Microsoft"s Xbox strategy has been rather interesting lately, to put it one way. After going all in on its Game Pass subscription plans, the company made a rather major pivot, which resulted in previously exclusive Xbox games landing on Sony"s PlayStation 5. A notable example of this is Forza Horizon 5, which landed on Sony"s console in April. In a similar vein, it also announced two Xbox Ally gaming handhelds powered by Windows and a multi-year partnership with AMD to build next-generation Xbox consoles. However, not all is as rosy as it would seem, as Redmond is expected to announce major layoffs across the Xbox division pretty soon. In this turbulent time, a former Microsoft executive has expressed her dissatisfaction with the situation.
Former executive producer of Microsoft Games Studio and Redmond veteran Laura Fryer has uploaded a video on her channel expressing her viewpoint on the current state of Xbox. Titled "The Future of Xbox", the video is uploaded on Fryer"s 58,000 subscribers-strong channel.
Fryer believes that Microsoft"s hardware business, as we know it, is dead, and the company"s recent hardware partnerships are just an indicator of its slow exit from this space. She also went on to say that while these partnerships - including the limited edition Xbox Meta Quest 3S headset made by Meta - sound great on paper, they are more about marketing and prioritize style over substance.
It"s worth highlighting at this point that Fryer isn"t a fan of Windows, so the Xbox Windows handhelds don"t really click with her either. The former executive noted that after she departed from Microsoft, she installed Linux on all her personal systems and "never looked back".
Fryer has emphasized that she is not happy with Xbox"s current state and the erosion of the brand"s value. She believes that Xbox has lost its soul when it comes to shipping hardware that actually matters to people. As such, Fryer thinks that the plan is just to push everyone to Game Pass through partner hardware.
You can view the entirety of the video here:
It is important to note that this video is reflective of Fryer"s personal viewpoints only, and it should not be taken as an actual indicator of Microsoft"s position in this space, which is kind of obvious, especially since Fryer left Microsoft over 15 years ago.
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