'We use the flywheel that we have with customers on an Xbox to start the growth in Xbox Game Pass. Way back in 2018, Spencer said at a Barclays conference that Xbox Game Pass was the future, and that future was going to be on “every device.” Xbox has publicly been on the “ecosystem” train since before the current console generation. But conversations with a number of industry analysts have convinced me that 2024 is the year we finally start seeing Xbox’s grand ecosystem strategy - and all it entails for exclusivity, multiplatform play, and cloud gaming - finally start to take shape. Okay, it’s unlikely Xbox has some big 4D chess move prepared this year, and certainly not in time for the Developer Direct.
What will the trick be? Multiple massive blockbuster first-party releases? Finally making cloud gaming something people actually want to do? Releasing Game Pass on Switch?
With the Activision Blizzard deal now done and Xbox squarely behind both Sony and Nintendo in terms of console sales this generation, all eyes are on Xbox to do something astonishing that will turn the tide in its favor and maybe transform the industry in the process.
