Does a stuttering console space offer an opportunity for others? | Opinion
Everyone’s favourite candid games exec, Phil Spencer, was in the news last week discussing the concerning ‘lack of growth’ in video games.
He’s said it before and he’s not wrong. It’s one of the two big factors behind the industry-wide layoffs we’ve been reporting on (the other being the rapidly rising cost of everything). And for Xbox it’s particularly acute, because it’s in the growth areas where it’s looking to play. In a console market dominated by Sony and Nintendo, a mobile market ruled by Google and Apple, and a PC business controlled by Valve, Xbox has been trying to disrupt things, grow things and widen the market… go to places its rivals are not.
And the results have been mixed. Game Pass has clearly disrupted things, but it’s not transformed the business in the way subscriptions have in movies and music. Streaming isn’t quite there yet. And the Series S, which is designed to be a low-cost entry-level point to a new console generation, hasn’t succeeded in expanding the audience.
If I am to be slightly critical, for all these disruptive business moves, we’ve not really had the games to drive them forward. When Nintendo disrupted the market with Wii and DS some 20 years ago (how has it been that long?), it wasn’t just motion controls and touch screens that did it, but it was Wii Sports and Brain Training. Game Pass still hasn’t had that consistent stream of quality games needed to build momentum. Series S didn’t have that game, at least to begin with, to attract in new audiences.
Xbox’s first-party slate has had many excellent games in recent years, but when it comes to their biggest bets – namely Halo and Starfield – they just haven’t delivered. And third-party publishers haven’t stepped up, either, particularly with their reluctance to support Game Pass with new AAA games.
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