PS5 & Xbox Series X: 7 Bold Predictions For The Next Generation

7. Xbox Will "Lose"

Microsoft will 100% lose the next "console war". There's no way they can compete with God of War, Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, Hideo Kojima's next game etc.

However, they'll happily lose this fight because it's not a duel they're interested in anymore.

As Phil Spencer noted back in February, Xbox's main competition is Google and Amazon. A barmy statement at the time, since then we've seen the company embrace cloud streaming, put all their chips on the ludicrously good value that is Game Pass, and only occasionally play out "direct competition" with Sony or Nintendo.

As such, they can't hope to compete with the exclusive libraries of PS5 or Switch, but they don't want or need to.

Microsoft want the Xbox brand to be EVERYBODY's go-to choice for a quick game of anything, in the same way Netflix or your streaming app of choice works for movies and TV.

They're playing for the infinitely bigger pool of casual gamers, and that effectively means the "console wars" are something they've left behind.