The most respected video games insider in the business has described Xbox as ‘a mess’, complaining that they ’change their minds every month.’
The last two years have not shown either PlayStation or Xbox at their best, with disappointingly few first party releases and very mixed messages about the future. Sony’s obsession with live service games has so far been a disaster, while Xbox’s purchase of Activision Blizzard seems to have done more harm than good, with considerable confusion as to their multiformat plans.
They’ve often both seemed clueless about what to do about the rising cost of making video games – an issue that seems to have taken both of them completely by surprise – but for the sake of the industry most people would like to think they at least have some semblance of a plan going forward.
According to Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier, though, that’s not necessarily the case, as he gave a very frank summary of the current state of Xbox: ‘They’re just a disaster over there, it’s really sad.’
Schreier was taking part in a six-person podcast, when the discussion moved to Xbox’s appearance at the recent Tokyo Game Show, which some insiders had hyped as being significant but, in the end, only featured minor announcements.
‘Xbox is such a mess right now, I feel like their plan is changing every single year,’ said Schreier.
‘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 so, like, they change their minds every month. They’re just a disaster over there, it’s really sad.’
Although it’s unclear to what degree Schreier is relying on insider knowledge when he says this, his track record in the industry is almost spotless.
He has particular knowledge of Xbox-owned publishers, such as Bethesda and Blizzard – the latter of which is the subject of his new book Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment.
The unfortunate truth, though, is that you don’t need any insider knowledge to come to the conclusions he has, about Xbox’s constantly changing priorities and mixed messages over multiformat releases.
Schreier implies that even Xbox’s next gen plans, which have been heavily implied to involve a handheld device, may be subject to change. The same podcast also discussed Sony’s live service plans and how much they’ve changed over the same period of time, painting both console manufacturers in a similar light.
Since Xbox’s Tokyo Game Show presence didn’t amount to much it’s unclear whether they’ll have another preview event before Christmas, although it’s very likely they’ll be involved with The Game Awards in December, to some degree.
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