Even with Xbox’s recent hiccup regardingthe Xbox Live Gold membership price hikethat saw Microsoft backtrack on the statement after fans' very vocal disapproval, Xbox has had a very solid few years. The introduction of Game Pass played a large part in Xbox’s steady growth, only aided by its consumer-friendly approach, and consumers seem to be loving the service.
The positive outlook Microsoft has acquired for itself with theXboxfranchise stems from the days of the fan-favorite original Xbox, but Xbox hasn’t always remained in the good grace of gamers. In 2013 when the Xbox One was released, gamers weren’t all that thrilled with the choices Microsoft made, specifically with the price and the Kinect. However, after listening to the community and releasing the revolutionary Console/PC/Mobile gaming subscription service, Xbox began to thrive.
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Daniel also mentions that Xbox has made $3.5 billion from gaming content overall, with $2 billion of it coming from third-party games and $1.5 billion from first-party titles. It also helps some of the biggest names in gaming released new mainline series games withAssassin’s Creed Valhalla,Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, andNBA 2K21. This is even taking into accountthe refunds made fromCyberpunk 2077’s unfortunate flop. Xbox’s first-party titles were helped with the launch ofHalogames on PC and mostly backed by the stellar lineup of games from acquired studios like Rare, Turn 10, Obsidian, and of course the plethora of titles Bethesda brought to the Xbox table.
Despite the Xbox Live Gold fiasco, Daniel also reports the membership has 100 million active monthly users spanning across the console, PC, and mobile market. With a decision impacting literally 100 million gamers, it’s a very good thing Xbox walked back the price hike. Xbox also stated free-to-play gameswill soon no longer require the paid Xbox membershipin order to play online with friends, which the rival consoles had already set in place some time ago.
Lastly, the conference gave gamers news that the current drought of Xbox Series X and Series S consoles will continue at least until the end of the quarter, which ends on March 31st. This is either good news for gamers already looking to upgrade around that time, or rathersad news as this confirms console hunters' fearsof continuing to have a difficult time acquiring an Xbox machine for another 2 months at the minimum.
