Xbox’s troubles started way before the latest Activision Blizzard setback
Xbox needs a win. I am not just talking about how Microsoft needs to come out swinging off the back of the immediate news we’ve seen this week, where the UK’s CMA blocked its Activision Blizzard acquisition. That has set the company back, sure, but it’s likely only going to be a bump in a very long, very contentious road. Xbox’s issue is bigger, and speaks more to the company’s long-term plans in the current generation than any of its ambitious acquisition overtures.
For a start – and you’ve probably heard this one before – there are few first-party games that have really captured the audience’s imagination. The first-party Xbox Game Studios had a painfully quiet 2022 thanks to a string of delays, the protracted and public decline of Halo Infinite, and the notable absence of Starfield (which was originally supposed to launch in November 2022).
And even the games that Xbox Game Studios has released on its home platform have got issues: Ghostwire Tokyo runs worse on Xbox, despite having an extra year in development for the console and having the Xbox team there to support the developers. Redfall, the upcoming exclusive that really should be advertising the power of the Xbox Series X (which is the most powerful console on the market right now, in theory) will be capped at 30fps at launch. What is going on? These games are supposed to be technical showcases – products designed to show off what the Series X can do for Microsoft. Instead, they’ve become laughing stocks; embarrassing stories trotted out by console war enthusiasts to get a cheap laugh at Xbox’s expense. And rightly so, frankly.