XBox is far from the top, as shown below, and sales of XBox have collapsed in recent years (Microsoft keeps the recent numbers secret because it's embarrassing)

Summary: There have been several speculations online lately (we've also cited several) that XBox would be shut down if it carried on along the present trajectory; it also looks like the record-breaking takeover bid (Activision) was a last-ditch effort at comeback through exclusives (Microsoft fell way behind in this regard)

Further to this previous post and some recent Daily Links [1, 2], we've decided to belatedly study publicly-available data and charts, seeking to figure out what led to articles such as this one: (not the only such article so far this month)



We can now better understand this.

Comparing 2023, 2022, and 2021, it becomes apparent that the Microsoft's XBox business reached somewhat of a standstill (layoffs had already begun as the debt-saddled Microsoft must reduce expenses). It wasn't this bad half a decade ago, but contrary to what Microsoft lobbyists like Florian Müller focus on, we need to explore what happened to XBox, where many chiefs resigned last month in quick succession (they know how bad things really are; this is a matter of public record, not speculation). In 2021 Microsoft's sales of consoles completely collapsed.

"When Microsoft refuses to reveal some numbers (e.g. number of active users of WSL) it always means the numbers are appalling and outright embarrassing.""If Wikipedia can be considered even remotely accurate," an associate noted, it does not look particularly good. "Jan 18, 2022 was when they made their bid for Activision," the associate added, quoting this recent article ("PlayStation has 80% of the European video games market - 70% worldwide") from the British media, Metro News. Here is the key part:

Given Microsoft refuses to release sales figures for the Xbox its impossible to verify these percentages...

And "there it is," the associate said, "the XBox is a failure."

When Microsoft refuses to reveal some numbers (e.g. number of active users of WSL) it always means the numbers are appalling and outright embarrassing.

"Nintendo's stats are hidden too," the associate said, citing this article:

It should also be noted that this already impressive figure does not take into account Nintendo game sales, as the publisher has always been weirdly prudish when it comes to revealing its own bottom line.

Microsoft's gaming ambitions seem to be on their deathbed. No wonder Bill Gates-funded media (e.g. BBC) was lobbying against UK/CMA, basically giving a platform to "furious" executives who issue threats and try to blackmail Britain (via Gates-bribed outlets and the above-mentioned lobbyists).

"DRM issues set aside, "Linux" might be a big part of the console market in the future.""Xbox was only ever a testbed for DRM on commodity hardware and was never meant to turn an individual profit," the associate concluded, "though Microsoft would have wished for that benefit too."

"Furthermore there some kind of "Steam" console on the market, too, also beating the Xbox."

It runs Arch Linux with KDE. It's the Steam Deck. DRM issues set aside, "Linux" might be a big part of the console market in the future.

Today's games are mostly proprietary, many are cross-platform (unlike a couple of decades back), "but again," the associate added, "the XBox was never about games but instead about working out DRM on the standard PC commodity hardware for later infection in the main OS." This was said here many times before, for over a decade already [1, 2, 3, 4]. ⬆