Microsoft is planning to exit the Xbox and gaming business

While you can learn more about Microsoft’s future plans with Xbox and beyond on the site today, a potential exit from the gaming business is also an option if internal goals are not met in the next few years.

Microsoft’s gaming business is not based on hardware sold, but primarily on Game Pass and subscribers who pay monthly. According to projections by FTC lawyer James Weingarten, this should have more than 100 million users by fiscal year 2029/30, mainly through the creation of cloud-first and PC-first games in the next few years, complemented by the console business. .

100 million Game Pass users by 2027?

However, this is already a long-term forecast for Microsoft, which 100 million users would like to achieve in fiscal year 2027. Otherwise there will be a serious option to abandon the gaming business.

In response to the predictions, Xbox head Phil Spencer said (via Wccftech):

“I can say with some certainty that if we don’t make more progress outside of consoles, we’ll be out of the gaming business. If that were the case, we’d be — I don’t think we’d still be in business.”

I hope we’ll reach most of our customers with our own devices sooner than 2030. When they asked me if I agreed with that schedule, depending on the colors you see there, the light green and blue should be much larger, much sooner. I would say we have to be in this position by FY26/27, otherwise we will have to make a different decision with the company.

It remains to be seen whether Spencer’s statement may have been a bit exaggerated. 100 million Game Pass users is already a mathematical claim, which recently had to be corrected to 25 million.

If you don’t achieve the goal you set for yourself, it remains to be seen whether Microsoft will actually leave the gaming business, which seems ridiculous at least for now.

Another leak today revealed the Xbox Series S revised next year and the following Xbox as a cloud console.