Jez writes an opinion piece about why he personally sees it now. Which is fine.
But only because he sees it only now ‘now’ and he’s got a platform writing about it, doesn’t devaluate the fact that many people had this exact opinion/judgement even years prior.
Don’t get me wrong – Xbox and Microsoft definitely had (and still have) the opportunity (and money certainly) to change their course of direction.
But all of it is deeply interwoven with the DNA of Microsoft itself and their ranking in global economy.
I bet 100 bucks (for charity) on the outcome that even Xbox Next will fail.
Not because they wouldn’t have the opportunity not to fail.
But because I believe you can already see what their plan is with Xbox as an eco-system.
They want to lure you in. And then close it. All IP they own available ONLY through GP.
Currently, I don’t even see how they’d be able to curate their IP catalogue good enough.
Everwild and Perfect Dark are first examples.