Windows Central Podcast: The Road Ahead for Xbox with Jez Corden

In this episode of the Windows Central Podcast, Zac and senior Xbox editor Jez Corden sit down to discuss the current state of Xbox and where the business is headed.

It’s been a wild month since Asha Sharma took over as Xbox CEO. While the team has been working to recapitalize the brand and bring back some popular exclusives, the story has taken a sharp negative turn over the past week. Between heavy rumors of Microsoft looking to sell or close some first-party studios, console prices hitting shelves, and a massive rethinking of what next-gen hardware looks like, we wanted to find out what’s really going on with the Xbox.

In this episode, we break down the brutal economic realities hitting the industry. From the “RAM apocalypse” destroying console profitability to the likes of the free-to-play giants. Fortnite and Roblox they completely changed the old hardware subsidy model. We also look at the next-gen Helix console, discussing whether Microsoft can deliver on Microsoft’s vision of a truly open Windows/Steam ecosystem if the hardware is expensive. Sony‘s move away from physical media means for the future of discs.

(01:34) Podcast Introduction
(03:17) State of Xbox Management and Business Health Here’s a look at the whirlwind of change under new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who navigated the strategy of Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond and balanced last year’s record profits with the harsh reality of incoming corporate cuts.
(06:42) Microsoft-Wide Downsizing and AI Capital Expenditure A discussion on how massive investments in AI infrastructure are forcing job cuts and belt-tightening across Microsoft, including Azure, Surface and Xbox.
(11:34) Studio closures, sales, and the fate of a major IP Jez discusses rumors of potential studio sales or closures (like Ninja Theory and Undead Labs) and how Microsoft is trying to find buyers to save projects like this. Decay state 3 instead of canceling them.
(16:37) Xbox becoming a subsidiary? The hosts discuss the pros and cons of Microsoft potentially turning Xbox into a more independent subsidiary, comparing how LinkedIn and Skype are run.
(22:55) ‘Ramageddon’ and the Broken Console Subsidy Model The skyrocketing cost of RAM and components means both Microsoft and Sony are losing hundreds of dollars per console. Hosts explain how the rise of casual, non-cash players in free-to-play games is disrupting the traditional model of selling hardware at a loss.
(28:32) The Death of Physical Media and Discless Futures Analyzing Sony’s move away from physical disc drives and predicting whether the next-gen Xbox Helix will ditch physical discs entirely due to supply chain economics.
(30:54) Next Generation Consoles: Power, Pricing and Lifespan A realistic prediction of what the PlayStation 6 and Xbox Helix will look like predicts premium price tags ($1,000+) and a longer intergenerational lifespan for the Xbox Series X/S.
(34:58) Xbox Helix: The Open Windows Platform and the Closed Box Jez describes the original plan for the Helix to act as an open Windows device that supports Steam, and how Microsoft’s new Chief Strategy Officer, Matthew Ball, revised that approach due to the financial risk of players buying the hardware but spending money on Steam.
(43:31) grandfather of X/S family Exploring the possibility of skipping the pure architecture cuts of the next generation, instead basing the S and X series as budget tiers alongside the premium Helix.
(52:12) The Unsustainable Cycle of AAA Game Development Zach and Jez share their frustrations with the 6+ year development cycle, inflated production budgets on the West Coast, and why smaller global studios (like Bloober Team) build games more efficiently.
(57:35) Codename ‘Positron’: Xbox Disc-to-Digital Tech Jez details a leaked upcoming platform feature that allows users to insert a physical drive once, permanently claim a digital license to their Microsoft account, and only lose it if that physical drive is registered by someone else.
(01:04:12) purchase of the 2013 Xbox One Vision A retrospective of how the much criticized 2013 Xbox One vision (all digital, heavy DRM, licensing pools, multimedia focus) was right, just poorly messaged and premature.