IGN criticizes Microsoft: This generation of Xbox will only be remembered in two words - greed!

2025-10-04 21:46:21|Myriagame |source：minecraft skins

Lu Xun wrote in "The Diary of a Madman": "I couldn't sleep. After reading carefully in the middle of the night, I could see the words from the cracks. The whole book said that two words were written in cannibalism." Today, an editorial on IGN criticizing the price increase of Xbox Game Pass pointed the same pen at Microsoft: no matter which side, there are only two words left - greed.

This article by IGN reviews Phil Spencer's achievements and demerits in the past decade of Xbox: From canceling Kinect bundles, promoting cross-platform online, to building a Game Pass empire, Xbox was once regarded as a symbol of "player first".But with the continuous price increase, layoffs and factory closures, all this is being swallowed up by the shadow of "greed".

When reading this comment, you will see that Microsoft finally fulfilled its promise of "the concentrated outbreak of first-party masterpieces" in 2025, but increased its investment layer by layer on price and threshold.The long-awaited "harvest" of players eventually became the "harvest" of capital.Looking horizontally and vertically, there are only two words "greed".

Original text of IGN report:

Phil Spencer has been head of Xbox (now officially CEO of Microsoft's gaming division) for more than a decade.Until recently, I think under his leadership, the Xbox brand has indeed achieved "player first", although Xbox continues to lag behind PlayStation in market share.You know, the first big thing Phil took office was to remove the Kinect from the Xbox One suit and remove the burden that made the console expensive $100.The first major move he led was to promote backward compatibility, which proved to be an undisputed success.Later, FPS Boost launched on the Xbox Series console made many old games run better.He also "dragged" Sony into the trend of cross-platform online.Xbox One X even crushed the PS4 Pro with its real native 4K.In the "Phil Spencer era", Xbox games have also become more inclusive: Whether it is the Xbox accessibility controller or the sign language feature added by multiple first-party games, it is a commendable effort.Finally, there is Xbox Game Pass—its profit model remains the focus of debate between players and developers today, but it is undeniable that it brings extremely high value to subscribers.

At least, that's true until now.On IGN's Unlocked podcast, I often quote the animated picture of The Simpsons: The clown Bob repeatedly stepped on the rake beside him.The reason is that Xbox always seems to be able to mess up the momentum it has finally accumulated, and most of the time it is self-defeating.Take October for example: Microsoft will launch three exciting new works in just 30 days - first of all, the already very good "Ninja Dragon Sword 4", which revived the classic IP of this fast-paced action game after ten years of silence; secondly, Double Fine's highly anticipated new work "Keeper", which is the studio's next work after "Brain Navigator 2" was nominated for TGA's Game of the Year; finally, there is the stable and reliable RPG/shooting sequel "Outside World 2", which is very impressive every time we see it or try it out.For Xbox, this is a potential "hot month" - you know, many Xbox fans still remember that not long ago, we were lucky to have three first-party masterpieces with bright prospects a year, let alone concentrate within a month.

All three games will be added to Xbox Game Pass on the day of its debut – but that’s where Xbox starts to rake.From now on, players must pay a price of up to 50%.Microsoft has raised the price of Game Pass for the third consecutive year. If you want to experience the "full collection of the first day" version, it now costs $30 per month.You know, just 14 months ago, the price of the Game Pass Ultimate was only $17.How fast and fierce the rise is, it is clear at a glance.

To be fair, Microsoft has indeed added something to Ultimate: Ubisoft+ Classics, Fortnite members, and higher-resolution cloud gaming.And don't forget that this year there are also many works that are likely to compete for the game of the year on the first day of the game, such as "Expedition No. 33", "The Hollow Knight: The Song of Silk" and "Blue Prince".But we all know that the biggest attraction of Game Pass has always been the first-day benefits of Microsoft's own games, and this time the price increase is obviously for it.(By the way, the price of PC Game Pass also rose from $12 a month to $16.49.)

Players "rebelled":

Worse, this happened immediately after Microsoft raised the price of Xbox consoles for the second time in four months: the high-end Xbox Series X is now priced at $800.But when you see the highly hyped ROG Xbox Ally X handheld PC, the $800 seems like a "bargain" instead - because the ROG Xbox Ally X costs a full $999.Yes, there is indeed a low-end version of $599, but no one knows if it's worth it, as Microsoft only allows the media and KOL to try out the more powerful Ally X.Hopefully, like Series S, it can find its position in the non-core player market.The only one that has not raised the price is probably the first-party game left.In fact, Microsoft has indeed tried to increase the price of "Outside World 2" - but the Xbox community refused to buy it, so Microsoft chose to give in.However, next year, when works such as "Fables of Gods", "Gears of War: Incident Day", "Forza: Horizon 6" are launched, they will most likely try again.

I know we live in a crazy era, and Sony and Nintendo are also to blame - both companies have raised the price of their old hardware in the past year (Nintendo has significantly increased the price of software in the Switch 2 generation).You can blame the tariffs, but after all, the responsibility lies with Microsoft.After all, this is a company with a market value of nearly $4 trillion, but while laying off employees and laying off more than $80 billion, it also spent more than $80 billion to acquire studios and publishers.Nowadays, those who question the sustainability of the Game Pass model may be verified by this round of ruthless price increases.

We have come to a sad situation where the game is no longer more friendly to new players, but is becoming increasingly inaccessible.

GameStop "takes the opportunity to rob":

What’s even more frustrating is that from a larger perspective, the accessibility of the game is regressing.The development law of console generations in the past is: as time goes by, hardware prices have been reduced, and the scale and quality of game libraries have continued to rise, thus bringing higher sales and a healthier ecosystem.But this is not the case with this generation of hosts. Although the responsibility cannot be completely urged to Microsoft, their actions do show a lack of empathy for players - especially at a time when food, oil prices, and daily necessities are rising.Yes, the increase in development costs is indeed not something Microsoft can control, but the choice they make is to prioritize profits rather than players.

So while this generation of Xbox isn't officially over yet, it's almost destined to be remembered first of all: two hardware price increases (so far), three Game Pass price increases (so far), one software price increase (so far), and thousands of layoffs and multiple studio closures.

This is actually a "monkey claw effect" - what Xbox players have been hoping for since the Xbox One disaster generation is a continuous stream of first-party good games.And we finally ushered in this in 2025, and 2026 will also look very exciting.But at the cost, almost everything else is being sacrificed.And this is not the player's fault, but the result of Microsoft's greed.

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