Microsoft launched a new Xbox Player Voice portal yesterday, ostensibly to collect feedback and “make it more visible.” It took approximately five minutes for Xbox fans to demonstrate that their feedback has always been perfectly visible - they just want someone to actually listen. The most upvoted feedback demands exclusive games for Xbox consoles, more backward compatible titles, and free online multiplayer.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has already promised she’s “reevaluating” the approach to Xbox-exclusive games and windowed releases, though she stopped short of pledging to reverse the decision to port games to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. “Xbox was built off of great game exclusives,” wrote fan Carlos Hernandez in a post upvoted nearly 7,000 times, helpfully reminding the company that you cannot sell consoles without giving people a reason to buy them instead of the competition’s.
The second most popular request is for more backward compatible games - a feature that lets owners play select titles from the original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on the latest Xbox Series S/X. Microsoft revived the program with 76 new games in 2021, but warned it had “reached the limit of our ability to bring new games to the catalog from the past due to licensing, legal and technical constraints.” In other words: sorry, your old favorites are trapped in copyright hell.
Xbox fans also want free online multiplayer without a subscription. Microsoft already offers this for PC games, but console players must still pay up. The company was forced to drop the Xbox Live Gold requirement for free-to-play games in 2021, but Sony still charges for online play on PlayStation (except for free-to-play titles). So at least Xbox fans can take comfort in being slightly less nickel-and-dimed than the competition.
Other top feedback includes requests for an Xbox Game Pass family plan, improvements to the achievements system, and a demand for an HDR Xbox dashboard. You can vote for your favorite ideas over at Microsoft’s main Xbox Player Voice website - or, if history is any guide, you can just keep shouting into the void.