A former Microsoft executive has claimed that the Xbox console business is dying. The ex-Blizzard Entertainment president also revealed why Xbox is in trouble compared to its competitor, PlayStation 5.
Former Blizzard Entertainment President Says Xbox Is In Trouble
This month has been extremely brutal for Xbox fans. On October 1, Microsoft revealed that they were raising the price of Game Pass by 50%. Following that, it was also announced that Microsoft was pulling the 10% discount subscribers got for in-game DLC such as the Call of Duty Battle Pass and add-ons. And if that wasn’t chaotic enough, the official Game Pass website crashed when droves of people went to cancel their subscriptions.
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Things may be even worse than we think, according to former Microsoft VP and President of Blizzard Entertainment Mike Ybarra. On X, the industry veteran weighed in on Sony’s recent announcement that the PS5 is its most successful generation financially. However, Ybarra raised some eyebrows when he seemingly took a dig at Xbox.
“But hey, the console market isn’t a successful business. It is if you do it right.” When a fan responded, “ahh the bitter ex,” Ybarra quickly replied: “Your console is dead.”
While the former Blizzard president didn’t specifically say a name, many took it as him talking about Xbox. Adding fuel to the fire, Ybarra then seemingly made another comment referencing Microsoft’s play-anywhere strategy to have Xbox on every platform.
In a second exchange, a fan tweeted, “Everything is a console if you’re brave enough.” Mike Ybarra reacted, “You mean confused enough.” Assuming that he’s talking about Xbox, it’s pretty surprising to see a former Microsoft executive saying the console is dead.
Microsoft Rumored to Be Canceling Next-Gen Xbox Console
As if that wasn’t already a lot to take in, a rumor on October 5 claimed that Microsoft was considering canceling the next-gen Xbox console altogether. According to a report from an industry insider, Microsoft is considering becoming a full third-party publisher that focuses solely on software.
“Concrete plans for actual Microsoft Xbox hardware went from being definitive to up in the air, which was really startling given that this thing was meant to be out relatively soon.”
This is pretty shocking, given that there were recent next-gen Xbox console leaks that showed the console’s specs were already locked in and in development.
Following this leak, Microsoft actually responded to the report: “We are actively investing in our future first-party consoles and devices designed, engineered, and built by Xbox. For more details, the community can revisit our agreement announcement with AMD.”
So, at the time of writing, Microsoft appears to be fully denying the rumor. However, it hasn’t quelled panic. Recently, retailers such as Costco have announced they are no longer going to be carrying Xbox products.
With how fast things seem to be moving with Microsoft Xbox, it feels like plans can change at a moment’s notice. Regardless, things continue to look dire for Xbox consoles.
Former Microsoft Executive Issues Dire Warning About Xbox Consoles
