GamePass - Oh Xbox's Return to Glory
Xbox used to be the console of excellent first party exclusives. Those days are long gone with franchises like Halo and Gears of War relics of their former selves.
But, Xbox's strategy shift is one that is focused on the future, not the past. In the era where gaming was reserved primarily for nerds like myself and midnight releases and LAN parties, it has been expanding to include more and more of the population.
Over half of the population are "gamers" by definitions, including women. However, many don't consider themselves to be. Xbox is targeting the vast majority with their strategy of Gaming as a Service (GaaS). It's a solid bet, considering the majority of the population wants their games regularly and is not insanely hardware driven.
The key will be whether they can balance this with continuing to bring developers into the fold under a less aggressive strategy than direct IP acquisition and continue to develop their hardware.
But, the reports are overblown, Xbox is not dead and bringing Xbox titles to Playstation is not going to kill it with a GaaS strategy.
I'm excited for the future of Xbox.