COMMENTARY - Third Place Xbox is a platform daring to be different, but the missteps are getting worse
Smoking gun.
By Jonathan Garrett
03/07/25
There is a potent creativity often born from eroding market share and percieved struggle. The PlayStation of the PS3 era indulged hubris with their pricing and bespoke hardware that allowed the 360 to surge. Nintendo's GameCube is arguably their most experimental and interesting era, in spite of softer sales and a muted reception. Yet in both cases, the gen that followed saw a tremendous resurgance that capitalised on the need to evolve. The PS4 and Wii were undisputed success stories birthed from a need to innovate to survive. They dared to be different, and in the long run, it paid off.
We find Xbox at a similar crossroads. After treading water for the first half of the Xbox One's life cycle, and amid crumbling loyalty caused by inconsistent messaging, the foundations were laid. Game Pass, backwards compatibility, Xbox Play Anywhere; each of these approaches were pitched as a way to reframe the conversation around value and sustainability. These initiatives didn't erase some of the more tone deaf PR around pricing, studio closures, and project cancellations that created a feeling of "one step forward, two steps back". As we've seen recently, these cutbacks are still ongoing, as Everwild, Perfect Dark, and an unnannounced Zenimax MMO are in the bin, and multiple teams are hit with redundancies. In the case of The Initiative, they’re gone for good.
There's also the small matter of brand identity, which has been hotly debated ever since "This is an Xbox" became Microsoft's singular marketing beat. Has the ubiquitous nature of cross platform play eliminated the value of exclusive experiences? Nintendo, and to a lesser extent PlayStation, are still embracing the traditional model, and they're leading the pack. Perhaps this speaks more to Xbox's inconsistent release cadence, and studios that haven't always delivered percieved big budget releases in a timely fashion.
One can take a more optimistic view of the road ahead when you consider the possibilities of what Microsoft is already exploring. As internet infrastructure strengthens and streaming becomes an inevitable mainstay, Xbox will already have a well established offering tied directly to their top end subscription tier. They dared to bet on something well ahead of when it was ready, and as a longer term play, has the potential to pay off in spades. Games like Pentiment, Grounded, and South of Midnight might have struggled to be considered viable if released solely at full price without the option of a subscription or a port down the line. It gives their first party studios a reasonable assurance that they can make the games they want to make.
That being said, there is enough evidence pointing to the mismanagement and inconsistency rooted in their studio infrastructure that none of the above is a safe bet anymore. The state of the industry right now is too volatile and unpredictable to be able to make any assumptions. However, there are also enough turnaround success stories after a noticeable slump to suggest anything is possible.