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Welfare: Xbox sold less than 3m US consoles in 2024, worst year ever

Will Xbox manage 1 million sales in 2025?

  • Yes

    Votes: 137 51.7%

  • No

    Votes: 128 48.3%
  • Total voters
    265
TheGodfather07

TheGodfather07

Member
People keep saying they gave no reason to buy the console. What do you think the series s and gamepass is for then? That was their proposition but it hasn't paid off. Their strategy failed. They even lost more marketshare to sony. Xbox one owners switched to PS5.
 
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RetroGamingUK

RetroGamingUK

Member
I do wonder how much this hurt their potential Christmas sales…

aJkRa7V.jpeg


Seems like December was their biggest year on year drop for sales in terms of %
 
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RetroGamingUK

RetroGamingUK

Member
TheGodfather07 said:
People keep saying they gave no reason to buy the console. What do you think the series s and gamepass is for then? That was their proposition but it hasn't paid off. Their strategy failed. They even lost more marketshare to sony. Xbox one owners switched to PS5.
Click to expand...

Xbox tried to compete with Sony and thought ABK acquisition would put them back in the console war.

It didn’t boost console sales, it didn’t boost Gamepass subscriptions.

So Microsoft forced them to end the war and go third party to make the money back.
 
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P

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
RetroGamingUK said:
People seeing Halo on PS5 would be the final nail, the mass market is clearly aware of Microsoft going third party, despite Microsoft being coy about it.
Click to expand...
Coy?

They are doing it wrong then; they have the subtlety of a drunk elephant tiptoeing in a jewellery store :D.
 
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DaleinCalgary

DaleinCalgary

Member
I really thought this generation was a comeback one for xbox, I guess not. No TV TV and just games with solid performance and then they fucked it with going all in on gamepass.
 
laynelane

laynelane

Member
IDKFA said:
Agreed.

However, Microsoft very likely knew releasing games on PC day one with consoles would tank their hardware sales.

That was probably the goal. They've never made any money with hardware, so it might have made more financial sense to release games PC and now other platforms. Why bleed money on hardware when you can make a profit selling software to as many people as possible?
Click to expand...

I think they expected a lot more people to sub to Game Pass - on PC and console. All first-party being released day and date on both services, the initial low price to subscribe and ability to stack, etc. It all points to that. So, exclusives became a thing of the past and people were also given a way to play new titles for much less than just buying the game. In both cases, though, there's no reason to own an Xbox console and it seems like many people chose not to.
 
PeteBull

PeteBull

Member
I know its topic about US, but that isnt xbox's problem even, problem is- xbox doesnt sell, like at all, outside of the US, in many european countries its 5:1 in favour of playstation, in some its even 10:1
Lets see what is microsofts next console, but i fear if it isnt anything outstanding xbox gonna be gone, like for good.
I hate it coz sony needs strong competition to push them, otherwise they do all kinds of stupid shit, like 800euro ps5pr0 w/o discrdirve in europe- again, 0 competition from xbox in that part of the world, and lets not even mention switch that is 1/3rd of xbox one in docked mode...
 
Killer8

Killer8

Member
They just posted their highest revenue ever carried by the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Even if hardware sales are fucked, it's becoming increasingly clear they just don't give a shit. Third-party selling to PS5, Switch 2 and PC, carried by yearly COD, is likely going to end up being even more lucrative for them. They are already starting to put some of their published games on PS5 day one (Doom, Ninja Gaiden 4).

And it makes sense, because by the time this generation is finished, why cling onto selling to 50 million Xbox loyalists (if we're being very optimistic) when they can be selling to a pool of 200+ million PS5 and Switch 2 owners?

Become who you were destined to be:

1200px-SEGA_logo.svg.png
 
SlimySnake

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
PeteBull said:
I know its topic about US, but that isnt xbox's problem even, problem is- xbox doesnt sell, like at all, outside of the US, in many european countries its 5:1 in favour of playstation, in some its even 10:1
Lets see what is microsofts next console, but i fear if it isnt anything outstanding xbox gonna be gone, like for good.
I hate it coz sony needs strong competition to push them, otherwise they do all kinds of stupid shit, like 800euro ps5pr0 w/o discrdirve in europe- again, 0 competition from xbox in that part of the world, and lets not even mention switch that is 1/3rd of xbox one in docked mode...
Click to expand...
Europe sales were released a few weeks ago. They sold 300k units. Total. Across all of Europe. Ps5 sold 3.5 million.
Horseganador said:
20232024
Total
7.4
5,85

PS5
4.6
3,68

XBS
0,55
0.29

NSW
2.25
1.91

PS5 sold almost twice as much as Switch and 12:1 compared to Xbox.
Click to expand...
 
Bumblebeetuna

Bumblebeetuna

Member
IDKFA said:
Agreed.

However, Microsoft very likely knew releasing games on PC day one with consoles would tank their hardware sales.

That was probably the goal. They've never made any money with hardware, so it might have made more financial sense to release games PC and now other platforms. Why bleed money on hardware when you can make a profit selling software to as many people as possible?
Click to expand...

Because if they control a marketplace where tens of millions of people are doing a mixture of buying digital games, subbing to GamePass, and buying DLC/MTX from games, that’s still a fuck ton of money to just say no thanks to. The problem for them is the industry has moved on to evergreen service titles last gen and they lost that gen so now everyone is sticking with PS5 because that’s where their games and shit are. So you have PS5 selling tons even with fuck all for content.

Add on to that, MS hasn’t been firing on all cylinders software wise either, makes sense to pivot to more of a multi platform position than they already were. But I think GAF vastly underrates what MS makes from the digital side of things just like they vastly underrate software sales on Xbox. If either were as bad as people here make it seem, publishers would have dropped the platform years ago.
 
Synastry

Synastry

Member
Personally No I don't see xbs selling a million this year.

First the ps5 will continue to get first party games and all 3rd party games including Microsoft games.

Second the Switch 2 is releasing this year.

Only thing that can save xbs and help it sell pass a million is if they have marketing rights for GTA6 giving it releases this year of coruse.
 
HeWhoWalks

HeWhoWalks

Gold Member
TheGodfather07 said:
Even the $599 PS3 sold more in the same timeframe than xbox series has. Shame, because hardware wise, its the best xbox console by far! It's actually silent! Unlike my PS5, which sounds like I'm in a fucking barber shop! They have the most comfortable controller too.
Click to expand...
You must not have a Pro. Then again, my PS5 is nearly as silent as my Pro (which is as silent as my Series X), so I'm not in that situation.

In any case, the hardware is only as good as the games available. The Xbox Series consoles have a game problem (among other issues), so this should surprise no one.
 
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manfestival

manfestival

Member
I know a few people that were pretty die hard for xbox for some time. Now they all own a ps5 and like 1 owns a xbox that he barely even touches
 
D

Drew1440

Member
March Climber said:
Xbox Series X will probably be my last Xbox console.

The only way I'd stick around is if they merge the OS platforms (PC and Xbox) into one big open ended super console, which would be the smartest move they could ever make at this point in time. They would just have to bite the bullet on the modding and emulation scene.
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That makes the most sence, not even Sony (with the PS3 and Vita) or Nintendo (with the 3DS and Wii U) could keep both of their platforms alive, eventually they had to merge. Microsoft's baby is DirectX/PC gaming and I can see the next Xbox console being somewhat of a locked down PC that can run the same UWP/Win32 games as PC.
 
RoboFu

RoboFu

One of the green rats
SO you are telling me that not giving the customers any plan or direction is not working?
 
E

Ebrietas

Member
They killed any reason to buy their console when they said everything they make will be on Steam (and now on PS and Nintendo) day one.

And for the few who still ended up buying their console, they killed any reason to actually buy their software when they could just have everything with a cheap gamepass sub.
 
kapshin

kapshin

Member
They need a price drop for the consoles and gamepasa included or they won't sell anything. It wouldn't catch Sony of course, but if they're all about Gamepasa having more out there seems like a better idea then what's going on now.
 
D

DeltaPolarBear

Member
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Now this has been awhile and I have mentioned this here before (I think) but I got the vibe from Spencer he truly felt buying all these companies and putting their games on Gamepass was a magic bullet to get people to buy their console
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Using the power of hindsight, it appears that the problem was Activision-Blizzard was making making more money by itself than the entire Xbox division before the merger.
Here is my recent theory; the problem was Spencer's plan involved buying and merging with a company that was stronger than your own division. it doesn't matter that Activision was bought, the fact that they were more profitable than Xbox meant they always was going to have the upper hand and end up being in control. Xbox brought in more than doubled their revenue in 2024 than 2023. But that just meant it proved Activision was more important than the entirety of the rest of Xbox.

Just as Blizzard was surprised that Activision ended up Assuming Direct Control once they merged, Activision has also took over decision making at Xbox after merger and now they are a 3rd party gaming studio.

And as I mentioned elsewhere, it is important to realize that Activision was in fact the original Third Party studio. They were made up of former Atari employees, making games for Atari, and they came up with the revenue split with the gaming console back in the day. Activision is literally the ultimate Third Party studio and is still kicking.
 
Clear

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
ANIMAL1975 said:
They just had the best Xbox Direct ever, grade A show! GAF voted.
2025 is going to be the turnaround, is going to be awesome!
Click to expand...

No, it's not. Its all about momentum because when people commit, they tend to stick with what they have. Xbox has continually been on a downward trend with no indication that trend is even slowing. In fact, if anything its accelerating,

I'm quite confident at this point that S/X dual-SKU offer will be viewed in years to come as a catastrophic failure, particularly in conjunction with GamePass.
 
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