The End of Xbox is Here

[Haixen]

crazy times we olive in, its sega all over again

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Crazy times we olive in, its Sega all over again.

Olives are great.

On the other hand will we fondly remember Microsoft as much as Sega? Perhaps not outside of the 360 days.

 

[Isegrim]

Sony also had a huge price increase in PSN+ not too long ago. My patience with Sony is at it's limit when all I really want is online multiplayer and I get unwanted games and shoddy stick drifting controllers. I'm already half way going full retro since I'm already having fun playing old PC and NES/SNES RPG's while typing this and watching a video.

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[MajesticSiN]

I wasn't even aware Costco or Sams Club even carried video game consoles.
Did they sell them in bulk or something?

 

[medisinn]

Yeah i doubt ill be on x box online once my stacked game pass sub runs out in 2026. Have some 360 games on the series S so ill just continue to play them offline. X box is also fantastic for emulation so could convert it into that.

This is exactly where I'm at. I have about a year left of Game Pass and nothing could get me to extend. I got a Series X mostly for backwards compatibility, though they stopped adding to that shortly after this gen started. I stacked my sub through exploiting deals using a VPN to convert Gold memberships from other countries into Ultimate Game Pass, but the cheap codes are gone and the conversion ratios got needed.

There are no exclusives, very few first-party games this gen, lots of studios under their portfolio in the last 7 or 8 years and little to show for it. Hellblade 2, Outer Worlds, Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, Halo Infinite, Redfall, Starfield and a handful of others. Indiana Jones was great but that's not enough. Their output should be massive at this point whether the games are locked to Xbox or multiplatform. Whether they were too hands off or too micromanagey there is some serious mismanagement at hand. Phil Spencer, Matt Booty and all other top management should be replaced. I think it's too late though.

Even though Xbox makes money, it's never enough for shareholders. Microsoft will keep slashing Xbox down to appease shareholders unless their AI investments start to pay off.

At least the Series consoles supposedly make great emulation machines and aren't hard to do that via putting them in Developer mode.

 

[iamthemilkman]

Target and Walmart also pulling Xbox stock

This doesn't surprise me. Target and Walmart stores in my area have barely (Walmart), if any (Target), Xbox games stocked. While I have seen a Series S console here and there, I haven't seen Series X consoles at either store in a while.

While Xbox claims that they're still making Xbox hardware, they also claimed that they were making their own handheld, not a third-party Xbox branded handheld PC like we actually got, and they lied that only 4 games were going to Playstation when games like Gears and Forza Horizon were already in development for Playstation. I also don't understand the point of Xbox hardware when they're a third-party publisher. Why would you buy an Xbox when you can buy a Playstation and play Xbox + Playstation games? New Xbox hardware just doesn't make any sense without exclusive software.

 

[skramz]

are there even exclusives for the series x/s? genuine, non biased question here. i haven't seen a single person talk about the series x/s at ALL.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

A long time coming. I’ll happily keep playing the OG and 360 in the background as the current system market burns. Microsoft never cleaned up their worst elements from the beginning, only pursuing more and more aimless priorities and profit margins with time. I’m not sad to see the current brand go, since it hasn’t given me anything to care about in forever aside from funding a handful of great games. Otherwise, the majority of XBox’s presence has been acting as a shining example of everything wrong with AAA gaming, western gaming, and console gaming in relation to PC.


This will not, cannot, and won’t change my love for the original and 360 systems though. They both are bastions for all the weird American and truly unknown Japanese stuff. Their libraries feel like a trail mix between all the things the off kilter cool folks played, and they’re worth it pieces of tech to keep around and keep alive with smart maintenance. It’ll take time from the death of XBox as a brand, but I feel like an appreciation for those systems will grow with time as they’ve already began to get a cult following.

No matter what though, no matter how you feel, one thing will always remain true:
The worst thing about XBox was Microsoft. To the bitter end.

 

[Sheepy765]

Dunno about dying, but it certainly does look like a low point for Microsoft and Xbox right now.
...A very low point.

 

[iamthemilkman]

are there even exclusives for the series x/s? genuine, non biased question here. i haven't seen a single person talk about the series x/s at ALL.

Keeper from Double Fine is... for now. I'm sure it'll get a PS5 port, though.

 

[aquova]

Target and Walmart also pulling Xbox stock

This doesn't surprise me. Target and Walmart stores in my area have barely (Walmart), if any (Target), Xbox games stocked. While I have seen a Series S console here and there, I haven't seen Series X consoles at either store in a while.

While Xbox claims that they're still making Xbox hardware, they also claimed that they were making their own handheld, not a third-party Xbox branded handheld PC like we actually got, and they lied that only 4 games were going to Playstation when games like Gears and Forza Horizon were already in development for Playstation. I also don't understand the point of Xbox hardware when they're a third-party publisher. Why would you buy an Xbox when you can buy a Playstation and play Xbox + Playstation games? New Xbox hardware just doesn't make any sense without exclusive software.

This has been refuted by some retailers but it's still an interesting situation to be in. My suspicion for years now has been if we do get a next-gen Xbox, it'll just be a living room Windows box, where you can use any storefront you want, basically the Windows version of a Steam Deck. We'll see though, the whole platform seems to be sinking quickly.

 

[iamthemilkman]

This has been refuted by some retailers but it's still an interesting situation to be in. My suspicion for years now has been if we do get a next-gen Xbox, it'll just be a living room Windows box, where you can use any storefront you want, basically the Windows version of a Steam Deck. We'll see though, the whole platform seems to be sinking quickly.

I guess they can't stop stocking something that they don't stock in the first place. My Walmart and Target stores are mostly barren wastelands in terms of Xbox. They've been that way for a while.

I think Xbox is on its way out. Just like Sega lied, I think Microsoft's lying.

I just don't see another Xbox console. What's the point? There's no exclusive software. What's the selling point?

I also don't trust Jez Corden since his job is Microsoft spin.

 

[HextarVigar]

Watching people praise the crash of one of their primary hobbies sure is interesting xD

Considering Microsoft's hobby appears to be buying up publishers just so they can shitcan them so games people have waited years for never happen, fuck 'em.

 

[MajesticSiN]

Microsoft did it to themselves with their bad business decisions.

 

[moonbits]

Microsoft did it to themselves with their bad business decisions.

They tried to appeal to everyone and ended up appealing to no one.

 

[PhaseJump]

Microsoft will survive all of this. The industry's legacy will still be locked up by their ownership.

They only need to add the back compat library to Windows and they will have a lot more ecosystem preservation on their side to keep customers from completely ditching them. A new PC kit is the sensible way forward for Xbox. It always has been.

 

[moonbits]

>file >edit >make xbox 360 emulator
ez pz lemon squeezy

 

[elrepoman]

I think that they just want to transition to a game streaming service and pull out of the console market all together. Or they could be a bunch of idiots.

 

[Mega.Boss]

crazy times we olive in, its sega all over again

Nobody can blame anyone but Microsoft for all these decisions.

Post automatically merged: Oct 15, 2025

Nobody can blame anyone but Microsoft for all these decisions.

But Xbox would never lie to their fans, right?
Microsoft Xbox brought the concept of licenses for games on consoles on the first Xbox.

It's DRM that was brought over from windows games like StarCraft when you needed a code to access the online multiplayer.

I remember Microsoft were mad at PlayStation for not doing licenses with the PS1.

Every time Microsoft made a system to distribute games, it always came with massive DRM and anti-piracy software whether it was a console or a store front.
Meanwhile GoG exists, where you actually own the damn game.

People went down the path of Game Pass because most people knew you never truly owned an Xbox game, even discs after and during the ABK acquisition transition, most don't have the game on it without requiring some massive download in order to get the games to play.

People warned others about Xbox but back then, Xbox was perceived as the corporation that never lies to their fans by a small fragment of the gaming public. That small fragment of last stance Xbox fans are ever dwindling down in numbers, to where I can't even see a single one left defending their most recent changes.

Idk what people were expecting from the corporation who brought paid online where you needed to pay for the privileged of playing YouTube, Facebook, Twitter on an Xbox 360. Xbox One's launch games all embraced micro-transactions at launch. It seems like every action Microsoft makes is following the money wherever it leads them.
Gaming in general hasn't been going in much of a great direction overall, as the console makers tends to mimic each other, and if one of them is led by greed, well...

I honestly hope that the next Steam Home Console becomes a success because it might bring much needed Pro-Consumer stance onto the gaming industry hyper focused on making a ton of money and charging more to players.

As for Xbox, even if they want to continue down the path of a console, the retailers are all pulling out, the developers are questioning why waste time making a dedicated port. At this point, even Xbox is selling Xbox branded PC handhelds. So the only path forwards it seems is Xbox integration within PC Windows.
Microsoft was already hinting at the inevitable changes with their "Everything is an Xbox" campaign, so... I guess that's it. I guess it was their way to kindly hint their fan base into accepting this new reality.

Nobody can blame anyone but Microsoft for all these decisions.

 

[Burzuru]

i was expecting this to happen. i thought it would happen to sony first, but either way the playstation and xbox line of consoles have lost their reason to continue.

 

[PhaseJump]

Nobody can blame anyone but Microsoft for all these decisions.

Post automatically merged: Oct 15, 2025

But Xbox would never lie to their fans, right?
Microsoft Xbox brought the concept of licenses for games on consoles on the first Xbox.

No idea what you are even talking about.

Older consoles, and specifically Dreamcast also sold online access. SegaNet subscriptions existed.

It's DRM that was brought over from windows games like StarCraft when you needed a code to access the online multiplayer.

I remember Microsoft were mad at PlayStation for not doing licenses with the PS1.

What does this mean? "Microsoft were mad" Really? Who at Microsoft was mad?

DRM in various forms has been around since consoles began.

Every time Microsoft made a system to distribute games, it always came with massive DRM and anti-piracy software whether it was a console or a store front.
Meanwhile GoG exists, where you actually own the damn game.

"Massive" huh? Explain this. SNES had copy protection in some of their software. Playstation and Sega had proprietary security checks in their discs.

You get the installer without any dependencies, and you can back it up and do what you want, but that is irrelevant to the rabbit hole you're going down here, blaming Microsoft for inventing some bullshit that all the competitors were doing long before they entered the market.

People went down the path of Game Pass because most people knew you never truly owned an Xbox game, even discs after and during the ABK acquisition transition, most don't have the game on it without requiring some massive download in order to get the games to play.

You never truly own any console games, you have licensed access to the product on specific media that you are not legally allowed to duplicate or modify in a lot of places.

Game Pass was a subscription service that offered a ton of value to broke families so they could share a content pool between kids.

People warned others about Xbox but back then, Xbox was perceived as the corporation that never lies to their fans by a small fragment of the gaming public. That small fragment of last stance Xbox fans are ever dwindling down in numbers, to where I can't even see a single one left defending their most recent changes.

Microsoft was perceived as a ruthless software titan with more resources than anybody. Xbox showed up and it kicked ass.

Idk what people were expecting from the corporation who brought paid online where you needed to pay for the privileged of playing YouTube, Facebook, Twitter on an Xbox 360. Xbox One's launch games all embraced micro-transactions at launch. It seems like every action Microsoft makes is following the money wherever it leads them.
Gaming in general hasn't been going in much of a great direction overall, as the console makers tends to mimic each other, and if one of them is led by greed, well...

One of them? All companies chase profitable consumer trends. Atari, Nintendo, Sega, NEC, Sony were all "greedy" long before Xbox was around.

I honestly hope that the next Steam Home Console becomes a success because it might bring much needed Pro-Consumer stance onto the gaming industry hyper focused on making a ton of money and charging more to players.

Pro consumer compared to what, though?

If Gaben rolled out a game pass competitor, or a subscription service giving you a cloud computing gaming PC tier to run your games from remotely. It would be comparative to PSN or Xbox.

The only pro consumer argument around Steam is that it's running on an open standards platform, instead of a locked down one. You are free to access private servers without violating any terms and conditions. At the end of the day it is still a store front with DRM.

This is the likely direction Xbox is heading, as it shifts to PC.

As for Xbox, even if they want to continue down the path of a console, the retailers are all pulling out, the developers are questioning why waste time making a dedicated port. At this point, even Xbox is selling Xbox branded PC handhelds. So the only path forwards it seems is Xbox integration within PC Windows.
Microsoft was already hinting at the inevitable changes with their "Everything is an Xbox" campaign, so... I guess that's it. I guess it was their way to kindly hint their fan base into accepting this new reality.

I am still here trying to figure out what you're even complaining about.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Microsoft yet does macroscopic mistakes.

 

[petran79]

Game Pass was a subscription service that offered a ton of value to broke families so they could share a content pool between kids.

Broke families first would avoid the expensive Xbox like the plague and second, they'd resort to piracy on their cheap PCs.

 

[PhaseJump]

Broke families first would avoid the expensive Xbox like the plague and second, they'd resort to piracy on their cheap PCs.

To casual families, One and Series S was the cheapest option with the most value to get into contemporary games. The only people "avoiding Xbox like the plague" are nerdball console warriors who thrive on shit flinging drama and industry gossip.