A year ago I bought the Xbox Series X and subscribed to Game Pass, and a year ago I would never have written an article like this. But a lot has changed. And a lot will change.
Mismanagement at Xbox: An eternal story that has no end
I wonder why anyone would buy an Xbox Series these days. Unfortunately, the only answer I can think of: ignorance. A year ago things looked different. Although Xbox has long existed solely in the shadow of PlayStation and Nintendo, The company had really good plans back then: By purchasing major gaming studios, he secured several incomparable IPs – The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Starfield, Call of Duty but also phenomenal indie hits like Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice were to continue exclusively on the Xbox.
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And they should appear on Game Pass – one of the best deals in the gaming landscape. Get an Xbox, subscribe to Game Pass and not only get great indie games that month, but also blockbusters like Starfield right when they are released. If you do the math: the Game Pass is worth it very, very quickly.
It seemed like Xbox had finally found a way to make itself indispensable. And even though I'm very reluctant to buy multiple consoles just to be able to play what I want, competition is certainly good for companies like PlayStation or Nintendo.
What has changed? The Game Pass still exists, but is probably only worth it for the players. Xbox has now even bought Activision Blizzard, one of the largest gaming studios in the world. But no one seems to really know what they want to do with it yet.
Meanwhile, Xbox is closing successful studios like Tango Gameworks (The Evil Within, Ghostwire: Tokio, Hi-Fi-Rush) and starts publishing previously Xbox-exclusive games on PlayStation and Co. Sounds chaotic? Somehow meaningless? Somehow self-destructive? It is.
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Xbox has a new strategy – wait, it has a new one again!
When you decide which console you want to buy, Exclusive games play a big role. Are you dying to play the next The Elder Scrolls or the next Horizon Zero Dawn? Then you buy the console on which these games should appear. Or you can buy a PC, which is generally the best decision.
So when Xbox buys big studios like Bethesda or Activision Blizzard, it's certainly so that Xbox can finally offer fantastic exclusive games. Or? This plan, which was certainly hatched by Xbox at some point, now appears to be a thing of the past. One can only speculate about the reasons – but most likely Xbox simply made 'not enough' money from studio purchases and Game Pass revenue.
My very personal tip – buy the Steam Deck. This console has thrilled me like no other for a year:
Starfield is currently only available on the Xbox Series – and on the PC. So if you don't have an efficient stand-alone PC with the latest technology, you'll have to use the console. The problem: Despite Starfield being playable on Game Pass, there aren't really that many more subscribers today than there were a year ago (Source: MatPiscatella on Twitter).
So a new strategy is needed. Multiplatform. Close studios, save money. Develop big games like The Elder Scrolls 6 and then sell them on multiple platforms! At least that seemed to be the thinking when Xbox released games like the highly acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 in March 2024. Hi-Fi Rush was previously only playable on Xbox and PC.
A question arose here: Why exactly do you need an Xbox? Personally, I didn't touch my Xbox again after Starfield.
But it gets even stranger. That amazing game that won so many awards and can now be played on all consoles? Xbox has closed Hi-Fi Rush's studio, Tango Gameworks. By the way, also the makers of The Evil Within series. Why are they closing?
That's actually what Xbox seems to be asking itself. In a recent town hall meeting, Xbox boss Matt Booty reportedly said this to his employees:
We need smaller games that give us prestige and prizes. (Source: The Verge)
So… Hi-Fi Rush? But didn't you just close the studio that developed Hi-Fi Rush? And what's with Xbox NOW discussing what to do with the Call of Duty games (Source: The Verge)? After the company spent $68 billion? Shouldn't we know that beforehand?
To put it bluntly: The decision makers at Xbox and Microsoft don't seem to be able to assess what would actually be good for the Xbox; which would actually be good for Game Pass. Nobody seems to know which strategy would be right. And it's precisely because of these bad decisions – because of this back and forth – that Xbox is now finally dead for me.
Anyone who buys an Xbox now should do so solely for hardware reasons. Nobody knows if there will be another next-gen Xbox. Nobody knows what will happen to Game Pass. Nobody knows whether The Elder Scrolls 6 will actually only be released for PC and Xbox. Nobody can estimate it. And the bad thing: Xbox doesn't seem to know either. How can you trust a company like that?