Microsoft arbejder godt nok på en ny konsol, der er den mest kraftfulde de nogensinde har designet, men det lader til at konceptet bag denne maskine er at skubbe videre på de tjenester de kører, samt de spil de udgiver. Altså er Microsoft tilsyneladende ikke interesseret i at "vinde" i ren og skær konsolsalg.
I et interview med Kotaku slår Xbox-chefen Phil Spencer nemlig fast, at de fokuserer på tjenester og software-salg, og at salget af hardware kommer bagefter.
"The business is selling software and services. The business is not how many consoles you sell. The consoles are not where the profit in this side of the business is made, which is where the whole: 'Who's selling more consoles' at any one time as the kind of root good of who is doing well in the business is just not true. You have other companies entering gaming who don't even have a console as part of their equation. It's all about how many games are people playing. And how much people are spending playing those games and how often they play."
Denne strategi har dog hjulpet Xbox-brandet til at være blandt de 100 største i verden i forhold til undersøgelse bragt i Financial Times, og PlayStation er eksempelvis slet ikke på listen.