The Deserved Downfall of Xbox

I think it's safe to say that it has not been a great time for Xbox as of late very recently it was announced that Microsoft are going to give out yet another round of layoffs within their Xbox game studios division this on its own is unfortunately nothing new however what is new is that alongside this they also announced the complete closure of Tango Gameworks the Japanese developer Behind The Evil Within series and more especially Hi-Fi Rush this was the final straw pretty much everyone online were not happy and were extremely upset at Microsoft for making this decision and rightfully so high-fi Rush was the most critically acclaimed game release that Microsoft had in literal years and the game itself was successful Gamers loved it critics loved it it was nominated for a ton of awards and even won a decent amount of them and the game also saw a variety of different merchandise released for it including a vinyl release a Nery figure and in the future a physical release of the game by limited run games and if you still have any doubts that the game was not a success Microsoft even said themselves that the game was successful so to look at all of this and deciding to shut down the developer who was responsible for all of that is a choice that I can only describe as incredibly idiotic when I was initially making this video I thought I was going to make it in a similar fashion to my modern PlayStation sucks video where I was going to go into the reasons why Xbox is suffering and in the end ultimately feel bad for the current state of the brand and to some extent it is still mostly going to be structured that way however as I was writing the script for this video I realized one crucial difference between my feelings on Xbox's downfall compared to PlayStations and in that I don't feel bad I think Microsoft ultimately had their downfall coming and if anything I think they deserve to be ridiculed much more than they are right now but why exactly do I feel this way and what is causing this massive decline for Xbox well let's talk about it I'll be taking a look at the issues that are currently ruining Xbox and explain why I think the Xbox brand is most likely Beyond saving issue number one Xbox has zero compelling IPS Microsoft currently has a massive problem with maintaining any decent amount of interesting IPS under their belt or at least ones that they are currently paying any attention towards in fact allow me to show you all of the currently active franchises that the Xbox brand is currently offering here they are that's it there they are even before we get into the IPS themselves the quantity of there only being four notable IPS from Xbox is ually depressing but it's not just having a small number of notable IPS that is a massive problem it's also the fact that these IPS are just not getting the general public or gaming fans to become heavily invested in the Xbox platform let's look at Halo Halo was arguably the biggest IP that the Xbox brand ever had and to some extent it still is but it's very apparent that after the original developer had moved on from the IP the series continuously went on a downward spiral and not only reception but also the intention of General gaming fans as well Microsoft had one big shot to bring Halo back to the Limelight with infinite but after the game was released they weren't able to maintain the massive audience that the game had when it came out from not including for launch to the cancellation of local split screen multiplayer and just the overall failure to provide consistent content after the game came out the game is in a better spot now but it was too little too late people have already put the game down and the general public moved on as for Forza and Microsoft flight simulator well it's just a game about cars and it's just a game about planes not much else to them and finally their sea of Thieves actually you know what the game itself is pretty all right from the little time that I did play of it and the numbers that this game pulls on Steam charts are actually not bad okay Microsoft I'll give you credit you have one compelling IP I repeat one congratulations have a steale cookie then you're going to miss out don't get me wrong I'm not trying to downplay these IPS as small or ones with zero fans or anything like that but these IPS don't exactly get a lot of attention or buzz from the mainstream gaming audience this is where Sony actually has a massive Advantage compared to Microsoft even though PlayStation's diversity between IPS and this generation really stinks the IPS that they do pay attention to are nevertheless extremely popular despite the Last of Us series only consisting of two games the series is still brought up often and loved by many General gaming fans and even non-gaming fans thanks to the HBO TV adaptation God of War is one of the oldest PlayStation IPS from from Sony that is still receiving new installments meaning the IP naturally grew a big fan base over time and unlike Microsoft with Halo Sony doesn't entirely treat God of War fans like complete dirt and as for Marvel Spider-Man well it's goddamn Spider-Man any massive release with that name on it is going to get people's attention and earn money regardless of the quality of course all of this doesn't mean that Sony is in a good spot with franchise diversity and I do think that overall there should be a balance between Studios focusing on pre-existing game IPS and new ones I'm just stating the facts here PlayStation IPS simply get a lot more attention than Xbox IPS and it's not much of a mystery as to why and the thing that sucks the most is that Microsoft can so easily resolve this kind of problem Microsoft you could have so easily brought back an IP like banjo kazui during that time in the eth generation where nostalgic revivals were a massive Trend or even that time when the protagonist got brought into smash BRS that would have gotten people talking and be interested in your gaming platform form but nah let's just have the original devs of the IP slave away on sea of Thieves and give the IP to literally nobody else and hey I guess while we're on the topic of game devs issue number two Microsoft's incredibly pointless gaming Acquisitions it's been very apparent by now that Microsoft has been acquiring many bigname developers and Publishers to create games exclusively for the Xbox brand I mean it makes sense in theory Microsoft doesn't need to worry about creating games themselves they can just buy out bigname developers and Publishers and have them create the games sounds great on paper but as you probably guess by now it's not so great an execution mostly because these Acquisitions don't feel genuinely earned by Microsoft or that they were done because these developers and Publishers would be a right fit for the Xbox brand they instead feel super stingy and Incredibly superficial let me explain look at developers like Next Level games or Insomniac Games these two developers had worked with their respected Publishers for years before becoming subsidiaries to them and over that time they both built a name for themselves and became synonymous with their respective parent companies when you think of Next Level games you know them for Luigi's Mansion Mario Strikers and the punch out remake when you think of insomnia games you know them for the original Spyro Trilogy ratchet and clink and Marvel Spider-Man these games were not only positively received by Gaming fans but they also gave a massive boost to the platforms that these games were released on which makes these Acquisitions feel earned and ultimately make sense Microsoft and zenax media had pretty much nothing to do with to their prior to their acquisition and this sentiment also goes for the grand majority of these recent Xbox Acquisitions double fine obsidan entertainment Activision Blizzard none of these companies had ever contributed anything groundbreaking or substantial to the Xbox brand exclusively prior to becoming subsidiaries it again feels incredibly superficial that the only logical explanation as to why Microsoft acquired all of these companies is purely because of their recognizable names but you know what I can forgive all of this really I can but only if Microsoft had made something out of all the game companies that they acquired I mean prior to being bought by Nintendo developer monol soft had pretty much nothing to do with them before making this seem like a pointless acquisition at first but It ultimately paid off because monolos soft would end up becoming welln as the developers behind the Xenoblade Chronicle series if Microsoft had done something like that before their own acquired game companies then I would happily take back all of the criticisms I had for Microsoft hasn't done [ __ ] with their acquisition I mean we did get a couple of all raid game releases Psychonauts 2 was pretty good pentant was fine grounded maybe it was good I haven't played it so I can't exactly tell you even though these games are all right for what they are they didn't exactly help boost the Xbox platform nor justify the amount of money that Microsoft had spent to obtain these game companies and if somehow you need a bigger example of this just look at Bethesda it was very obvious that all of the money that Microsoft spent to acquire Bethesda was supposed to pay off last year since Bethesda published three total games at exclusively to the Xbox ecosystem in 2023 and varied ones as well might I add one was a short but fun single player experience the next was a multiplayer shooter and the last was a giant role playing game 2023 should have been the year where bethesda's efforts would finally help boost up Xbox's reputation unfortunately the only thing that ended up getting boosted are my urges to jump off a roof for one reason or another all three of these games didn't exactly help Xbox a whole lot in the eyes of Microsoft high-fi Rush ended up with the developer of the game getting killed off by Microsoft despite once again stating themselves that the game was successful as for redfall well it actually ended up meeting a similar fate as high-fi Rush however the only difference was that redfall was a gigantic load of poo so Microsoft decisions just made a little bit more sense on that one and finally there's Starfield a game that made a splash in 2023 that was as impactful as dropping a glass marble onto the Pacific Ocean honestly looking at all of this has got me wondering as to why this is the case how come these games didn't do good enough to prevent layoffs and premature deaths of game developers well the answer is obviously that these games didn't make enough money but how come well I guess we'll find out as we now go into issue number three Microsoft's confusing strategy as to how Xbox makes any money allow me to ask you all a question a question that should be very simple to answer all right here's the question how does Xbox make money now if this question were to be rephrased by bringing up a different console maker then the answer would be straightforward word how does Nintendo make money simple Hardware Sales software sales and online subscriptions how does PlayStation make money once again Hardware Sales software sales and online subscriptions now you can say this exact answer for the Xbox question and it would initially make sense however you start to think about the answer for more than 10 seconds and realize that all three of these revenue streams for Xbox has a big old asterisk on each of them Xbox does make money from console sales but the sales themselves aren't exactly all that impressive in terms terms of competition the Xbox series systems have pretty much failed to be any kind of competition to the only other ninth generation game console available the PlayStation 5 this is mostly because the PS5 sales were heavily carried by the success of Sony's last generation system but also the PlayStation brand is simply more popular and well-liked across many regions specifically Japan being the only company out of the three console makers to not originate from Japan it already gave the Xbox brand a massive disadvantage over there from the very beginning and despite Microsoft's efforts I guess you can call them the Xbox brand ultimately just never caught on there it was too Western it didn't have franchise as Japanese players were interested in and it just kind of failed to find any kind of Japanese gaming demographic and after what Microsoft had done with Tango Gameworks I think I can safely say the Xbox series systems are dead in the Japanese Waters even if you were to look at the console sales on their own without comparison to the competition it's still not that great there were reports that the Xbox series systems have trilled behind Xbox One sales by a few few million units within the first 38 months of the system's release which you know considering the Xbox one was Infamous for being a complete blunder upon announcement and never really recovered from set announcement and also considering that Microsoft are pulling bigger efforts in this generation than they ever did in the last one suddenly this report starts to look super bad and then there are the software sales while there are reports that game sales from Microsoft are still doing fairly all right I honestly question if they are severely limiting themselves on earning possibly even more Revenue because one factor that I think is preventing Xbox games from making more money is none other than Game Pass Game Pass is a service that basically offers a wide library of first party and third party games that you can download right onto your Xbox console for a monthly price I think all of you watching this video already knew what that was but you know just to be safe anyways one of the advertised benefits that you get with Game Pass was that you will get to play every new game from Xbox game studios on the day they release doesn't matter if it's big or small if it's a game coming from these guys they will be available on Game Pass on day one at no additional cost now selfishly I will say I like this it means I get to play a game like Starfield simply by downloading it on the day it came out and go wow thank God I didn't spend 70 bucks on this piece of mediocrity the buyer remorse from that would have actually been lethal however even though subjectively speaking this is really convenient to have I can't help but wonder if this is really the best way for Microsoft to make Revenue with their game releases as opposed to just you know releasing them Standalone like what every other publisher does now Xbox thankfully does give you the option to buy these games Standalone but I know that most people don't go for this option when highi Rush came out it was very often for me to hear people say that they got the game on Game Pass instead of saying the out right bought the game so I seriously wonder what the results would be like if Microsoft published their games exclusively as one-time purchases the sales themselves would go down but would the revenue go up who knows also a big issue with the subscription based model is that a company would always want to make sure that there is always growth from the service because in the game of capitalism there is never such a thing as having enough money you must always make sure you make more money than you did in a previous financial report in order for Microsoft to continue to see game pass as a viable business model the service must see consistent growth each year and guess what it hasn't been doing that there are reports that game pass subscriptions are currently stagnant at the moment and if that's the case then sure it makes sense as to why all of these playoffs are happening but now how many people are going to want to become a subscriber to Game Pass after seeing all of this and furthermore how many current subscribers are going to want to continue to be one I've already canceled mine the moment that Microsoft had can Tango it's just not worth it anymore and I don't think I'm entirely alone on that even for a company as massive as Microsoft I can't see how they would want to continue to spend billions on trying to make their video game Subscription Service worth it it just seems incredibly unsustainable like seriously no wonder they have to make their games also ailable on PC and PS5 wait you're telling me that Xbox games are not only also available on PC but on other consoles as well well I guess it's now time to bring the final section of the video so yeah here we go issue number four the Xbox console has no value to it I can't believe it took me like 15 minutes into this video to finally say this but here we go Xbox has zero games and when I tell you that I would usually mean it in an exaggerated way obviously but there really are no pieces of software that the Xbox series consoles can call their own when making this video I tried to look up a Wikipedia page of exclusive games for the Xbox series systems just to have something to reference to like how I did with my PlayStation video and that's when I realized something it doesn't exist no I'm serious I can easily find the Wikipedia page for exclusive PS5 games Nintendo switch games and even the ones for all of the previous Xbox consoles but a Wikipedia page of exclusive Xbox series X and s games there's nothing it's non-existent like the friends in my life of course we pretty much know exactly why there isn't one it's because Microsoft made the choice to release every new game by Xbox Studios on not only Xbox but also PC now I briefly brought up this topic before on my PlayStation video where I angrily brought up the question on why I should even buy a PS5 if their exclusives are just going to come out on PC later down the line and a couple of people in in the comments definitely got the wrong impression from that so let me be clear personally I don't mind when a game that is or should be a console exclusive becomes available to play on PC if anything I'm happy when it happens as of this generation PC has actually become my preferred platform to play games on it's just much more flexible and convenient for me so when a console exclusive I enjoyed finally gets a PC release subjectively speaking I see it as good news also it's just generally a good thing to have games be more accessible to other their players now that high-fi Rush is on Playstation it means that people will actually get to play the game instead of knowing about it yippe when I make these types of videos and bring up the idea of console exclusives becoming available on PC as a problem quote unquote that isn't because I'm incredibly salty about my favorite game company losing to the PC Master race or some dumb console war [ __ ] like that I'm just looking at this in the perspective of business why would people want to buy a console when all of its games can be played on PC a platform that is a essentially just a console plus more usually I would follow that up by saying that Xbox is supposed to be geared to a more casual demographic an audience of people that doesn't want to deal with the headache of creating a gaming PC learning how to use it being prepared to troubleshoot it if something goes wrong etc etc but then that argument falls on its face when you start to see Xbox games not only become available on PC but also other consoles Hi-Fi Rush sea of Thieves ory games that were once exclusive to Microsoft platforms are now also available on non-microsoft consoles again I should stress personally I don't have an issue with this but in terms of trying to sell your own console why are you doing this the Xbox series systems no longer appeal to hardcore Gamers and now casual gamers if this metal box has the same games as that other metal box plus it has Spider-Man then why would anyone ever go for the Xbox Microsoft if you want Xbox to be a glorified video game publisher then by all means go crazy with that but the fact of the matter is that your consoles have nothing that is unique to them all of their games are available on PC and now other consoles and even the Game Pass service is also available on PC I just don't understand why anyone who isn't already a super fan of your brand would want this thing and speaking of the super fans I feel bad for them because for the longest time you've been keeping up this phony and deceptive tone of how you love your community and how the head of your gaming division acts like he knows what Gamers want you are the heart and soul of Xbox your your passion drives us and you are the inspiration for the visionar games we showcase today you've done this stick more times than both of the other console companies have done it combined it's so disingenuous also actions ultimately speak louder than words you fool said that high-i Rush was a success you said you were pleased you said you were going to reinvest into the developer of the game and yet here we are not even a year later and you went the complete opposite route this wasn't even fancy PR speak no you just flat out lied at that point why should anyone both Gamers and game designers ever take anything you guys say seriously if you're at a point now where you're starting to kill off acquired developers and creativity within your game Division if you're not going to actually care about making this stupid looking console something worthwhile to play on then why should I care why should anyone care I wish I could tell you that I feel bad about Xbox's current situation but ultimately I don't because to me my Microsoft are the ones that are the most aggressive in turning gaming into something that I never want to see it become monopolistic lifeless and disposable the future of Xbox is looking incredibly Grim even though I ended my PlayStation video with my beliefs that I don't think Sony will ever make PlayStation good again in my heart I will say that in the end they'll be just fine because Sony needs PlayStation at this point Sony is as Anonymous with making video games as they are with creating Electronics or making incredibly Hit or Miss movies play PlayStation consoles and first party games make Sony a lot of money so even if they are currently struggling they'll put in some kind of effort to find a way to bounce back as for Microsoft they don't need Xbox I don't mean the studio I mean the consoles it's very obvious that those billions of dollars that were used to buy out game companies like zenax and Activision was not Xbox's money it was Microsoft's in their eyes they saw at least a hundred billion of their dollars being spent on their gaming division just on this generation alone and the results have led to very little increase of sales or profits so realistically what can they really do simple Just Wind things down I honestly wouldn't be surprised if XBox ends up pulling a Sega and announces that they'll stop making consoles in the Next Generation in favor of being a third- party publisher but at least Sega has beloved and active IPS that make their fans happy as well as a couple of Forgotten ones that they plan on bringing back I just don't see Xbox doing the same none of their active IPS are making a huge impact with current gaming fans and I know that they are not going to utilize a huge amount of their acquired IPS they'll just focus on the ones that are guaranteed to make money because massive corporations don't like taking risks the closure of Tango really was the final nail in the coffin for my faith in the Xbox brand higher Rush gave me just a little bit of hope that Microsoft could at the very least turn Xbox into a decent game publisher regardless of how their consoles are but not anymore I'm done like dude like I'm so done seriously I just want to go back to making my Mario Party video how can you 20-year-old doomers be this constantly miserable about your supposedly favorite hobby cuz I've only done this for like two videos in a row and I already feel like every ounce of happiness has been drained for my soul I think it's finally time we raise the red ring the Xbox brand that reigned Supreme in the 2000s are long gone and they are never coming back uh yeah anyways I'm done making these miserable videos on Modern gaming it's just not for me unfortunately anyways Nintendo switch to confirm woo yeah baby new 3D Mario coming soon Metro Prime 4 will be released on it kidus Uprising will be back for the Next Generation I just know it will this time [Music] wo hold up [Music]

Channel: Xenokayoh

Views: 12,840

Keywords: video games, gaming, xbox, xbox series s, xbox series x, halo, hifi rush, hi fi rush, bethesda, activision

Id: aTiWkgRil20

Length: 22min 24sec (1344 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 22 2024