The "Return" of Xbox

How about that return to Xbox? So, this year at Xbox showcase, not only is there some brand new hardware as you can see, but there's also a major shift to the strategy when it comes to Xbox. But let's talk hardware first. This is the brand new Xbox Series X25. Now, that name, as you might expect, is because this is the 25th anniversary of Xbox. To celebrate, they are doing a full custom limited edition. So, this is in the OG transparent green. There's a lot of nice little detail on the console. So, not only can you see through to things like the vapor chamber, the cooler. So, if you look on the back, you can actually see just how transparent it is. You can see like flying all the way through the console, especially down here. So, this will be launching in November of this year. So, no word yet on price or the exact date uh or how limited it really will be, but I do know that they will be selling the console with the controller together. And you'll also be able to buy the controller itself. The controller is sick, dude. This is so good, especially with the OG Xbox logo on the back. But this is a call back to the original days of Xbox. So, the context coming into Xbox showcase this year is a real reset of Xbox as a brand. 2025 was a terrible year, right? I mean, between the price hikes, all the sort of turmoil, but now I think there's some real momentum behind the brand. You know, you've got Asha Chararma, who's the new CEO. It feels like the existing rules are kind of being broken a little bit, which I'll be honest is probably the right move, right? I think Xbox needed a little bit of a reset. How about those exclusives? What an interesting showcase. The big news for me really was the return of the exclusive. So, this has been a real point of contention for the Xbox team for the last several years, ever since they brought out the idea that everything is an Xbox. So, they showed a lot of games at Showcase. The vast majority of them are still landing on the PS5, on Steam. Even a lot of them are landing on the Switch and Switch 2. There are however two Xbox console exclusives. So they'll still be landing on PC that they announced today. So Gears of War Eday, which everyone assumed was going to be landing on the PS5. However, that is now going to be console exclusive to the Xbox as well as Clockwork Revolution, which is a game that is also only going to be launching on Xbox console hardware. This is the right move in my opinion. I think what we're seeing right now is the return of exclusives coming back in a big way. We're seeing Sony where they're pretty much just ditching the idea of even bringing a lot of these games to PC. So, my expectation is that the big titles, the the live service games, the stuff that really rely on multiplayer, these will continue to be everywhere. The incentive to buy a console for a long time has been the exclusive, and I think that that's what the Xbox team lost and they're up bringing back. So, you know, how many people bought an Xbox to play Halo or Gears or Forza? How many people buy a PlayStation to play The Last of Us or Wolverine or Spider-Man? So, what I will say is this was not across the board. And they did not say, "Oh, this is our plan going forward." So, the vast majority of the games they show today are still launching on PS5 and Steam and Switch and everything like that. I think the main thing is for new games that they have not already announced or hadn't basically already completed the PS5 version. I'm going to assume they're going to really sort of take a second look at whether or not they actually want to roll with that because there's a risk, right? And there's definitely a risk. They're going to sell fewer games if they don't launch on the PS5. And what they did not talk about at all today, not even one little morsel was Project Helix, their next generation of Xbox. So, it's funny. I actually have had some good conversations with the Xbox team while I've been here over the last couple of days. I really think that they have pretty much the same sense as everyone else and that these are really unprecedented times when it comes to the RAM crisis. I think that it's one of those things where I do not envy them for trying to plan out and launch the next generation and they're taking their time and I'll be honest with you, they should. As a content creator, I would love it if they start talking about Project Helix and its hands-on and all this kind of stuff. But look, this is not the time to launch a new console. This is not even the time to really get that serious about it. Now, my understanding is that there are a lot of conversations that are still ongoing as far as what they're going to do and when. My best understanding of Project Helix right now was that there will be more to share later this year, but they wanted to focus showcase on the games. Completely the correct call, but I think it's going to be really interesting because the next generation is highly highly uncertain. And while I'm glad that we got the Xbox Series X25, I think it's a cool special edition. It's just that a special edition. It feels like it is a real shift at the moment. You know, there's new leadership, there's a new strategy bringing exclusives back and there's the looming next generation. But what I will say is that the vibe I get is that Microsoft are serious about Xbox. If you think about it, Microsoft is a company. What consumer brands do they have that people actually really like? Xbox and C-Pilot. People love Copilot. You're right. Excel perhaps, but like for real, this is an important thing for Microsoft. And they've invested so much money in Xbox being successful that they kind of need to make it successful. And what form it takes over the next year, I think is going to be a really interesting thing. So both Matt Booty and Asha Chararma, the you know, heads of Xbox, they had a little presentation sort of after uh the showcase. And you know, Asha mentioned that this is her, I think, hundth day on the job. and I actually got to speak with her briefly last night and it was definitely the size of the task is not small. But here's the thing. I will say that almost exclusively at this point, the last 100 days has been good news. We've seen the price cut on Xbox Game Pass. We've seen the return of exclusives. There's obviously a great slate of games they've got between obviously Fortza just launched. You've got Halo, which looks fun. You've got Gears. There's a lot of stuff. Fable I think is actually really really impressive looking. There's no getting around the fact that they are in a deep hole right now. PlayStation have trounced the Xbox this generation as they did last generation. The idea of what is a console versus what is a PC and what that next generation of Xbox is feels very uncertain. Like what's the right call? I mean, it seems like they're very committed to making Windows the core of the next Xbox, which if they can pull it off is a great idea, but will they get Windows to an actually healthy enough spot that you will feel comfortable using it with a controller on your TV? They're making progress, but they're not there yet. Will they have that full backwards compatibility with your existing Xbox games? If they ditch the optical drive, which I'm sure they will, how are you going to keep your existing library? Like there's so many questions about how they tackle Project Helix and presumably we'll be finding out more soon, but I'm very curious. What do you think about the return of Xbox? To me, it is the beginning. I think there are a lot of good signs, but I think a lot of what we've seen so far is almost kind of the the lowhanging fruit. You know, bring back exclusives, cancel your PS5 version of Gears, cool, whatever, that's fine. You know, uh cutting the price of Game Pass, you need to do that. people are cancelling. I think now comes the hard decisions. How do you launch Project Helix? How much is Project Helix? How good is the Windows Xbox experience? And what does that next slate of games really look like to drive you to actually want to buy it? I have absolutely no idea to the answers to these questions. But if you want to find out along with me, make sure to subscribe to the channel and ring that dingling button. The console wars are back, baby. Just the way it was supposed to be.