Blog: xbox

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

The case for more digestable games: Over a third of console and PC gamers play LESS than 5 hours a week

Cover image for The case for more digestable games: Over a third of console and PC gamers play LESS than 5 hours a week

Rhys Elliott

20 Feb 2025

The attention economy is oversaturated. Games are not just competingwith other games but with TikTok, YouTube, Netflix, and well ... life. But the games industry – especially premium games on console...

min read

How PlayStation broke its hardware and active user records in Q4

Cover image for How PlayStation broke its hardware and active user records in Q4

Rhys Elliott

13 Feb 2025

Business Strategy

Sony released its financial results for calendar Q4 2024. Here are the high-level results: Sony generated revenues of $27.9 billion As always, its Game & Network Services (G&NS) Segment – PlayStation...

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The games market will grow by 4.6% in 2025 – in line with the global inflation rate

Cover image for The games market will grow by 4.6% in 2025 – in line with the global inflation rate

Rhys Elliott

31 Jan 2025

Business Strategy

We just published our flagship games report MIDiA Research’s Global Games Forecasts 2025–2031 and its accompanying dataset. What you need to know: The games market is mature , so double-digit growth...

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Are console platforms about to push smartphone-style subscription plans?

Cover image for Are console platforms about to push smartphone-style subscription plans?

Rhys Elliott

17 Jan 2025

Business Strategy

assassin’s creed

Diminishing returns on console generations, cash-strapped consumers, and increasing console prices might just open up a new pricing model for consoles – one in which consoles look increasingly like smartphones....

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Gamers spend more time on social video than games

Cover image for Gamers spend more time on social video than games

Rhys Elliott

5 Dec 2024

Game publishers have long used third-party video platforms such as Twitch and YouTube as springboards for game promotion. In return, Twitch and YouTube receive ad- and creator-driven revenues (like donations)....

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Move over, console wars – the battle for AAA portable gaming is coming

Cover image for Move over, console wars – the battle for AAA portable gaming is coming

Rhys Elliott

25 Nov 2024

Seemingly every manufacturer in the games space is working on a portable machine. Now, Bloomberg sources claim that Sony has started early work on a portable that plays PS5 games. Microsoft’s head of...

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Activision pushed Xbox to growth in an otherwise flat Q3

Cover image for Activision pushed Xbox to growth in an otherwise flat Q3

Rhys Elliott

1 Nov 2024

Product Strategy

Microsoft’s Q3 2024 results (fiscal Q1 2025) continue to reflect Xbox’s shifting strategy: Xbox’s gaming revenue grew 43% year-on-year , but essentially all of this growth came from the Activision...

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Sony's $700 PS5 Pro is for superfans – it won’t really grow PlayStation’s playerbase

Cover image for Sony's $700 PS5 Pro is for superfans – it won’t really grow PlayStation’s playerbase

Rhys Elliott

10 Sep 2024

Sony just announced its worst-kept secret, the PS5 Pro. It's launching for $700 in November 2024, four years after the debut of the original PS5. Compared to the original, PS5 Pro will offer better visuals...

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Gamers aren’t finishing games, and that’s a problem

Cover image for Gamers aren’t finishing games, and that’s a problem

Rhys Elliott

24 Jul 2024

Assassin's Creed

Every segment in the games market is facing challenges. While some experts remain optimistic about gaming’s growth pace returning in the near future, the truth is that many arguments for this never-ending...

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Game Pass’ updates mark a new era for Xbox

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Rhys Elliott

19 Jul 2024

Xbox recently announced significant changes to its subscription offering ahead of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 hitting the service. In September 2024, Xbox is: Increasing prices for Game Pass Ultimate from...

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Xbox’s Games Showcase points to a reckoning for game subscriptions

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Rhys Elliott

13 Jun 2024

“Play it day one with Game Pass.” These words flashed on the screen 15 times during the Xbox Games Showcase 2024, which wowed critics and fans alike with a lineup of 30 Xbox games. Most of the titles...

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Older gamers are a growth opportunity for AA(A) publishers

Cover image for Older gamers are a growth opportunity for AA(A) publishers

Rhys Elliott

29 May 2024

The days of gaming as a hobby only for young people are clearly over. Unlike in the past, gamers are now sticking with console and PC games into adulthood and old age. Consumers aged 55+ account for a...

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Focusing too much on Xbox's hardware decline misses the point

Cover image for Focusing too much on Xbox's hardware decline misses the point

Rhys Elliott

2 May 2024

Microsoft recently released its Q1 2024 financial results (fiscal Q3). Gaming revenue was up +51% and Xbox content / services revenue was up +62%. These gains mostly came from Microsoft’s Activision...

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Fallout is another transmedia hit, but the strategy needs to evolve

Cover image for Fallout is another transmedia hit, but the strategy needs to evolve

Rhys Elliott

26 Apr 2024

Everyone was talking about the Super Mario Bros. Movie (The Mario movie ) and HBO’s The Last of Us this time last year, and now Fallout has entered the mainstream thanks to the Amazon show. But, for...

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Collector’s editions are becoming a backdoor for monetising early access

Cover image for Collector’s editions are becoming a backdoor for monetising early access

Rhys Elliott

17 Apr 2024

Since publishers first increased AAA game prices from $60 to $70 in 2020, many people have asked MIDiA if publishers will raise that price further. Our answer: they already have – sort of, anyway. Via...

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Game budgets have gone out of control – let's shrink the scope

Cover image for Game budgets have gone out of control – let's shrink the scope

Rhys Elliott

11 Apr 2024

PlayStation Productions

AAA game development budgets and timelines for single-player games are getting out of hand. This was not always the case, but there has been an insidious creep over the past 20 years. While the cost of...

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Steam is the unlikely winner of the modern console wars – for now

Cover image for Steam is the unlikely winner of the modern console wars – for now

Rhys Elliott

4 Apr 2024

Thanks to console manufacturers and third-party publishers moving content to Steam, Valve now boasts one of the most diverse AAA offerings on the market, benefitting from new strategies adopted by Xbox...

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Embracing the cultural ascent of games: Zelda, Sony, and games-video symbiosis

Cover image for Embracing the cultural ascent of games: Zelda, Sony, and games-video symbiosis

Perry Gresham

10 Nov 2023

Legend of Zelda

Gaming has been mainstream for a while, but in recent years it has started flexing its cross-cultural muscles, intersecting with music, sports, and increasingly with video . The latest example is a new...

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Are streaming TV services poised to become pay TV channels in all but name?

Cover image for Are streaming TV services poised to become pay TV channels in all but name?

Ben Woods

16 May 2023

Amazon Prime Video

The streaming TV landscape is changing rapidly. Leading entertainment industry executives are questioning every aspect of the subscription video on-demand (SVOD) model in pursuit of sustainable profits....

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Is the quality of games going down?

Cover image for Is the quality of games going down?

Perry Gresham

24 Feb 2023

trueachievements

“Things aren’t like they used to be”, a common refrain of anyone over the age of about 25, is a sentiment especially prevalent amongst gamers today. Is this blind nostalgia, or have games really...

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