Xbox has tried very hard to convince you to play their games on anything but the Xbox. Cloud? Sure. PC? Sure. PS5? Sure. Switch? Most definitely.
Of course they have. Consoles are a loss-leading model. They literally lose money every time they sell you a video game console. If you can get somebody in your ecosystem on a separate system, why wouldn’t you?
Then why sell them?
They might stop. The rumor is they are swapping to premium Steam Deck style, Xbox Branded PCs next gen.
They could sell a niches product like that at at profit if they wanted.
Nintendo for example, has always avoided the loss leading model, and makes like $50 off each unit sold. (Those figures were from launch, its Likely more now that production costs have inevitably gone down over time)
From the article:
Xbox has no plans to abandon hardware, despite what these sales trends may start to suggest.
But if we’re talking about console sales, Microsoft has been downplaying its need to sell hardware for years now, pushing the idea that you can experience Xbox anywhere, namely on PC with day and date Game Pass releases, and on other devices through cloud gaming, which remains a niche market. The path to cash has been Game Pass subscriptions, as it’s more valuable to have players paying a monthly/yearly fee that will end up being far more money than a single console would be
And Sony is still complaining about bad sales… I wonder if Microsoft will even bother with another console again. I guess they will pull a SEGA and just start selling games on other consoles.
There are still supply chain issues, or synthetic shortages. So many annoying ‘out of stock’ listings for PS5’s in Canada, and prices are locked at MSRP mostly.
From the article:
Xbox has no plans to abandon hardware, despite what these sales trends may start to suggest.
