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What is the point of Xbox? (www.eurogamer.net)

submitted 7 months ago by Blackmist@feddit.uk to c/games@lemmy.world

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[-] dinckelman@lemmy.world 36 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Microsoft and Google really aren't too dissimilar, in a lot of ways. The only reason why Xbox still exists isn't because they're so incredibly passionate about it. There was a niche for them to make money, and they've created a product in it, that has the minimum viable qualities to complete. Issue is that just as Google does, they stopped caring about it entirely, after the initial pitch

[-] Ashtear@lemm.ee 31 points 7 months ago

Xbox buys talent, mismanages it in search of impossible scale, and cuts it loose - be that the 20-year experts of Fable, or the battle-scarred makers of Dishonored, or the invigorating new generation behind Hi-Fi Rush.

Talking up the demerits of capitalism in the massive gaming industry has been more common as of late (perhaps especially so on Lemmy), and I do think there is nuance in that conversation.

There's no reasonable nuance here. Microsoft clearly wants insane return on investment from their studios, and I don't see how that leaves room for the art of video game design.

[-] ocassionallyaduck@lemmy.world 28 points 7 months ago

It is so damning that the entire industry has reacted that way. It's not that they closed a studio, that cod have been ignored. It's how brazenly they closed successful studios for being successful while talking out the other side of their mouth to the press.

It feels gross in a much more palpable way. And with everything else going on in tech it feels so wrong coming from one of the biggest companies in earth.

I'm 100% over Xbox. I hope their next console is the worst release since ET on Atari.

[-] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 24 points 7 months ago

We should go back to Nintendo versus Sega times, give me my Dreamcast 2 and my Virtual Boy Advance

[-] Beetschnapps@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

I don’t want to go back to sega fucking up the hardware game that bad…

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 4 points 7 months ago

I think in this business you can survive a generation in the wilderness. Nintendo had it with the Wii U. Arguably Sony had one with the PS3.

Two in a row? Well you're out. Saturn followed by Dreamcast. MS are in their second, and tbh, it looks like they're pivoting towards being a cross platform publisher and subscription provider. They can certainly afford to keep throwing money at the issue, but if there's no results, there's only so long they'll be allowed to continue doing that before the boss pulls the rug on it. He does not seem like a man who is excited by his gaming division.

[-] Katana314@lemmy.world 17 points 7 months ago

Obvious frustrations aside, this article gives a great summary not just of current events but the last decade with Microsoft/Xbox.

[-] HEXN3T@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 7 months ago

For when the PS5 is out of stock. It isn't out of stock anymore.

[-] CeeBee@lemmy.world 23 points 7 months ago

Sony is just as bad in their own ways.

[-] HEXN3T@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 7 months ago

I know, but that doesn't change that the PS5, for its lack of exclusives, is way more successful.

[-] RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Gaming journalists sure want a Sony monopoly of gaming consoles, don't they?

If Xbox didn't exist, consumers could only choose PlayStation. Nintendo has shown they have no interest in making real console hardware to compete with Sony or Microsoft anymore, so consumers will get literally only one console choice. That's bad. Especially since they could set prices at whatever they want and nobody could challenge it.

I get journalists hate Xbox, but Xbox needs to exist as a consumer option.

[-] callouscomic@lemm.ee 19 points 7 months ago

steam deck exists: "am I a joke to you?"

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[-] NewNewAccount@lemmy.world 15 points 7 months ago

Gaming journalists and consumers alike want Xbox to be better. Did you even bother to read the article?

[-] OriginalUsername7@lemmy.world 11 points 7 months ago

Gaming journalists sure want a Sony monopoly of gaming consoles, don’t they?

Despite the inflammatory headline, I don't think that's really the point of the article. It's much less "why even bother", and more "do they even know what they're doing over there"?

Any hatred the writer has for Xbox seems to be focused on how Microsoft are running things, not letting the studios take chances or even make a bit of a dud game.

As a platform, the point of Xbox is supposed to be to make things people enjoy. But MS seem hyper-focused on insane rates of growth, more users, more subscribers, bigger profits. Anything that doesn't fit that gets cut, regardless of how well it was received by fans or critics.

I don't get the impression the writer hates Xbox, but is just frustrated that they've been making the same mistake over and over again, which has allowed Sony to dominate the console space.

[-] cbarrick@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

Nintendo has shown they have no interest in making real console hardware

Ah yes, the no true Scotsman argument.

Nintendo doesn't make hardware to compete with Sony and Microsoft, despite having the best selling console hardware all-time, among the current generation, and among several previous generations.

You don't have to be a graphical powerhouse to compete with PlayStation and Xbox...

[-] RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 19 points 7 months ago

Nintendo is not competing with Microsoft or Sony, and that's why they can sell more.

People arent choosing between Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch. Theyre choosing between Xbox or PlayStation, and also buying a Switch. That is not competition.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 7 points 7 months ago

I don't think anybody wants a monopoly, because it means the leader can stagnate, and honestly that's already happened. Sony are getting complacent, the big releases are few and far between. We're all getting less for our money, no matter what team you're on.

I often buy multiple consoles in a generation, but I didn't get the Xbox One or Xbox Series consoles, because there's no reason to, and it's not because I've got an expensive PC either, still being on a 1060. Being late to the game is fine, PS3 did that and ended up selling pretty much as many as the Xbox 360 in the end, but where is that spark from MS? They've gambled it all on Game Pass and I'm not sure you can run an entire gaming division on that, same as Netflix couldn't compete with Hollywood without the box office money. The cloud growth just hasn't happened for them. It doesn't feel as good as local play, and I suspect it never will. A PS5 has hit pricing that isn't really that expensive for fairly casual gamers, although the most casual went mobile ages ago and I doubt they're coming back.

Xbox hardware is fine, there just isn't any reason to own it. If it ran Windows and I could install my Steam library on it, I'd have got it on day one, but how does that make MS money? There's even been noises about the next Xbox allowing Steam, although I don't know how true that it is. I would guess the only way that can happen is if MS get a chunk of Valve's money every time somebody buys a game through Steam for Xbox. It's the only real feature that would get me to buy one right now.

[-] TSG_Asmodeus@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I get journalists hate Xbox, but Xbox needs to exist as a consumer option.

I don't understand, is this a thing? "All journalists hate Xbox" I mean. I've never heard this before. Like there's a mandate that journalists have to hate the Xbox?

EDIT: I'll eat the downvotes, I just want to understand what the fuck they're talking about

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 3 points 7 months ago

Nah, it's an obviously false take, because as you say, why would all journalists agree on this?

XBOX has been underwhelming for a while and journalists will report on that, and they will focus on those bad parts and certainly also sometimes make it sound worse than it really is, because it brings in clicks.

That can make it look like journalists dislike XBOX, but causality is simply the other way around.

[-] TSG_Asmodeus@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

Yeah the comment felt like bizarre astroturfing -- Why would 'gaming journalists' specifically not want Xbox to succeed, but want Playstation to? Like somehow a Sony monopoly is great for... journalists? A very strange take.

XBOX has been underwhelming for a while and journalists will report on that, and they will focus on those bad parts and certainly also sometimes make it sound worse than it really is, because it brings in clicks.

I worked at Microsoft and I can assure you, they deserve every bit of hate they get. And it really is that bad. There was a point with the Xbox One where Sony was beating 'us' in every single market we were actively tracking except specific parts of the US. Yet we had directive after directive for clearly nonsensical ideas like targeting Japan for console sales.

I also worked (third party) with Sony and they aren't much better, but they at least understand how to get their consoles bought. Microsoft hasn't known how to do that since the 360.

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