From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


Apparently retailers are increasingly halting sales/stocking of
Microsoft XBox hardware, including most recently the Costco chain of box-stores.* This includes not only the consoles themselves, but
shelf-space for physical game sales.

Microsoft isn't particularly worried, even if this does ultimately
mean an end to the XBox console. They've been pivoting heavily towards
Gamepass as their primary video-gaming presence; it has many of the
benefits of the XBox platform for Microsoft without the expensive
hardware to maintain. It potentially gives Microsoft a much wider
reach; not only can GamePass titles play on XBox, but potentially on
PC, mobile and (were Sony or Nintendo to ever allow it) even on
Playstation or the Switch.

Still, these moves by big-box retailers do seem to indicate the
"beginning of the end" for the XBox console. It won't happen
immediately --the hardware still makes up for about a third of console
sales-- and we might even see an XBox 4 before the end... but
Microsoft has made it clear they're okay with losing this battle. Subscription-based Software-as-a-Service has been the company's end
goal for literal decades, and the XBox console was just a means to
that end. Now that they're so close to achieving that goal, they can
let the hardware end of things go quietly into the night.

Me, I can't say I'm as sanguine. Not because I really care that much
about XBox, but because I am incredibly wary about SAAS being the
better alternative for customers. It relies too much on the good
graces of mega-corporations to allow us access to our games at a
reasonable price. In recent years, we've seen how readily companies
have been to yank beloved games out of our hands, and that's without
granting them total control over our libraries. Long-term, SAAS isn't
going to make gaming better or cheaper. I'd rather a mish-mash of
hardware platforms than that alternative.





* story here https://www.gamesindustry.biz/retailers-were-always-going-to-drop-xbox-over-game-pass


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