- A former Microsoft Game Studios Executive Producer has released a video discussing the future of Xbox
- She discussed the reveal of the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X and recent focus on Xbox Play Anywhere Initiative
- She suggested that “Xbox has no desire or literally can’t send hardware anymore”
Former Microsoft Game Studios performing producer Laura Fryer has discussed the future of the Xbox brand on her YouTube channel and argued that Xbox hardware is effectively “dead”.
She described the recent revelation of the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X as not surprising and said it is “much easier to beat an Xbox sticker on an existing piece of hardware and call it one day.”
Fryer predicted that the future handheld will be hampered by some of the broader problems currently facing the Xbox brand, including a lack of convincing exclusive experiences: “Xbox doesn’t make exclusive more. Although Xbox delivers a crazy good game ‘Xbox Anywhere’ means I can play that game on any platform.”
Many Xbox titles also appear to suffer from long-term development cycles. There were several notable absence from the recent showcase for Xbox Games, such as State of decay 3which was originally announced five years ago, Fableand Perfectly dark Remake.
In her eyes, the lack of exclusive experiences and years between major releases leaves consumers without a compelling reason to consider the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally or Xbox Ally X over alternatives such as Steam Deck Oled or build your own PC.
She continued to suggest that the handheld and the current focus on the ‘Xbox Play Anywhere’ initiative is part of ‘A Slow Exit from the Hardware business completely’ and that the final goal seems to run players against Xbox Game Pass.
“As one of the basic members of the Xbox team, I’m not happy with where things are today,” she concluded. “From my perspective, it seems that Xbox has no desire or literally can’t send hardware anymore.”
Looking at the current course for Xbox, it’s hard not to disagree. The sale of the Xbox series X and the series has been behind the Xbox One for some time, so it is clear that Microsoft will have to drastically move its strategy to continue to grow its gaming department.
In my eyes, the acquisition of Activision Blizzard suggests a shift against generating revenue through multi-platform software sales rather than really competing in the console room. This is in line with Xbox chief Phil Spencer’s well -known desire to release multiple Xbox games on other platforms.
This is likely to mean less focus on dedicated hardware from Microsoft itself, with third-party manufacturers such as ASUS (and recently Meta with the limited version Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition) serving the remaining demand for Xbox products with licensed hardware instead.
