Has Xbox really lost the console wars?

www.theverge.com Has Xbox really lost the console wars?

Microsoft’s Xbox chief discussed the state of the Xbox business

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The fact that consoles still deal with 'console war' bullcrap is exactly why console gamers continue to lose out.
- They withheld cross-play for "reasons' for 10-15 years... they have zero respect for the user. I just wanted to game with my friends when I was younger but now fuck you. At least that got fixed, but their mentality has not. Make a product, make it good, and people pick what they need based on WHAT THEY ACTUALLY NEED.
  
  Make a product, make it good
  I hypothesize that if this worked, Xbox would be outselling right now. From a features standpoint, Xbox has been on the ball for years trying to improve their platform. Backwards compatibility, a cheap 1080p console to go along with their 4K flagship, 1440p support from day one of this generation instead of taking nearly two years to put it in, Xbox Adaptive Controller and Copilot for accessibility, Series X|S having Xbox One controller compatibility, replaceable controller batteries so that slow controller death isn't an issue, Microsoft Rewards exists to get stuff like Xbox giftcards for just playing games and typing shit into Bing, a fully-featured Chromium-based browser (meaning you can do pretty much anything on there that you could do on a normal browser, like GeForce Now or browser games like this (and yes, it works with the Xbox controller on the console), Gamepass (specifically Ultimate, which comes with hundreds of games on its own, EA Play Basic, a bunch of stuff for Riot Games games, game streaming, "perks" like game DLC, movies, and trials for services, and more point-gaining opportunities for MS Rewards), and on top of all of that, you can pay $20 for developer access and install emulators for pretty much any console Xbox 360 or below.
  On the PlayStation end, they also have a lot of great features, like the DualSense controller (built-in controller microphone is a super nice-to-have, the DualSense haptics are sick as fuck when they get used to the fullest, and they've got gyro functionality for console users wanting to play with gyro aim in competitive shooters), the fancy PS+ guides feature, the most high-end VR headset on the market, and I really appreciate them not using a proprietary expansion format that completely fucks people all the way from launch until like a couple of weeks ago when Seagate exclusivity runs out finally, but that's about where my praise of the platform itself ends (Edit: The monthly PS+ games are also way better than the XBLG games, which is excellent for people who don't want the Netflix-style subscriptions but do pay the online fee).
  The real value to people seems to come pretty much just from what games are on the platform. So,
  and people pick what they need based on WHAT THEY ACTUALLY NEED.
  they actually are. People just wanna be able to play the cool new games, and Xbox hasn't had any in a long time. Starfield might actually be the first game since the Xbox One where a large amount of people are pissed off that it's exclusive to Xbox, whereas PlayStation gets game after game that Xbox gamers would really like to have. Hence, exactly why they bought Bethesda and made Starfield exclusive.
  
  Yeah, they can't have that. That's bad for business. It's no wonder the PC has gained market share steadily for two decades.

As a PC gamer I have exactly zero incentive to buy an Xbox. I hope they never renege on releasing every Xbox exclusive simultaneously on PC.
- Xbox i think really only appeals to people without a PC or not having one that can run games good
  
  I bought the OG Xbox and haven’t looked back, despite having PCs powerful enough to run AAA games over the years. I just prefer console gaming and don’t want to deal with the baggage of a PC.
  
  I game on PC but I understand the appeal of an Xbox. GPUs have been insanely expensive, and while not necessarily hard, building a PC can still be an overwhelming rabbit hole to research as you try to find the best configurations and deals, and even though it's improved a lot, PCs are still more prone to messing up since more configurations are harder to test.

Xbox has ads on the home screen. Playstation only has ads when hovering over the store.
- No way, you must be kidding. Ads on the home screen sounds disgusting.
  
  Yeah, there are literally ads everywhere on the screen and to me feels cluttered compared to the simple row of games PS5 has.

If Starfield (and to a lesser extent Fable) is a success, you can combine that with Xbox having the cheaper option “Series S”, and I think Microsoft and Sony will be far more on par at the end of this generation.
- I was hoping Xbox would be even more aggressive with the Series S pricing given its downsides, in my region they actually charged a lot more than the advertised 299 USD, even after a not so good exhange rate, taxes etc.
  Our local currency has fallen a bit more since so it is around par, but 2 years after launch and it's still 2/3 the price of the Series X.
  
  You’re right, I think they should have definitely priced the new 1TB model at $299 and dropped the 512GB to $249.
- Fable was the singular reason I bought a Series S. Otherwise I'd still be using my One and my PS5.

You really cannot take Microsoft at face value on any of this. They will say whatever it takes to make this acquisition happen. As to most the console wars. What does that really mean? They’re in 3rd place, sure. But do you need to be in 1st for it to be profitable?

Lost? I dunno, but they definitely didn't win, neither did Sony. That title goes to AMD, since they're making money, no matter who "wins".

Yes, Microsoft will do whatever it takes to make the Activision acquisition happen. Yes, Xbox as a brand has been seriously weakened, and will likely never find the same success that it had during the 360 days. But what can I say? I like an underdog. I had a Saturn while everyone else was playing the PSOne and N64. Plus I just prefer the "feel" of the the Xbox interface.

Microsoft acting like the victim so they can turn around and EEE (extinguish) PlayStation
- Yeah this is just them crying trying to get regulators to allow the Activision merger.

XBox can be viable for Microsoft to work on in third place in a way that it wouldn't be viable for Sony and Nintendo.
Nintendo as a company is designed to put consoles and games in peoples' hands only. Nintendo as a company folds without the ability to do that.
Sony successfully used two generations of its console to dominate a larger strategic market for Sony, video playback. However, now that everything is streaming, that kind of puts Sony gaming division in the same place as Nintendo, its value is only to shareholders is only in putting consoles and games into peoples' hands.
Microsoft, in contrast, has always used the XBox as a way to extend PC gaming to a new market and continues to do so. Microsoft can tolerate being in "a distant third" because development costs are far lower making something XBox compatible usually means it will make porting to the PC easier.
Microsoft wants to focus solely on XBox sales, as it is kind of dumping into the console market based on its PC gaming monopoly.

I've been done with Xbox for a long time, I finally bit the bullet and sold my system
- I was done since 360, I don't remember any exclusives I had to play that was released on xbox.
  
  I adored the original XBOX but when 360 and PS3 dropped, one was a literal toy with everything stripped down and sold as proprietary extras, and the other was an amazingly powerful and open entertainment system with state of the art tech from out of the box.
  Then yeah, the exclusives sealed the deal for me.

yes because they dont have great games. sony and nintendo both know at the end of the day its about the games. while yes i know "everyone" hates exclusives thats what sells the console at the end of the day. why should i pick console a over b or c? a and b are competitive on specs bot a has more exclusives and exclusives that are good while b promises exclusives down the road but hasnt delivered in a while. and c makes good games on underpowered, by todays standards hardware. theres little reason to buy console b even if it has other multiplatform games.

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