5 Years After Launch, the Xbox Series X Is an Afterthought. So What’s Next?
5 years in the past at the moment, the Xbox Sequence X sought to reimagine what the time period “Xbox” even was. Again then, the large, black, boxy console promised gamers they may get peak efficiency for couch-based gaming for the low worth of $500. In 2025, that console with the optical drive now prices $150 greater than it did in 2020, and it has been eclipsed by the most recent gaming-ready PC chips many instances over.
Microsoft’s Recreation Move mannequin, which rose together with the Sequence X to turn out to be the most effective deal in gaming, now prices greater than ever if you need the most effective options.
All of it looks as if grim tidings, however there’s extra at stake than a model. Xbox is attempting to tug your entire video games trade trade into a brand new id, the place exclusivity and first-party {hardware} just like the Sequence X matter lower than the video games themselves.
Certain, Halo is coming to PlayStation 5 and Gears of Struggle is already on the console, however Xbox isn’t going anyplace. It might nonetheless lower by way of the clamor and show the naysayers fallacious.
“What they’re making an attempt to do is blow up the standard gaming framework,” Circana’s main online game trade analyst Mat Piscatella informed Gizmodo over electronic mail. “The important thing query is that if gamers will probably be prepared to go together with that change.”
When a trickle of dangerous information turns into a flood, it may appear close to not possible to see any shiny spot of hope. With the transfer towards a subscription-based gaming panorama, we personal much less and develop extra depending on digital platforms. We endure on the whims of the platform holders, unable to do something however roll our eyes on the inevitable technique of enshittification. Then there’s the current drama from Bloomberg’s report claiming Microsoft has positioned a 30% revenue margin mandate throughout its Xbox model, which is approach above the trade commonplace. The report places the Xbox’s current actions into perspective.
Harping on these ache factors is much less like beating a lifeless horse, and extra like kicking the shins of a poor, hobbled creature who’s pushing itself more durable than anyone else. The Xbox model continues to be alive regardless of the crushingly dour outlook of the fanbase. Xbox might make the case that exclusivity has no place in our fashionable gaming panorama. Whereas nearly all of players can be positive streaming their titles from residence, there will probably be a devoted subset of players who would pay by way of the nostril to get the best possible gaming {hardware} there’s with out funneling hundreds of {dollars} right into a gaming PC.
Xbox wants a plan. Higher but, it must elevate the lid on its plans if it needs gamers to get on board with its makes an attempt to utterly flip the script on gaming.
How did we get right here?
The Xbox is philosophically distinct from each different console in the marketplace, and that knowledgeable what finally turned the Xbox Sequence X. The designers behind the unique Xbox console again in 2001 needed to take what was basically a Home windows PC and plug it into the lounge. The system used Microsoft’s personal DirectX know-how and ran on equal laptop elements. Ultimately, that “DirectX Field” turned, merely “Xbox.” Just some years after launching its unique console, the corporate discovered huge success with the Xbox 360. It was a console with a lifespan that lasted almost 11 years, changing into the corporate’s best-selling gadget. Microsoft solely killed off the Xbox 360 retailer in 2024.
Microsoft’s follow-up, the Xbox One, launched with a heavy give attention to multimedia. In 2013, Microsoft emphasised the console as an “all-in-one residence leisure system” and saved mentioning Stay TV as a killer function. The console suffered from quite a few controversies, like that notorious try and require an web connection, restrict gamers’ talents to purchase used video games, and drive customers to hook up a Kinect. Former Xbox Senior Vice President Don Mattrick informed gamers, “Happily, we now have a product for individuals who aren’t in a position to get some type of connectivity. It’s known as Xbox 360.”
After a big C-suite shakeup that noticed the rise of Phil Spencer—now the CEO of Microsoft Gaming—Microsoft launched two consoles on Nov. 10, 2020. The Xbox Sequence S was a lower-end console constructed for enjoying Recreation Move titles and fashionable video games at 1440p decision. The massive daddy, the Sequence X, was essentially the most “box-like” Xbox the corporate had ever devised. Microsoft promised it was designed for 4K gaming, packing within the each AI upscaling and ray tracing capabilities to make video games play and look their finest.
The factor we frequently overlook in regards to the Xbox Sequence X is how a lot it was a continuation of Microsoft’s unique pitch approach again in 2001. The console is stuffed with PC guts, even when it doesn’t really feel like several type of Home windows machine. And but, it’s a robust console for its worth due to its customized 8-core, 3.8GHz AMD processor constructed on what was then the still-relatively new Zen 2 CPU and RDNA 2 microarchitecture. The console promised double the FLOPS (floating level operations per second) in comparison with the Xbox One. It got here with 16GB of quick GDDR6 RAM for shorting loading instances and a full 1TB SSD to carry the rising measurement of next-gen video games. The storage was greater than the 825GB SSD within the unique (and most up-to-date) PS5. The Xbox Sequence X internals are particularly attention-grabbing—at the least for {hardware} nerds like yours actually. In interviews, designers like Xbox’s Director of Mechanical Engineering Jim Wahl talked about how the console’s break up motherboard design allowed it to direct cool air onto all elements in a gradual stream.
The Xbox Sequence X was a tall tower of gaming potential, although this console technology lacked lots of the big-name titles that might get gamers to hurry out for the most recent {hardware}. Halo Infinite didn’t arrive till late 2021. The video games which have come out since 2020 haven’t caught round on Xbox’s personal console, both. Titles like Forza Horizon 5 at the moment are on PS5. Newer titles like Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle hit Sony’s console in April this 12 months.
Microsoft doesn’t reveal the overall variety of console shipped or offered. Nonetheless, finest estimates present the Xbox Sequence S and X has shipped round 30 million models whole as of February 2024. To place that quantity in context, the PS5 has shipped round 80 million models worldwide as of November 2025, and the unique Change has shipped over 154 million consoles as of September 2025, although Nintendo launched its system in 2017. Xbox console income has declined precipitously over the previous 12 months in comparison with PlayStation 5. After worth hikes, the PS5 truly noticed a bump in whole gross sales. In Microsoft’s newest quarterly earnings report, Xbox {hardware} gross sales had been down 22% year-over-year.
The place’s the mid-cycle Xbox?
There was no signal of a mid-cycle refresh console, like Sony did with its PlayStation 5 Professional to enhance its (now) $550 PS5. Leaked paperwork from Microsoft’s authorized battle with the Federal Commerce Fee confirmed the corporate had at the least drawn up designs for a mid-generation gadget known as “Brooklin.” That rounded Xbox hasn’t materialized. The closest we ever acquired was a brand new disc drive-less model and a Galaxy Black Sequence X with redesigned internals and 2TB of storage (that console now prices $800). The primary actual {hardware} in 5 years past one other controller colorway is the $1,000 Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, an incredible handheld PC however not one thing the console crowd might simply get used to.
Calling the Xbox Ally X handheld an “Xbox” confused gamers who imagined they might obtain a console-like expertise. Individuals who labored on the unique Xbox, like Seamus “father of Xbox” Blackley, stated, “Is it truly only a branded laptop computer with joysticks?” The hand-held’s UI continues to be unfinished. There are some menus on the Xbox app that don’t work nicely with a controller. There are different main points with the Xbox Ally X going to sleep when in sport that may trigger it to not restart. One of many unique founders of Xbox Recreation Studios, Laura Fryer, is a fixed critic of Xbox’s newest strikes. In a current video, she stated the Xbox Ally forgets the basics of UX—or consumer expertise—the place “time is the actual forex, not money.”
The following-gen Xbox might have a UI very like the Xbox Ally. During which case, the hand held is barely a beta for what comes subsequent. The Asus-made handheld was by no means going to be an actual Xbox. It’s merely a continuation of developments with at the moment’s handheld PC gaming units. Brian Crecente, president of online game consulting firm Pad and Pixel, stated that Microsoft’s advertising and marketing surrounding the hand held solely led to extra confusion, particularly when it saved attempting to persuade players that each PC can be an Xbox.
“That shift is one thing they preserve attempting to do, and it retains blowing up of their face,” Crecente, who was additionally the previous editor-in-chief of Kotaku (now, sister web site to Gizmodo as soon as once more) and a cofounder of Polygon, informed Gizmodo. He’s been witness to Xbox’s many successes and foibles.
“The panorama of gaming is on the verge of seismic change,” Crecente stated. “When you’ll be able to play Halo on a PlayStation and God of Struggle on a PC, you understand issues have modified,” Crecente stated. The one query is whether or not Xbox is appropriate to refocus on being an uber writer, particularly when its mother or father firm calls for such excessive revenue margins that studios can’t presumably match.
Any next-gen Xbox calls for a UI that works. In that approach, Valve is already far forward of no matter is going on at Microsoft. Valve’s Linux-based SteamOS software program is less complicated to navigate on handhelds, and it could possibly be coming to extra units like a VR headset or a PC-like console. Microsoft “has at all times been chasing Valve,” online game researcher and NYU Stern Faculty of Enterprise professor Joost van Dreunen informed Gizmodo. It’s a smaller, extra agile firm run by ex-Microsoft programmer Gabe Newell. Steam—which most builders suppose is a monopoly—makes a lot cash, you possibly can contemplate it a yacht manufacturing facility for the Valve CEO. It’s not prone to promote out to Microsoft or anyone else any time quickly.
Xbox publishing karma is all over
All this hubbub round {hardware} ignores what Xbox has been actually specializing in: the video games. Earlier this 12 months, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a sport that harkens again to old-school JRPGs with a French aptitude, turned a sizzling success regardless of being developed by a small group of simply 30 folks. A giant cause Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 blew up was as a result of Xbox promoted it in 2024 and introduced it to Recreation Move in 2025. As Stephen Totilo wrote in his current Recreation File publication, Microsoft revealed a dizzying array of nice titles, together with RPGs like Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2, shooters similar to Doom: The Darkish Ages, and smaller indie titles like South of Midnight and Keeper.
The “Xbox Sequence” {hardware} was altogether attention-grabbing, although in the long run the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Sequence X had been basically tied for efficiency. Nintendo was off doing Nintendo issues, making financial institution on its cheaper $300 Nintendo Change dockable handheld. Even 5 years in the past, the console wars had been successfully already of their loss of life throes. Video games within the fashionable period value greater than ever to develop. Lead instances are longer, and AAA advertising and marketing budgets alone can dwarf mid-sized initiatives. With rising prices, main first-party publishers can’t think about making a revenue until their video games are on each platform out there.
“For the longest time, the narrative round gaming has been about higher, sooner, greater ({hardware}), when actually it’s the video games,” Joost van Dreunen stated.
It was round this time two years in the past that Microsoft accomplished its $68.7 billion buyout of what was then one of many largest publishers on the scene, Activision Blizzard. The acquisition promised to place Name of Responsibility on Recreation Move, however shortly after making the deal last the Microsoft laid off a whole lot of workers. Microsoft has continued firing hundreds of staff within the 12 months since. Microsoft killed the long-awaited Excellent Darkish reimagining and axed its developer, reportedly laid off workers from a number of Name of Responsibility co-developers Raven Software program and Sledgehammer Video games, canceled a brand new MMORPG from the developer of Elder Scrolls On-line, and harm quite a few different small indie builders.
It’s not possible to say the place the needle falls on Xbox’s karma for 2025. It introduced us a number of video games from small and large studios alike, and simply as simply dismantled many extra studios and fired the workers creating these video games.
We’ve to speak about Recreation Move
At launch, what actually differentiated the PS5 and Xbox consoles was Recreation Move. Microsoft’s gaming subscription mannequin would quickly turn out to be the spine of Xbox’s complete gaming technique, one which eschewed exclusivity in favor of changing into a type of “Netflix of video games.” This included crossplay options to allow you to purchase video games on Xbox and play them on PC and even your cellphone. Through the years, this might morph into the “Xbox in all places” technique, which is why you now see these annoying adverts attempting to persuade you that “every thing is an Xbox.”
Recreation Move steadily turned costlier through the years, however these worth will increase had been insulated due to new options. The massive promoting level for the subscription is entry to a mess of nice video games from Xbox previous and current. Moreover, Xbox Cloud Gaming would let players who paid extra play a number of large titles by streaming them from the cloud. That function was known as a “beta” for years till its most-recent 2025 replace. The opposite large promoting level for the best “Final” tier was “day one” video games. Now, to get entry to the most recent Name of Responsibility and different AAA titles on launch day, you might want to spend much more ($30 as an alternative of $20) to get entry.
Microsoft makes most of its cash by promoting providers like Home windows 11, 365, or Azure to companies. Xbox is essentially the most consumer-facing model of its complete product stack. “It’s a little bit of a tragic factor,” van Dreunen stated. “You’re attempting to be the best home on essentially the most boring block.”
Xbox is the one piece that doesn’t gel with the remainder of Microsoft’s enterprise. That’s why the reported 30% margins would solely make sense from any person who doesn’t comprehend the gaming trade. In spite of everything, Xbox could possibly be a brand new approach to shove Home windows in entrance of much more gamers and combat again towards the ever-encroaching Valve.
It’s all in regards to the field. Which suggests Xbox nonetheless wants some form of {hardware} to make a case for itself. Primarily based on leaks, the next-gen Xbox, dubbed Challenge Magnus, can have a robust customized AMD chip that dwarfs what’s going into the next-gen PlayStation console. That has {hardware} aficionados speculating the system might simply value round $1,000 or much more.
This could be a “enterprise class” console for gamers who merely need the most effective, in response to van Dreunen. Everybody else could make due on different units, and never simply your good TVs.
Xbox will want one thing large for 2026
Xbox is completed with exclusives. It’s made that completely clear. However whereas Xbox has been extra verbose on the matter, PlayStation is making comparable strikes by sticking its once-exclusive video games on PC. The following-gen PlayStation might emphasize comparable cross-play options as Xbox has, the place gamers should buy their sport in a single place and decide up their save whether or not they’re on console or one other gadget. Nintendo continues to be the one one selling exclusivity each in first- and third-party titles. Contemplating the staggering price of Change 2 gross sales, it’s not doing half dangerous sticking with what works.
Van Dreunen stated that whereas different gaming firms like Take-Two Interactive can delay video games like GTA VI on a whim, as a result of that’s their complete enterprise, Xbox isn’t constructed for that. Xbox as a model makes up such a small a part of Microsoft, but it surely means the corporate thinks of its enterprise by way of decade to decade, not 12 months to 12 months. It’ll analyze its success if it may hit 100 million Recreation Move subscribers by 2030, as leaked paperwork prompt was the corporate’s hopes. After all, if it was getting anyplace near that quantity, Xbox would have stated one thing by now. Xbox has not relayed something official about Recreation Move subscriber numbers since February 2024, when the quantity sat at 34 million.
“It gained’t actually matter what number of Xbox-branded console units they’ll promote sooner or later in the event that they’re in a position to generate gamers and engagement by way of its different ecosystem entry factors,” Piscatella informed Gizmodo. “However, once more, the query is that if online game gamers will go together with it.”
“I’m undecided Xbox is aware of what makes Xbox nice,” Fryer stated in a video criticizing the large October Recreation Move worth hike. Fryer stated that the Xbox console wasn’t about promoting {hardware}, however about making a “closed loop” the place the corporate can create each a buyer and developer relationship. That Xbox “way of life,” as Fryer put it, can’t exist when gamers are taking their video games to no matter gadget they might select.
Microsoft isn’t altering course, and Xbox’s main plans gained’t come to fruition for at the least one other 12 months, at the least. With cloud gaming and Recreation Move, {hardware} doesn’t matter almost as a lot. Xbox could possibly be coming to the purpose the place it solely sells {hardware} as a premium choice. Microsoft has lengthy relied on OEMs, or unique gear producers, for its PC enterprise. Piscatella informed Gizmodo that Xbox could possibly be edging towards a future the place it might create its personal prototypical units, counting on firms like Asus to make the {hardware}. This could be the identical approach Microsoft leads with its Floor PCs, and its companions roughly reference its designs.
In prior years, gamers had been all too able to decry the state of exclusivity. {Hardware}-specific video games stranded poor gamers on single-console ecosystems. It saved players from appreciating the true breadth of what sort of artwork was on supply. No, players as a demographic won’t ever be pleased, particularly not with change.
Xbox can be higher off if it might turn out to be extra clear. Xbox President Sarah Bond has been making the rounds to speak in regards to the console, however the lack of particular data is making longtime players antsy. PlayStation has hosted just a few hearth chats with AMD to speak up its future plans, however Xbox can go one step additional. It could begin constructing hype for its next-gen console now. It could discuss up what sorts of advantages gamers will get for sticking with Xbox {hardware}—if not unique video games, then unique capabilities that the Sequence X by no means had and by no means will.
