Laura Fryer, one of the original founding members of Xbox and a former executive producer at Microsoft who has shipped numerous major titles with the company, has revealed in her latest YouTube video that she believes Xbox hardware is effectively dead.
Fryer, who also served as producer on the original version of Gears of War and later served as the general manger of Epic Games’ Seattle division, didn’t pull any punches when expressing her disappointment on the state of things with Xbox today, suggesting the format holder simply ‘can’t ship hardware anymore.’
Obviously, as one of the founding members of the Xbox team, I’m not pleased with where things are today. I don’t love watching all of the value that I helped create slowly get eroded away. I’m sad because from my perspective, it looks like Xbox has no desire or literally can’t ship hardware anymore. So this [ROG Ally] partnership is about a slow exit from the hardware business completely.
Personally, I think Xbox hardware is dead. The plan appears to be to just drive everybody to Game Pass. And let’s be clear, it has a lot of value. I’m thinking that might be why they decided to charge $80 for Outer Worlds 2… And here’s the thing, maybe it will work.
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Xbox has a deep portfolio. The remake of Oblivion was obviously a huge success, and they can continue to outsource that work to external companies and make a lot of money releasing their older games. Older games from an era when Xbox knew how to build them. But what is the long-term plan? Where are the new hits? What will make people care about the Xbox 25 years from now? I was excited to see Clockwork Revolution in the showcase, but will something like that be enough? Do they have more?
Microsoft announced earlier this month that it is teaming up with AMD for the next-generation of Xbox hardware, and since last year has been pushing a number of its first-party games into multiformat territory. Gears of War Reloaded, a spruced up version of the classic 2006 cover shooter, is the next Xbox-exclusive IP to make the transition PlayStation hardware when it ships in late August.
Elsewhere, Microsoft is also stepping into handheld territory for the first time with the ROG Xbox Ally, co-developed by the Xbox console maker and Asus. The device is set to launch in late 2025 and offers a console-quality experience thanks to a new mode that boosts the system directly into the Xbox app.
[Source – Laura Fryer on YouTube via VGC]