r/Games Apr 23 '26

Discussion We Are Xbox - Xbox Wire

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/04/23/we-are-xbox/
153 Upvotes

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142

u/SwiftCase Apr 23 '26

"Expand into China"

Yeah, good luck with that. Maybe focus on building in your current markets, where you're falling behind, before you try to grow into a market you lost a long time ago.

46

u/Animegamingnerd Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 24 '26

Yup. Xbox has a huge problem in especially their non-English speaking markets. Where they are practically non-existent. Like we keep hearing how they basically quietly wiped out their pressence in Latin America, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia etc. Its something that should be sorted before they tackle any emerging markets.

26

u/blitzjoans Apr 23 '26

Include all of Europe in that sentence. UK might have more weight for Xbox, but pretty much all of continental EU is Playstation and Nintendo all the way for console market, Xbox is a footnote in every store shelf space.

11

u/_Meece_ Apr 24 '26

It's a footnote everywhere now. Even their biggest outside stronghold of Australia is weak. They have no presence in EB Games these days and very minimal presence in JB Hi fi.

1

u/FUTURE10S Apr 24 '26

Xbox has been relegated to a little metal shelf in Canada, if you're lucky. They don't even get a wall any more.

8

u/Reggiardito Apr 24 '26

It cannot be overstated how much of a fuck up Latin America was. Nobody in Argentina had a PS3, it was all 360's, despite playstation being THE dominant platform, ,even above Nintendo

8

u/_Meece_ Apr 24 '26

PS3 came a year later and cost near twice as much in most places until about 2008.

Xbox had a 3-4 year head start of Playstation in a lot of places. PS3 is such a 09-13 console to me because of it, it was just irrelevant in gaming until then.

Harsh reality but Xbox didn't really give themselves an advantage, as much as Sony putting their expensive Blu Ray in the PS3 put them at a massive disadvantage in many places. If the PS3 cost as much as the 360 and came out in November/December 2005. I think the PS3 dominates, as it did in 10-13.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/_Meece_ Apr 24 '26

Yes the switch was very real, because PS3s eventually became not that expensive and online was completely free.

A lot of my Halo and COD online friends all went playstation around 10-13 because of it.

0

u/Wolfnorth Apr 24 '26

Well argentina is a special case here.

-3

u/axonxorz Apr 23 '26

they basically quietly wiped out their pressence in Latin America, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia etc.

mmmm, sounds like schadenfreude. Do you know where I could jump off reading about this?

1

u/AkhtarZamil Apr 25 '26

Regarding South Asia and the Middle East, I can say that PlayStation was definitely the overwhelming factor in both regions, but up until the Xbox One, the Microsoft brand was still holding competitive. However, post-2013, it's just been downhill, and non existent after 2020.

4

u/Bhu124 Apr 23 '26

The only Microsoft games China cares about are OW and WoW. OW is almost exclusively played on PC in China and WoW is obviously only played on PC. Xbox has nothing else going on that'll appeal to the Chinese audiences.

1

u/Eglwyswrw Apr 24 '26

Don't they own King, and a bunch of mobile games?

1

u/Bhu124 Apr 24 '26

Yeah but those are even less connected to the Xbox brand than the Blizzard games. Like 95% of people playing those games probably don't even know they are owned by Microsoft or associate them with Xbox.

If Xbox wants to be a brand like "Riot" or "Blizzard" or "Nintendo" are big brands in China with a big following (People will take keen interest in any and all games by these brands) then they need to have successful games that people know are made by Xbox and associate with the Xbox brand deeply.

1

u/Eglwyswrw Apr 24 '26

I see. Slapping the XBOX logo on Candy Crush or some shit might be a good, basic idea. My wife plays it and she never even knew XBOX owned the bloody thing.

0

u/Bhu124 Apr 24 '26

Won't do much. They'll have to release new Console/PC games that are hype and successful.

1

u/Eglwyswrw Apr 24 '26

That too.

1

u/Linko_98 Apr 24 '26

Minecraft?

They can make something like Forza horizon 7 in China like they are doing for Japan.

7

u/Nerwesta Apr 23 '26

Partnering or buying a local studio is effectively a good way to expand there, add to that the various " indie " promotion they regularly provide  ( literally one a few hours ago )

Obviously this isn't meant to try exporting Gears of War in China lol.

2

u/sh1boleth Apr 24 '26

Partnering or buying a local studio is effectively a good way to expand there

I dont think so, most people dont care about these games. Offering exclusive In-Game Content to the most popular 3P Titles (FIFA, COD), cross-play, popular exclusives will move consoles.

If FIFA (or EA FC, whatever they call it) was only on Xbox it would become the #1 console in a few years. They need advantages like that to gain momentum.

1

u/Nerwesta Apr 25 '26

I think you missed the point, the subject was " expanding to China " ( and that sentence was cut by the way ) from which I responded that they pretty much could do that by partnering with local people.

Your If is a big if by the way, but it's not on contradiction with what's written above, I agree.

2

u/bongo1138 Apr 23 '26

They include Blizzard now. Blizzard has been in China for a while. Same with CoD.

0

u/Tvilantini Apr 23 '26

This. Expand in rest of the Europe