The 10 BIGGEST Xbox Controversies

The 10 Biggest Xbox Controversies

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we’re taking a look at the biggest, most contentious controversies to come out of the Xbox brand.

“Redfall” & Studio Mismanagement

The early 2020’s were rough for Xbox in terms of releases. The Xbox Series X/S went so long without any new games, and “Halo: Infinite” was a disappointing drop in the bucket whereas “Forza Horizon 5” was a wonderful kickstart for that playerbase. But 2023 saw a massive bump in the road for Xbox when “Redfall” dropped. The AI was just too unbelievably stupid to properly detect players, and it wasn’t uncommon for environments to not load in properly. Turns out Xbox had been handling Arkane Austin and other studios with a completely off-hands direction. What’s worse is that even some staff at Arkane Austin had hoped Xbox would cancel the game after Microsoft bought Bethesda during the game’s development. It was such a critical and commercial disappointment that “Redfall’s” PS5 version was canceled, and in 2024, Microsoft shut down Arkane Austin as a means to “realign plans and resources” so that Xbox can “identify the opportunities that are best positioned for success” as President of Xbox Sarah Bond put it. But that wasn’t the only studio that was forced to shut its doors.

Closing Tango Gameworks

Yes, Tango Gameworks was another victim in Microsoft’s change of plans, and it is the most bewildering choice to put on the chopping block. While their products never made blockbuster sales, Tango Gameworks had the chance to be the Media Molecule to Xbox’s PlayStation, having won awards for “The Evil Within 2” and more recently, “Hi-Fi Rush”. “Hi-Fi Rush”, in particular, showed promise in the future of Xbox as folks gravitated towards the unique approach to rhythm-based mechanics. Even “Ghostwire: Tokyo” saw a modest fanbase and could have had a promising future with an improved sequel. But what angered Xbox fans more about Tango’s closure was how other Xbox studios that have been botching games for years like 343 Industries and its handling of “Halo” get off scot-free. But sure, let’s shutter the studio that won some pretty prominent awards for their work. It all feels eerily familiar to another closure we saw during the Xbox One days.

Closing Lionhead Studios

We’ll be the first to admit that Lionhead and the studios “Fable” games weren’t for everyone, but once upon a time, these fantasy RPGs were a central part of Xbox’s identity. In a market where many RPGs made you “the chosen one” and sent you on an epic quest, “Fable” gave you the same story but focused more on humor and trying to make your good and evil choices actually matter. Unfortunately, Xbox was trying to aggressively push for the Kinect to be the next big thing during the late 2000’s and early 2010’s, and part of their plan was to have Lionhead focus on nothing but Kinect games. Years were wasted as “Fable: The Journey” failed to capture an audience, “Project Milo” was demoed only to never be seen again, and other projects kept getting scrapped. Just when it seemed like Lionhead could bounce back with the online multiplayer spin-off “Fable Legends”, Xbox pulled the plug on the game and the studio in 2016. The worst part of it all was that not everyone at Lionhead was even aware of the closure being proposed until the day it was announced.

Trying to Double the Price of Xbox Gold

Perhaps this was an early sign showing that not all is well for the Xbox Series X/S generation. In January 2021, Xbox announced that it was going to double the price of Xbox Gold. Three months would cost thirty bucks, six months would cost sixty, and a full year would run one hundred twenty dollars. This was met with an overwhelming amount of backlash as customers pointed out just how worthless Xbox Gold was becoming in general. Xbox would not only backpedal on this, but the company would try to make amends by eliminating the need for Xbox Gold across all free-to-play games. Xbox Gold was eventually shut down altogether in September 2023 and replaced with a new tier for Game Pass known as Xbox Game Pass Core, launching the new tier at the same price Xbox Gold charged.

The Constant PR Hypocrisy

Over the years, Xbox heads such as Phil Spencer have made some statements to media outlets and pundits that would later contradict the company’s actions. One prime example is how Spencer stated how much he despises exclusivity yet Xbox continued to operate in this mindset with releases like “Starfield” while buying up big studios to shove under the Xbox brand. Then, there are the times where Spencer and Xbox executives have expressed their desire for smaller games and potentially award-winning games, yet choose to shut down a studio like Tango Gameworks, a studio that made smaller games AND won awards. And then, you have some Xbox “ambassadors” spreading false information that Xbox’s troubles are the same troubles many other massive game companies are going through. Well, that’s not what the sales data for PS5 and Switch are saying.

The Acquisition Campaigns

Ever since Microsoft acquired Bethesda in January 2021, there were weird conversations unfolding about which companies Microsoft should buy to bolster the Xbox brand. One of the very few to speak out against this notion was Last Stand Media founder and Sacred Symbols host Colin Moriarty. Moriarty was the most prominent voice as he pointed out the dangers of consolidating the video game market and how managing so many studios would only increase development costs thus leading to studio closures. Here we are in 2024, and we’ve lost Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Studios as a result of low sales across Xbox hardware and games. Toys For Bob, once owned by Activision Blizzard before they were acquired in 2023, was possibly on the chopping block as well before they made the move to go independent.

The Move to Third-Party

In January 2024, the Xbox fanbase was set ablaze. Multiple inside sources came forward about Xbox’s plans to take their exclusives and launch them on other platforms. Whereas many were eager to play Xbox games on their PS5 or Switch, others were enraged. Social media was quickly flooded with images and videos of players trading in their Series X and S consoles and buying PS5s or Switch consoles instead. Sure enough, this move proved true as Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty held an interview about the move, announcing that “Pentiment”, “Grounded”, “Hi-Fi Rush”, and “Sea of Thieves” would be the first four games. “Sea of Thieves” wound up being among the Top 3 best-selling games on PlayStation for April 2023.

The Red Ring of Death

This was perhaps the first time Microsoft and Xbox found themselves in hot water with players. Even though the Xbox 360 was impressive in visual fidelity and UI when it first launched, it wasn't long until folks began experiencing the Red Ring of Death. This was a result of the console overheating and/or not having the proper ventilation, and this would cause Xbox 360s to suddenly stop working altogether. Microsoft soon had to compensate users by either issuing refunds or providing brand new Xbox 360s as replacements. To this day, many have not forgotten this troublesome era.

Everything to Do With Xbox Game Pass

For the everyday person, Game Pass is a huge steal. A monthly fee to play some of the newest games from both Xbox and its AAA and indie partners? You're getting a lot of value for a modest price! Alas, this has come at a massive, MASSIVE cost for the games industry. Some pundits like Colin Moriarty have long pointed out how Game Pass rarely translates to sales, and you can see that in Xbox’s messaging sometimes. One shining example of this was “Hi-Fi Rush”, which never had its sales revealed by Microsoft. However, Xbox was vocal about how many players checked out the game but never clarified how many of those players were Game Pass users and how many were players who bought the game. Other executives such as Take Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick and former Activision Blizzard King CEO Bobby Kotick have also expressed their views on how putting their games on services like Game Pass could ultimately damage their revenue if they put GTA or “Call of Duty” on the platform. This combined with the growing lack of support from developers in making games for Xbox has caused many to begin second-guessing the true value behind Game Pass.

The Xbox One Reveal

After dominating with the Xbox 360 during the seventh generation of consoles, no one had expected an embarrassment as colossal and devastating as the Xbox One reveal. If you have any clue about this event, you have probably already seen the exemplary cut of the showcase made by YouTube user “Darkbeat”. For roughly an hour, viewers saw then-Microsoft Senior Vice President Don Mattrick and his cohorts present the Xbox One as not a gaming console, but an entertainment center. Kinect integration, voice commands, the ability to watch TV and sports while gaming, it was everything that we didn’t want and didn’t care to know about the console. What made it worse was how Microsoft planned to focus on cloud-streaming gaming and sought to allow game discs to only be usable once, eliminating the ability to share physical copies of games with others. This opened the door for Sony to put out a video on how to share games for PlayStation 4. What no one knew at the time was that this would be the start of two long and painful generations for Xbox.

Which Xbox controversy rubbed you the wrong way? Let us know down in the comments (in a civil manner), and be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday.