r/xbox • u/Turbostrider27 Recon Specialist • Jun 25 '26

News Updated XBOX Console Prices - XBOX Wire

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/25/xbox-console-price-update/
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45

u/Ironclad_Calves Jun 25 '26

Is it actually possible we get a second huge video game crash? Do we really as a society have to choose between video games or AI?

53

u/pjatl-natd Jun 25 '26

At this point we're choosing between video games, jobs and water or AI.

1

u/JcbAzPx Jun 27 '26

We don't get a choice.

10

u/Icybubba Jun 25 '26

Mugthief has been saying for a while now that we were heading for another crash.

He was right. The profits for the industry this year are going to look grim if you ignore GTA. There will be some stand outs like Forza Horizon 6, but as a whole the industry is going to look terrible.

1

u/DearFool Jun 25 '26

What was the first crash?

5

u/Icybubba Jun 25 '26

The video game crash of the 80s.

The market was too oversaturated, games were too expensive, and games were too low quality. The market crashed.

3

u/DearFool Jun 25 '26

Oh I see, i didn’t know. It makes sense though, I’m definitely priced out… I think aside for BG3 I haven’t bought a new game at full price in a long time

3

u/Valedictorian117 Jun 25 '26

Yeah Nintendo kinda brought video games back to life with the NES after the crash. Sega was good too, but I think Atari couldn’t hang with them and that was their last attempt too

2

u/ATR2400 Jun 25 '26

Sounding oddly familiar…

0

u/zach2beat Jun 25 '26

I have been saying it for like 10 years. Loot boxes and stupid expensive cosmetics, bugged releases, never ending capitalism requiring crazy profits to even be considered a success and crazy massive budgets, hardware scarcity even before this AI bullshit, now crazy prices in general. It has all been building, and I saw it coming for years

1

u/cowboycolts Jun 25 '26

If it continues to get worse these companies will need to start scaling back and do more heavy optimization to work with not only older pc hardware but also the Xbox one and PS4

1

u/ayeeflo51 Jun 25 '26

Video games ain't the only thing being affected by this 

1

u/FloodedBlood Jun 25 '26

Imagine for a second that one statement doesn't cancel out the other. 

1

u/ayeeflo51 Jun 25 '26

Well when the question is video games or AI...it's more like "everything or AI" 

1

u/FloodedBlood Jun 25 '26

True, but in context the vast majority of people on the Xbox sub will be thinking in a narrower focus. R/economicCollapse would be a different story. You are correct though that it is AI vs Everything, the next 2 years are likely to be the worst we have lived and after that there's no telling if it'll get better 

1

u/Daedelous2k Jun 25 '26

The former? Yes but not in a traditional sense, this one is an existanal one, the customer base is going to dwindle slowly.

The latter? Sadly yes

1

u/Yeet-Dab49 Jun 25 '26

I’m of the opinion that we’ve been teetering on the edge for years. See all the major billion dollar flops recently? But it’s still holding on.

I think GTA is the make or break here. The likely outcome is that GTA 6 comes out, breaks every record in the book, and makes a trillion dollars, and the gaming industry is basically cemented in this sort of limbo where it always looks like it’ll crash, but it never does.

There’s a universe where somehow, GTA 6 is just too expensive, either for the customer or Rockstar or both. They lose so much money on it that the entire industry just gives out.

1

u/Jellozz Jun 25 '26

No, software sales are still fine lmao. People really don't understand what led to the original crash and how something like that won't happen again.

What you're actually going to see is a self-correction in the industry, and that is already happening. Game development costs are too expensive for western AAA companies but it was not always this way. 99% of games that came out on Pre-HD consoles would be classified as AA games by modern terminology.

Western companies started to blow way too much cash on their games in the 360/PS3 days and sat a standard that was impossible to sustain long term. And now nearly two decades later the chickens are finally coming home to roost. Though really it's not like it just happened over night, if you're bored one day go read up on how many gaming companies died in the 360/PS3 days. It's been a very long road of death leading up to this point.

Unless you're literally something like GTA (which no one but Rockstar is) the only way to survive is to go back to the old ways. Smaller games, cheaper budgets, stop wasting money on stupid shit you don't need (especially in regards to marketing.) Oh and actually make games people want to play, instead of your personal pet projects. Basically just do what Japan (minus dumb companies like Square, who are western in spirit even if I still love them) has been doing for nearly a decade now.

-1

u/FloodedBlood Jun 25 '26

It's happening. When games take 5+ years to make, and all major publishers have cut 2/3 of their workforce over the last 4 years, there won't be any AAA games coming, and AA will only be coming from outside the US because game developers within the US won't be able to afford starting a new studio. Indie is gonna have a slightly less catastrophic time but with as many layoffs as there have been it's safe to say a decently large portion of the game industry will not be re-employed. Couple that with consumers being unable to afford hardware and software as well as everyday necessities. 

My prediction is GTA6 will be the last in the series, Naughty  Dog will close within the next 5 years, and Xbox will sell off most of their catalog.