Former Blizzard President and Xbox Exec: 'Tough to See Xbox Confused About Who it is' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 July 2025 / 3,119 Views
Mike Ybarra, the former President of Blizzard Entertainment and former Xbox executive, says Microsoft needs to figure out Xbox's identity.
"Tough to see Xbox confused about who it is and what it should be," said Ybarra.
"Some great people there still. They have to figure out what needs to change .... and fast. I'm a big fan and will always bleed green. Cheering the team on from the sidelines. Pick your lane and stick to it."
Responding to a fan he added, "Xbox should strive to be the world's largest publisher of entertainment content. Get rid of everything else and get focused. Do not be afraid to say what you are. Embrace the lane."
Ybarra even stated Xbox is no longer tied to being a console manufacturer.
"From what I see, they are no longer that," he stated. "Straddling the fence is not a winning plan."
Microsoft has begun releasing more Xbox games on other platforms like the PlayStation 5. This includes games that were once console exclusive to Xbox.
The Xbox Series X|S has sold nearly 33 million units worldwide as of April 2025, according to VGChartz estimates. The consoles are still selling, however, it won't come close to matching the Xbox 360 which sold over 85 million units worldwide.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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Jesus everyone in the industry coming out to stomp on Xbox.
They never know what they are doing.
Well damn, then I better learn from them to not know what to do so I can also make big cash daily.
They aren't chasing a $6 trillion market cap for nothing...
Microsoft alone is worth about 3x the entire national Australian economy.
I didn't see him stomping on Microsoft. He just said what everybody's thinking: that they need to better articulate what their vision for Xbox is several years down the road.
I do probably 80% of my gaming on Xbox. I own all the major platforms, but mostly only play exclusives on the others. Everything else is on Xbox, because it's more convenient, and I prefer the controller.
But, it's hard for me to see a reason to purchase the next generation of Xbox hardware. And if someone like me, that has been Xbox-first since 2001, doesn't see a reason to buy it, then what is their reason for even producing it? Seems like it would make more sense to set the console business aside and focus on content. Game pass is great. Get it onto PlayStation and Nintendo, continue with the direct to TV app. Kind of thing. Go ahead and continue with the PC as it is. But just stuff spending resources on Xbox consoles.
Microsoft is one of the biggest, and best managed companies on planet Earth. They obviously know all this stuff. So the fact that they are continuing down this road of producing hardware and then not providing sufficient reason for people to buy it is confusing. It makes me think that they have some bigger plan that I just don't understand. But, if that's the case, why don't they come out and tell us what's going on?
With the rise of Steam OS, there is still a motive for them to release hardware. The most recent legion go release has an option to choose between windows and Steam OS and steam OS runs all the games better. That's not good of course so for MS there is still a motive to produce hardware and that is to promote and protect windows against the rise of Steam OS
I mean even their fanbase is confused as hell what to believe in anymore , the goal post keeps moving. They went from bragging about console unit sold monthly when 360 was ahead then all sudden changed to "console unit sales don't matter anyway" when PS4 started dominating and MS became shy sharing sales numbers. Then they went from bragging about money hat timed exclusives like GTA4 DLC, mass effect, The medium, Stalker 2 and many more to crying it's evil and should not be allowed after Sony started doing it and giving them a taste of their own medicine. Now with MS releasing all their games on PS5 all sudden having exclusives don't matter magically and it's all about how many bullets have been fired in call of duty monthly that matters and ofc my personal favourite this is apparently some giga brain 4D chess move Trojan horse by Xbox to out smart PlayStation after 3 decades lol
"Then they went from bragging about money hat timed exclusives like GTA4 DLC, mass effect, The medium, Stalker 2 and many more to crying it's evil and should not be allowed after Sony started doing it and giving them a taste of their own medicine."
Remember how the Sony CoD deal was twisted? Like Sony was somehow the bad one because they got CoD stuff early, meanwhile MS were the ones who started it and it was Activision who agreed to these things to begin with. MS literally has the money to outbid Sony on any 3rd party exclusive or marketing deal but instead chose to pay off 3rd party devs for day one on GP instead. Same thing, in the end they are paying for things.
I'm not sure I agree with this. I think the higher ups at Xbox are very focused at what they want, I know MS are very focused too. It's control. Xbox aren't looking to one up Nintendo or Sony in the console game anymore, they have never done that, so why bother? Just release and updated console with no new features and the same controller again next gen, do okay. Succeed because you are backed up by the biggest company the world has ever seen.
What MS lacked for years is IPs that get people invested and willing to stick around, making one of the best shooters or racing games wasn't enough to control anything. So instead they decided to be Micro$oft and just buy their studios and IPs and control everything that way.
Within a few years, MS became the 3rd biggest "publisher" on their biggest rival's console and one of the biggest on Steam just because they bought 2 publishers. Now? They are #1 on Playstation. Does Sony mind? Nope, they get games and their 30% cut. Do MS mind? No, in the end they own the IPs so you have to go to them for these games whether via PS consoles, Nintendo, Steam or GP.
Maybe the issue is really that it's in an odd phase, MS try to promote the Xbox brand by doing handled things, say they are getting new deals with AMD for chips on their new console. Cool but for someone looking to buy said console, they look at PC or PS and thing, if you are going to just release your games there, outside of "my digital library" or some older discs which work on what you already own, why should you be interested in the future of Xbox consoles?
If it's just a device to play GP? Well, they've got to cut the cost.
Old method wasn't working, and MS always had the biggest platform to work with. These Ex-employees are salty because they are seeing their old work evolve.
It's not confusion. It's just the consequences of being beaten by your competition. They tried for 20+ years but at some point you have to concede and say "gg guys well played you win this time"
What do you mean ‘you win THIS time’?
bad wording by me. I should've wrote "you win this one"
