Xbox Game Studios + Bethesda + ABK |OT30| Why So Series X|S?

[NDA-Man]

This misses the point entirely. It's not about whether Microsoft abandons the console or not, but about whether players and third parties do. Microsoft can keep it running as long as they feel like it, even as a side project if need be.

That won't work for third parties and Game Pass you mention as a neccessity to Microsoft, suddenly becomes a neccessity to third parties, if the install base becomes too low. At that point many will need a Game Pass deal to make ports worth it and how many and large will those be, if Game Pass only (or mainly) sells on Xbox, like you said and the console isn't selling well?

As for players, how long will it keep working for them, if they get everything on other platforms and only some games on Xbox? It's a cycle of decline, where one thing feeds into the other.

Here a the latest speculation on sales:

Xbox Game Studios + Bethesda + ABK |OT30| Why So Series X|S? Microsoft - OT

https://x.com/Welfare_JBP/status/1787246041651105860

www.resetera.com

This is Microsoft's best territory.

What was Dring's words? Something along the lines of thinking Xbox is in real trouble as a hardware manufacturer, with sales flatlining in Europe.

Microsoft can keep making the console, but that missing the entire point of how compelling said console will be to players and developers. And that's why some of us are against the ports.

That strategy won't work for the console, even if Microsoft keeps making it. They ecosystem will be irreversibly damaged.

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Thing is. It was a dead end anyways. You see stuff like Spider-Man 2's massive budget and lowered profit margins, on the biggest console. Any Xbox exclusive with a budget has even less a chance to recoup its money. Like, Sony is trying multiplat--they just have the luxury to take it slow.

Like, sales were collapsing BEFORE the leaks. Holiday 2023, with arguably Xbox's biggest, most-hyped launch of the generation, stuff was still going downhill YOY.

Like, Xbox hardware was on a death spiral even without the porting. Xbox isn't marching to irrelevance by third party. Xbox is marching towards irrelevance because nobody wanted an Xbox before that decision.

 

[Porcine prophet]

More people get to play but we don't get reciprocity. Xbox players don't win in this.

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Your playing the same games you played before. Nothing has changed for you and getting mad about that is silly.

 

[Porcine prophet]

It is 100% true I care more about the Xbox console than I do about any specific game.

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This is a 1st party games thread. Also, these kind just proves the console warrior mentality goin on here. Ya dont care about the devs, their games, etc. You care about a plastic box. Thats not the stance you want to be on

 

[BananasWithGuns]

Your playing the same games you played before. Nothing has changed for you and getting mad about that is silly.

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Until Xbox consoles continue to sell worse and worse and third parties make games for it less and less. I'm not sure if you're being intentionally obtuse or what.

 

[UraMallas]

This is a 1st party games thread.

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And we talk about all sorts of neat things in here. Including Xbox consoles that play the Xbox console games.

 

[Azuos]

Your playing the same games you played before. Nothing has changed for you and getting mad about that is silly.

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I don't see your point. Your platform is getting less third party support, you will get fewer games in your system.

 

[DeoGame]

Your playing the same games you played before. Nothing has changed for you and getting mad about that is silly.

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You are missing on reciprocity. You paid $500 extra to play something you could have on the competition.

 

[DeoGame]

Until Xbox consoles continue to sell worse and worse and third parties make games for it less and less.

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This as well.

 

[cwoody63]

No where is there ev saying they are stopping making hardware or supporting their ecosystem

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I mean I don't think it's that crazy of a leap in logic to think that people will be less likely to buy next-gen hardware if they think most games will go to PS. And then from there, less console install base, less third party support, ad infintum.

Look, I'm going to keep buying my third party games on Xbox, but there's a world not too far off where I start just building my digital library on PS if Xbox starts going day-and-date with everything, or even just a year delay.

 

[GK86]

Until Xbox consoles continue to sell worse and worse and third parties make games for it less and less. I'm not sure if you're being intentionally obtuse or what.

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Yup. People like to ignore that fact. And somehow it is always "you are mad other people get to play your games."

 

[Bessy67]

One of the things I really hate in the recent discourse is this idea of being locked into ecosystems as a justification of the multiplat move. How is that remotely beneficial to current Xbox players? Haha, you're locked in, you're going nowhere!

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The locked in argument is so weird to me anyways. Like, OK my whole back catalog is on Xbox. There's nothing stopping me from keeping my Series X and keeping that backlog if and when I switch to PlayStation. Nothing is lost unless you sell it...

 

[UraMallas]

Look, I'm going to keep buying my third party games on Xbox, but there's a world not too far off where I start just building my digital library on PS if Xbox starts going day-and-date with everything, or even just a year delay.

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I've already started the move since I've already got the system. I figure I can buy a year's worth of games again on cheap double dips, if I like them and if Xbox gets their shit back together for console players at the center. But the Pro plus the multiplatform success of the Ported Four has swayed me away. I do still love Xbox tho! Not really afraid to say that at all. So, that's why I stay up on all things Xbox and am hoping for a big shift that might not be coming. In the meantime, I'm taking the actions I think best as a consumer rn. And that's spending money elsewhere.

The locked in argument is so weird to me anyways. Like, OK my whole back catalog is on Xbox. There's nothing stopping me from keeping my Series X and keeping that backlog if and when I switch to PlayStation. Nothing is lost unless you sell it...

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It's not ideal to keep around multiple Series X or the Nextbox in storage for decades (assuming the worst) but it's true that you don't lose them unless you sell the system.

 

[Bede-x]

Thing is. It was a dead end anyways. You see stuff like Spider-Man 2's massive budget and lowered profit margins, on the biggest console. Any Xbox exclusive with a budget has even less a chance to recoup its money. Like, Sony is trying multiplat--they just have the luxury to take it slow.

Like, sales were collapsing BEFORE the leaks. Holiday 2023, with arguably Xbox's biggest, most-hyped launch of the generation, stuff was still going downhill YOY.

Like, Xbox hardware was on a death spiral even without the porting. Xbox isn't marching to irrelevance by third party. Xbox is marching towards irrelevance because nobody wanted an Xbox before that decision.

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We don't know if it was a dead end. They bought a lot of companies, but never had the time to use them. They rarely advertised and did poor localization in many regions. We don't know what it would have looked like in ten years with a proper push.

Who knows if PC, Xbox and cloud could have worked over time. They pivoted long before we found out.

 

[Dyashen]

I've already started the move. I figure I can buy a year's worth of games again on cheap double dips, if I like them and if Xbox gets their shit back together for console players at the center. But the Pro plus the multiplatform success of the Ported Four has swayed me away. I do still love Xbox tho! Not really afraid to say that at all. So, that's why I stay up on all things Xbox and am hoping for a big shift that might not be coming. In the meantime, I'm taking the actions I think best as a consumer rn.

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I have been slowly buying more and more on Steam. Mostly since Sony will get there too at one point or another.
It does make sense to still have a PS5 due to Shadow of the Colossus or Bloodborne never making the cut to PC.
Or with the case of Hellblade, since the console is a more streamlined setup for high fidelity visuals. No way am I going for a middle path while my Xbox is sitting there providing a better experience.

I also bought MHW again just to restart my addiction to monster hunter but thats off topic

 

[Clippy]

This is a 1st party games thread. Also, these kind just proves the console warrior mentality goin on here. Ya dont care about the devs, their games, etc. You care about a plastic box. Thats not the stance you want to be on

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You're being disingenuous. People have an actual monetary investment in a platform and if changes lead to abandonment of it by new players and subsequent consequences to support by third party, this effects us Xbox console players.

But go ahead and keep throwing insults even though no one has thrown any your way.

 

[Super]

It's not hard to see how Microsoft Gaming putting their games on PlayStation and Nintendo hurts the Xbox console. It's very weird how discussion on that gets shut down.

 

[Brot]

FF7 is really well paced, which is not something I appreciated as a child. Just past Costa del Sol right now, and there's not a whole lot of fat in this game.

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It's one of the reasons I like the game so much. There is a lot to do for a game of that time, you can spend 100 hours in it if you want, miss some good bits, but the main story path isn't that long and you're still getting a great experience.

Remake could never 💀

 

[Theorry]

View: https://x.com/jezcorden/status/1787551749282140660?s=46

 

[vixolus]

Yeah, I don't know why Ryan feels the need to pre-qualify every one of his questions with his own opinion first. It's hard to get through.

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Going back to his Starfield interview in 2023:

First question:

This is the first new IP you've done in a couple of decades now. It's been a little while. So totally new thing. It's the biggest exclusive for Microsoft in a long time, and it's certainly the biggest thing Microsoft's put out since they acquired Bethesda. So… [there's] pressure. In all seriousness, do you kind of feel any extra pressure compared to any of the other games you've made, or you kind of focus on what you do? I'm just sort of curious if the stuff that we talk about in the gaming community is something that goes through your head or gets talked about in the office at all.

He could have just stopped at "So.. are you feeling any pressure?" half way in.

After that…

I think the last time we talked, or maybe the time before, I gave you a little grief for... You Babe Ruth'd and you called your shot with 11/11/22 really far in advance.

TH: I did.

And I think we were having a little fun about that before the delay. I mean, it's good. We want a better game. We don't want you to just make the date just for the sake of making the date. So just out of curiosity, how has the extra time been spent specifically with Starfield?

Stop saying out of curiosity or im curious. Of course you are! You're the interviewer! You're asking questions!!! He does this 5 or 6 or so times in the interview.

Well, speaking of performance, Xbox gamers went through a little unpleasant surprise with the last big Bethesda exclusive not too long ago with Redfall and that maybe not performing on console on the Series X kind of how we'd hoped. So I think really all we're looking for is not necessarily everything's got to be 4K 60 or 120 frames, but just kind of nobody likes surprises when it comes to the game that they're going to buy, how it performs, how it feels.

Now, your games have always been these just boundary-pushing, envelope-pushing, huge, open, detailed worlds. They've been 30 frames per second on console traditionally. So just I'm going to turn it over for a second here. Just lay out just so that nobody is surprised come September 6th. What are we looking at on... If I'm going to play this on a Series X, or even if you want to mention Series S as well, what's the experience going to be, technically speaking?

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He always feels the need to give a super longwinded lead up to a question. And has to soften it a bit by buttering up the recipient if it's perhaps seen as a pain point topic. Which is normal and courteous, but it's almost like he's pre-answering for him.

 

[NDA-Man]

We don't know if it was a dead end. They bought a lot of companies, but never had the time to use them. They rarely advertised and did poor localization in many regions. We don't know what it would have looked in ten years with a proper push.

Who knows if PC, Xbox and cloud could have worked over time. They pivoted long before we found out.

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Xbox was on the chopping block in 2014. Since then, their premiere first party franchises have largely collapsed. And they have had time to see acquisitions pan out--we've gotten Hi-Fi Rush (acclaimed but niche and not a system seller), Starfield (hyped but with less impact than anything Bethesda put out since Fallout 3), and Redfall. They had time to turn it around. A decade. And they did some truly fresh things, like gamepass.

It wouldn't shock me if the biggest payoff in regards to the Bethesda purchase has been the Fallout boom post Amazon. Their revenue last quarter was buoyed almost solely by COD. Outside of COD and maybe Bethesda, their single most valuable IP is Minecraft, another platform agnostic mega-hit.

Funny how the acquisition projects that did/seem to work out were all the multiplat stuff, rather than the exclusives.

Seriously, what exclusive this year would move hardware? Hellblade is too niche, Avowed maaaaybe, Jones also a maaaaaaybe. The vastly more likely scenario is they keep watching YOY declines.

 

[Ascenion]

We don't know if it was a dead end. They bought a lot of companies, but never had the time to use them. They rarely advertised and did poor localization in many regions. We don't know what it would have looked in ten years with a proper push.

Who knows if PC, Xbox and cloud could have worked over time. They pivoted long before we found out.

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Honestly it probably would've worked. They could've been set for Xbox Next and beyond. Someone just pulled the "results now" switch and irreversibly damaged the brand. I've been arguing with myself back and forth on whether or not it's recoverable at this point but as this year goes on, that argument is getting more bleak.

I've already started the move since I've already got the system. I figure I can buy a year's worth of games again on cheap double dips, if I like them and if Xbox gets their shit back together for console players at the center. But the Pro plus the multiplatform success of the Ported Four has swayed me away. I do still love Xbox tho! Not really afraid to say that at all. So, that's why I stay up on all things Xbox and am hoping for a big shift that might not be coming. In the meantime, I'm taking the actions I think best as a consumer rn. And that's spending money elsewhere.

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This is kinda me. Being a multi-platform owner makes it easy to just buy titles elsewhere while still supporting Xbox. Game pass is always gonna exist for me, but it just isn't fiscally responsible imo to spend on 3rd party titles Xbox wise right now if they don't come to game pass or EA access.

 

[UraMallas]

I have been slowly buying more and more on Steam. Mostly since Sony will get there too at one point or another.
It does make sense to still have a PS5 due to Shadow of the Colossus or Bloodborne never making the cut to PC.
Or with the case of Hellblade, since the console is a more streamlined setup for high fidelity visuals. No way am I going for a middle path while my Xbox is sitting there providing a better experience.

I also bought MHW again just to restart my addiction to monster hunter but thats off topic

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PC is another great option for those willing. My personal tastes will always be a console-first gaming life, but I respect the PC master race. It's just a different way to game, or different enough to turn me off. That's another thing, actually. I never had a problem with expanding to PC for Xbox because I personally believed that, yes, the console sales would suffer but they were different enough experiences that they wouldn't totally overlap. Changing the strategy to then include other CONSOLES is a different thing altogether imo. At that point, you aren't offering anything compelling enough for new people to invest imo. You do have some trapped gamers, though. The only reason I've hesitated as long as I have is because of the library they know they have me in on Xbox. And that still is a big pull for me as I start a transition.

 

[Caiusto]

View: https://x.com/dmc_ryan/status/1787530325134037364?s=46&t=gf8rfJgiXtRzEKTUzSF5Yw

Grubb got snubbed. Ill look forward to this but god damn i wish it was grubb not ryan lol

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Eh, considering how "good" the Giant Bomb at Nite was last year, I'm fine with that.

 

[Frieza]

The locked in argument is so weird to me anyways. Like, OK my whole back catalog is on Xbox. There's nothing stopping me from keeping my Series X and keeping that backlog if and when I switch to PlayStation. Nothing is lost unless you sell it...

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Yep. I still had my PS4 after switching to the Series X and I still have my Series X after switching to PC. If I feel like playing a game on one of those devices I just pull it out lol

 

[UraMallas]

Going back to his Starfield interview in 2023:

First question:

This is the first new IP you've done in a couple of decades now. It's been a little while. So totally new thing. It's the biggest exclusive for Microsoft in a long time, and it's certainly the biggest thing Microsoft's put out since they acquired Bethesda. So… [there's] pressure. In all seriousness, do you kind of feel any extra pressure compared to any of the other games you've made, or you kind of focus on what you do? I'm just sort of curious if the stuff that we talk about in the gaming community is something that goes through your head or gets talked about in the office at all.

He could have just stopped at "So.. are you feeling any pressure?" half way in.

After that…

I think the last time we talked, or maybe the time before, I gave you a little grief for... You Babe Ruth'd and you called your shot with 11/11/22 really far in advance.

TH: I did.

And I think we were having a little fun about that before the delay. I mean, it's good. We want a better game. We don't want you to just make the date just for the sake of making the date. So just out of curiosity, how has the extra time been spent specifically with Starfield?

Stop saying out of curiosity or im curious. Of course you are! You're the interviewer! You're asking questions!!!


He always feels the need to give a super longwinded lead up to a question. And has to soften it a bit by buttering up the recipient if it's perhaps seen as a pain point topic. Which is normal and courteous, but it's almost like he's pre-answering for him.

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I've rarely seen interviewers talking more then the person being interviewed but somehow he manages it in every one of his pieces. It's maddening. "We have 30 minutes and we're out of time!" THATS BECAUSE YOU TOOK UP TWENTY OF THEM.

 

[GK86]

I've already started the move since I've already got the system. I figure I can buy a year's worth of games again on cheap double dips, if I like them and if Xbox gets their shit back together for console players at the center. But the Pro plus the multiplatform success of the Ported Four has swayed me away. I do still love Xbox tho! Not really afraid to say that at all. So, that's why I stay up on all things Xbox and am hoping for a big shift that might not be coming. In the meantime, I'm taking the actions I think best as a consumer rn. And that's spending money elsewhere.

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Same here. Whatever is on Gamepass, I will download and play. But all other game purchases are being made on PS5/Steam/GOG/GMG/Humble.

You're being disingenuous. People have an actual monetary investment in a platform and if changes lead to abandonment of it by new players and subsequent consequences to support by third party, this effects us Xbox console players.

But go ahead and keep throwing insults even though no one has thrown any your way.

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Amen. It is wild that people can't grasp what you said in the post.

It's not hard to see how Microsoft Gaming putting their games on PlayStation and Nintendo hurts the Xbox console. It's very weird how discussion on that gets shut down.

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Yup. I have had to put some people on my ignore list because of it.

 

[UraMallas]

Honestly it probably would've worked. They could've been set for Xbox Next and beyond. Someone just pulled the "results now" switch and irreversibly damaged the brand. I've been arguing with myself back and forth on whether or not it's recoverable at this point but as this year goes on, that argument is getting more bleak.

This is kinda me. Being a multi-platform owner makes it easy to just buy titles elsewhere while still supporting Xbox. Game pass is always gonna exist for me, but it just isn't fiscally responsible imo to spend on 3rd party titles Xbox wise right now if they don't come to game pass or EA access.

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You've got it pretty much exactly for me as well rn. I still do prefer Xbox but for games I'm currently buying from third parties, I feel like moving those purchases away from Xbox is the right call for the time being. It's like hedging a bet. It's like I'm putting $5 on black 28 but also putting like $10 on odd or something. Not a perfect analogy buy yeah.

 

[Governergrimm]

We're still trying to match Gerstmann in my opinion. I wish he had the backing of a large enough media company that would also let him ask the questions he wants.

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Those were always my favorite interviews with Phil. Candid, pertinent, and concise.

 

[Shairi]

View: https://x.com/jezcorden/status/1787551749282140660?s=46

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Age of Empires V when?

 

[Caiusto]

Awesome. I do wish Jeff Gerstmann got around to doing more interviews again.

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Still disappointed we didn't get the stream with Jeff and Phil during the pandemics when Jeff was looking through the old gaming stuff in his garage. I swear they wanted to make that happen somehow.

 

[pg2g]

You're being disingenuous. People have an actual monetary investment in a platform and if changes lead to abandonment of it by new players and subsequent consequences to support by third party, this effects us Xbox console players.

But go ahead and keep throwing insults even though no one has thrown any your way.

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I consider them aligning closer to PC and allowing external stores to be a solution got anyone worried about third party support. Though it's an imperfect solution unless they come up with ways for those games to integrate reasonably with platform stuff (like achievements and cloud saves).

As someone more concerned with game access than most platform features, I find that I'm no longer concerned by this direction. I fact it's a positive for me. Everyone's got different priorities though.

 

[L11ghtman]

It's funny b/c it's going to age poorly if I were to guess. We are only at the beginning of their strategy shift IMO.

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Or they'll become more clear and straightforward and he just won't like their response. I mean the CFO was pretty clear about their future and people said "no no he's just the CFO he doesn't understand what multi platform means"

 

[Haregan]

Good information, thank you for sharing!

My current favorite mobile game, by far, is Warcraft Rumble. I love it. Hope it's doing well because it's the first-ever mobile game that has ever kept me past a few weeks.

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I remember it was averaging $1 million every day for two weeks and had over 3 million downloads, which is not bad. I see it's still has 1m+ downloads on Play Store, which means it's under 5 million. Doesn't seem to be growing much. Weird it's still on battle.net, but it has a page.

 

[Bede-x]

It's not hard to see how Microsoft Gaming putting their games on PlayStation and Nintendo hurts the Xbox console. It's very weird how discussion on that gets shut down.

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It's completely obvious it'll hurt the console. If it didn't we'd playing Nintendo and Sony games without exception on Xbox right now, but they know those games are part of the reason for people going with the systems.

Xbox was on the chopping block in 2014. Since then, their premiere first party franchises have largely collapsed. And they have had time to see acquisitions pan out--we've gotten Hi-Fi Rush (acclaimed but niche and not a system seller), Starfield (hyped but with less impact than anything Bethesda put out since Fallout 3), and Redfall. They had time to turn it around. A decade.

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No, they didn't and simply listing how long it takes to make a game will demonstrate that. They buy studios in 2018-2023 and an AAA game takes around five years to make. That gives us 2023-2028 for likely release dates of the first round of bigger titles and they might need more than one round, with how they treated the platform previously. History matters here.

We're in 2024. This is they year where something like Hellblade 2 is released, a game showcased before the systems released to give an idea of the length of development cycles today.

They were not even through the first cycle of development, before they pivoted. Even the game they showed BEFORE the consoles released, isn't out yet. That's how fast they pivoted.

Seriously, what exclusive this year would move hardware? Hellblade is too niche, Avowed maaaaybe, Jones also a maaaaaaybe.

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None, but it wouldn't be about this year or any single exclusive. It would be about an accumulation over several dev cycles.

Maybe as an RPG fan, you don't buy it for Starfield, but now it has Fable, Elder Scrolls 6, Fallout 3 remake, Avowed, Outer Worlds 2 and upcoming games like Diablo 5 and Fallout 5, in addition to Starfield. And the same with other games they make.

This idea that a long compelling list of exclusives (PC/Xbox/cloud) wouldn't work, is something we'll never find out, because with the ports it'll never have time to accumulate such a list. They have an insane amount of developers, so I don't get how it can be claimed with any kind of certainty.

It's something we'll never know now.

 

[Bede-x]

Honestly it probably would've worked. They could've been set for Xbox Next and beyond.

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That's the thing we'll never know.

Someone just pulled the "results now" switch and irreversibly damaged the brand. I've been arguing with myself back and forth on whether or not it's recoverable at this point but as this year goes on, that argument is getting more bleak.

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I don't see a path to recovery either with the current strategy. That's a path of decline for the console.

I'd love to be wrong here, but I just don't see how porting their games suddenly makes them sell more.

 

[pg2g]

I think they see console as a stagnant (even declining) market and it doesn't make sense to spend a ton of money trying to claw back marketshare there when you can pivot to areas with more opportunity for growth.

If their sales were significantly better they wouldn't be doing this... yet. It'd still ultimately be their conclusion, being last place just kinda pushes things along faster.

 

[gifyku]

I dont know about everyone else but as long as there is Gamepass, I will keep buying an Xbox. And I think as long as Xbox can still clear 10s of millions of units every generation, third parties will continue porting games for it. If anything, recent issues on PC makes me more worried about my 4090 investment since almost every major AAA game on PC has some issues or the other (not to speak of the crashing on my 13900k.)

But having a box that for say 240 bucks a year, I get to play a ton of AAA and other games; as a semi-casual gamer who still likes to play games (and not just 1000G/platinum one game for six months), it is something I could have only dreamed of as a kid. If there is an Xbox handheld, I will get it day 1 as well. My kid just playa mario wonder and kart on his switch but when he is ready to graduate, it will be to an Xbox because there are now pretty good kid friendly games on GP as well

 

[NDA-Man]

No, they didn't and simply listing how long it takes to make a game will demonstrate that. They buy studios in 2018-2023 and an AAA game takes around five years to make. That gives us 2023-2028 for likely release dates of the first round of bigger titles and they might need more than one round, with how they treated the platform previously. History matters here.

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"It takes five years to make a game" only matters if absolutely none of their acquired studios had anything going on, which is false--take the aforementioned Hi-Fi, Redfall, and Starfield. They had games in the pipeline--that's why they were acquired, they all had something to offer. There'd be np point in buying a studio if they all had to start from scratch. And Hell, Zenimax was acquired well after most of the smaller studios, and at least Redfall had several delays under the Xbox Flag. Obsidian got out Grounded and Pentiment, too.

Why can't Xbox judge the strength of their acquisitions off an exclusive RPG from the makes of Fallout and Skyrim, alongside two from Obsidian, and one from Arkane, creators of cult classic, Prey? Should every studio release a game? Two? What if there's a Halo Infinite level of dev Hell that greatly extends the game's dev cycle?

None, but it wouldn't be about this year or any single exclusive. It would be about an accumulation over several dev cycles.

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So continue bleeding relevance in the hopes that fifteen years down the line, things will turn around?

This idea that a long compelling list of exclusives (PC/Xbox/Cloud) wouldn't work, is something we'll never find out, because with the ports it'll never have time to accumulate such a list. They have an insane amount of developers now, so I don't get how it can be claimed with any kind of certainty.

It's something we'll never know now.

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What makes a compelled exclusive? Why is Spider-Man a compelling game, but Starfield or Hi-Fi aren't? Why do we assume that we're going to see bangers instead of Redfalls?

You're right, we won't know. But Xbox was already spiraling into irrelevance--inxile, obsidian, even Bethesda seems much more like a case of too little, too late, especially if is only fair to judge these acquisitions in a world where they had another decade or two of exclusivity.

 

[vixolus]

Im just saying redfall depots have never gone more than a day without some kind of update across the various branches in multiple weeks. And now its been over two days since the last one. Clearly they have locked in the changes and are awaiting cert

 

[ez123]

I think they see console as a stagnant (even declining) market and it doesn't make sense to spend a ton of money trying to claw back marketshare there when you can pivot to areas with more opportunity for growth.

If their sales were significantly better they wouldn't be doing this... yet. It'd still ultimately be their conclusion, being last place just kinda pushes things along faster.

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They see console as a stagnant market so they pivot to even more console availability(for games)?

 

[Porcine prophet]

Until Xbox consoles continue to sell worse and worse and third parties make games for it less and less. I'm not sure if you're being intentionally obtuse or what.

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Get back to me when that objectively starts happening in mass and not a result of partnerships

 

[renoch]

Get back to me when that objectively starts happening in mass and not a result of partnerships

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It'll be too late to do anything about it then

 

[pg2g]

They see console as a stagnant market so they pivot to even more console availability?

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They are generally moving towards meeting their customers where they are as opposed to trying to make the customers come to them. Includes TV, PC, Mobile, handhelds, etc.

 

[Cassius Africanus]

It's completely obvious it'll hurt the console. If it didn't we'd playing Nintendo and Sony games without exception on Xbox right now, but they know those games are part of the reason for people going with the systems.



No, they didn't and simply listing how long it takes to make a game will demonstrate that. They buy studios in 2018-2023 and an AAA game takes around five years to make. That gives us 2023-2028 for likely release dates of the first round of bigger titles and they might need more than one round, with how they treated the platform previously. History matters here.

We're in 2024. This is they year where something like Hellblade 2 is released, a game showcased before the systems released to give an idea of the length of development cycles today.

They were not even through the first cycle of development, before they pivoted. Even the game they showed BEFORE the consoles released, isn't out yet. That's how fast they pivoted.



None, but it wouldn't be about this year or any single exclusive. It would be about an accumulation over several dev cycles.

Maybe as an RPG fan, you don't buy it for Starfield, but now it has Fable, Elder Scrolls 6, Fallout 3 remake, Avowed, Outer Worlds 2 and upcoming games like Diablo 5 and Fallout 5, in addition to Starfield. And the same with other games they make.

This idea that a long compelling list of exclusives (PC/Xbox/cloud) wouldn't work, is something we'll never find out, because with the ports it'll never have time to accumulate such a list. They have an insane amount of developers, so I don't get how it can be claimed with any kind of certainty.

It's something we'll never know now.

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It would take a ridiculous amount of time to build a library of games like that though. It would slowly win them market share over a few console generations. We're talking over a decade. All while it would cost them more money than Sony to do the same things, like just making sure all major releases hit Xbox. No one smart would deny there are other ways than having multiplatform releases, but would Xbox as a business last that long? Would anyone care outside of the hardcore? Multiplatform is more lucrative now. I will admit it sucks to think my biggest library is on the platform most likely to not exist in the future, but if anyone can/will make your games compatible across multiple platforms it's Microsoft. That's my only concern.

 

[Caiusto]

 

[Granjinhaa]

Im just saying redfall depots have never gone more than a day without some kind of update across the various branches in multiple weeks. And now its been over two days since the last one. Clearly they have locked in the changes and are awaiting cert

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👀
so you're saying it's xbox's fault we didn't get the patch last friday

 

[NDA-Man]

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Context? Images of Halo Infinite are open to interpretation. The one that jumps to me being exclusives MS spent extravagantly on and gave plenty of time to make can end up disappointing, then die and be forgotten in a month.

 

[Porcine prophet]

I don't see your point. Your platform is getting less third party support, you will get fewer games in your system.

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I mean I don't think it's that crazy of a leap in logic to think that people will be less likely to buy next-gen hardware if they think most games will go to PS. And then from there, less console install base, less third party support, ad infintum.

Look, I'm going to keep buying my third party games on Xbox, but there's a world not too far off where I start just building my digital library on PS if Xbox starts going day-and-date with everything, or even just a year delay.

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Get back to me when this starts happening in mass across all publishers and not a result of 3rd party partnerships or regional devs. (and no, a couple of indies from small devs that already have no dev funds isnt proving your point)

You are missing on reciprocity. You paid $500 extra to play something you could have on the competition.

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Sounds more like you making a poor consumer decision. Weigh what games you play, games you want to play, if cross play exists, where your friends are etc and buy the box that fits best. For some, that may be xbox, for others its PS. If your on xbox now, you werent getting those other games anyways. Your not entitled for more then whats on the box. If you want more, get whats best for you.

And id argue its naive to think games in general are going to stay platform agnostic. Its better for each platform in the long term with greater ROI's in general. PS is slower to adopt it but they are adopting it. Eventually consoles will be exactly as they should. Sold based on the additional features they create and improve outside of the games themselves.

 

[Windu]

Still disappointed we didn't get the stream with Jeff and Phil during the pandemics when Jeff was looking through the old gaming stuff in his garage. I swear they wanted to make that happen somehow.

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Jeff is probably just too lazy to set all that up.

 

[vixolus]

👀
so you're saying it's xbox's fault we didn't get the patch last friday

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No no they were still makin commits and working on the final touches. NOW it's awaiting cert since then and will release tomorrow at the soonest. Believe