It's difficult to know where to start. The tech giant's management of its sprawling gaming empire — encompassing Xbox consoles, the Game Pass subscription service, and three separate major publishers — was marked by another baffling and infuriating chapter.
Two core drivers sat at the heart behind the year's turmoil. The publicly stated goal is widely known, obvious in everything the company's actions. The mission involves to make lots of games and release them on every platform they can be played: through cloud gaming, on Steam, on PlayStation and Nintendo systems, on your phone.
The other driving force, that overlaps with the first, is more secretive and nefarious. It was revealed that the company's financial executives had pushed for the gaming division to achieve profitability targets of an unprecedented 30%, a figure that is virtually unheard of in the game industry.
This aggressive financial target is a key driver for significant staff reductions that ended with the cancellation of major studio endeavors. It presumably motivated a major hike in subscription fees.
It must be acknowledged, there are other factors. Among them are global economic pressures. Nevertheless, the financial goal seems to have been a major catalyst.
With these conflicting goals, the focus moved away from achieving its goals with dedicated gaming machines. The series of cost increments and the gradual phasing out of console exclusives indicate that hopes have faded for competing directly in the mainstream console market.
During this period, assurances were given that the console business continued. However, the details were vague.
Through disclosed information and announcements, it has become apparent that the upcoming hardware will be Windows-based, will run services like Steam, and will be a high-end device.
Another worry for dedicated players is that it might not be very good. This was the disappointing takeaway from hands-on time with a co-branded product between Microsoft and a PC manufacturer, which functioned as a prototype for Xbox’s PC-oriented strategy.
Unfortunately, all this calamity and confusion obscures the fact that its publishing arm was highly productive as a game publisher since its major acquisitions.
The year showed the wide variety and strength that its internal and partnered teams is now capable of.
The complete list of releases is notable: critically acclaimed titles and solid entertainers. One might argue this lineup for missing a game-of-the-year contender or you can commend it for its yearlong supply of varied, interesting, accomplished games.
Unfortunately, there’s also a significant disappointment in this strong year. One major franchise came close to being a catastrophe. Sales were unexpectedly weak for the first time in series history.
It’s exhausting just reviewing the year that the gaming division just had. What is on the horizon? Promised franchise entries and surely a lot more confusion and argument.
Another major chapter is ahead, hopefully a more settled one. It is probable that we’ll be asking the same question at the end of it: What is the strategic endgame for Microsoft Gaming?
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