December 27, 2025
Console wars: Xbox’s ghost haunts 2025
2025 was the year Xbox died
Fans call it a funeral, others say it’s just a meme
TLDR: Engadget says 2025 was Xbox’s “death” year—after cancelled games, price hikes, and flagships like Forza landing on PS5. Comments erupt: some blast the $80B studio spree, others call the doom just a meme, and many eye a move to PC while nitpicking WINE and debating controller vs mouse-keyboard fairness.
The internet showed up to Xbox’s funeral, but half the crowd claims the casket is empty. Engadget’s piece declares 2025 the year Xbox died after canceled hopes like Perfect Dark and Everwild, price hikes (Series S at $400, Series X at $600), slow sales so bad Costco walked away, and even Xbox favorites like Forza Horizon 5 cruising onto PS5. Cue the drama: AmVess torches Microsoft for “$80 billion” in studio buys with “nothing to show.” 20k insists the real death happened back in 2013, when Xbox “lost the console war” for good.
But the pushback is loud too. 1123581321 says this whole “Xbox is dead” thing is an influencer-fueled meme, noting even an exec had to chime in to say a new console is coming. Meanwhile, longtime loyalists like im_down_w_otp confess they’d jump to PC if it didn’t mean rebuying games and facing mouse-and-keyboard (MnK) players while on a controller. And because it’s the internet, a pedant shows up: kaladin-jasnah corrects the piece with “WINE is not an emulator” (WINE literally stands for “Wine Is Not an Emulator”).
The mood? A mix of wake, roast, and séance: some mourn the brand, some dunk on the missteps, and others bet the “resurrection” will happen on PC instead.
Key Points
- •Microsoft canceled the Perfect Dark reboot and reportedly canceled Everwild in 2025.
- •Microsoft released Forza Horizon 5 on PlayStation 5, reflecting a cross‑platform strategy.
- •US prices for Xbox consoles increased to around $400 for Series S and $600 for the cheapest Series X.
- •Xbox console revenue fell 30% year‑over‑year during summer 2025, per the article.
- •Costco reportedly stopped selling Xbox consoles online amid slow Xbox hardware sales.