox? Kinda dumb really.

They should exit gaming altogether.

Less competition means less choices for the consumer.

One more shot I say. If they fail, Phil and his rich C suite cronies MUST be fired.

What clickbait trash is this from … oh, Engadget. Microsoft really did screw up its console business when a gadget site is telling Microsoft to stop making a gadget.

Xbox should make an open platform system.

I would have zero issues with this if this happened in the future.

Garbage article that doesn't realize that having only 1 company in the high-end console gaming market would expose gamers to pricing exploitation.

The Hypocrisy I have witnessed in the past couple of years is mind blowing. People who were against the Activision Blizzard deal out of fears of the Xbox becoming a monopoly are advocating for Sony to be the sole console maker in this space.

Sony has had a history of being complacent leading into the launch of the PS3 and people want to go back to those days. As a multi console owner it is annoying to see so many persons rally to one console and wish for the other side's failure as if their platform of choice can do no wrong.

Competition is good for us the consumer and we should be advocating for the success of both platforms.

Yup. Microsoft Xbox is a curse to consoles.

Switch wins, xbox=dead

Tell me again how the multiplatform strategy was supposed to fix everything. Look at your results and compare them to Nintendo, which keeps thriving with exclusives. Your loyal fans are gone. And let’s not forget the pile of IPs you purchased only to let them rot.

The worst thing is this is down from last years numbers/expectations which was down from the previous years numbers/expectations. You think about how long “down” has been a consistent part of the communication and you realize those subscriptions are what’s holding that boat together. The price cut of gamespass is still a price raise in a string of price raises. They are trying to use players to offset the missing revenue. Now call of duty is out of gamespass, which is literally WHY they bought the company. To draw people to the subscription. They realized they missed a boatload of money and that wasn’t sustainable. Now you pay for it like you would have if they never bought the company… so why buy the company? Mind you those billions still need to be paid back. Yeah it gives you a chance to say we make the biggest FPS… but the internal conversations must be brutal at high level on topics that really matter. Like revenue. Profitability. And ROI for the shopping spree.

Is this like the 10th quarter in a row they're down 33% on hardware how is that even mathematically possible. You would think their mediocrity would Plateau