Xbox is “moving full speed ahead” on its next-generation console, according to a leaked email from executive Sarah Bond. Considering it’s been nearly four years since the release of the Xbox Series X|S, that’s not entirely surprising, but it also represents a larger shift in strategy at the company. The emailed words make it clearer than ever that Xbox feels like it’s “lost” this generation, and now the company’s focus lands squarely on the next one.
The email from Bond was obtained by Windows Central, but was confirmed by Microsoft as genuine. Apart from moving full speed ahead, Bond also says the new hardware will be “focused on delivering the biggest technological leap ever in a generation." That’s a pretty bold claim, but makes it even more apparent that Microsoft is focused squarely on the future.
In the past key executives at Xbox haven’t been shy in talking about the performance of Microsoft’s consoles. In a May 2023 interview with Kinda Funny, Xbox head Phil Spencer said:
“We lost the worst generation to lose in the Xbox One generation, where everybody built their digital library of games. We want our Xbox community to feel awesome, but this idea that if we just focused more on great games on our console that somehow we’re going to win the console race doesn’t really lay into the reality of most people.”
It’s a candid confession, and it feels increasingly likely we’ll hear something similar about the Series generation as well. Data collected by Ampere Analysis, and reported by The Financial Times, puts the PS5 as outselling the Xbox Series X|S by a nearly three-to-one margin. At the same time, the company has openly admitted that the success of Xbox Game Pass has negatively impacted software sales.
While Microsoft doesn’t often publicly talk about sales numbers, many of its recent decisions are likely tied to the performance of both its consoles and software, as we’re seeing key changes and shifts in strategy.
The massive, nearly $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard is, of course, a major part of this, giving Xbox ownership of a massive portfolio that includes Call of Duty, Warcraft, Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot, and more. Xbox has also made a massive shift by bringing exclusives like Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves to other consoles, opening up the potential for even more. Of course, it’s also important to point out the layoffs that have happened at Microsoft this year, with 1,900 individuals cut in February.
It feels like Microsoft has realized it can’t directly compete with PlayStation and Nintendo purely through hardware, at least not at this time. Its present efforts are focused on strengthening its publishing and software, but it makes perfect sense that the company’s vision for the future brings hardware back into the limelight.
Xbox has acquired dozens of studios and teams, and because of that likely has tens of dozens of projects in the works right now. It can garner more attention for its brand by spreading games to other platforms, then dazzle all the eyes it's gained with a huge hardware reveal in a few years. There are undoubtedly other big changes we don’t know about coming for Xbox but one thing’s for certain, the company will want to beat the others to the punch in the next console generation.
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