Is it possible for a company to grow too big to continue pulling in revenue or is Microsoft Xbox’s plateauing a result of something else entirely? Microsoft’s gaming division was recently expanded on as a result of the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard and while this was predicted to help the company grow—it did, the company’s gaming revenue surpassed that of their proprietary Windows Services—but it seems the revenue of the division as a whole seems to be slowing down. With Xbox Game Pass subscriptions seeing a decline in adoption, The Verge has sources which indicate that we could see some prime Xbox games on the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch soon enough.
If true, the move could make or break its presence in the gaming market depending on how many games are made available outside of the Xbox platform and what else the company does to make the Xbox relevant to their customers. In order to retain subscribers, the company will have to do something to make them see value in paying for a pass once the games themselves aren’t the major attraction any longer.
Microsoft Xbox Updates: What Online Sources Have to Report So Far
Rumors and speculations about the future of Microsoft have been taking shape in many unfathomable ways for a company vying for the top position in the industry. The assumptions regarding the Microsoft gaming division letting go of some big titles even partially appear quite shocking when the trend in every industry is moving towards gaining exclusive rights over every possible form of content available online. The decision to move Xbox games onto PlayStation must have been preceded by considerable discussion and internal calculations to conceptualize the validity of such a move, but from the outside, it looks to be poor gameplay by the company.
If Microsoft Xbox games are more freely available, it might find a larger user base among gamers who haven’t invested in the Xbox Game Pass just yet, allowing the company to draw in revenue from alternate-platform gamers as well. It could perhaps add up to being more fruitful than the numbers the company is seeing right now, and for players, it would appear to be quite a generous move. Still, those who now have access to Xbox games on their PlayStation accounts or other platforms will no longer feel the need to invest in the Game Pass and try out the other titles on the platform.
Image: The new Starfield controller featured by Xbox
Starfield, a major release that faced major setbacks and got a delayed start on Xbox, is rumored to be one of the titles that might be moved to alternate platforms. The game performed really well on the market despite the initial hiccup and many saw it as Microsoft Xbox finally making a steady comeback to the industry, the game supporting a 13 percent growth estimate for the company. Many gamers could potentially have considered getting the Xbox Game Pass just to try the game out but if the rumors remind them that they don’t really have to, it’s likely they’ll settle for a PlayStation pass instead.
It’s difficult to predict the full extent of how gamers are going to make purchases if Microsoft Xbox does pass its games around but there must be a strategy that Microsoft thinks is going to work. The company had revealed very big aspirations for its Xbox Game Pass subscriber count back in 2022, aiming to grow the number to 100 million by 2030 from the 25 million they had then. They’ve been very quiet about their subscriber numbers ever since, and while estimates have currently placed it at 33.3 million by the end of 2023, there are no sources to confirm it. All we know is that the company is playing around with the idea of sharing its games more willingly. The Verge reported that Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment could be among the first games to become available on other platforms later this year.
Bringing Xbox to Multi platform will devalue the platform, please don’t
— Synth Potato🥔 (@SynthPotato) February 5, 2024
Microsoft Gaming Console At Risk? CEO Phil Spencer Reassures Concerned Fans
The changes to the content of Xbox Game Pass are not the only confusing and worrying conversations we’re seeing around the company. Fans have become concerned that they may soon witness the Microsoft Xbox consoles being terminated due to the fall in revenue the company is seeing from its sales. For gamers, this could be one of the worst decisions the company could make and would likely permanently harm the Microsoft gaming division, especially after their games also cease to be exclusive. There wouldn’t be enough left for the company to even warrant having a gaming division, wasting the potential of their acquired companies such as Bethesda-parent ZeniMax Media, and Activision Blizzard.
At an internal town hall for employees, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox President Sarah Bond put their employees at ease and clarified that they had no intention of shutting down the Xbox hardware. Nothing was said about the potential game-sharing that the company has planned. Posting on X on 6 Feb CEO Phil Spencer stated that we could see a business update event sometime this week, perhaps 15 February, to understand the vision they have for the future of Xbox, a potential podcast of updates for those patiently waiting to understand where the future of gaming is headed.
Why Xbox should still makes exclusives and not go multiplatform:
– Makes xbox fans have faith and happy
– Competes with Sony more = better games for everyone
– Competition = brings out the best in everyone
– Not a huge blow for the people who invested into the ecosystem…— Pyo 5️⃣ (@mrpyo1) February 12, 2024
Will Microsoft Really Terminate the Xbox Console?
Some appear confident that there is no way Microsoft would suddenly end its Xbox console series after spending so much time building up a fairly successful legacy in the market. Others like the writers at Windows Central are not so confident about the decision-makers at Microsoft. Harking back to the Windows Phone debacle where the company did everything in their power to build a loyal customer base around the phone only to terminate it all of a sudden, it appears anything is possible at the organization. “Microsoft is a product killer,” they state and we’d have to agree—the company does tend to push a product with gusto and lose interest somewhere along the line as the next big trend takes over the market.
Sometime last year, when the Xbox v. FTC trial was in session, leaked documents revealed the company’s plans for a mid-generation console digital upgrade scheduled for August-October 2024 and a next-gen release for 2028 but Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer had stated that a refresh may not be necessarily their way forward. Will the company perhaps consider expanding into the handheld console market or bridging in more investments into mobile gaming? We have no concrete evidence of either, which makes rumors about the end of the Xbox console more believable.
Microsoft Xbox backing out from the console market would leave the arena wide open for Sony to secure a complete monopoly and such a result has never boded well for any industry. Sony’s acquisition of anime streaming platform Crunchyroll recently resulted in the company recently taking over the market immediately with a price hike, and there’s no denying that similar results will unfold in the world of gaming as well.
2.2 million views in 1 hour.
Xbox has the opportunity to turn this into a mighty marketing event, all they need to do is say the right thing. pic.twitter.com/VvUHR2POwd
— PeterOvo (@PeterOvo5) February 12, 2024
The Xbox owner recently laid off 1900 staff members from the Microsoft Gaming division and it was initially seen as a way of eliminating overlapping roles after the Activision Blizzard acquisition and streamlining the work better at the company. Now, it might point to the company seriously narrowing down on its services and terminating key elements of their services which is disappointing to see. Just like every other Xbox fan, we’re hoping that these are just rumors and that the company decides against bringing Xbox games onto PlayStation, but we should know about their decision soon enough.
