So, The Act Man put a video out discussing the end of xbox, and I wanted to discuss it a bit. I know I've been hard on nintendo lately, but here's why. I knew that some company was going to try to break the barrier of things like $80 games and more expensive consoles and then soon after others would follow. Nintendo was the one who went for it, and microsoft quickly followed. They upped the price to $700 for the Xbox Series X, and they tried to have $80 games. And now they're getting ire for making their Xbox game pass $30 a month (cue "Xbox $360 a year" jokes).
Yeah, they're biting off more than they can chew. Here's the thing. Microsoft, of the big 3 console companies, have the least excuse to raise prices. Why? because they're American, and because their primary audiences are in the US and Europe. Seriously, Xbox isn't like sony or nintendo where they have as much international acclaim. If anything theyre internationally the weakest of the three console companies. Sure, they were hot crap in the 360 era after sony dropped the ball with a late launch and "$599 US dollars", but now we're up to $699 US dollars on the series X and people are livid. THis console launched at $499. And it was hard to get. And honestly, I really think that $500 is still a huge chunk of money, more than I'm comfortable yes. Yes yes, I spend more on my PC, but my PC also has no subscription service where I'm NOT paying $360 a year, or even $60 a year for xbox live.
And that's the thing, Xbox....is basically just a consolized gaming PC, and with the one thing it's done right in recent years, multiplatform releases, there's little to no reason to buy an Xbox. Just play on PC. I dont mind that xbox was kinda suiciding itself by making itself more accessible. If anything I praise them for NOT being like nintendo and trying to force me into a closed eco system.
And considering that, I could've even given them a slight pass on the $700 thing IF tariffs were the cause. But let's face it, they raised the price of EVERYTHING. Games, they tried doing the $80 thing. And they announced this stuff RIGHT AFTER nintendo did. It was like they were waiting for someone else to do it first so they can say they're doing it and this is now the industry norm. It was obvious. I mean, and now game pass. Again, no excuse for this, it's just greed. Let's call it what it is. If you wanna raise the price of hardware and say "tariffs made me do it", MAYBE you get a pass, maybe. That's Trump's fault to some degree and I know most chips come from Taiwan anyway and that the US is on the verge of an electronics apocalypse price wise because of its self inflicted stupidity. BUT....an american made company raising the prices of American made games and an american made gaming service....on Americans? Come the F on, microsoft, its obvious you're just being greedy.
Honestly, game pass was the only thing they had going for them. As I said, they've been the weakest console maker for the most part since their inception. Part of it was the stiff competition they had from sony and nintendo. But honestly, they had a relatively respectable finish with the 360 and had built a loyal following. I only stopped because I found out PC is just better than ANY console manufacturer (yeah Im PCMR and will ride that all day), but then they imploded due to missteps with the xbox one, and now with the series X it's like wtf are they doing?!
Seriously, the game pass was their one saving grace. They were going the direction of sega where their hardware was failing but at least they have good IPs (and they bought a ton more in recent years), so they could just become a multiplatform game brand, with xbox game pass being a subscription service. And Im not gonna lie, Im not big on subscription services. I prefer to own my games and play them as much as i want. When you sub to a service, you're renting content and then it disappears the second you stop. I didnt wanna be hooked into that, although for some it was an affordable approach to gaming. Now youre spending more than i do in games for a year just to rent them. It's insane. And sure, I dont get every title but who needs EVERY title? Are you going to play every title? no, I just wanna buy like 3-4 games a year from these guys, and often at a discount. Sure, they got fallout, TES, starfield, doom, halo, gears of war, COD, and I am a fan and a buyer of several of those franchises. But they also have stuff like forza and like a bunch of other things I just don't care about.
So....at this point, they're just messing up. They're screwing themselves in the console market, although again, idk how much to give them a pass on since at least part of that is the donald's fault, they tried raising the prices on their games but were forced to pull back. And now game pass is going up. This is just pure corporate greed. I mean, i hate the 2020s, just when you thought these businesses couldnt be any greedier and BAM there they are. Anyway, some say they're imploding their own business model. I'm inclined to agree with them. I only buy their games. I dont buy their hardware. And given you can buy an equivalent or better PC for the price of an xbox these days, why would you buy an xbox? I dont like subscription services so I won't buy game pass. And honestly, even though there are franchises that they own that I like, given how sale happy I am, Im reluctant to pay full boat for their games, and I notice they dont lower the prices a ton until they're several years old.
I do plan on picking up doom the dark ages at some point, almost pulled the trigger with the last steam sale, but figured, meh, it's 2 months until christmas, let's see how much lower it goes. And I'll probably get BO7, even though I ain't huge huge on COD these days (I buy it because it provides a lot of hours of entertainment, but let's face it, it's kinda mediocre these days). I might get outer worlds 2 when that comes out, but not at $70-80. More like $30-45. And yeah. That's how I currently feel about xbox and the market. Are they shooting themselves in the foot? Probably. Will they get away with it somewhat? Assuming the rest of the market sucks just as much they probably will. I'm a lot more cynical than act man that these companies will ever face consequences for their predatory decisions. Most people are too weak willed, and the amounts of IP they own is too strong. My own approach minimizes my own costs, and thus, the damage to my own wallet, but i can see people just paying the price increases, buying the $700 xboxes, and then gaslighting me saying I'm cheap, stupid, and/or poor for thinking this is messed up. Because I argue with idiots in the comments of forums like reddit and youtube, and I know just how willing a lot of these people are to keep giving these companies money even when they're screwing them over, and how they try to make you look like the weird one for speaking out. It's weird, man. Corporations arent your friends. Consumers should want cheaper games and hardware. We shouldnt take pride in paying a ton for stuff. But then again, that is consumerism for you, and this weird idea that the ability to pay that much makes you of a higher social class and better than the peons that can't. I guess I fail to take into consideration how strong those narratives in society are sometimes. Either way, you're being gaslit into spending more of your hard earned money on something that shouldnt command the price. And that's all I'm saying. I guess I'm done with this topic for now.
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