I was having a conversation with my husband last week, and he mentioned how several retailers are pulling Xbox from their stores. This was news to me, and when I asked him why, he said it was because Xboxs aren’t selling like they used to. After a brief search, Microsoft denied that retailers were pulling Xbox consoles from shelves, but Costco apparently has. I may be out of touch with console gaming in general, but I find it shocking that Xbox isn’t selling well. Will Xbox remain competitive as a console? Or will Xbox become a thing of the past?

Xbox will always have a special place in my heart as my first console was the Xbox 360. I received it as a Christmas present in 2007, and I wouldn’t be the gamer that I am today without Halo 3, Gears of War, and Bioshock. Back in the day, Xbox had exclusive games, meaning games that could only be played on the Xbox. Halo is the most obvious, and I believe Bioshock was an Xbox exclusive at first. Exclusive games help sell consoles. There’s a reason why PlayStation has sold consoles since they have Uncharted, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and Last of Us. Last of Us technically isn’t a PlayStation exclusive, since it can be played on PC, but it can’t be played on Xbox, so I consider it an exclusive game in that way. If there aren’t any games that are specifically tied to Xbox, why would gamers buy an Xbox when they can play that game on PlayStation, amongst the other exclusive games?

The other thing Xbox had going for it was Xbox Game Pass. Xbox Game Pass is a subscription that allows gamers to download games from the game library. I used Xbox Game Pass quite a bit myself. Xbox Game Pass recently increased the price from $19.99 to $29.99 a month. You might say to yourself, It’s only a $10 price increase, who cares? However, it’s a 50% price increase, which feels like a lot even if the dollar amount isn’t. Gamers were cancelling their subscriptions as a result. Listen, I’m more than happy to pay for subscriptions or services that I feel are worth the money. If something undergoes a price increase without anything to justify it, consumers have every right to cancel. I believe PlayStation might have its own version of Game Pass, but I have never used it, so I can’t speak to it. As someone who has barely played Xbox, I will be cancelling my Game Pass subscription, but not because of the price increase.

I’m wondering what will happen from here? Will Xbox cease to exist? Or come back with new rebranding? It would be the end of an era, that’s for sure.