Microsoft has released its latest earnings report, and included in the document is an update on how the Xbox division is doing. Overall, Xbox revenue is way up thanks to contributions from Activision Blizzard, but hardware sales are down massively. And that's not exclusive to Xbox, either, as PlayStation recently missed sales targets and Switch sales are trending down.

Microsoft said in its quarterly filing that Xbox hardware revenue decreased 31%, due to "lower volume of consoles sold." According to GI.biz, this past quarter was the worst ever since the Xbox Series X|S launched in November 2020 in terms of a quarterly percent decline.

Again, this downturn is not specific to Xbox. Circana, formerly known as NPD, reported recently that all three platforms--Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and Switch--are experiencing year-over-year declines in the US. All three platforms were down at a minimum of 19% year-over-year based on the latest publicly available data.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Thing is, Sony aren't even putting out that many bangers. Certainly not by the standards of last generation.

But that's the problem. Last generation was pivotal for the switch from physical media to digital, which means that anyone buying a new system is going to buy an updated version of their last gen system. Which was a PS4, because Microsoft completely fucked it last generation. Even with this gen's disappointing games, baffling lack of focus, poor messaging, and bizarre management decisions, they'd probably be in a much stronger position if they'd made a product that people actually wanted to buy last generation, because more folks would already be invested in the ecosystem.