Anyone with a modicum of an understanding of the games industry will be able to see that Microsoft and Xbox's hardware business is not doing particularly well. While Nintendo can sell millions of new units in a few days and Sony PlayStation continues to be the console of choice for many others, Xbox is often left in the dust, struggling to find much success outside of a handful of key markets, including the Nordics where we recently noted that Xbox consoles are seemingly no longer being sold in stores.
So, despite the recently confirmed next-generation of hardware, it's easy to say that Xbox consoles and hardware is on its last legs and that the future looks bleak for it, something that a Microsoft Game Studios veteran agrees with.
Speaking on her own YouTube channel (thanks, VGC), Laura Fryer, who was one of the first employees to join Microsoft Game Studios, noted that "Xbox hardware is dead" and that "Xbox has no desire or literally can't ship hardware anymore."
Fryer even explains that Xbox's current trajectory is "style with no substance" and that even recent collaborations, like with ASUS for the ROG Xbox Ally, is in fact a "slow exit from the hardware business completely."
Fryer comments that the current plan seems to be to completely focus on Game Pass, and while that has its benefits, she also states, "what is the long-term plan? Where are the new hits? What will make people care about the Xbox 25 years from now?"
There is a little bit of hope at the end of the tunnel, as Fryer also mentions that next year's big 25th anniversary celebrations might be the answer.
"Next year marks the 25th anniversary of the Xbox, and I'm sure that they will have some big announcements and plans for honoring the milestone. Maybe next year is the year. Maybe next year is the year that the fog will clear and all of us will see the beauty in these latest announcements. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
<social>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFG7YxFFCnY</social>
Still, it's hard to disagree with Fryer as Xbox has been struggling in a hardware sense and losing ground to the opposition since effectively the Xbox 360 era.
Are you an Xbox console owner today?