Microsoft's 'This is an XBox' (Image: Microsoft)
Microsoft is re-entering the ring for consoles, prompting the new question of what a quality console can be with an actual low price. In previous gaming console releases like PS5 Pro, scalpers bought them for resale. Groups like Cashout Kings helped scalpers sell extra gaming consoles and resell them. The market shifted so severely that scalpers had to sell PS5 Pros for less. Resale sites like StockX have sold PS5 Pros at increased market prices.
While Microsoft announced this console will interface with almost any electronic device, it begs the question of continuity and cost. While gaming costs rise into the stratosphere, more gamers cut back. Micro-transactions, the high cost of gaming equipment and the price of the games themselves, push fans to pick only one title they want instead of two or three.
Despite this idea of cutting costs, how good will it even be with the new interfacing technology? Can Microsoft deliver on quality and content?
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said, “I think in order for Xbox to be vibrant and successful, it needs to be about multiple pieces of hardware.” By focusing on the hardware, Xbox will continue to push its games, passes and subscriptions to make money while attempting to reach new gaming communities.
Spencer said in the Xbox podcast, “We make every decision with the long-term health of Xbox in mind.” What choices are made will impact the profit margin. Statista reported the 2020 Xbox revenues at $4.79 billion, with projections of increased profit growth. Microsoft employees said that the company has been selling consoles at a loss, according to testimony in the Epic Games v Apple trials in 2020-2021.
Regardless of Microsoft’s business strategy, the real trial of the new Xbox is if it will survive and live up to fans’ standards. Much like the Dreamcast, if the plans for the new Xbox do not pan out, it will fade into obscurity, being used only in fringe sectors of gaming groups.
While risking backlash like the standard meme quote from Wyatt Cheng from Blizzard with Diablo Immortal, “Do you not have phones?”
Microsoft’s push to expand marketing with “This is an Xbox” may not sit well with haters of mobile gamers, either. In the eyes of some, mobile gamers are not seen as actual gamers since most, if not all, gaming companies regularly push game passes and microtransactions on mobile. Yes, I’m looking at you, Perfect World.
Microsoft leaves the choice to the gamers by expanding ports on games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. But to add more, the company’s intention to increase the accessibility of gaming is a push that may cause some gamers to rant. The idea of “undesirable gamers coming through to overturn the values of other gamers” isn’t new. Gamers, like myself, are tired of obscene amounts of drama, which is probably why companies are adding more anti-troll mechanics and attempting to curb toxic behaviors.
Some streamers are cutting off the company entirely. Regardless of the changes, Xbox intends to expand its business plans into the future, and whether or not people follow is up to them.
Microsoft’s focus on hardware expansion and accessibility may push some scalpers to drive up prices. Microsoft’s timing of its plans and how they enact them will either leave some out in the cold or bring in a new era of accessible gaming. Only time will tell.
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