14 February 2024 , 17:00
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Amid all the recent hysteria about Xbox that has been flooding the internet, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has reportedly told employees that Xbox consoles are here to stay.
Xbox has been all over the news lately due to rumours of previously Microsoft-exclusive titles going multiplatform, including Hi-Fi Rush, and Sea of Thieves going to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch and – the one that's caused the most uproar – Starfield on PS5 (which as it turns out, may not be happening after all ). It's gotten so out of hand that people are worrying that Xbox may be pulling a Sega in 2001 and dropping out of the console race altogether to become a publisher, which has led Phil Spencer – as well as Xbox heads Matt Booty and Sarah Bond – to announce an appearance on the Official Xbox Podcast later this week to discuss the future of Xbox.
The fear for the future of Xbox isn't just limited to the fanbase from the sounds of things however, as gaming writer Shannon Liao reported in her Substack newsletter Phil Spencer held a company townhall where he told staff that the company has no plans to stop making consoles, rather that Xbox would be a part of a strategy which includes many devices.
X marks the spot
At this point, we're best waiting to hear what Phil Spencer, Matt Booty, and Sarah Bond have to say on the Xbox podcast before jumping to conclusions. There's no denying that Xbox's first-party output and console sales have been lagging behind Nintendo and PlayStation, so people worrying about the future of Xbox definitely have a reason to. But to be honest, I can't see a world where a company spends $70billion to make their console's library even stronger, only to step out of the console business entirely, that would be a wild move.
Regardless, it's clear something has to change at Xbox for it to turn its fortunes around, whether that be a shift to third-party releases, reshuffling Xbox Game Pass, or releasing a new console ahead of the competition. Whatever Microsoft ends up doing, I doubt the Xbox Series X|S is the last time we see a console with the Xbox name.
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