It’s been a torrid couple of weeks forXboxwith another round of layoffs,studio closuresand several game cancellations. A less consequential, but still notable, change has just been implemented: users will no longer be able to purchase movies or television shows from the Xbox or Microsoft storefronts.
As of today, these digital storefronts have been shuttered (thanks,The Verge). Users will still be able to access their library of previously purchased content, but the ability to purchase new media has been removed. You’ll also have to continue using the app to access this content, as you’re able to’t simply export it elsewhere.
Users Won’t Be Able To Buy New Content
The original iteration of the service was launched in 2006, before it became the “Movies & TV” app in 2015. After another decade, Microsoft is finally pulling the plug on the service. There are a myriad of other entertainment libraries available on both Xbox and Windows, so Microsoft is likely just relying on more popular services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and others to satiate users' entertainment needs.
This isn’t too surprising. Although the Xbox (and other consoles) was at one time envisioned as the entertainment centrepiece of the living room, the advent of smart televisions ultimately eroded the usefulness of the Xbox’s non-gaming features.
Microsoft and Xbox appear to be on a spree of cutting back the so-called bloat in the company, having initiated four rounds of layoffs in the last year-and-a-half, despite Microsoft recording a profit of $171 billion last year.
This has been especially controversial within gaming circles, where project cancellations have left a lot of people in the lurch. Rare’s Everwildhas been in development since 2014; Perfect Dark’s cancellation deprived Alix Wilton Reagan, Joanna Dark’s voice actor,of steady work, and the cancellation of ZeniMax Online’s upcoming MMOwas a massive shockto the 200+ people working on the project.
Exactly how Xbox will look in the future is up in the air, with observers predicting that the company may be exiting the console business in favour of becoming exclusively a game publisher and holding company.
