At the end of 2024, Xbox finds itself as a crossroads

digitaltrends.com:

At the end of 2024, Xbox finds itself at a crossroads that many fans wouldn’t have anticipated at the start of the year.

Finally bearing the fruits of its pricey Activision Blizzard acqusition, Xbox has had one of its most consistent years in terms of game output. Game Pass received a healthy number of day-one games throughout the year, and Microsoft delivered a new first-party title to the service every month between September and December.

Elsewhere, Xbox’s messaging lacked cohesion. On top of laying off thousands of developers, shutting down studios, and making Game Pass more expensive, Xbox no longer seems as focused on those very exclusives that helped elevate its strong year. Instead, it’s at the start of a broad multiplatform approach that wuld make its games playable in as many places as possible — even on the PlayStation 5. Xbox leadership has been wishy-washy when publicly commenting on where the new direction is ultimately heading. Like Sony, which stumbled through its own unclear vision this year, Xbox needs to commit to a plan in 2025.

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Xbox’s wild year

Coming into 2024, I had an optimistic view of Xbox. Following an excellent Developer_Direct in January, I was convinced that this was Microsoft’s year to dominate the gaming space. Instead, it got mired in controversy days later that it never escaped. First, the company laid off developers from the recently acquired Activision Blizzard. Then, rumors started swirling that Xbox games would be going multiplatform.

Instead of instantly and confidently responding to these issues, Xbox released a podcast weeks later where Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil