The Numbers Show Xbox's Current Plan Isn't Working (gizmodo.com)
(Friday October 31, 2025 @11:30PM (BeauHD)
from the not-looking-good dept.)
- Reference: 0179925554
- News link: https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/10/31/2332211/the-numbers-show-xboxs-current-plan-isnt-working
- Source link: https://gizmodo.com/numbers-show-xbox-current-plan-not-working-2000679428
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo:
> It's time for Xbox to eat some humble pie and perform some real soul-searching. Microsoft released its [1]latest quarterly earnings report and proved the worst of our fears about its gaming brand. Not only are Xbox hardware [2]sales down significantly , but the brand itself is barely treading water. Gamers are voicing their displeasure with their wallets, but Microsoft's top brass is still [3]only thinking about the margins . Microsoft was more keen to promote the scale of its cloud and AI services revenue -- which was up 28% year over year -- than talk about its beleaguered gaming brand. The company's overall gaming revenue fell by 2% compared to the same time last year. This was precipitated by a "decline in Xbox hardware," which was down by 22% following a steady decline quarter after quarter. Its first-party games and its Game Pass subscription were doing better, though the overall growth was only up by 1%, and even that was driven by the "better-than-expected performance" of third-party games. You can give credit to titles like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for why Xbox isn't in an even deeper hole than it is now.
>
> The tech giant has no expectation that its Xbox brand will start making more money anytime soon. In its earnings call with investors, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said the company expects Xbox will continue to decline "in the low to mid-single digits" for the following quarter. That's mostly due to the lack of landmark first-party titles. Just this month, Xbox released Ninja Gaiden 4, The Outer Worlds 2, and Double Fine's The Keeper. Xbox also made a huge marketing push for its first handheld, made in partnership with Asus, the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X. In any other year, this would be a big month for any gaming company. The dour outlook comes after months of bad news. After [4]two subsequent price hikes , Xbox Series S and Series X consoles now cost between $100 to $150 more than they did at launch five years ago. Microsoft also [5]pushed prices of its Game Pass Ultimate subscription tier from $20 to $30 per month. A full-year's subscription would now demand $360.
In a [6]separate article , Gizmodo reviews Microsoft's new ROG Xbox Ally X handheld, which "offers a better experience overall" than the " [7]other small-scale Windows PC gaming devices released this year." However, "it's still nowhere close to what you truly want from a console."
[1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor/earnings/fy-2025-q4/press-release-webcast
[2] https://gizmodo.com/numbers-show-xbox-current-plan-not-working-2000679428
[3] https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/10/29/1543218/microsoft-ceo-nadella-says-gaming-needs-good-margins-to-innovate-compares-strategy-to-office
[4] https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/09/19/1918240/microsoft-hikes-us-xbox-prices-citing-economic-environment
[5] https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/10/01/1515205/microsoft-raises-xbox-game-pass-top-subscription-50-to-30-monthly
[6] https://gizmodo.com/the-best-xbox-handheld-experience-ignores-xbox-altogether-2000679692
[7] https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/10/29/1739232/windows-is-the-problem-with-windows-handhelds
> It's time for Xbox to eat some humble pie and perform some real soul-searching. Microsoft released its [1]latest quarterly earnings report and proved the worst of our fears about its gaming brand. Not only are Xbox hardware [2]sales down significantly , but the brand itself is barely treading water. Gamers are voicing their displeasure with their wallets, but Microsoft's top brass is still [3]only thinking about the margins . Microsoft was more keen to promote the scale of its cloud and AI services revenue -- which was up 28% year over year -- than talk about its beleaguered gaming brand. The company's overall gaming revenue fell by 2% compared to the same time last year. This was precipitated by a "decline in Xbox hardware," which was down by 22% following a steady decline quarter after quarter. Its first-party games and its Game Pass subscription were doing better, though the overall growth was only up by 1%, and even that was driven by the "better-than-expected performance" of third-party games. You can give credit to titles like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for why Xbox isn't in an even deeper hole than it is now.
>
> The tech giant has no expectation that its Xbox brand will start making more money anytime soon. In its earnings call with investors, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said the company expects Xbox will continue to decline "in the low to mid-single digits" for the following quarter. That's mostly due to the lack of landmark first-party titles. Just this month, Xbox released Ninja Gaiden 4, The Outer Worlds 2, and Double Fine's The Keeper. Xbox also made a huge marketing push for its first handheld, made in partnership with Asus, the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X. In any other year, this would be a big month for any gaming company. The dour outlook comes after months of bad news. After [4]two subsequent price hikes , Xbox Series S and Series X consoles now cost between $100 to $150 more than they did at launch five years ago. Microsoft also [5]pushed prices of its Game Pass Ultimate subscription tier from $20 to $30 per month. A full-year's subscription would now demand $360.
In a [6]separate article , Gizmodo reviews Microsoft's new ROG Xbox Ally X handheld, which "offers a better experience overall" than the " [7]other small-scale Windows PC gaming devices released this year." However, "it's still nowhere close to what you truly want from a console."
[1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor/earnings/fy-2025-q4/press-release-webcast
[2] https://gizmodo.com/numbers-show-xbox-current-plan-not-working-2000679428
[3] https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/10/29/1543218/microsoft-ceo-nadella-says-gaming-needs-good-margins-to-innovate-compares-strategy-to-office
[4] https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/09/19/1918240/microsoft-hikes-us-xbox-prices-citing-economic-environment
[5] https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/10/01/1515205/microsoft-raises-xbox-game-pass-top-subscription-50-to-30-monthly
[6] https://gizmodo.com/the-best-xbox-handheld-experience-ignores-xbox-altogether-2000679692
[7] https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/10/29/1739232/windows-is-the-problem-with-windows-handhelds
K.I.S.S. (Score:2)
by TurboStar ( 712836 )
Make games your customers want to play. Don't play games with your customers.
Video games are a huge Gamble (Score:2)
by rsilvergun ( 571051 )
It's why Konami got out of it. You can have a bunch of talented people with a ton of money and even a good chunk of time and the end results and still flop.
That means Microsoft hasn't been willing to pony up cash to make big games or even modest games.
And it's those big tent pole games like God of war and horizon zero Dawn and whatnot that bring people to your platform.
What Microsoft wants is somebody else to take all those risks and for them to get a 30% cut of all their sales and all their har
Really? (Score:1)
Old hardware at inflated price, subscription that is not adapted, I have an Xbox One and I have been on Game Pass and Live Gold for as long as I remember, had a 360 and an Original before that, and was finally looking to upgrade to a Series after using Xbox Cloud for new titles, but the recent price hike makes me reconsider. I was first looking at second hand, but with the new Game Pass prices, I am not even sure, I stopped it and this month I finally bought Minecraft for the kids instead of the Game Pass v