Xbox One: “The Worst Generation to Lose”

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When we talk about the least successful video game consoles of all time, the Xbox One is not really in that conversation, selling a respectable 58 million units. But as the years have gone on since that console’s life cycle, it’s clear some of the events that took place have left a lasting scar on the Xbox brand as a whole. In 2023 head of Xbox, Phil Spencer said the Xbox One generation was the worst console generation to lose. In today’s video I want to take a look back at the Xbox One to figure out what exactly happened, and what would lead to such a brutally honest quote from Phil Spencer.

[partyvn]

"good games won't boost console sales" -phil spencer

truly spoken like a company which hasn't produced a game above mediocre in over a decade

[pontoppidan]

I remember watching Sony's E3 2013 live and it was absolutely insane. Right then and there you knew Xbox was done.

[guerrero]

This is the definition of “you HAD it, then you LOST it”

[abdelali]

10:16 from the creators of $299, come the acclaimed sequel, $399.

[dbsasuke]

As a lifelong Xbox fanboy, the Xbox One disaster lives rent free in my head. I think about it a lot.

[scaryhobbit]

Phil Spencer's idea that Xbox lost "The Worst Generation to Lose" solely based off of the accumulation of digital libraries runs into a brick wall when you look at what Nintendo did after the Wii U failed in an far worse fashion than the Xbox One did.
Like Sony & Microsoft, Nintendo also was growing an online digital library centered around Nintendo Network - the shared online platform for the Wii U and the 3DS.
*Nintendo completely threw away that digital library with the Switch.* Nintendo decided that the Switch was so much different than Wii U/3DS both tech & reception-wise that it needed to start its digital library over from scratch, to the point of shutting down the old storefronts & making the old systems' games unavailable to purchase anymore.

...And yet the Switch stormed past both PS4/Xbox One, is now the 3rd highest selling console in history, and is attempting to beat the PS2's record, with the "digital library" being a total non-factor.
Instead, the Switch won the generation with 3 simple tried & true methods:
1)Appealing hardware that attracted customers, which in turn brought in 3rd parties wanting to cash in.
2)Smart & precise marketing.
3)GOOD GAMES. LOTS & LOTS OF GOOD EXCLUSIVE GAMES. WHICH IS SOMETHING XBOX HAS TOTALLY FAILED AT.

This misguided & defeatist attitude is why Phil Spencer needs to be fired. He's been in his position for far too long with little to no improvement to show for it. Game Pass and their hardware philosophy does needs to be reformed, yes, but the actual games made by all of his acquired studios have disappointed across the board. The lack of good exclusive games have killed consoles time & time again.

[calebmon]

Its kinda funny how when I was a kid Everybody was saying Nintendo is gonna disappear and the Xbox will be around forever

[KRawatXP]

Not gonna lie xbox being a 3rd party publisher sounds more stable than whatever they are doing.

[AdmiralBison]

*Microsoft in the end are to blame*
Also GamePass is killing the Xbox Series s/x.
MS has trained Xbox gamers NOT to buy Xbox games,
Low game sales = low user base = sell on Playstation.

[maybebutwhatever]

I think Phil is just trying to make excuses and shift the blame away from himself/his team.
Sure, xbox one make some serious damage to the xbox brand but main reason why "series consoles" are not successful is the current Microsoft and not old games that people are not going to play again.
I bought Xbox one because there was some interesting games (Forza horizon 2/3 and sunset overdrive) but nowadays the are releasing everything (and more) on a PC and even the ps5. There is simply no reason for me to buy an xbox.

[returnedtomonkey]

Xbone/ps4 might as well be the last generation of consoles. Because this one is literally nothing.

[irisfailsafe]

Microsoft bought half the studios and then started to fire everyone working in them and somehow talks about connected systems, subscription services and connectivity with PCs. And the games? yes thank you

[RGFWZ]

What to learn from this:
Never try to work against your customer - and never make fun of his worries/questions

[sevvycat]

the point about not wanting to lose your digital game libraries being the reason why people stick with the same ecosystem going into the 9th gen is kind of interesting because it doesn't really seem to be much of an issue, since I used to know a few people who had xbox one consoles who used them frequently, but this gen every single person I knew who had an xbox switched to either pc or ps5, and now I know legit zero people who own a series x/s console but a lot who own a pc, ps5, or switch

[himbourbanist]

Man after the Xbox 360 the names for Xbox consoles became completely nonsensical. I actually don't know which is which. Xbox One X? Xbox Series One X? Xbox Series S One X Series X. Just call it the Xbox 3 like a man you cowards. Or call it the Nextbox like everyone wanted

[keir]

If you’re American, the 360 actually beat the PS3 in your region, but if you’re European, it was always PlayStation until the end.

[vintologi]

I talked to a guy who owned an xbox one.

He still went with PS5 due to xbox insisting om proprietary storage.

[devanman]

Not a huge gamer but all my friends play on console. I remember back then when they said they would tie a game to your game I.D so you couldn't resell a game or even lend it to a mate, this is what killed it for us. They basically just said "we're gonna just get extra money off you, unfairly just because we want to". All of us said never xbox again.

[ToonSheepy]

It feels like saying “the worst generation to lose” is a pretty sour excuse considering the Wii U only sold 13 million units and came back stronger then ever while losing their previous install base since the switch isn’t backwards compatible with the Wii or Wii U.

[AdmiralBison]

GamePass is TERRIBLE and the "value" proposition needs to be challenged.
1. There's No value in not owning one's game.
2. There's heaps of better game sales like Steam/GOG