EVEN from the players’ perspectives, Xbox has been angering its most loyal fanbase recently.
The big upset this year has been the price increase of Xbox Game Pass, alongside the change from Xbox Game Pass for Console to Xbox Game Pass Standard.
Standard no longer includes day-one releases, and since the announcement of the change Game Pass has been losing more games than it’s adding.
Xbox has been adding two or three new games to Game Pass every fortnight, compared to the six to ten we saw previously.
The majority of these new games are day-one releases, meaning that Game Pass Standard is feeling redundant for single-player fans.
Even Xbox fanatics have been furious about recent changes to Xbox.
While Xbox said that some smaller exclusive games like Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves and Pentiment would be moving to other platforms, it stated that bigger games would remain Xbox only.
The company explicitly spoke about Starfield and Indiana Jones as its biggest releases, before announcing that Indiana Jones would launch on PS5 just a few months after the Xbox launch.
On the Spawn Wave podcast, industry insider Jason Schreier spoke about the internal goings-on at Xbox, stating: “They’re just a disaster over there, it’s really sad.”
Schreier points to constant flip-flopping over statements and decisions, with the company unsure of which direction to go in.
He says: “Xbox is such a mess right now, I feel like their plan is changing every single year.
“Right now, they’re talking about teasing handhelds over and over again but who knows?
“A year ago, they were saying Indiana Jones was never coming to PlayStation.
“They change their minds every month. They’re just a disaster over there, it’s really sad.”
Last year, Microsoft purchased Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard for $69billion in the gaming industry’s largest-ever acquisition.
Since then, Xbox has laid off over 2.5k people from the gaming division, including the closure of major studios like Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin.
In the same year, Tango Gameworks released the critically acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush, which was not only a highly successful exclusive for Xbox but won numerous awards.
Since then, players have been questioning Xbox’s leadership and wondering where the company is going.
If you want to read more about Xbox, check out the biggest gaming releases in October.
Get the lowdown on more of the latest Xbox releases from our expert reviewers.
For PS5 and Nintendo Switch, check out our full game reviews section.
