A reader puts the blame for Xbox’s current problems squarely on Microsoft, blaming management failures, a lack of vision, and unwillingness to take risks.

It was November 2001 when Microsoft entered the gaming console arena. The green, cyberpunk style dashboard was dazzling, and it had one true game-changer: Halo: Combat Evolved. Players could battle grunting aliens across vast landscapes and drive amazing vehicles. Not only did this elevate the game to new heights, but it also drew huge crowds to the console.

In 2004, Microsoft dropped the price of the Xbox to an affordable £149. Sales increased, and Microsoft had established itself as a major player in the industry.

The Xbox 360 followed and held a firm grip on the market, even with the infamous Red Ring of Death incidents. It seemed Microsoft was poised to do for gaming what it had done for operating systems and office software – but that changed. You could blame Nintendo or PlayStation for focusing solely on consoles, rather than trying to turn them into all-singing, all-dancing media hubs.

In 2017, Microsoft launched Game Pass, positioning it as the ‘Netflix of gaming’. But Netflix does not release brand new, unproven films on the platform immediately after production. How can a studio make real profit that way?

Instead, Microsoft thought it clever to release major games like Starfield on Game Pass on day one, rather than waiting at least eight months to a year. With over 10 million players engaging with these titles but only an estimated 1 to 2 million Xbox users purchasing the actual product, out of a 34 million strong userbase, this represents a major shortfall.

Microsoft is not destroying its Xbox base through a lack of games, but through a lack of foresight. Day one releases should not exist on any gaming streaming service. Xbox titles should launch traditionally, for at least eight months to a year before being added to Game Pass.

Xbox is being suffocated by Microsoft, kept afloat only by PlayStation and PC purchases – and perhaps soon by the Nintendo Switch 2 platform. It is sad to see. Within five years, I believe the Xbox platform may cease to exist – not because of its fanbase, but because its owner has never truly learned how to compete in the gaming space.

Look at Sony and Nintendo: gaming consoles are not PCs. Streaming should give players choice, but it should not starve production studios of the glory – and profitability – of successful launches. You may disagree with this article, but you will likely agree that Microsoft is losing with Xbox; not because of the fanbase, but because Microsoft itself is no longer a fan of the Xbox.

Maybe I sound harsh, but I remember the original Xbox. Microsoft promised a multiplayer experience. One example was a game called Brute Force, a brilliant title where you control four characters on a mission. It had four-player local support, but everyone was waiting for the Xbox Live add-on. Microsoft again underdelivered, not realising that adding this component would have boosted sales and expanded its catalogue of exclusive titles. Instead, they prioritised the Halo explosion.

Look at Nintendo and Sony: they protect exclusives because good products sell consoles. Consider No Man’s Sky – not exclusive to any platform – but the studio persisted despite a rough launch. Their belief in the project created growth in a small but talented production team. I mention this because Microsoft has repeatedly given up on gaming projects, stifling the growth of Xbox exclusives.

Perfect Dark was cancelled – a perfect example of Microsoft destroying its own platform. With over a million units sold on the original Xbox, cancelling a sequel makes little sense. A return on DLC and season passes could have bolstered profits and helped sell the Xbox Series X in solid numbers.

Microsoft owns Activision, which promised exclusive games for Xbox, but instead the company cancelled titles as the new owner. Did you know Microsoft lost $300 million putting Call of Duty on Game Pass? Someone should have been held accountable for that decision.

Microsoft is destroying the Xbox – not because it can, but because it lacks vision. Leaders like Steve Jobs, Tim Cook, Elon Musk (yes, I said it), and Bill Gates understood customer needs and delivered great products that were also profitable. Xbox, unfortunately, will fade because no one at Microsoft is taking bold enough risks.

Goodbye, Xbox. It’s sad to see the Chief Master lose the fight.

By reader S.D.E Wilson

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MORE: Sony has betrayed fans over Bluepoint and I’m selling my PS5 – Reader’s Feature

MORE: Playing Metal Gear Solid again after 28 years is a mix of good and bad – Reader’s Feature

MORE: The 40th anniversary of Legend Of Zelda reminds me how much I love the series – Reader’s Feature

The Monday letters page realises that the next gen Xbox will be able to play PS5 games, as one reader hopes Bluepoint Games isn’t working on God Of War.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Nintendo logic
So, Sony has had a successful State of Play, their best in years I’d say, and Xbox’s was good too (I’ll be honest, I can’t remember anything about it, but I remember the buzz was decent). That means that Nintendo is the next one to have a showcase, but we still don’t have a date for it.

I’ve seen some rumours that it’ll be March, but I feel that’s just the obvious guess anyway. But my question is what will they be talking about? All we know about from them at the moment is Fire Emblem and Splatoon Raiders and while I don’t think many people here would consider them a particularly big deal you just don’t know with Nintendo.

But surely they must be preparing to announce at least one new triple-A game (or whatever you’d call them with Nintendo). It’s probably not Animal Crossing or Zelda, because the timings don’t work out, so to me the two obvious options are Super Mario or Smash Bros.

You might say Mario is the most obvious, but Nintendo has been so weird about it so far I don’t think there’s any guarantee they’ll suddenly become predictable. My bet would be on Smash Bros., with some new characters and other minor new content. Not the most thrilling choice, in my opinion, but the logical choice. I would expect it to be the big game for Christmas.
Ishi

Perfect prelude
There was a lot of good stuff at the State of Play but it didn’t shake my opinion that Resident Evil Requiem is the most exciting game at the moment and the one I’m most looking forward to. The new footage looked great and so has everything else before it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game not make a single mistake before release and always look like a must have.

If it turns out to be a dud after all this I will actually be really impressed that Capcom has been able to hide it so well. I don’t expect that will be the case though and while I’ll still wait for the reviews I’m predicting this will be one of the best game of this year and probably the whole generation. Don’t let me down now!
Purple Ranger

Stuck in Sparta
I tend to agree with the Reader’s Feature about God Of War. Sons Of Sparta looks bad and a remake trilogy does sound like a big wasted effort, given those earlier games were nothing like the new ones in terms of gameplay or story. It’d be tragic if Santa Monica Studio were wasting their time on it, but it’d be just as bad if it were Bluepoint Games, doing it – which is something I’ve heard fans talking about.

It’s not that remaking the game itself is a terrible idea, it’s just that by doing that you’re locking out talented developers for five years or more. Developers that could be busy moving the franchise forward or just generally not redoing something that already exists and you can play as remasters. I just don’t see any good outcome, because if they get a no-name dev, like with Sons Of Sparta, then that drastically decreases the odds that it will be any good.
Focus

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Two Keanus
I didn’t think much of the state of play. The hair on the back of my neck when the John Wick trailer started playing. It would have been obvious to anyone that has watched at least one of the films it was a John Wick game.

But that’s tempered by the fact that I’m an old gamer that remembers when movie tie-in was just another way of saying a game was a poor quality, rushed cash-in. Remember The Matrix game?

GoldenEye 007 was the first game I remember that was based on a film that turned out to actually be good.
TomTom

For the love of the game
Interesting comparison of Sony and Valve’s attitude in the Reader’s Feature at the weekend. I would not have thought of the comparison myself, but it does work. I think the problem for both companies is that ordinary games – basically anything but a mega hit – have become too small for them to bother with.

This seems a mistake to me though, as in Sony’s case they lose out on a key incentive in buying their console. But for both companies it’s a waste of talent and knowledge that has taken years to build up and is no longer being used properly. As long as a profit is made why not make them anyway, for the kudos alone?

That worked for Astro Bot, which wasn’t a big hit but made people think better of Sony for a while. Soras will probably be similar, but I feel we need a lot more of that, multiple times a year.
Tenna

Only on PlayStation
Perhaps I’m just being slow here, but I realised that if the next gen Xbox is just a PC in console’s clothing, as it were, then that means that all PlayStation 5 games will, eventually, be on Xbox. I guess it doesn’t really mean much, since Microsoft doesn’t get a cut of the sales or anything, but we may finally have our all-in-one single format (except for Nintendo, but that was never going to happen).

For years that seemed like something to really wish for but now that it’s actually close to happening it feels like nobody will actually care. In the end, the PC has been the single format all along (especially for those using emulators) and Microsoft putting the Xbox logo on a different machine isn’t going to change that.

I think we’ll soon begin to realise that, in terms of consoles, single format domination is a bad thing. People are upset about Sony not releasing more first party games but now that the Xbox has slipped into irrelevance they have no incentive to change.

Why spend all that money when you’ve already proved it doesn’t matter to whether your game Is a success or not? Sony won by doing nothing so there’s no incentive to do more next time.
Tom Meadows

Last gen
I’ve been watching Nioh 3 a bit on Twitch and wondered whether or not it should have been a dual console release. I can’t see any reason it couldn’t work on the PlayStation 4. Surely they could lower the resolution or whatever it was that stopped a version on PlayStation 4. It seems like Sony left money on the table with this decision. To me at least it still looks the same as Nioh 1 and 2.

Pretty sure there’s still millions of PlayStation 4 users out there.
Bobwallett

GC: It’s not Sony’s game.

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Positive recap
I’m still thinking about Thursday’s State Of Play, because it was more than a few steps ahead of the usual disappointments that we are usually served by Sony. It absolutely began with a bang. Death Stranding 2 on PC; Ghost Of Yōtei: Legends in March; Kena 2; the reveal of a John Wick game, with Keanu Reeves returning in the role of the Baba Yaga. Silent Hill Townfall was revealed and it’s first person; that was quite the surprise. It’s also set in an island inspired by Scotland, so that’s a nice change of pace to see locations from Japan to the UK being used. It’s a very fresh take on the series.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is free from PlayStation 3 jail. I’ve wanted for this for many years and to see it finally happen is just unbelievable. Saros continues to look stunning and I can’t wait for it, personally. Pragmata looks charming and I actually have played the demo; very enjoyable and a fun hacking romp – Diana is a charmer as well. Project Windless is quite interesting. A chicken with a bone to pick and dual swords. Yep, I’m sold.

The anime titles and Marathon were my low points. I’m not particularly interested in either title. Control: Resonant and 007 First Light continue to impress. Crimson Moon sounds like a lot of fun and I look forward to seeing more. The final reveal was the remake of the God Of War trilogy, which was a win for me personally. It’s obviously years away, and it did just begin development, but spoken as a massive fan of the franchise I’m absolutely pumped for this.

However, it was disappointing to see no Phantom Blade 0 at the event. At least pre-orders could have been revealed. Since it does have a release date, after all. We didn’t see Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 or Kingdom Hearts 4. That was a let down on Square Enix’s part. Maybe we’ll see those at the Tokyo Game Show.

Wolverine will be shared in the spring, so I wasn’t expecting that. All in all, it was a fantastic event and the games look very stellar. There’s much to be excited for and I can’t wait to see more. I’ll also say that I would have liked to see more from Judas and Tides Of Annihilation and Lego Batman, but I can wait longer. To a wonderful 2026 and the release of Resident Evil Requiem in two weeks!
Shahzaib Sadiq

Inbox also-rans
I’ve got a lot of sympathy for the Highguard dev complaining about ‘gamer culture’. It’s not my type of game, so I wouldn’t be interested in it whatever happened. But I never saw any explanation for why everyone turned on it except that they were hoping for something else to be revealed at The Game Awards – which is hardly the developer’s fault.
Kakem

Am I the only one that thought the latest trailer for Marathon made it look like Splatoon? Not necessarily a bad thing but why do they have blue blood?
Gonk

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

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