“Didn’t Make the Money It Needed to Make”- Industry Pundit Jeff Grubb Voices Bold Claim on Hi-Fi Rush, the Highly Acclaimed Gamepass Title

Microsoft purchased Zenimax for a reason: they wanted to grow the first-party library of their Xbox consoles. Primarily in order to attract more players to them. However, ever since the acquisition, there’s hardly been any game that has attracted players the way Sony PlayStation first-party games do.

This does not mean that Microsoft has had any shortage of good games, though. Xbox consoles have had some really good titles released for them recently. One such game was Hi-Fi Rush, a fast-paced hack-and-slash action game that reportedly disappointed Microsoft big time.

Jeff Grubb suggests that Microsoft is not happy with the sales of Hi-Fi Rush

Jeff Grubb recently talked about the state of Microsoft and their consoles and first-party exclusives. He discussed with Mike Minotti the current state of Xbox and Microsoft. About the game’s success, he mentioned, “Based on what I have heard, it just straight up didn’t make the money it needed to make. I mean, it got good reviews, and the buzz was good, so where do you put the blame for something like that?”

He added, “Is it the price, is it the shadow drop, or is it the game pass?” The comment from Grubb points out two major issues with the launch of this game. One was Microsoft’s decision to simply shadow-drop the game. The developer released it without much publicity which may have ended up hurting the prospects of the game. The second was Xbox’s Game Pass service. Many have suggested that bringing games to the Game Pass from day one hurts sales; many gamers simply download the newly available titles through the service and play them for a short duration.

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In turn, the most crucial period for such games, namely the launch window, is practically ruined because most in the community are playing them through Game Pass. Talking about Microsoft’s opinion, Jeff Grubb further added, “I can tell you, they are upset.” He went on to say that the lack of exclusives for Xbox consoles has poorly affected the sales of the Xbox consoles.

It appears Microsoft and Xbox really need to turn the tables soon. Perhaps, things will change for the good with the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Moreover, let us not forget the upcoming big-budget RPG Starfield, a game that certainly presents a strong suit for Xbox’s revival.

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