Former Blizzard president and Xbox exec says Xbox needs to ‘pick their lane and stick to it’
Mike Ybarra says it’s “tough to see Xbox confused” about its identity
Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra says Xbox should decide what its identity should be going forwards, instead of trying to be a jack of all trades.
Ybarra, who served various roles at Microsoft for 20 years (culminating in a role as corporate vice president on Xbox Live and Xbox Game Pass) before becoming Blizzard president for three years, took to X to give his views on Xbox’s current situation.
“Tough to see Xbox confused about who it is and what it should be,” Ybarra wrote. “Some great people there still.
“They have to figure out what needs to change, and fast. I’m a big fan and will always bleed green. Cheering the team on from the sidelines. Pick your lane and stick to it.”
Asked by a follower what he thinks Xbox should do, Ybarra said he felt it should focus on being a publisher rather than a console manufacturer.
“It’s simple to me,” he replied. “Xbox should strive to be the world’s largest publisher of entertainment content. Get rid of everything else and get focused. Do not be afraid to say what you are. Embrace the lane.”
Asked how that aligned with Xbox’s identity as a console manufacturer, Ybarra replied: “From what I see, they are no longer that. Straddling the fence is not a winning plan.”
Ybarra was later asked by a follower whether he knew anything about the Xbox layoffs reportedly planned for this week, but he stressed that he knew “nothing about what is going on there and haven’t for years”.
Ybarra’s comments follow those of former Microsoft Game Studios employee Laura Fryer, who recently shared her thoughts on the company’s current direction on her YouTube channel, stating her view that Xbox’s recent partnerships with external hardware companies like Asus, Meta and AMD leads her to believe its own hardware business is effectively “dead”.
“Obviously, as one of the founding members of the Xbox team, I’m not pleased with where things are today. I don’t love watching all of the value that I helped create slowly get eroded away,” she said.
“I’m sad because from my perspective, it looks like Xbox has no desire or literally can’t ship hardware anymore. So this [ROG Ally] partnership is about a slow exit from the hardware business completely.”
Microsoft has adopted a multiplatform approach for its first-party games, with many titles now releasing for PlayStation 5 close to, or alongside, their Xbox versions.
It has nevertheless committed to releasing a next-generation Xbox console to succeed Xbox Series X and S, though whether that will continue to be a ‘traditional’ console or more of a PC-like device with access to multiple stores remains to be seen.
