Way back in the early 2000’s, Sega made the incredibly tough announcement that they were dropping out of the hardware market to pursue third party development. As sad as it was, Sega has still been largely successful since making that move, and are still as beloved and remembered today as they were then. So that then begs the question, is Xbox planning to do the same thing?

Since the same generation where we lost Sega, Xbox has been pushing strong in the hardware market with wildly successful consoles such as the original Xbox and the Xbox 360. However, since the release of the Xbox One, something has felt different about Microsoft’s approach. The focus became less so about solely the game output, and more related to their online and cloud based offerings with the introduction of Game Pass, and a stronger lean into cross platform integration with Microsoft’s cash cow, Windows. Sure, Xbox has put out a number of good games since then, but it hasnt seemed, at least to me personally, that they care so much about the hardware itself anymore. With the most recent console release of the Xbox Series line, the focus has been almost entirely been on Game Pass and their efforts in being cross platform. You dont need to look any further than their latest ad campaign that just started as of the time of this writing, the “This is an Xbox” campaign. Showing a number of different devices upon which you can play Xbox titles, such as a VR headset and your own smartphone

There’s also the point of Xbox’s recent reconsideration of publishing games on their competitors platforms. Just recently games such as Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush made their way over to the PS5, with more games on the way such as the highly anticipated Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. A very similar thing happened right before our friend Sega mentioned earlier pulled the plug. All of these moves feel weird for a game company that still plans on competing, right?

My point to saying all of this really boils down to the fact that I think, and I cannot stress enough that this is personal speculation based on evidence, that this is Xbox’s last generation as a hardware manufacturer. I believe that moving forward into the 10th Gen and beyond, Xbox will be coveriting to a Game Pass first company, porting their software to everyone else’s machines instead of making their own. It’s more cost effective, it still keeps the Xbox brand alive with less risk, and as much as I dont want to admit it, digital only game releases are not that far into the future and Game Pass secures their place in that future

What do you think of all of this? Please keep it civil down there, I’d love to have actual discussions