The major shift in Xbox strategy continues, with a new rumour suggesting that Microsoft is to give up promoting its hardware in ‘certain’ markets. From the very start of the year, it’s been obvious that major changes are going on at Xbox and that even Microsoft isn’t sure exactly what they are. Their multiformat strategy remains confused while this week’s price rise for Game Pass , and the abandonment of day one releases on the cheapest tier , is a massive change in approach.
That may be only the half of it though, as a new rumour suggests that Microsoft will ‘stop marketing’ Xbox in ‘certain markets in EMEA’ (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), to only focus on Game Pass, cloud gaming, PC, and Xbox controllers. We’ve already seen some evidence of that this week, with the promotion of cloud gaming via Amazon Fire sticks – with the Xbox app also already available on high-end Samsung TVs. But the suggestion is that Microsoft is to essentially give up on selling consoles outside of the Americas.
The report on The Verge is paywalled but it’s not specific about which countries will and won’t be affected. The Xbox has never sold well on the Continent though, including in major markets such as Germany and France, so it’s arguable how much difference it would make anyway. However, the UK is the second largest market for Xbox, outside the US, so it’s hard to guess how much change it may see and whether the consoles will be deprioritised here as well.
The Ve.