Is Xbox Really DOOMed in These Dark Ages?

    

    For those of us in the chronically online video game industry discourse circles, a predominant story through all of 2025 has been the state of Xbox as a brand. I've seen so many stories all throughout the year about Microsoft feeling directionless in the face of disappointing Xbox Series sales and a shift away from a focus on hardware. After reviewing the list I keep of my favorite game releases of this year, I noticed that Xbox games continued to show up near the top of the list.

    So what gives? Why do I find myself not disagreeing with the general idea that Xbox seems to be lost and searching for an identity while also defending them against the notion that they have had a disappointing year?

    Let's take a look at Microsoft's 2025 and even compare it to Sony's, as I think there's a case to be made that Xbox actually had not only a better 2025 but are even potentially set up for a better 2026. Before we get there, we need to take a quick look back at how we got to this point. Microsoft's 2025 output needs to be put into context dating back to before a fair number of its players were even born (looking at you Minecraft players and all my Call of Duty teammates).

How Many Xbox(s)es??? Do You Own?

    Microsoft has not been shy about the notion that console hardware sales are not the primary business point of Xbox as a brand. It has, however, done a terrible job communicating that. Following the terrible showcase of the Xbox One and its always-online nature, Xbox was put into a pattern of "Wait... actually..." style reiterations and clarifications that arguably haven't stopped for the last 12 years of any major announcements they make. I think a fair bit of this may come down to just how large Microsoft as a whole is and the challenges that presents in putting forward any single aspect of its business in a way that feels in-tune with those of us heavily invested in the goings-on of that particular sector.

    How many Xboxes do you own? You'd think this wouldn't be a hard question to answer. Did you purchase an Xbox? Were you gifted an Xbox? If the answer to those questions is no, then surely you don't own an Xbox, right? What about phones? I mean... we all have phones, right? Do you have a tablet? A smart tv? A laptop? Good news: you own an Xbox! Microsoft really pushed this concept as part of their ramp-up of Xbox Cloud Streaming. They want people to understand that Xbox is not really a device; but an ecosystem that they may already be mostly bought into.

    This push is one aspect of the two-headed monster that makes up the shifting seas Microsoft is navigating in transitioning the identity of Xbox for the future. While the status and stability of Xbox Cloud Streaming as a service are not the best in the industry, they're not far off. This service is a core component of the main revenue driver Xbox cares most about in the year 2025: Game Pass.

Oops All Subscriptions!

    Microsoft's Xbox eggs are all in its proverbial Game Pass basket. Originally billed as the way forward for the brand in 2017, Game Pass is a subscription service which gives players access to a host of revolving door game licenses. Think Netflix but for people who drink too much Monster Energy. Hundreds of games at your fingertips for the low price of $10 USD.

    So, how does this crazy idea look today? Well, it's certainly not $10 USD still. However, as Microsoft's latest financial reports indicate, Xbox is thriving on the back of Game Pass subscriptions. Xbox is currently showing strong Year-over-Year growth as a brand, despite so many of us thinking the writing is on the wall for the company we once loved for bringing us Halo LAN parties in the computer labs of middle schools across the country. You know... we all did it...

    Following the announcement of Game Pass, Microsoft went on a bit of a spending spree. In an effort to increase the value of their games publishing portfolio and also drive value into a Game Pass subscription, Microsoft began acquiring existing third-party publishers and bringing them under the Xbox first-party umbrella. With studios like Bethesda, Blizzard, and Activision now under their belt, Microsoft's publishing revenue is larger than ever.

    In their Fiscal Year 2025 Q4 report, Microsoft acknowledged a 25% drop Year Over Year for its hardware sales. I'm not here to tell you that Xbox console sales are great. Hell, I'm not even here to tell you I love my Xbox Series X. I haven't plugged it in for well over a year. I will, however, note that the very same report also showed a net growth of 9% in gaming revenue. This growth was driven on the back of a 16% growth of Xbox Content and Services, such as Xbox Game Pass.

    So if Xbox is still growing, despite selling less consoles than ever, and their Game Pass revenue is climbing higher and higher, what is going on with Game Pass that has so many people interested? How about quality games delivered at a consistent pace all made accessible with just one recurring payment? Just how good are these games? Let's take a peek at their 2025 output and decide.

Microsoft's Game Output In 2025

    Every console game Microsoft publishes releases directly into Game Pass. Some of those games are published under Xbox Game Studios, while some retain their original publishing terms with Bethesda Softworks or Activision.

    In 2025, Xbox Game Studios released 6 new titles:

• Avowed
• South of Midnight
• Gears of War Reloaded
• Keeper
• Ninja Gaiden 4
• Outer Worlds 2

    In 2025, Bethesda and Activision, under the Xbox banner, released 4 new titles:

• The Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion Remastered (Bethesda)
• DOOM: The Dark Ages (Bethesda)
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 (Activision)
• Call of Duty Black Ops 7 (Activision)

    Another initiative that Microsoft undertook in 2025, unrelated to Game Pass, was bringing over some of their legacy titles to Playstation consoles for the first time. Microsoft published 6 legacy titles on Playstation in 2025:

• Age of Mythology Retold
• Forza Horizon 5
• Age of Empires II Definitive Edition
• Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice
• Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
• Microsoft Flight Simulator

Quality Matters

    Sixteen titles in one year is one hell of an output, but surely people aren't just buying Game Pass to play lots of bad games. What do the critics have to say about Microsoft's game output this year, given they often have plenty of opinions about how doomed the business might be?

    The 6 titles released by Xbox Game Studios average an 81 on OpenCritic and the 4 Bethesda/Activision titles average a 79. The standouts are DOOM coming in at an 86 and Black Ops putting up a paltry 65. 10 new releases in 12 months and maintaining a B average certainly seems like one hell of a solid report card, if you ask me.

    Perhaps we should check out Playstation's output and see how they stack up. There isn't a similar "What the hell is Playstation doing?" narrative being shouted from the peaks currently, so they must be doing something substantially better.

Playstation's Game Output in 2025

    Playstation has started to embrace the PC space recently but is still largely focused on shipping experiences you cannot get on an Xbox. They also have a similar publishing structure to Xbox after going on a similar spree of studio purchasing over the last few years.

    In 2025, Sony Interactive Entertainment released 4 new titles:

• MLB The Show 25
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Ghost of Yotei
• Lost Soul Aside

    Sony's other studios did not ship a new game in 2025, but they did license out a few titles to other developers and publishers. I won't count these in comparison to Xbox's output, as I don't think it's fair to strap Sony with the relatively low critical success of these titles they simply licensed out properties for, but I found it interesting to note regardless:

• Freedom Wars Remastered
• Patapon 1+2 Replay
• Destiny Rising (Mobile)
• Everybody's Golf Hot Shots

    Sony even did the whole "Ship a game on a competitor's platform" thing again this year, following up 2024's Lego Horizon on Nintendo Switch with Helldivers II releasing on Xbox Series this year.

Play Is Certainly In A State

    Sony's doubleheader of Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei saw multiple nominations at various game awards shows this year, including Game of the Year consideration, and are both great titles. However, given their overall lack of output, the fact that the OpenCritic average of the 4 games they released comes in at just 81.5 to Microsoft's 81 is interesting. They were really hurt by Lost Soul Aside getting pretty poor reception.

    I don't want to come off like I'm bashing Sony's production, as I generally love their franchises, but I don't know that I can fairly pedestalize Xbox as I am without noting that there is some discourse in online circles about Playstation's game output being lacking as well. I think what I find most interesting, and maybe a driving point for why I made this article, is how much louder the sentiment seems to be around Microsoft's business strategy and future.

Do You Really Even Need An Xbox? Or Game Pass?

    Perhaps the most interesting part of all these publishing acquisitions Microsoft has been pushing through has been seeing the prevalence of their brand on competitors' platforms. Take a look at the Playstation Store's "Best-Selling" category and you're going to see Xbox games in there. In fact, you're most likely going to see multiple Xbox games in there.

    Through November 2025, Microsoft published at least 1 game that landed in Playstation's Top 10 best-selling games in a given month a staggering 9 times. In 8 of those months they published at least 2 of the Top 10 best sellers. Hell, in April and May they published 5 of the Top 10 best sellers back-to-back. Two consecutive months where half of the top sellers on Playstation were Xbox titles. I feel this metric is worth repeating. Microsoft is consistently publishing some of the best-selling games on Playstation year-round. Playstation gamers seem to love Xbox games.

But What About the Future?

    Given the increasing production timelines on most major games and the rather fluid nature of game releases in recent years, I don't feel like spending too much time on 2026 is particularly fruitful just yet. However, in doing research for this article, it stood out to me that both Xbox and Playstation have the same number of titles slated for 2026 currently.

    Xbox is looking at releasing the following games next year:

• Fable
• Forza Horizon 6
• Gears of War: E-Day
• Halo: Campaign Evolved
• Untitled Call of Duty Game

    Playstation is looking at releasing the following games next year:

• Marathon
• Marvel's Wolverine
• Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls
• MLB The Show 26
• Saros

    I have no qualms saying that Wolverine is one of my most-anticipated games next year and while I'm still not sold on Saros, I absolutely loved Housemarque's Returnal. However, looking at those lineups as a whole, I'm not sure I could be sold on the notion that Sony's lineup looks definitively stronger in a year that Xbox appears to be shipping a Halo, Fable, Forza, CoD, and Gears title.

Why Do I Care So Much?

    I started 2025 by making the decision to play more kinds of games than I normally do. At the ripe, old age of 33 I had found myself set in my ways. I play competitive shooters, I play the shit out of mascot platformers, and I play card games... but I also used to play and love so much more. I have fond childhood memories of games like Legend of Dragoon, Need for Speed, Madden, Mary-Kate & Ashley's Magical Mystery Mall (really, I promise it was rad) but adult Noah would just brush off so many games as "That's not for me bro."

    I purchased a few months of Xbox Game Pass right before Avowed came out because I was going to force myself to try that game. I'm not an RPG guy. I've never played a single Elder Scrolls or Final Fantasy. Those aren't for me bro... but Avowed's world looked so cool that I had to try. Over the next 11 months, I played 100+ new releases.

    When I was reviewing my ranking of every game I played in 2025, I realized that I'd played 26 new releases that were on Game Pass. I also found that I was more in love with video games than I'd ever been. I'd recaptured a spark. Fresh off the heels of Avowed, I played Expedition 33 and that may very well be my favorite game of all time.

    Those 26 Game Pass games included some games that ended up way down on my list and that I didn't really like, such as South of Midnight and Bratz: Rhythm & Style, but overall I spent most of the year absolutely blown away at the value I was getting from my Game Pass subscription. I ended up with 7 of my top 20 games this year being Game Pass titles. Of those 7, I ended up with 5 of them in my Top 10 for the year.

Third-Party Presence On Game Pass

    Microsoft isn't only releasing first-party bangers on Game Pass. Note the 26 new releases I mentioned above being much more than the 10 new titles they dropped on the service this year. Below is an assortment of just some of the new releases I played on Game Pass this year and would recommend to others as well.

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Sword of the Sea
• Ball X Pit
• Blue Prince
• Wobbly Life
• Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor
• Powerwash Simulator 2
• Marvel Cosmic Invasion
• Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders

Wrap It Up Dude

    I think a lot of this "What is Microsoft even doing?" feeling that so many of us that are so plugged into this industry pass around amongst one another might be coming from a place of misalignment with our vision of what Xbox is and what Microsoft's vision of Xbox is. I really do believe we might be looking at this whole thing through a lens that Microsoft doesn't need to care about anymore.

    As entrenched fans of gaming who have years of strong memories of Halo or Gears in the Xbox 360 era, we want Microsoft to push Xbox as a brand that is making games that justify us buying their hardware. We want to be proud to say "I have an Xbox" because doing so means we're getting an experience that only an Xbox can provide us... like it used to.

As a business, Microsoft wants Xbox to continue earning more money than any of us can even comprehend, and the fact of the matter is that Xbox is doing that. More and more, we're continuing to buy into their services in a way that does that, despite knowing that what they provide now is not what we necessarily want.

    The fact of the matter is that Xbox is Microsoft and Microsoft is the largest software publisher on the planet. Xbox is the largest software publisher in the games industry. In the same way that Microsoft makes Surface tablets but certainly doesn't need them to sell to continue making ridiculous money on Windows, they don't really need Xbox console hardware to do numbers when they care about being the largest software publisher in the industry.

    If "Consistently releasing games that are critical successes that drive up subscription numbers for your subscription service while also publishing on competing platforms and consistently ranking in their best-sellers list" is directionless for a software publishing company that also produces hardware, I wouldn't mind being directionless.