The End of Xbox is Here

[TechBlisSTer]

"hE's A mEdIa GrIfTeR"

 

[Mini_Man.XW]

The xbox I grew up with died a while ago🕯

 

[Robert Robertson III]

hmmmmmmm
is xbox gonna give in with nintendo

 

[Culdesac]

Its kinda depressing but this could also be a good thing for new consoles to be created by different companies.

 

[zacharinolongpants]

Damn - RIP! I'll never forget how cool and weird the OG XBOX seemed when it came out. Everything is kinda homogenizing into some weird conglomerate anyway though now, and there isn't much interesting going on culturally or aesthetically between competing consoles so I can't say I feel like I'm missing much at this point.

 

[ThunderBoy]

https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-us-console-unit-sales-just-reached-an-all-time-november-low

 

[moonbits]

https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-us-console-unit-sales-just-reached-an-all-time-november-low

as expected, a slow death.

I am stocking up on X360 games, at least those deserve to be preserved.

 

[medisinn]

https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-us-console-unit-sales-just-reached-an-all-time-november-low

To be fair, console purchases in general in the US were down for everyone compared to recent years.

To also be fair, I don't know why anyone would buy an XBOX at this point aside from using it to play backwards compatible games. The fact that they didn't announce anything at the Game Awards and just had a generic Game Pass trailer felt telling. Plus,  where would someone buy a console? It'd either be GameStop or online at this point, as most retailers have stopped carrying them.

 

[moonbits]

lol I kept telling my friends whenever a new game was annouced at the VGA's: "Look, no Xbox"

 

[Skull_King]

My hope is that someone steps in to fill the void. I know the the increase of streaming and subscription services that's unlikely, but IMO, there isn't a dollars and cents reasoning to why people like to open a box with an expensive electronic device inside that has a cool design, and plug that into a big tv to start playing games. It's a feeling that's evergreen, even with newer generations.

If some company popped up and made a new shiny box with some platform originals, sensible value propositions and a competitive price point, it'd blow up. Plenty of companies are in a position to do it.

Naive? Maybe. I just think it'd be cool.

 

[Neb Lleb]

My hope is that someone steps in to fill the void. I know the the increase of streaming and subscription services that's unlikely, but IMO, there isn't a dollars and cents reasoning to why people like to open a box with an expensive electronic device inside that has a cool design, and plug that into a big tv to start playing games. It's a feeling that's evergreen, even with newer generations.

If some company popped up and made a new shiny box with some platform originals, sensible value propositions and a competitive price point, it'd blow up. Plenty of companies are in a position to do it.

Naive? Maybe. I just think it'd be cool.

Oh, wow. You just described Commodore.

 

[Lena CE]

To be fair, console purchases in general in the US were down for everyone compared to recent years.

To also be fair, I don't know why anyone would buy an XBOX at this point aside from using it to play backwards compatible games. The fact that they didn't announce anything at the Game Awards and just had a generic Game Pass trailer felt telling. Plus,  where would someone buy a console? It'd either be GameStop or online at this point, as most retailers have stopped carrying them.

You'd be surprised how many casual gamers just buy the next version of the branded box they already had. I have met tons of people who only play a handful of games - primarily AAA or high profile indies that will end up getting Xbox ports anyway - and just bought an Xbox One or a Series X/S not because it seemed like the better deal, but because they had a 360 growing up and weren't invested enough in the gaming landscape to really care about the distinctions.

There's also that subtle sunken cost thing for even casuals. "Well I've already bought XBL for so many years and I have a handful of 360 and Xbox One discs, may as well buy the better box that can still play most of them".

In their defense, there really aren't many distinctions anymore, especially when comparing the PS5 and the Series systems. If you aren't into the JP games that tend to skip the Xbox, there's really not much that separates the two systems since Sony has released all of like 5 or 6 console exclusives this gen.

Post automatically merged: Dec 23, 2025

My hope is that someone steps in to fill the void. I know the the increase of streaming and subscription services that's unlikely, but IMO, there isn't a dollars and cents reasoning to why people like to open a box with an expensive electronic device inside that has a cool design, and plug that into a big tv to start playing games. It's a feeling that's evergreen, even with newer generations.

If some company popped up and made a new shiny box with some platform originals, sensible value propositions and a competitive price point, it'd blow up. Plenty of companies are in a position to do it.

Naive? Maybe. I just think it'd be cool.

Unfortunately, there's just no real space for that. You won't really convince anyone involved with Sony or Nintendo's ecosystems to grab some lower powered 3rd party with few if any low-profile exclusives alongside inevitably less quality ports of games they can already get on their existing boxes. PC players are obviously never gonna latch on and anyone who is just casually in the space isn't gonna take

Considering that everything in tech has just been getting wildly expensive for the past few years and is only continuing to get worse at breakneck speeds coupled with the R&D required to create a new system to mass produce let alone the marketing power and brand recognition to make people care, and I can't think of a single company that could possibly make it work. No third parties would be stupid enough to make any exclusives; few would bother porting and would require heavy financial incentives upfront.

And part of me wants to at least go, "yea it'd be cool" but would it? Like if I really want a new gaming device to open up, we have seen more and more companies like Ayaneo or AYN that are making various Linux/Windows/Android based emulation consoles or handhelds targeting specific specs/silhouettes like PSP, 3DS or whatever else you can think of. Hell you can even just buy an in-box retro system. I've done that with a 1000 Vita and a PSP and it was a magical experience getting to open up systems I'd only ever gotten used. Why would I need some company to be attempting the suicide mission of building a new ecosystem in the current climate to make opening up a new electronic special?

Not exactly the fairest example I admit, but even before I knew of how fucked up the Intellivision Amico situation was I was absolutely flabbergasted and confused on why anyone would ever want to own one. I tried for a couple days after seeing that faux E3 presentation they did to want to buy one and just could not think of a reason. Only after realizing there was no reason to care did I peel back the layers and realize just how messy the situation was, but I'm a firm believer that even if everything behind the scenes was squeaky clean and every promise was made that no one would have cared for a second.

The Atari VCS is another solid name to throw out. Tried to make myself want to get one but even after finding them for half off I just couldn't think of enough reasons to wanna snag something so clearly doomed on arrival.

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[gastd]

If the Xbox is at the end, I missed something? I have no idea, so I don't think this device is finished.

 

[PhaseJump]

If the Xbox is at the end, I missed something? I have no idea, so I don't think this device is finished.

You missed 15 years of brand decline, IP mismanagement, and a focus shift toward game pass subscriptions.

Xbox bought Activision and has to meet profit margin targets now due to Microsoft's CFO. Console prices went up, subscription prices went up, console sales have collapsed. It was beaten by the Nex Playground.

Xbox is toast in the eyes of console warriors who invest in brands. Normies and casuals will still probably buy another generation of it to let their kids play Fortnite or whatever, but Halo is on Playstation. Games will sell 3rd party. Hardware is more useless than ever.

 

[medisinn]

You missed 15 years of brand decline, IP mismanagement, and a focus shift toward game pass subscriptions.

Xbox bought Activision and has to meet profit margin targets now due to Microsoft's CFO. Console prices went up, subscription prices went up, console sales have collapsed. It was beaten by the Nex Playground.

Xbox is toast in the eyes of console warriors who invest in brands. Normies and casuals will still probably buy another generation of it to let their kids play Fortnite or whatever, but Halo is on Playstation. Games will sell 3rd party. Hardware is more useless than ever.

Agreed, but where will they buy it from? That's the part I don't understand. Surely Xbox brand awareness and strength is not great enough nowadays that people will seek out where to get an Xbox, and only a couple chain stores carry the Series consoles. I'd argue that Playstation is the normie system due to the install base and the simple, but effective marketing of the PS5 being newer and better than the PS4. It's a lot easier to come across their games on Steam and the Nintendo and Playstation stores, but their reputation on that front isn't great either. I can see people buying Halo Infinite if they just remember Halo and haven't kept up with it in 20 years. They mostly just have remakes and remasters to offer at this point, and even then people are only going to buy remakes of Halo or Gears so many times. Not counting Skyrim in that, somehow people DO keep buying it over and over. There should be more games to mention, but they either were canceled, or aren't worth mentioning like Starfield.

 

[Ikagura]

Normies and casuals will still probably buy another generation of it to let their kids play Fortnite or whatever...

There's not just Fortnite that younger players are on.

Also casual gamers are the majority of people on video games (I don't really like the word "normie" because it kinda has an elistist vibe to it).

 

[PhaseJump]

There's not just Fortnite that younger players are on.

Normies and casuals will still probably buy another generation of it to let their kids play Fortnite or whatever, but Halo is on Playstation. Games will sell 3rd party. Hardware is more useless than ever.

Also casual gamers are the majority of people on video games (I don't really like the word "normie" because it kinda has an elistist vibe to it).

 

[dr grim]

as much as i'm not the biggest xbox fan it's always sad to see a console industry die.

even just for the market. a healty market have some great concurrents facing each other with improvements and trying everything to catch the player eye.

 

[PacGuy]

 

[gastd]

You missed 15 years of brand decline, IP mismanagement, and a focus shift toward game pass subscriptions.

Xbox bought Activision and has to meet profit margin targets now due to Microsoft's CFO. Console prices went up, subscription prices went up, console sales have collapsed. It was beaten by the Nex Playground.

Xbox is toast in the eyes of console warriors who invest in brands. Normies and casuals will still probably buy another generation of it to let their kids play Fortnite or whatever, but Halo is on Playstation. Games will sell 3rd party. Hardware is more useless than ever.

Ok whatever, I don't think the Xbox is really finished or not yet but yes it's heading towards that if Microsoft isn't careful.

 

[ThunderBoy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2007156688923836635

 

[gastd]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2007156688923836635

It remains exciting whether Xbox will make it or not who knows?