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[Unknown?]

5 years?

Forgive him, time is meaningless in his void.

 

[StereoVsn]

5 years?

 

[Nydius]

Does Microsoft even care? They are certainly growing their PC and cloud streaming business via Game Pass. They also now have a collection of first party studios to push out decent enough games. As long as the first party content quality improves over the next few years and MS drops some kind of portable PC to capture that growing part of the market, I doubt MS cares if they believe they are on a path to sustained profitability.

Microsoft is a public company.
Shareholders certainly care. Stakeholders care. C-Suite executives who have to deliver results to the aforementioned two groups most definitely care.

If it’s more profitable to abandon hardware and have “Microsoft Game Studios” become a purely software and services division, they’ll absolutely do it in a heartbeat.

The idea that they’ll release some handheld and it will solve all their problems is laughable. It’s yet another market they’re chasing and will be years behind by the time they launch a product. Steam Deck and various Windows handhelds will already dominate the landscape and any Xbox handheld will have almost no path to sustained growth. The same failed playbook Microsoft ran with Zune, Windows CE PDAs, Windows Mobile/Windows Phone, and, to a lesser extent, Xbox itself. Late to the market with all of them and thought they could simply prop them up with their corporate warchest until they reached market viability/profitability.

Microsoft seems to never learn from their past missteps.

 

[Yonyx]

Looking at those numbers, you realize that the approximate percentage of sales for the last two Xbox consoles in the USA is 50% of their global sales.

One sold 29 million in the USA out of the 58 million sold worldwide, exactly half. The Series estimates are 14 million in the USA and approximately 28 million worldwide, also an approximate 50%.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

so 6 million difference. It's not two to one or three to one in the US?
- I thought it was that bad tbh.

What I find interesting is that the TAM is not growing at all, it's just 2 million people decided to buy the PS5 instead of the Series consoles. It's actually shrinking and that's with Covid boom demand.

1: This is US-only; globally in a lot of markets it's like 10:1 in favor of PS5, even more in select regions

2: TAM doesn't need constant growth for the market to sustain itself. This is a lie that greedy shareholders and corporate suits put out there in their chase for impossible "infinite growth".

What actually matters is healthy sustained revenue & profits relative operating expenses. Something Microsoft failed at, Sony are trying to find a balance in, and Nintendo has solved.

Looking at those numbers, you realize that the approximate percentage of sales for the last two Xbox consoles in the USA is 50% of their global sales.

One sold 29 million in the USA out of the 58 million sold worldwide, exactly half. The Series estimates are 14 million in the USA and approximately 28 million worldwide, also an approximate 50%.

Series consoles are closer to 26.2 million global sold-through (as of April 1), not 28 million. At least IMHO.

But yes, the US has been accounting for the heavy majority of Xbox console sales since the 360, in fact. I think some 42 million 360s were sold in the US alone.

No, what the Series consoles desperately need are good games.

They have a nice range of good games IMO. Forza Horizon 5, Flight Simulator, Minecraft, Sea of Thieves. Pentiment, HiFi Rush....

The real problem is they have no zeitgeist-amazing AAA bangers and, worst yet, no actual exclusives. Every single game is Day 1 on PC, rendering the console value moot.

 

[Unknown?]

Looking at those numbers, you realize that the approximate percentage of sales for the last two Xbox consoles in the USA is 50% of their global sales.

One sold 29 million in the USA out of the 58 million sold worldwide, exactly half. The Series estimates are 14 million in the USA and approximately 28 million worldwide, also an approximate 50%.

Yeah way too lopsided. If you include North America, it's probably closer to 60%.

 

[nial]

I hope Apple or somebody else comes along and makes a proper competitor for ps6.

You will keep hoping for that.
I actually want Apple to try, but if It's gonna be essentially a Xbox Series 2, don't bother.

On a side note, oh well, it looks like PlayStation only for me next gen as well. I won't be buying a Switch 2.

 

[Jibran#one]

An optional console, with the $499 flagship still widely available…



Lol. They’ve invested a shit load of money into games.
Execution and end product is the issue.



Forza Horizon is MUCH bigger than Forza Motorsport, and FH5 certainly didn’t suck ass.

But how on earth did you list those two and omit Starfield, which underperformed?

Forza horizon became bigger after 4 and 5
Fm7 was huge forsa motorsport was one of the brands xbox was built on
They released the trailers of motorsport since the launch of of sx saying it was from the ground up and it absolutely suck.
I bought the sx only for motorsport just to wait for it 3 years and getting disappointed.
Starfield and buying of Activision came later.
They fucked up infinite too although it's a good game now and mostly feature complete but after like 1.5 years of releasing it when the game is almost dead.

 

[BennyBlanco]

You will keep hoping for that.
I actually want Apple to try, but if It's gonna be essentially a Xbox Series 2, don't bother.

On a side note, oh well, It looks like PlayStation only for me next gen as well. I won't be buying a Switch 2.

PC + Nintendo for me going forward. I legit have not turned on my ps5 since the FFXVI demo.

 

[MikeM]

so 6 million difference. It's not two to one or three to one in the US?
- I thought it was that bad tbh.

What I find interesting is that the TAM is not growing at all, it's just 2 million people decided to buy the PS5 instead of the Series consoles. It's actually shrinking and that's with Covid boom demand.

Migrating to the PC market. Gamers in careers can generally afford the jump.

 

[DenchDeckard]

iPhone 5s was released in 2013. The base model was $649.

So like 200 dollars less than a phone now?

Well.....to be fair a GTA current gen game hasn't been released yet. And we've had no price cuts on the consoles.



But they are generating more revenue and you know that. So that has to mean something......



The one thing about Microsoft's failure of the Xbox console is that it has allowed people like Mibu no ookami to be able to say the bolded. Console gaming isn't growing purely and ONLY due to MS and Phil's horrible management.

All we hear about on here is that revenue doesn't matter and profit is what matters. What is it?

1: This is US-only; globally in a lot of markets it's like 10:1 in favor of PS5, even more in select regions

2: TAM doesn't need constant growth for the market to sustain itself. This is a lie that greedy shareholders and corporate suits put out there in their chase for impossible "infinite growth".

What actually matters is healthy sustained revenue & profits relative operating expenses. Something Microsoft failed at, Sony are trying to find a balance in, and Nintendo has solved.



Series consoles are closer to 26.2 million global sold-through (as of April 1), not 28 million. At least IMHO.

But yes, the US has been accounting for the heavy majority of Xbox console sales since the 360, in fact. I think some 42 million 360s were sold in the US alone.



They have a nice range of good games IMO. Forza Horizon 5, Flight Simulator, Minecraft, Sea of Thieves. Pentiment, HiFi Rush....

The real problem is they have no zeitgeist-amazing AAA bangers and, worst yet, no actual exclusives. Every single game is Day 1 on PC, rendering the console value moot.

Wasn't there data showing that Sonys margins are low/pretty dang bad?

That and Sony themselves saying they are trying to find ways to improve their margins.

This generation has been bad for them in profitability. We've seen the data on here. They are working to turn it around l now though.

Xbox is just a mess, no one knows what's going on there lol

 

[Ozriel]

Forza horizon became bigger after 4 and 5
Fm7 was huge forsa motorsport was one of the brands xbox was built on
They released the trailers of motorsport since the launch of of sx saying it was from the ground up and it absolutely suck.
I bought the sx only for motorsport just to wait for it 3 years and getting disappointed.
Starfield and buying of Activision came later.
They fucked up infinite too although it's a good game now and mostly feature complete but after like 1.5 years of releasing it when the game is almost dead.

Forza Horizon was already the bigger Franchise by FH3. And not even close.

Starfield came with the 2021 purchase of Bethesda and was always slated to ship before Forza Motorsport.

 

[mckmas8808]

Combined sales down when comparing generations. Not good with higher game budgets.

But there are more people playing PC games now, than when compared to 2014. So is it really that bad?

How much do phones cost VS 2013?

Graphics cards?

TVs?

Any other tech items?

Are they all suffering the same fate?

Yes.

 

[Gaiff]

They have a nice range of good games IMO. Forza Horizon 5, Flight Simulator, Minecraft, Sea of Thieves. Pentiment, HiFi Rush....

The real problem is they have no zeitgeist-amazing AAA bangers and, worst yet, no actual exclusives. Every single game is Day 1 on PC, rendering the console value moot.

That's 6 games in 3.5 years and only one truly next-gen game. Minecraft and Sea of Thieves are also from the Xbox One era and before. Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and Sea of Thieves are on PS5 as well, effectively leaving you with 1 game you cannot play on PS5 and that's a simulation game.

I would not call this a wide selection against: Rift Apart, Returnal, FF XVI, FF VII Rebirth, Spider-Man 2, Ragnarok, Forbidden West, Demon's Souls, The Last of Us Part I, Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin and a few more that I can't be bothered to list because I think I got the point across.

There is almost no reason to own a Series X over a PS5 right now. These are the most lopsided libraries we've seen in favor of the Playstation since the original Xbox era.

 

[Mahavastu]

so 6 million difference. It's not two to one or three to one in the US?
- I thought it was that bad tbh.

It looks better then it is because of the supply problems in the beginning.
If you look at year 4 and 5 (2023 / 2024) when Playstation could ship, the relation is 1:2, and the difference is growing.
And this in the only major market left for XBox, it looks way worse in the rest of the world.

 

[Havoc2049]

On a positive note, the XB S/X is doing better than the OG XB.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I was one of the people that fought you on this. Looks like I'm gonna be wrong and you maybe right. I was thinking the floor for XBS was 40 million and the high is 50 million units sold.

All in the tea leaves...

Conclusion! Huh?

There are some industries where only one company dominates. It's really rare when it comes to entertainment though. Even the iPhone only has 60% of the smartphone market in the US.

But you look at Steam on the PC and I think that's what we're going to have in the console market with Sony. Who was buying mp3 players that weren't iPods after they were the dominant player?

Sony will try to leverage their dominance in gaming to expand in entertainment across the board. If they can buy Paramount they'll be well on their way. Being dominant in entertainment can help you be dominant when it comes to hardware and vice versa. Sony knows this. It's the Apple model.

 

[KungFucius]

so 6 million difference. It's not two to one or three to one in the US?
- I thought it was that bad tbh.

What I find interesting is that the TAM is not growing at all, it's just 2 million people decided to buy the PS5 instead of the Series consoles. It's actually shrinking and that's with Covid boom demand.

Is the shrinking due to lower interest in gaming, or older gamers graduating to PC? Microsoft is doing much better than I thought and there is 0 reason to own one if you have a nice gaming PC. For PS5 the only real reason to own one if you have a PC is getting first party games quicker.

For what it is worth I have a PC, gamepass, and a launch PS5

 

[jroc74]

I must be wrong because otherwise others would had pointed this out already but..

Only 20M hardware sold for the market leader console ? In 5 years ?
Seems awfully low to me. Is this thing gonna touch the 80 or 100 mark in its lifecycle.

So....just looking at the chart would tell you it's ahead of the PS4...and this is your take away?

 

[yurinka]

SIE's largest lead in 20 years

PS5 adoption has skyrocketed over the last 18 months
Nov 2022 GoW Ragnarok #2
Dec 2022 GoW Ragnarok #3
Jan 2023 Forspoken#7 / GoW Ragnarok #8
Feb 2023 The Last of Us: Part 1 #6
Mar 2023 The Last of Us: Part 1 #5
Jun 2023 FF XVI #2
Jul 2023 FF XVI #5
Oct 2023 Spider-Man 2 #1
Nov 2023 Spider-Man 2 #2
Dec 2023 Spider-Man 2 #5
Jan 2024 The Last of Us: Part II # 9 / Spider-Man 2 #10
Feb 2024 Helldivers II #1 / FFVII: Rebirth #2
Mar 2024 Helldivers II #2 / Rise of the Ronin #5 / FFVII: Rebirth #7

Source of these numbers? Seem to be just VGchartz-like user fan guesses

 

[Ogbert]

Yes.

This is the US where they are almost always historically dead even (or Xbox having a lead).

Worldwide Playstation sells waaaaay more than Xbox.

This is the closest ratio worldwide, aside from maybe Mexico.

This isn't just not bad, it's a fucking disaster.

But we know the market dynamics have changed. Sony is strongest in Europe and US. They’ve been crushed in Japan.

Just expected the difference between Sony and MS to be bigger.

 

[Fafalada]

We're looking at potentially a 10 million difference by the end of this gen.

Ps3 and 360 were about the same difference apart at this point launch aligned, and that ended with around 20M difference.
Of course, 360 had exceptional finish in US, but still, too early to tell what the delta might be in 4 years.

 

[Loomy]

It was over the moment MS put Xbox games on PS.

No more console wars. Just pointless arguments from now on.

It was over the moment they decided to open the reveal of their newest console(Xbox One) with it's DVR capabilities and follow that up with a permanently attached peripheral no one asked for.

 

[feynoob]

It was over the moment they decided to open the reveal of their newest console(Xbox One) with it's DVR capabilities and follow that up with a permanently attached peripheral no one asked for.

That was the most self sabotage moment in the history.

 

[THE DUCK]

I was expecting a lot worse for Xbox…

Considering people act like the ps5 sells at a 20 to 1 ratio, ya, you would think so.

Interesting numbers considering all the gloom and doom. In before "but in insert random country here, it's dead!" posts!

 

[jroc74]

On a positive note, the XB S/X is doing better than the OG XB.

Might as well look at it like this, there are enough posts in here that think the current numbers aren't that bad.

Case in point, the post above, lol.

The 360 is looking more n more like an anomaly. I don't think MS will ever have a perfect storm like that gen to grab market share again.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Xbox is in an lose/lose situation. Pack it up early on Series X and launch a new console early, then Sony will have a stronger console because they waited longer for new AMD shit. Ride out this console until 2028, and you are just bleeding even more market share because consumers don’t want it.

I hope Apple or somebody else comes along and makes a proper competitor for ps6. Sony as the only “high end” console on the market will be terrible.

Agreed. There needs to be more competition. Not less. Maybe steam will finally do something? Or that long rumoured tencent one?

 

[feynoob]

Sony will try to leverage their dominance in gaming to expand in entertainment across the board.

Sony will face it's biggest challenge with current regime.

Putting a financial person as your decision maker doesn't bode down very well in the long term.

All they care is $$$$ and not how consumers will react to their decision.

 

[jroc74]

Xbox is in an lose/lose situation. Pack it up early on Series X and launch a new console early, then Sony will have a stronger console because they waited longer for new AMD shit. Ride out this console until 2028, and you are just bleeding even more market share because consumers don’t want it.

I hope Apple or somebody else comes along and makes a proper competitor for ps6. Sony as the only “high end” console on the market will be terrible.

Agree.

I think it's time for some to accept this.

MS are in a real lose/lose situation. They might as well follow Nintendo and try to be in their own lane.

 

[Loomy]

Might as well look at it like this, there are enough posts in here that think the current numbers aren't that bad.

The 360 is looking more n more like an anomaly. I don't think MS will ever have a perfect storm like that gen to grab market share again.

They launched a full year ahead of the PS3, and the PS3 was ridiculously expensive when it finally launched. By the time it came out, it became obvious that if you wanted a "robust" and truly next gen(so, PC like) multiplayer experience - your only option was the 360.

Because of that - even after the PS3 came out, a lot of games were released on 360 first because that's the devkit developers had ready first.

 

[THE DUCK]

Xbox one , Xbox one x and series sx all have one problem
Games
These are fucking gaming consoles with no aaa system selling games.

I've heard of these "aaa games" things before, is that something new?

I just finished watching ducktales and duck dynasty on my series X. Migration and Howard the duck on future playlist.

 

[Loomy]

Xbox is in an lose/lose situation. Pack it up early on Series X and launch a new console early, then Sony will have a stronger console because they waited longer for new AMD shit. Ride out this console until 2028, and you are just bleeding even more market share because consumers don’t want it.

I hope Apple or somebody else comes along and makes a proper competitor for ps6. Sony as the only “high end” console on the market will be terrible.

They have the right idea. Hardware isn't going to get them anywhere. They need content. The problem is that their original first party studios aren't doing them any favours, which is why they had to go on a content spending spree.

By the time they have it all figured out and get regular releases out, Xbox as a platform might not be viable. Or at least profitable enough to continue.

 

[feynoob]

Might as well look at it like this, there are enough posts in here that think the current numbers aren't that bad.

Case in point, the post above, lol.

The 360 is looking more n more like an anomaly. I don't think MS will ever have a perfect storm like that gen to grab market share again.

X360 had call of duty.

 

[nial]

In before "but in insert random country here, it's dead!" posts!

It all accumulates into larger, global sales, which are pretty bad.

 

[nial]

Or that long rumoured tencent one?

They already released a console for the Chinese market back in 2016, which I assume it's well discontinued by this point.
I really doubt Tencent wants to compete with Sony and Nintendo on a global scale.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

“I thought Xbox was doing worse”. This is their best territory and they are being manhandled. No way to spin it.

Be thankful this isn’t a worldwide thread. It would look like one of them is sleeping during the race.

 

[Ogbert]

“I thought Xbox was doing worse”. This is their best territory and they are being manhandled. No way to spin it.

Be thankful this isn’t a worldwide thread. It would look like one of them is sleeping during the race.

Why’s it spin?

I’m legitimately surprised they’ve managed to sell that many consoles. Their games suck. It’s also why I don’t think MS going third party achieves anything. I don’t think PS owners want MS titles.

I expected the gap to be bigger.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

Why’s it spin?

I’m legitimately surprised they’ve managed to sell that many consoles. Their games suck. It’s also why I don’t think MS going third party achieves anything. I don’t think PS owners want MS titles.

I expected the gap to be bigger.

Because this is the US and expectations should be met accordingly. The gap here is bigger than it has been in a long time. That’s….. disastrous because the picture isn’t only seen through the lense of one territory.

It’s also a significant drop from their best Xbox. And it’s not just because of a flop here and there either. There’s a cultural shift within Xbox that has created this.

Because this is their strongest territory, they are doing better here than everywhere else (relatively speaking), but in the grand scheme, it is disastrous.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

But more importantly, who buys an Xbox when you can just buy a Playstation and still play both PS and Xbox games?

I'll make this really easy for you: Because then you'd have to buy a PS, use that controller and pay for their online. All of those are a hard pass for me, unless I'm left with no viable alternative. I much prefer Xbox.

I'll always have the newest Nintendo console as well, of course, but it's a secondary console to play mostly Nintendo games on.

 

[Humdinger]

If anyone needs the year-by-year ratios (PS5 to XS+X):

Year 1: 1.3 to 1

Year 2: 1.1 to 1

Year 3: 1.3 to 1

Year 4: 1.8 to 1

Year 5 (so far): 2.3 to 1

LTD: 1.4 to 1

You can see the PS5 had a small advantage during the first three years, but that ramped up considerably in Year 4 and 5. And the trend is upward.

To the best of my recollection, the sales ratio for PS4 vs. Xbox One only hit 1.8 to 1 during the last year of that generation. This time it hit that level halfway through the gen.

This is despite having a much cheaper console contributing the majority of those Xbox numbers. And it's also despite rock-bottom prices at Crazy Phil's Discount Emporium.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Sony will face it's biggest challenge with current regime.

Putting a financial person as your decision maker doesn't bode down very well in the long term.

All they care is $$$$ and not how consumers will react to their decision.

First, Totoki is an interim CEO of SIE or if you're referring to Kenichiro Yoshida the CEO of Sony Group, who was once CFO of Sony Group, I think you're mistaken a bit.

They care about growth and profitability. You've had all sorts of CEOs of Sony and SIE through the years. Ultimately, it is their decision making that matters the most.

Sony is in a unique situation and for once they're actually recognizing it. They wasted the last 20 years and their growth was stunted as a result.

 

[Invalid GR]

Is there any info on how each of the Series consoles is performing on sales?
Most of the data I have seen are always combined sales.

 

[Humdinger]

Is there any info on how each of the Series consoles is performing on sales?
Most of the data I have seen are always combined sales.

I've heard that it's roughly 75% series S, 25% series X, but I don't have a link to substantiate that. I could be off.

 

[JerryinSoCal]

so 6 million difference. It's not two to one or three to one in the US?
- I thought it was that bad tbh.

What I find interesting is that the TAM is not growing at all, it's just 2 million people decided to buy the PS5 instead of the Series consoles. It's actually shrinking and that's with Covid boom demand.

Just looking at the last two years it's clear that demand for xbox is dropping, let's not forget the US is by far their strongest market, the difference globally is going to be much larger. Last year it was nearly 2 to 1 and this year so far it's over 2 to 1 in the US. It's crazy when you look at the fact that the Series S is only $299 and has sold significantly more units than the Series X.

 

[jroc74]

If anyone needs the year-by-year ratios (PS5 to XS+X):

Year 1: 1.3 to 1

Year 2: 1.1 to 1

Year 3: 1.3 to 1

Year 4: 1.8 to 1

Year 5 (so far): 2.3 to 1

LTD: 1.4 to 1

You can see the PS5 had a small advantage during the first three years, but that ramped up considerably in Year 4 and 5. And the trend is upward.

To the best of my recollection, the sales ratio for PS4 vs. Xbox One only hit 1.8 to 1 during the last year of that generation. This time it hit that level halfway through the gen.

This is despite having a much cheaper console contributing the majority of those Xbox numbers. And it's also despite rock-bottom prices at Crazy Phil's Discount Emporium.

Right. Before the gen started the Series S was gonna have Sony in a rough spot between the XSX and Series S.

The Series S was gonna lead to in increase in market share.

Game Pass + The Series S = danger for Sony.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

I'll make this really easy for you: Because then you'd have to buy a PS, use that controller and pay for their online. All of those are a hard pass for me, unless I'm left with no viable alternative. I much prefer Xbox.

I'll always have the newest Nintendo console as well, of course, but it's a secondary console to play mostly Nintendo games on.

Then the question becomes what's viable for Xbox.

 

[DeVeAn]

Way better than I expected from Xbox and much better than it deserves. I just don’t see the point of that system when the amount of high-quality games it has that the PS5 does not can be practically counted on one finger.

If you are someone who doesn't care about Playstation games or prefer Xbox controller, those are a couple of points.

 

[JerryinSoCal]

1: This is US-only; globally in a lot of markets it's like 10:1 in favor of PS5, even more in select regions

2: TAM doesn't need constant growth for the market to sustain itself. This is a lie that greedy shareholders and corporate suits put out there in their chase for impossible "infinite growth".

What actually matters is healthy sustained revenue & profits relative operating expenses. Something Microsoft failed at, Sony are trying to find a balance in, and Nintendo has solved.



Series consoles are closer to 26.2 million global sold-through (as of April 1), not 28 million. At least IMHO.

But yes, the US has been accounting for the heavy majority of Xbox console sales since the 360, in fact. I think some 42 million 360s were sold in the US alone.



They have a nice range of good games IMO. Forza Horizon 5, Flight Simulator, Minecraft, Sea of Thieves. Pentiment, HiFi Rush....

The real problem is they have no zeitgeist-amazing AAA bangers and, worst yet, no actual exclusives. Every single game is Day 1 on PC, rendering the console value moot.

Yeah during the 360 generation they had a 15 million sales lead in the US, that changed with the xbox one and while they were more competitive here than most places they were still outsold by the PS4 and now you have this generation going worse for them than the last one all while having the cheapest option available.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

An optional console, with the $499 flagship still widely available…

Lol. They’ve invested a shit load of money into games.
Execution and end product is the issue.

shouldn’t be an option. cause it’s a suboption that developers have to restrict their games to.

They clearly have rushed their games, some investment goes into the games, but the alot of it goes into taking a financial hit per release for subscriber numbers increases.

Each release becomes less about being as good as possible, to churning games out for the optics of having constant day one releases for consumers to feel their are getting a steal. Instead you just get a bunch of games that don’t respect your time.

 

[Ozriel]

shouldn’t be an option. cause it’s a suboption that developers have to restrict their games to.

Not sure how that’s your concern since you’re not a dev. Consumers don’t seem to be significantly impacted

They clearly have rushed their games, some investment goes into the games, but the alot of it goes into taking a financial hit per release for subscriber numbers increases.

This is an illogical argument.
Aside from the fact that they’ve been willing to delay games for up to a year on multiple occasions, your initial comment was about investment in first party games. And they did that buy massively expanding their first party setup via acquisitions, funding more AAA titles than they’ve ever had as Xbox and expanding internal studios

Each release becomes less about being as good as possible, to churning games out for the optics of having constant day one releases for consumers to feel their are getting a steal. Instead you just get a bunch of games that don’t respect your time.

Their games are sold on retail on Steam day one, so clearly not designed for subscription services.

This all reads like aimless criticism for criticism sake.