Like the other console makers (not to mention every other company mimicking Spotify), Xbox typically releases a personal annualized recap, letting you look back on what that year entailed for you. With this month marking the 25th anniversary of Xbox as a brand, the company has delivered a supersized version of that feature, the Playback Archive, letting you see your full Xbox history over that span. It should be a fun, celebratory thing. Instead, I find it depressing.
This has been a rough year for Xbox. It’s certainly not the first time that’s been true in the company’s history, but this is a whole different level of troubling (I yearn for the days when Kinect being mandatory was the biggest issue). 2026 for Xbox has seen layoffs, a clear directive to embrace generative AI, and studio shutdowns or divestitures that signal the days of Xbox helping a game like Psychonauts 2 or South of Midnight come into being are in the past. Even amid the ongoing BDS boycott of Microsoft, the reasons to no longer feel good about investing in Xbox are mounting.
My Playback Archive dates back 23 years, to December 27, 2003, the day I bought an Xbox Live subscription at Media Play in order to play MechAssault and NBA 2K3 online. I still remember the thrill of that, even as someone who had spent plenty of time playing online games like Unreal Tournament and Phantasy Star Online. The notion that I had this single profile and access to a growing library of online games was exciting.
Xbox established itself as my go-to platform for the next few generations and 11,000-plus hours of playing time. Even with incomplete data in the Playback Archive, I’m filled with memories of playing Halo 2 and 3 online, embracing MOBAs with Smite, and the countless hours I lost to sports games that I’ve since abandoned due to time constraints and the creeping influence of microtransactions.
I’m reminded of not just the systems and games Xbox got me to embrace, but all of the accessories for making the most of playing online: the amazing Xbox 360 chatpad for sending quick text messages to friends and foes alike; the awful wireless headset that cut out as often as it worked but felt like a taste of the future; and the wireless adapter that let me play in the privacy of my bedroom.
This should all be cause for celebration. I have many friendships formed on Xbox Live, and great memories of the shenanigans we’d get up to with proximity chat in Halo 2.
And yet it’s these highs that make the current low–a low that makes me less interested than ever in centering my gaming life around Xbox–feel that much worse. I had already been drifting toward playing more games on PC than any other platform, which was in stark contrast to the many years in which Xbox would be my home for most multiplatform experiences. Xbox’s 2026 has only accelerated my full-fledged embrace of PC gaming.
Sure, I’m curious to see how Fable turns out, I’ll always show up for a new Forza Horizon game, I’ll try a new Halo, and I can’t help but at least be tempted by World of Warcraft: Forever. But the clear shift at Xbox, led by new CEO Asha Sharma, has me deeply concerned about what the future of Xbox looks like, and whether that’s something I want to be a part of. Being in this line of work, I expect I’ll end up with a Project Helix console or handheld. But the days in which the Xbox in my home dominated my time, and led to the numbers in my Playback Archive, are long gone.
