[mrandish]

> Phil's strategy made sense on paper

It was a risky bet that became even higher risk when MSFT spent ~$80 billion dollars rolling up game studios near the peak of the historic COVID gaming bubble. They bet it would greatly increase Game Pass sub growth. Instead, Game Pass sub growth slowed down. At the time I thought it was a reasonable plan - but not at the prices MSFT was paying for content. Then the DRAM drought killed hardware sales to gamers forcing the issue.

[ghaff]

I needed a new DVD player and I pretty much splurged on an Xbox. But I haven't really used it for gaming.

[ethbr1]

I remember that was my calculus in the PS2 era. At one point near launch, they weren't much more expensive than a dedicated DVD player.

[bluGill]

They were the cheapest DVD player you could buy for a while, and they were also the most available DVD player. That changed fairly quick, but at launch they were your best value. (though dedicated DVD players generally had better controls)

[schnitzelstoat]

It's good for emulation too and it'll run GTA6, so I'll get mine out of storage.