The Xbox brand was flooded with a very hazardous wave of rumors that could harm the Xbox name forever. That is why Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, and Sarah Bond, president of Xbox, made a very special edition of the Xbox Official Podcast and clarified all the rumors.
Thanks to this podcast, the new path that Xbox has planned has been revealed. This means that the brand is aiming to recover from the very complicated Xbox One launch, and the exclusive games have not been enough to make consoles sell.
Xbox has played its cards and wants to keep growing in the industry
One of the most incredible failures in the video game industry aside from the E.T. game from Atari was the announcement of the first version of the Xbox One. Back in 2013, Don Mattrick, head of Xbox at the time, was presenting the new Xbox as a multimedia console rather than a gaming device and required that customers pay $100 more for the Kinect, which will not sell separately. Up to this day, the Xbox brand could never recover completely from this disaster.
When Phil Spencer takes the mantle of Xbox, he makes one great decision after another, introducing Game Pass and making a lot of investments in new studios to bring more exclusive games. But this was not enough to recover all the players that stepped out in the previous generation. This aggressive strategy has not delivered the best exclusive games, and some launches were just horrible, like Redfall, Grounded, or other titles. The main growth on Xbox is Game Pass, which has a lot of users.
What comes next?
The new path that Xbox is following will make Game Pass its main selling point. Microsoft is looking to make sure that this service can be used on almost any smart device. Xbox Game Pass has more than 34 million users, and Xbox wants 100 million by 2030.
They will keep investing in exclusive games, and some of them will reach other platforms, but just four for the moment. With the acquisition of Activision/Blizzard Game Pass, it will be stronger than ever. Xbox always tries to launch every new game day one on Game Pass.
This expansion could really put Xbox on the map again after one generation was lost. Spencer and Bond also confirmed that Xbox is already working on the next-generation console, which will be the biggest technological leap for the company. According to Sony, the consoles are in the last part of their life cycle. Most of this platform is expected to last at least seven years.
What do you think about the Xbox strategy? Could they finally be back on top?
