![\"Xbox](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SEI_283514791-e406.jpg\")
\n\t\tIs it time for Xbox to give up on hardware? (Microsoft)<\/p>\n
\t\t
\n\t\tIs it time for Xbox to give up on hardware? (Microsoft)<\/p>\n
With Xbox<\/a> console sales at a new low, a reader suggests that Microsoft<\/a> needs a major change of plan, and it doesn\u2019t involve releasing a new console.<\/p>\n It seems this whole generation we\u2019ve been watching the collapse of Xbox in slow motion. It was obvious the Xbox Series X\/S was a flop<\/a> from the first moment and I think most people were surprised by that and just how badly it did. I know I was but then it started to make sense when you realised that people are already locked into the PlayStation ecosystem<\/a> and they\u2019re not going to give that up for the sequel to the Xbox One, that has no decent launch games.<\/p>\n I was still shocked at how quickly things fell apart though, especially the failure of Game Pass<\/a> and how buying Activision<\/a> Blizzard, or really any of the companies they bought, didn\u2019t even move the needle for them. I don\u2019t think it was their fault but to spend all that money only to have Call Of Duty<\/a> have its worst year ever is a terrible bit of luck.<\/p>\n Not that I\u2019m going to shed a tear for a giant corporation but as much as other people have a go at him, I do feel Phil Spencer<\/a> had his heart in the right place. Whether he was a good person to be in charge I\u2019m not sure, but I think circumstances were definitely against him. Whether it was bad luck or bad management doesn\u2019t really matter though because I think it\u2019s time to admit that the Xbox experiment has failed.<\/p>\n The new boss keeps talking about bringing Xbox back to what it was and even hinting at exclusivity but either she\u2019s a crazy person or she\u2019s just having people on. There\u2019s no way they can bring back exclusives. Who\u2019d buy them? There aren\u2019t enough people with only an Xbox to cover the cost of making a game and there\u2019s no way they\u2019d make money just on PC. There\u2019s a reason big budget PC exclusives died out in the 90s.<\/p>\n As far as I see, there are only two options for Microsoft right now and none of them involve releasing a console (if the new console is basically a PC then fine, but that means it\u2019s going to be so expensive it\u2019ll never be more than a niche). There\u2019s just no point. They lost the rest of the world over a generation ago and I don\u2019t think even anyone in the US cares all that much about being an Xbox fan now.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tExpert, exclusive gaming analysis\t\t\t<\/p>\n Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter<\/strong><\/a> for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.<\/p>\n So option number one is to just admit that you\u2019re a third party developer like EA<\/a> or Take-Two and just make games and release them on every format possible. This is the most obvious thing to do I don\u2019t understand why they haven\u2019t done it already. I mean they kind of have, because nobody\u2019s buying the Xbox right now, but going on about Project Helix and the new boss, they act like there\u2019s a way back to the good old days of the Xbox 360.<\/p>\n There\u2019s not though, I dare anyone to describe any scenario where Xbox comes in at anything more than a distant third this or next generation. Maybe they can be relevant again if video game streaming takes off but even then I wouldn\u2019t bet on it. The name Xbox won\u2019t attract anyone, only the quality of the streaming and at the moment, as far as I hear, it\u2019s not very good.<\/p>\n \t\t Option two is a lot of bother but I suspect it\u2019s actually more likely they\u2019ll go for this, and that\u2019s to sell off their games business. The big problem is that considering how badly Call Of Duty is doing at the moment, there\u2019s no way that line is going to go up any time soon. It makes a lot of revenue, sure, but that number is going down.<\/p>\n All a company like Microsoft cares about is making more profit than the last year and that is not going to happen with Call Of Duty, Activision in general, or Xbox as a whole.<\/p>\n My preference would be to have Activision Blizzard<\/a> go independent again abut I don\u2019t know of any way that can happen, given the money involved. They can\u2019t afford a management buyout given what Microsoft paid for them, so unless there\u2019s some legal thing I\u2019m not aware of they\u2019ll have to sell them to Amazon or Apple or someone.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not ideal but at least one company wouldn\u2019t own half the Western game publishers anymore and Activision would have their undivided attention. It\u2019s not perfect but the mess Xbox has put the whole games industry in is just terrible and I\u2019d much rather Activision and Bethesda<\/a> survived it than Xbox.<\/p>\n Microsoft has been in the games industry for 25 years this year and barely five years of that was anything but a complete disaster. At some point you\u2019ve just got to accept things haven\u2019t worked out and call it quits.<\/p>\n By reader Xane<\/strong><\/p>\n \t\t The reader\u2019s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.<\/p>\n You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot.<\/p>\n Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk<\/a> or use our Submit Stuff page<\/a> and you won\u2019t need to send an email.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"Catalogue](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SEI_294074612-401d.jpg\")
\n\t\tGame Pass hasn\u2019t worked out as planned (Microsoft)<\/p>\n![\"Project](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SEI_288025425-ccb2.jpg\")
\n\t\tProject Helix is the next gen Xbox (X)<\/p>\n
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