Xbox has had one hell of a week. Not only was Halo: Campaign Evolved announced for PS5, taking away one of the platform’s last exclusive juggernauts, but Microsoft has also talked about the platform’s future. It seems it no longer has much interest in competing with other console manufacturers. Instead, its biggest rivals are now social platforms like TikTok or Instagram.
Speaking in an interview with TBPN, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reiterated comments by Xbox leadership regarding its competition and priorities moving forward regarding the video game landscape and where exactly the company fits within it. As many consumers already know, it hasn’t been a viable competitor to PlayStation or Nintendo for a very long time.
Much like the recently released ROG Xbox Ally, the next console from Microsoft is expected to be more of a PC that leverages access to several digital libraries and a new interface that doesn’t aim to compete so much as co-exist in the same space as games we already own. It feels like Microsoft is slowly but surely positioning itself as a third-party publisher and content provider instead of the console giant of the past. Trying to compete doesn’t make sense when it lost the battle over a decade ago.
Xbox Doesn’t Need To Compete In A Console War It’s Already Lost
One notable thing about this interview with Nadella is that the word ‘Xbox’ is not mentioned at all, which feels like a deliberate attempt by Microsoft to gradually distance itself from the brand just in case its next piece of hardware doesn’t carry the name at all.
Either that, or it will come to play a secondary role. It’s also unusual that Xbox head Phil Spencer does not deliver this crucial new step in the brand’s life.
“Remember, the biggest gaming business is the Windows business,” Nadella said. “To us, gaming on Windows, and of course, Steam has built a massive marketplace on top of it and done a very successful job. So to us, the way we are thinking about gaming is, first of all, we’re now the largest publisher.
“So therefore, we want to be a fantastic publisher, similar in approach to what we did with Office. We’re going to be everywhere, on every platform. So we want to make sure, whether it’s consoles, whether it’s the PC, whether it’s mobile, whether it’s cloud gaming, or the TV. We just want to make sure the game is enjoyed by gamers everywhere.”
Nadella’s words echo the ‘Everything is an Xbox’ marketing slogan that Microsoft has been pushing in recent months. Whatever an Xbox is, its future no longer lies in delivering a platform that can compete with its rivals, but broadening its horizons to ensure its games are available on as many things as possible. It needs to diversify revenue streams to remain relevant while still pushing its own bespoke hardware as options for casual and hardcore fans alike.
But If It Isn’t Competing, What Does Xbox Do Next?
When it comes to this idea of competing with short-form video platforms like TikTok, it seems the idea is to target where potential consumers are spending their time on the games and hardware they are investing in.
Hardcore gamers are going to keep buying consoles, keep playing on PC, and keep triple-A and indie titles alive regardless — the real money is in average people who will idly spend their time scrolling on TikTok instead of playing video games. But what if there was a way to turn that audience into gamers across every single device they own?
When it was confirmed that all future Halo titles will be coming to both PlayStation and Xbox, I knew that Microsoft had thrown in the console towel for good.
It’s a seemingly impossible goal, but Microsoft is more interested in chasing the potentially endless revenue streams such an ambition holds over continually finishing in third place as PlayStation and Nintendo storm ahead. It might as well port its library to those platforms in order to sell millions of additional copies while simultaneously diversifying its approach to its own hardware and streaming capabilities.
Do I think this will work? Not really. But does it make sense in the context of Microsoft’s overall plans? Probably. In essence, its next console is just going to be a fanciful and less restrictive PC that supports Xbox, Steam, Epic, and more if a litany of reports proves accurate.
Part of me is already mourning the departure of Xbox from the console space as it flounders about looking for renewed purpose. It’s already following in the footsteps of Sega as it grows into a third-party publisher and content provider, but Microsoft also wants to stay relevant in the hardware world with a machine that bridges the gap between regular consoles and PC.
It has the capital to pursue this experiment, but I can’t help but feel it’s just going to end up in the exact same position. It can’t compete with PlayStation, it can’t compete with Valve, and it sure as hell can’t compete with TikTok. So once this new hardware — whatever form it takes — once again falls behind the competition, Microsoft is going to end up as one of the best third-party publishers on the planet, while Xbox becomes a name forgotten to time.
- Brand
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Microsoft
- Original Release Date
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November 10, 2020
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$499
- Operating System
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Proprietary (Windows-based)
