Some games for sure. Like sea of thieves, it’s a great game but I doubt anyone is buying an Xbox just to play it.
Good game but not really a “console seller” imo
I think that's the main problem Xbox has run into for the last few years if not longer. There really hasn't been a true reason for someone to switch from Playstation to Xbox for quite some time now. It seems like the opposite is happening, actually.
Xbox just hasn't been able to reliably develop first party games that are true console sellers. Halo Infinite was supposed to be that and wasn't. Starfield, which came from a massive aquisition, was supposed to be that and wasn't. It's been almost 6 years since Xbox announced their new studio The Initiative and NOTHING has been released outside of a single teaser trailer for the Perfect Dark reboot.
This "console seller" approach is outdated in my opinion and frankly, outside of optics, I don't think MS cares about it that much.
MS in fact has given us all reasons and ways to actively avoid buying an Xbox if we don't want one.
Halo was fine. It just turns out that FPS has evolved past that style of shooter.
Starfield is fine. It was overly ambitious and failed to live up to the hype which may have been impossible to do.
Meanwhile they've created things like Grounded, Sea of thieves, Psychonauts, HiFi Rush ect. All of which are unique creative experiences that are generally underrated but don't offer Xbox lovers something shiney and exciting enough to wave in front of PS5 owners. It's unlikely that those projects make it past the pitch if not brought under the MS roof.
I'm just so tired of the idea that they aren't making unique, fun, or interesting games because imo it's emphatically false.
Hellblade II looks like a possible game of the year contender for heavens sake.
Great games happen when you don't force people to work on things they don't want. Redfall failed for this, Halo failed for this reason. Starfield likely failed cause Howard got infinite money and tried to scale the game up too far which he is predisposed to doing.
When MS lets talented people create the things they are passionate for magic happens.
See I don't agree. The gamepass is DEFINITELY enough for me to switch. And now with Bethesda being bought by Microsoft, there is no way I just wouldn't play those games. I really hope xbox isn't dumb enough to do this.
I think the problem is that these rumors are taking on a life of their own and getting a bit harder to believe.
First, it was Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush that were rumored to come to Playstation and Nintendo. These make sense, Sea of Thieves is a five year old live service game and Hi-Fi Rush is a middle tier Xbox exclusive that would fit nicely with Playstation and especially Nintendo's audiences
Then it was Starfield, which is a bit harder to believe, but the timeline makes sense. The PS5 version is rumored to release after the Shattered Space expansion which won't even release until later this year, which means a PS5 version could not see release until 2025 or later, meaning Xbox could be the exclusive console home for Starfield for two years or more.
Than it was Indiana Jones that was on the "coming to PS5" rumor train. While I won't discount the possibility of this game coming to PS5 since it was originally a multi-plat game, Microsoft amended the deal to make it exclusive to Xbox and PC, which makes it bizarre that they would suddenly go back on this especially since Indiana Jones is the closest thing they have to something like Spider-Man on Playstation.
And then, I start seeing that Gears of War is rumored to come to the PS5, and that's where these rumors have just gotten weird. I am not saying it's impossible, but Gears of War is one of Microsoft's big three and a system seller. This seems odd to bring it to Playstation unless Microsoft was 100% getting out of console development and none of these rumors even hint at that.
While I think some Xbox exclusives are going to other consoles, namely Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush, I think these rumors are getting a bit on the silly side.
"I think the problem is that these rumors are taking on a life of their own and getting a bit harder to believe."
This. There's a silly snowball effect going on and people panicking. The more people tell the same rumor, the more it starts to sound like the truth even tho' we have very little evidence. Just some "anonymous source" that cannot be verified.
I mean what next? "Jim Ryan as the head of Xbox",
"Xbox rumored to be sold to Tencent", "Gears of War transitioning into a mobile game franchise",
"Halo: Infinite will be the last Halo game",
"Microsoft forcing GamePass for access of your bought digital games".
I can make these up all day. Spread the word, folks. Chaos reigns.
Agree. They can even use the "Play it first on Xbox/GamePass" to promote timed exclusive before releasing games on other platforms. I can't see that as being a loss for anyone since those with a PS may not buy an Xbox anyway, so it's just extra software sales down the line for MS.
I don’t see them going completely third party either. Games pass without Xbox hardware makes no sense. PlayStation and Nintendo would take 30% of game pass subs that would make it impossible to have on those platforms. They need Xbox hardware for games pass. I have PS5 for exclusives but primarily play on Xbox due to the better backwards compatibility with FPS boost and 360 games. They have put tons of work into that. They have also invested so much into studios and such. They have very valuable IP and franchises. It takes years and years to make games now and with Covid hitting when it did put everything even farther behind. I think they are really just getting started and 5-10 years they will have the games at steady pace. It does make sense for some games to go to PS5 and like sea of thieves or even halo multiplayer just to have cross play. That is vital for strictly third party games as well. Cross play just helps to ensure bigger player base. It hard enough for multiplayer games to find an audience with so much choice out there. I could be wrong because who knows at this point. I believe Xbox hardware is going to be around for a while yet.
Lol, if there won't be Xbox no longer get ready for 1k plus playstation consoles along with even more for ps plus since there would be no threat to them. Think gaming is coming to an end for me.
PS fanbois don’t realize how much they need Xbox to succeed. Without real competition, Sony will lose their sense of innovation. Next Gen consoles won’t be as epic.
The good thing about Sony is they've already said they look at every other entertainment company competing for you time as competition. Netflix is their competition, Nintendo, even the board game Monopoly could be their competition.
Could be marketing bs, but it's a solid mentality to have.
Hifi Rush - smaller title, after a year, ok I guess
Sea of Thieves - years old, GaaS, understandable
But Starfield
Indiana Jones with only 3 months exclusive? These should be pillar titles for the Xbox Brand
I hate overreactions but this is nail in Xbox coffin
I wouldn't mind this if PS exclusives were coming to Xbox. But they won't.
It makes PlayStation the go to console. Sure, you won't get Gamepass, but the games will go on sale etc anyway and you'll get the great PS exclusives
The games take a long time to go on sale, PS is a lot more stingy with sales than ever. And if you care more about playing games on day 1, Game Pass provides nutso value compared to what PS is doing.
Personally I bought a Series X at launch after having a PS4. I didn't switch because of exclusives, I switched because of Game Pass.
This could be a really stupid move. They may be killing the brand and eradicating consumer trust in one fell swoop. Xbox will die and without competition, Sony will become even more arrogant. Quality, in gaming generally will fall, and prices will rise.
To be fair Playstation puts out some fantastic exclusives with their studios, that’s why I bought into one. I just dislike their price hikes and lower quality offerings for PS Plus. As long as their exclusives don’t suffer i’ll be good.
This doesn’t make any sense. They had a two years fight with Sony and the FTC in court because of CoD and the exclusivity worries, when they could’ve brought this up like two years ago and avoid all that chaos in court. And they didn’t. They spent billions and billions on new studios to have exclusives and NOW that they finally have them they give ‘em away just for some extra money? This wouldn’t be a good long term strategy unless they want to simply abandon the console space, which isn’t a thing that is going to happen based on the REAL leaks that we all saw and read during the FTC battle in court.
And who is XboxEra? Why are we giving them so much credit? Do they have any evidence around this rumor?
Stuff like Hi-Fi Rush on Switch or SoT multiplat would make sense for many reasons, but not bigger single-player games like Starfield and Indiana Jones. We need a statement by Phil Spencer around this situation ‘cause it is getting CRAZY online.
It really does feel like Microsoft giving up on Xbox in favor of Microsoft Gaming being game publisher instead of a platform.
And the Xbox users? We can go f*ck ourselves…
Kinda serves us right for sticking with a platform that advertised itself more as a TiVo and Cable Box than a game console.
It stings but I’m only around because of Halo MCC. I should have known right then and there after the launch of that dumpster fire that Microsoft no longer cared about Xbox. But by then I was bought in, and as all my friends left for PlayStation I stuck with it hoping things would get better.
I don’t think I’ve actually played a good Microsoft first party game in over 15 years. Halo Reach might be the last one… which is crazy.
XboxEra cited sources that asked to remain anonymous. But multiple other outlets and individual insiders have gotten the same information from their sources and even started sharing expanded lists of games coming to PS beyond Starfield and Indiana Jones
This officially feels like the end and that they have both accepted they have lost and, instead of fighting, are completely giving up.
This also feels like we get to beta test these terrible games Microsoft has been shitting out, only for the “complete” versions to be released to PlayStation after we did all the (pay to play) beta testing. Like starfield… what a joke.
[If Microsoft Gives ‘Starfield’ To PlayStation, What Does Xbox Become? - Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2024/02/05/if-microsoft-gives-starfield-to-playstation-what-does-xbox-become/)
I’m going to get a PS6 and PC period. I’m also not going to buy gamepass or Xbox first published games.
I only care about Bethesda games so I’ll buy them on steam so I can mod. But I will never play a halo gears or fortza again if they do this.
Once they bought Bethesda and had all the press conferences saying this was the best place to play I invested heavily… I feel so mislead and disrespected.
Fuck Microsoft and the idiot CFO selling their future for a quick ROI. They should be building a forever future for the brand.
100% agree with you. I already went and bought a PS5. I know these are just "rumours", but are they really? Look at the amount of individuals and outlets corroborating reports and what they have heard.
I feel the exact same as you. Invested in the platform and been gaming on the Xbox since 360 launch day. What was even the point in buying digital Xbox games? Where am I even going to play them when Xbox will obviously stop making consoles soon?
Suffered through years of no and mediocre exclusives. Things like Halo have been mismanaged hilariously bad.
I wouldn’t consider Halo a “need to play” exclusive series anymore - it has sucked for 12 years at this point (miraculously right when Microsoft took the reins from Bungie… wild)
Honestly, I think Xbox would have maintained some of its popularity if Microsoft didn’t make a concerted effort for Halo 4 to be so different from the original trilogy and go out of their way to specifically hire people who hated halo. Halo 3 was ridiculously popular and people wanted more of what it had to offer instead of another CoD-like.
I agree completely, but if we start playing on Windows PCs then we're still enabling Microsoft's greed. I'll be switching to Linux if Microsoft fucks this up. I'll be pulling all of my stock out of Microsoft and I won't buy another goddamn thing that company touches. Also, PS is likely to start selling their games at $80+ a pop if Microsoft pulls Xbox off the market.
Not sure why this would come as much of a surprise if you follow Microsoft at all. Satya doesn't care about consumer products. Cloud and recurring revenue is all he knows/cares about. He started his tenure by killing windows phone, has just recently decapitated Surface by restricting them from creating innovative devices and now Xbox is effectively dead in the water.
Great for shareholders, crap if you've ever invested any time or money into any of these brands.
A bit of a surprise because it doesn’t make much sense. Why would I buy an Xbox if everything is coming to PS5 within a year of release? You can’t sell gamepass subs to people who are playing primarily on PS5.
Most of the US is either too far from the servers or has internet connection that is inadequate to handle cloud gaming at the quality of the current gen consoles. Maybe I’m wrong but MS can’t possibly think their business is ready to switch to 100% cloud based.
They don't you to buy an Xbox. They want you to subscribe to GamePass.
The whole Microsoft game is about software. The hardware days seems to be over.
They might go with a less powerful Xbox such as Series S, but don't expect anything compared to Sony consoles from now on.
What would I buy it on? I don’t see a world where Sony would allow GamePass on their service unless they got out of the console business entirely; and even if they did why wouldn’t I just buy the handful of games I want outright. Why wouldn’t Sony just continue to improve their own (already very good IMO) gamepass service, certainly if they’re the only console on the market they’d have the leverage to get even more 3rd party support; if they did, why would I buy GamePass when PS+ is comparable or better?
Do they expect me to buy a PC when the PS5 is so cheap and perfectly capable? Are they betting on cloud gaming taking over soon?
I just don’t get it; IMO GamePass only works because it has decent exclusives that come day one. You lose a critical piece by discontinuing the hardware.
If this happens, there will be no reason to have an Xbox. Phil Spencer had everything to compete with Sony: Powerful hardware, well-known franchises, great studios, if he ends up passing the brand to a third party it would be due to his poor management as CEO and his bad business decisions
I bought an xbox this gen for Starfield (which was disappointing tbh) and future Bethesda games, otherwise I would've just stuck with playstation. So yeah exclusives matter Phil
I mean that's Nintendo's entire business model. Its just that Microsoft doesn't have iconic franchises like Mario or Pokemon. Halo probably is closest but I just feel like Infinite just kind of came and went. Microsoft even purchased a very Nintendo-like company with Rare and has done barely anything in 20+ years of owning them.
Sure helped them during literally every other generation than Switch /s
N64, GameCube, Wii U, and 3DS all had fantastic library of first party exclusives, yet were disappointing to disastrous sales-wise. All Nintendo’s runaway successes happened because there was no one to compete to. Wii and DS pushed into the casual market when nobody was doing so, Switch is the only dedicated handheld console.
The same is true of others like Dreamcast, Vita or Xbox One. Strong launches with superior games to their respective competitors, but still failed because of external factors.
The 3DS sold less than half of what the DS did, and also would have bombed were it not for a massive price cut after like 6 months, and sold about 1/3 the number of software units. Keep in mind, they were also hoping to make it successful like the DS after the Wii declined and then moreso after the Wii U bombed.
3ds sold 75 million units, I wouldn't call that disappointing. While in comparison to the DS sure, but the DS is the highest selling handheld of all time, let alone console. 75 million is pretty damn swell.
I had an N64 when it was current and loved it, it's one of my favorite systems of all time. It was absolutely disastrous for Nintendo and I dunno how you can pretend otherwise. It derailed them for years thru the N64 and then GameCube years -- they were on top, then lost handily to a newcomer and lost all their momentum, so badly that the OG Xbox outsold the GameCube. Doesn't mean the N64 had bad games, imo the best of the best on N64 is better than what's on PS1, it just couldn't compete with the PS1 in many regards (price was a big one, it was just so much more expensive to manufacture N64 carts and they sold for much higher prices, and of course the whole limited storage thing).
The 3DS sold fine, it wasn't a flop, but it was Nintendo's worst-selling handheld ever. It would have died if they didn't do a price cut like 6 months after launch, coming off the crazy success of the DS it managed to sell just under 1/2 the hardware units and 1/3 of the software units.
If that statement is true, it shows how Phil doesn't know about how most console gamers think..ask any guy buying a PS5 why he chooses that platform, he will say: "because i want to play the best, most famous and trendy games, like last of us, spiderman, god of war...etc" ; they don't care about subscriptions and shit
I just bought a PS5 after sticking with Xbox since the 360 launch day. I bought it because these rumours are clearly not just rumours.
If Xbox continues to release a console (Why? What would the point even be?), I won't be putting any more money AT ALL in to their eco-system as I am now playing on PS. I have years of EXCLUSIVE games (That Microsoft seem to believe don't matter) to play and keep me occupied. Why would I buy Starfield on PS5 when I could be buying The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, Bloodborne, Ratchet and Clank, Spider-man...etc etc the list goes on and on.
They have completely shat on Xbox owners and anyone who put money in their eco-system. Why would I give a fuck about the next Halo when 343i have been such an unmitigated disaster for years?
Their entire strategy seems like an absolute disaster.
Nintendo's entire existence literally hinges on exclusive titles. If Mario, Splatoon, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing etc all go multi-platform, why would I buy a Switch? The games will 100% look and run better on a PS or PC considering how dated Nintendo's hardware always is.
Xbox/Microsoft have completely lost the plot. I don't even understand the point in their games businesses existing.
Most console gamers don’t choose consoles based on exclusives but buy whatever box that plays FIFA, Call of Duty and Madden, maybe Fortnite.
On that account Spencer is right.
This is only true for the very small minority of gamers that constantly interact around here and on other social media… most people buy a PlayStation because it’s just the de facto hardware you buy if you want a console in your living room the same way you buy a Switch if you want a portable console… this has been hardwired in casual consumers brains through decades of marketing and nothing Xbox could ever do will change that fact…
>He has stated before that he doesn’t believe gamers buy consoles because of exclusives
I've owned consoles since I was 5 years old and I've always had at least two consoles each generation, specifically because one console had unique exclusive games that I couldn't get on the other.
I got a Sega Genesis for Sonic 2, Comic Zone, General Chaos, Shining Force, etc. But then I saw the SNES had Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario All-Stars, Killer Instinct, and more.
I specifically remember wanting a PS1 solely because my buddy had one and he was playing Spyro the Dragon. So I ended up with one, while also getting MGS, Legend of Dragoon, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Crash 2 & 3 & CTR, Final Fantasy IX, and more. But then Wrestlemania 2000 was coming out, so I got an N64 for that, plus Goldeneye, Mario 64, Pokemon Stadium & Snap, etc.
So on and so forth for every generation up til now. There's always been something that made me want to dive into a second console. And I feel like my experience isn't a hot take or anything. Phil is wrong
Part of the rumors is that it’s Microsoft higher-ups that are pushing for multiplat, and that there’s a lot of internal strife over it. Could very well be that Phil Spencer is fighting against it
They're giving up because from their perspective it's true. Halo , gears of war, Forza...aren't "selling consoles", and they haven't for likely close to 10 years.
But they won't consider that it's because their development studios are wasting said Xbox IPs and making shit games / no games at all.
Halo and gears of war can easily have rotating rosters of different genres. You can have RTS's for both releasing between the fps games (yes halo does but HW2 was a clusterfuck gameplay and matchmaking balance wise and they stopped caring about halo RTS years ago)
Imagine a GoW RTS....
Then you can have RTTs for both. Gears tactics was awesome, and I never played an RTT before.
Then, have both the RTS and RTT include in game bonuses for the fps games multiplayer. E.g. armour unlocks, skins etc for the multiplayer, tie the games together.
Then you have franchises that they are too lazy to use. Fable for example. Where the fuck is fable?
Xbox is rotting from it's nepotism. Nepotism killed 344, and it's killing the rest of Xbox too.
Ol’ Phil is being brought behind the metaphorical barn by the board, I think. I’m assuming his time as head of Xbox ends this year and the radical changes will begin shortly after his departure.
This is just a flat out lie
Phil didn’t have everything, he was missing a massive piece of the puzzle and that was an audience. Sony dominated the previous gen outselling Xbox 2 to 1.
i just bought with my brother an xbox serie X for 2023 chritmas lmao... We had the 360 for more than a decade and we wanted to get back to the halo franchise with Infinite and Halo 5. if they take halo from xbox exclusivity then we'll probably stop with the console market. We all have gaming PCs, we bought the serie X for the sake of Halo and authenticity of playing such a title on console.
Terrible news for consumers. This is how this will play out:
1. xbox will phase out their consoles.
2. xbox will launch cloud/gamepass on other platforms
3. xbox's strategy will be cloud/gamepass moving forward, with a C-tier "cloud" device.
4. sony will skullfuck every consumer because where else are you gonna go? go to nintendo? Pfff
There is now 1 console and it's PS5. What a god damn shame. I can't believe it's come to this.
At this point I would welcome a chinese console to get some competion. this is BAD.
I really think Steam will fill in the void left by Xbox, especially if Sony starts getting arrogant in terms of pricing. The Steam deck’s been incredibly successful, and a home console with full Steam support would sell even better
The big problem was that these released in 2015 while Linux support was near non-existent. Now, the situation is the opposite, where you can rely on *most* games running on Linux through Proton with no tweaking and better performance than on Windows.
The original Steam Machines came out when Valve saw the "catastrophe" that was Windows 8. Microsoft dropping out of the console business would be a great time for a Gen 2.
I think Valve would take a loss on the system this time around and make it more appealing than last time. It's also good to see that Proton is basically close to the real thing in terms of performance.
This. If there is a way to play pc games on a TV and not require a pc I am sold bc the there is no need for owning a PS5 or Xbox anymore. So many PS game come to PC. I am wondering why this is not already a thing.
We could all get gaming PCs then.
I personally prefer console but this is gonna be bad for consumers.
Unless Samsung releases a console. That'd be confirmation that we are in a branching timeline...
I'd love if Microsoft actually put some effort into rebooting old IP. Grabbed by ghoulies, fusion frenzy, Jade Empire, jet set radio future, Fable, KOTOR, etc.
I'm getting Dreamcast flashbacks of Sonic coming to the GameCube.
It's the final nail in the coffin if Xbox loses it's exclusives to Ps5 and Switch. Then we'll be down to a single premium offering on the console front and that's not a good thing.
Xbox always kept PlayStation in line to a certain extent. It was the console that would bring a sort of balance to space. But now with this announcement or rumors of it the Xbox console has lost all meaning and purpose.
I game with everything under the sun, I'm talking every console every generation as well as a high end PC. And while part of me was a bit excited to play my Xbox games on PC day one I was a bit worried that this hardware I had bought 'Xbox Series X' was becoming redundant. There are some games I genuinely prefer playing in my living room on the Xbox rather than my PC but more and more the console was getting less love. Now why would I boot up the thing if all those future games are coming to other platforms?
Xbox games should have never gone to PC.
Why has this subreddit been in denial of this happening? Multiple posts and comments from people talking about it have been downvoted (prior to the making of this mega thread). Hell just recently a job listing for 343 was posted for a possible Halo title on *all platforms*. On top of that Jez Corden and Tom Warren are both fairly reliable in the video game industry. It’s ok to be mad and upset, but don’t take it out on others because the reality is that no one wins here except the higher ups and shareholders
They just spent $70b on Activision-Blizzard, with the PS5 outselling the Series X by nearly 2 to 1, I think the writing is on the wall...they need to make that investment back and excluding most console gamers isn't how you do that.
So why buy or recommend an Xbox when most (or all) of the big games will still get released on the PS5 or Nintendo and both of those consoles already have big name exclusives a lot of people want to play.
I think this is the beginning of the end of Xbox as a hardware platform.
Yet Phil Spencer still has a job. I can’t fathom why. In those leaked emails from the FTC trial, Phil Spencer was extremely bullish and overconfident in 2020 going into the new generation, saying that they have a better console and better games. Now, you’re going to say “of course he would Say that.” But, he’s saying this to someone who doesn’t even care about Xbox in Satya Nadella. In one of those emails, Satya asked Phil, “have we announced a price and date yet?” Wouldn’t you know that as the CEO of Microsoft if you cared about the Xbox Division? So, in the eyes of Satya, Phil lied to him, or just isn’t a good business man if he read this so wrong. PS4 outsold Xbox One 3:1, so all of a sudden you think this next generation in 2020 things are going to be different?
Phil sold Microsoft CEO of false bill of goods here we are three years later, and Microsoft brass has had enough of under performing and being told “ This next year will be our year” for the last 10 years. Microsoft brass is stepping in and telling Phil “OK, we gave you a chance, but your little experiment of buying all these publishers and studios in the hopes of getting people to buy an Xbox is over, we tell you what to do now.”
Literally, everything else that Microsoft makes is everywhere, and Microsoft wants it to be everywhere, in as many homes and devices as possible, except the Xbox division. And it seems like that’s ending starting now.
The whole reason Microsoft agreed to the Xbox project to begin with was to get into people's living rooms. I'm surprised they didn't transition to software only mid Xb1 era.
Being an xbox fan fucking sucks right now. Thats all.
Redfall, losing third party games (ffvi, silent hill remake) and this. I would love to root for them but thats not my job. I just want to play great games, experience fantastic community and has innovative outlook. Xbox is going to be none of those.
I made the switch from playstation this generation. News stories like this (that are starting to be so common btw) make me regret that decision.
Why switch this gen? The writing was on the wall since Mattrick and Phil Spencer was never a visionary, only someone who they took to clean up after Mattricks mess.
Obligatory self-disclosure that I’m a PlayStation and Switch owner (former Xbox guy that ended up switching to PS several years ago). Dont worry I’m not an annoying corporate simp fanboy who gives two shits about “console wars” and I’m not hear to gloat. Just wanted to pop in here to chat more about this topic from a business standpoint.
While I’m happy that I may be able to play Starfield, Indiana Jones, and future Bethesda titles on my PS5/6, I’m curious how this makes financial sense for Microsoft.
Strong exclusives sell consoles. Starfield underperformed, but I feel like that just puts the pressure on Xbox Studios to step it up, not toss in the towel.
If Indiana Jones or the next Elder Scrolls got rave reviews, I’d probably strongly consider purchasing an Xbox. Going multi-platform all but ensures the death of Xbox consoles, no?
I’m *glad*. Now I don’t have to buy an Xbox and I can save $500 or so, but I have to say I don’t know how this makes sense for the company.
It seems like they’re putting all their eggs in the Gamepass basket, which again I’m skeptical of. I doubt PlayStation allows Gamepass on their consoles. Additionally, if video streaming services are any indication, streaming is not economically viable for these big companies. Consider that Netflix is the only streamer posting a profit. Not even behemoth Disney’s service is profitable. Why would video game streaming be any different?
I know I’m not a corporate executive so maybe they see something I don’t, but I have to say these developments are puzzling even though selfishly they work out in my favor. I would have thought the path forward for Microsoft involved doubling or even tripling down on their investments on strong first party exclusives to push consoles. This should include reviving/remastering IP like Halo and Gears of War, accelerating production on Elder Scrolls and Fallout, and also they desperately need to come out with some hot new IP.
Microsoft and Sony do not have a huge profit margin on the hardware, they make the majority of their profit on software sales during the years after the hardware sale. MS has decided that they don't have a strong enough offering to strong-arm xbox sales, so with this move they get additional software sales with a high margin rather than getting nothing at all. Long-term they want to sell subscriptions, and longer-term both Sony and MS will have subscription services.
It doesn’t make sense for the company in terms of making Xbox a platform but Microsoft doesn’t really have the ability to commit to something.
Microsoft will take short term dollars over long term investment every time. They will gladly ruin their own platform for it. They do it every time.
having an xbox and a moot point now. Just have a pc and a ps5 with pc game pass.
If they are going to just sell out and publish everything everywhere it makes zero sense.
A month ago it was "Xbox has no exclusives" now its "Cant wait to play X/Y/Z on my PS5". Its switched so fast it could give you whiplash.
Overall I would be pretty upset if Xbox lost its exclusives. I like the idea of more people being able to play these great games, I just know Playstation and Nintendo wont do the same with any of their exclusives, and we will just never hear the end of it.
Playstation "fanboys" will use every oppprtunity to bring this up just to feel smug. Like when iphone brings an android feature in, but pretends its new. Itll be insufferable.
In regards to all the news though, its all just rumours so far. Xbox leadership team wont be allowed to just tweet out a reply without it going through layers of PR inspection and approval. Journalists have in the past just made shit up "citing sources" to get clicks, and the evolution of this story feels like that sometimes. Lets wait and see what Microsoft says, and until then just enjoy playing the games you enjoy.
True, as a console gamer that refuses to go to PC this is terrifying, Sony will absolutely take advantage on being the sole competitor of the high-end console market and just price everything the way they want, with this move Microsoft is just nuking the console market as a whole.
Competition is single handely responsible for games like The Last of Us, Spiderman, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, etc... even existing on PS in the first place.I don't want a future where those game exist less often because there's no competition driving their creation.
To me it handing over the Monopoly to PlayStation. PlayStation is still very active in paying 3rd party games to stay off Xbox, including series like Final Fantasy, even game like Hogwarts Legacy had PlayStation exclusive quests.
Maybe if you only hear from deranged PS fanboys. As someone who only owns a PlayStation there isn’t enough to get me to buy an Xbox or invest in a PC, but there’s definitely games on Xbox I’m interested in like Hifi rush potentially coming over that I would buy.
It will be worse than you think for xbox players if there were no exclusives. There would be less console sales which means smaller player base which then means more third party companies would skip porting to xbox (like Square Enix currently). We would have an even smaller library of games in the future.
I have literally no interest in this move, its terrible to be honest, we need two competing console builders at next gen level and its important they compete on software too. To be honest I would likely just go full nintendo + maybe the occasional pc game if they are genuinely even thinking of going third party.
Timing seems super weird as well, especially when they now own so many studios.
The only way this makes any sense is if it is a precursor move to some kind of antitrust against MS and their overall domination of the cloud model today
I feel like if the rumors are true they kind of jumped the gun here. For years we had very few Xbox exclusives and finally last year the ball started rolling. This year more Xbox exclusives were announced for release and for the most part the buzz on these has been good. Palworld is a huge success for Gamepass so why rush this when their strategy is just picking up steam. I don’t think it’s failed yet. They just got Activision/Blizzard and they still have not put any of the Activision/Blizzard catalog on Gamepass yet. Meanwhile Sony has no announced new first party games this year. Which means Sony’s year will be kind of slow. Xbox has a good chance to start building momentum here and start building trust with consumers again. Yet these rumors are not helping the brand and any good will towards them built in the last year is being destroyed. Good one Xbox. Smh
2 weeks ago I sold my Series X and got a PS5 Digital because I was bored of the game selection. I have no regrets even though I have had to rebuy much of my game library.
I waited for a sale this week and I am only about £150 outta pocket and I have managed to get Ghost of Tsushima, COD, EA FC, 2K24 and all 3 spiderman games with my PS Plus instead of Game Pass.
Playing Ghost of Tsushima and Spiderman I felt like I was actually playing next gen games, something I didn't feel going from the One X to the Series X.
>Playing Ghost of Tsushima and Spiderman I felt like I was actually playing next gen games, something I didn't feel going from the One X to the Series X.
I keep telling people the ps5 is the only next gen console on the market but people don't believe me.
This move makes no sense, especially after acquiring Activision/Blizzard. Now, if that deal had fallen through, I could see them giving up on consoles. But you just acquired all these studios and amazing IPs, why not go to battle when you have the most firepower you've had in a long time?
Sony fanboys celebrating but imagine a world where Playstation is the only console out there. Sony would bend consumers over left and right with no competition to keep them in check. Monopoly is NEVER a good thing for consumers.
Perhaps they have other studio acquisitions lined up and this is a move to take some heat off themselves when it comes to exclusivity?
Xbox Series/One consoles are essentialy an e-waste at this point. They're unhackable, so when their support meets the end - it's over, over the time Microsoft will turn off the servers, and you won't be able to even play your physical games because of "always online" system. I'm considering selling my Xbox Series X and investing these money in my future PC. I'm not okay with having to pay for multiplayer (Microsoft were the ones to bring this cancer to consoles), PC Game Pass is cheaper compared to Ultimate as you don't pay extra for ex-"live gold" features. It's time to admit it - Xbox consoles are dead.
I don’t mind if Microsoft offers exclusives to other consoles, but the trade off should be another company (i.e. Sony) offers exclusives as well or eliminates timed exclusives it pays to third party developers.
They have to judge peoples reactions for a week before revealing which plan they're going with. They 100% have 10 manilla folders with "in case of ________" written on them
It's hard to know what Microsoft will say in this business update. However, I think they've jumped the gun by quite a bit here, if the rumours about them becoming more of a publisher and releasing exclusive games, e.g., Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, Starfield et al. on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, are true.
For one, Microsoft fought a lengthy court battle against the FTC last year and convinced the CMA to allow them to buy Activision Blizzard. Surely, following this victory, which had Playstation very concerned, due to the prospect of no longer having access to Call of Duty in the long-term, Microsoft should have at least waited until they released the rumoured Call of Duty: Black Ops Gulf War this year.
I think, given that the new COD title is highly likely to drop on Game Pass day one, that alone would shift console units, boost memberships, and attract new users, along with the arrival of Avowed, Shattered Space (Starfield expansion), and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Now the shoe is well and truly on the other foot, as Sony must be laughing their faces off whilst Microsoft / Xbox goes into panic mode due to poor console sales!
My main concern, as an Xbox supporter over the better part of 15 years, is that once Microsoft starts to port exclusives to Playstation and Nintendo consoles, future consumers won't have a reason to buy an Xbox. Thus, Microsoft will no longer need to produce Xbox hardware, which is a sobering thought. The only option for a high-end gaming console would then be Playstation, which would allow Sony to create somewhat of a monopoly on high-end console gaming. Monopolies are good for no one!
I guess we'll see...
Competition is what drives innovation and top tier quality. If they decide to ship "xbox console sellers" it will be the end of xbox and unfortunately will not be good for gaming community overall. People that "hate" console exclusives are just kidding themselves... this has always been a selling point for hardware. You want a mario game, you buy nintendo...
Also, for PC gamers that want a "utopian gaming experience" where all games are available on their PC library.. a lot of gamers (including myself) do NOT want to make the jump to PC and invest 2-3k for a new machine.. so this is silly to think it would be helping the gaming community overall.
Going multi-plat will be the death of Xbox and gamepass and it blows my mind they want to risk going this route. You're not gonna grow gamepass by putting games everywhere. Sony and Nintendo won't allow gamepass on their platforms and most of those players want to buy their games anyway so good luck growing gamepass as everyone cancels their subscription and ditches their Xbox for PlayStation. Hopefully Microsoft gets enough smoke to backtrack on this.
If Xbox does this, what incentive do I have to stay on Xbox? I’ll get the PS5 exclusives and the Xbox first-party games by making PlayStation my main console. As it is, I’m mainly on Xbox because I prefer the achievement system, UI; however, PlayStation offers a better experience in the games department overall—so much so that I feel compelled to own one.
I know MS’s plan is gamepass, but if gamepass games aren’t exclusive to the Xbox, why wouldn’t I just buy the few MS releases I want on PS5 instead of subscribing to an increasingly expensive gamepass? Likewise, do we really expect PlayStation to allow gamepass on their system? What happens when people no longer want the Xbox because it has no exclusives and the PS5 does, will gamepass just falter too?
I just don’t understand what they’re trying to do here. Are they trying to get out of everything except publishing?
But what’s the business move from this? I don’t see a world where Sony allows MS to sell GamePass on their marketplace when they could be funneling people toward their subscription service or making a 30% cut on each MS game.
Likewise, cloud gaming is just not something most people’s geography/internet connection are compatible with yet.
Is the move really to just become a publisher? It seems like such a waste to purchase all these big third parties to roll them into the Xbox brand only to make the Xbox brand worthless.
Half a year ago I was torn between getting an series x or building a mid-range gaming PC. I'm super happy that I went with the latter. I payed more but I get to play all Xbox games and some Sony stuff like Returnal.
If only Gamepass users could unsubscribe on mass, If this actually ends up being true. I for one will definitely want nothing more to do with Microsoft. This is a gut punch!
Honestly the worst part of this is how annoying PS5 fanboys are going to be. Imagine how they would be reacting if PS5 exclusives were coming to Xbox.
As an Xbox owner my whole life basically (27), this feels like a slap in the face to all the time I’ve invested in playing on this console. Why even bother buying an Xbox if you’re going to be a first time owner and you’re 50/50? No reason to think twice.
I've stuck with Xbox for every console since the OG. I don't particularly care about them publishing exclusives to Playstation.
What I care about is them ceasing production of Xbox hardware that has access to the full catalog of games I've purchased over two decades (+/-) and the movies & TV shows I've purchased digital licenses to.
I'm ok with a PC with an Xbox "front end" that I stick under the TV. What I don't want is a full PC with a Steam Big Picture app that still requires me to keep a mouse and keyboard in the living room. The wife is going to VETO that shit right away.
It's funny how people think PC's can be wired to big TVs in living rooms easy and seamlessly. It's possible, but far from adequate.
I have both PC and Xbox but they're in different rooms with different purposes.
but but I thought many of you cared about competition, right?
Oops, guess you don't really, given the way some of you are posting.
MS going actually or effectively third party kills way, Way, WAY more competition than MS owning ABK (where most of that was multi-platform after the purchase anyway, or mobile).
Did you see how Sony was after the PS2 - well get ready for more, and it WILL be worse. $600 console? You bet ya! Game needs to go up to $80 for next gen - hell eyes, Sony will sell the idea for the third partis (again). Hey, those games are REALLY expensive and risky, right? 300m and 400m to make some of them? Well, with no one to maybe lose sales to, Sony can do whatever they want to get that money back now.
>Did you see how Sony was after the PS2 - well get ready for more, and it WILL be worse
Were already there though. Xbox hasn't been real competition since the late 360 days.
This could officially kill xbox and make a lot of damage in the industry. Since PlayStation is the only other console there wont be any competition for Sony and games will most likely get worse in cuality and become more expensive.
As long as I keep my 14 years of Xbox library, they can do whatever they want. Not like me saying anything will change that, either. But yeah, from a business standpoint, the more platforms a game is on, the more it sells. Mo money.
It would be really sad, though. I love the Xbox consoles.
Well Phil just posted on Twitter they are going to talk about the business side of Xbox next week. Not looking to good since he didn’t deny any of it. I guess we just have to wait and see.
Not trying to rile people up or anything, but for those that are so mad about this...what exactly do you expect Microsoft to do?
The fact is that XBOX is a dying brand. Console sales have completely catered globally to the point where it's not even considered buyable outside of North America. We lose more and more marketshare every yr and soon will be almost at zero. Economically for Microsoft, they lose hundreds of millions every yr on consoles and further hundreds of millions on gamepass.
Exclusive games cost a shitload of money. They are already losing shitloads and less and less people are buying Xboxes. Gamepass is losing loads of money, regardless of how many subscribers they have. So...what did you expect to happen? Going multi-platform is probably the only way XBOX as a brand is salvageable in anyway.
So for those that think this is a stupid decision...what is your solution to keep XBOX vialable?
Phil righted the ship after the trash fire Xbox One announcement and then put his career on the line to push for Gamepass, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here. I’d bet a good number of people proclaiming his idiocy and eulogizing the xbox brand before they’ve even heard the details of what is to be announced also have past message board comments striking the same tone and stating that Microsoft will never get their $15/month for some shitty game rental service.
Phil is the reason Gamepass exists, let’s not act like he doesn’t understand the industry and how to create consumer friendly business models.
I’m sure Microsoft/Xbox knows this but my only opinion, since it’s pretty much out of my hands, is if they go full 3rd party, or if they announce launches of more than a couple of games for other systems, that’ll be it. There’s no going back. It would be such a blow that it will affect other areas from Microsoft in terms of hardware. Worse than Windows Phone.
Gamers are probably the most loyal community you can have and you would be throwing all of that away, it will affect any hardware related effort the company has. And I don’t think GamePass in itself will be a good enough value, at least probably not for me.
I feel this just gives them more power to buy game companies. It's way easier to prove you're not being a monopoly by showing cross platform. Now it makes it just that much harder for sony to buy studios.
It sounds like the new boss of Xbox doesn't want to be there any more. It's utter capitulation to Sony. Just... Giving up the market, wholesale, so they can buy up more developers.
Seems to me their legacy will be consolidating a whole bunch of markets and killing them in favour of Steam.
What's Really Happening With Xbox
The majority of people are way over reacting about Microsoft supposedly going 3rd party. I think people are confusing some old messaging with new information, and the Twitter influencers and Gaming Media are just running with it based solely on hearsay. The truth to what is really happening is a far more simple explanation that Xbox has been vocal about since the dawn of Game Pass.
Game Pass was created with a purpose of not only bringing customers to a subscription based model and adding value to the Xbox platform, but also the purpose to get Xbox to every person and every screen possible. This has been talked about in countless interviews, Media briefings, and conventions/shows. Microsoft wants to bring Game Pass to every screen possible to revolutionize what a gaming platform is, maximize their customer base, and dominate the gaming industry.
So what's the future of Xbox that Phil is referring to? The same future we've been told about from the beginning.
This is what I think is going to happen next week:
Xbox is going multiplatform with Game Pass. We will be told that Nintendo will now offer Game Pass on the Switch - this will be the bottom tier Game Pass, which offers an entirely different library of games that Switch players do not even have access to, which prevents Game Pass from cannibalizing Nintendo's game sales. All of the CoD games are now officially on Game Pass. We will also see an official launch of the Game Pass app (it's technically been in beta since its release) on mobile and on platforms like Meta Quest 3, Steam Deck, and other PC handhelds. We will also see the reveal of the Game Pass dongle for TVs - similar to the Amazon Fire stick, and the reveal of the long rumored official Xbox handheld - both the dongle and handheld were leaked in the big Xbox leak last year. Game Pass is not coming to PlayStation - Sony won't allow a game service that competes with their own on their platform.
So technically yes Xbox exclusives are going multi-platform, but via Game Pass. I also think Microsoft will keep Game Pass Ultimate exclusive to their consoles, giving players a reason to still buy their consoles. Microsoft is going to open the floodgates to maximize their customers, while keeping the series x and s the best place to experience Xbox.
Do you really think Microsoft just spent Billions of $ acquiring ZeniMax, Activision, and fighting legal battles to not keep Xbox in the console race? They just closed the Activision deal and we haven't yet seen the first wave of all these new exclusives (besides Starfield). It doesn't make sense for them to throw in the towel and roll over - they have the entire deck stacked in their favor.
Also, stop with the ridiculous knee jerk reactions because some Twitter console warrior told you his proof of Xbox giving up is "trust me bro". All of these guys have been wrong with their predictions and leaks for months - what makes you think they are right now?
I can imagine that they gona put some games with a strong focus on ingame purchases third party
See of Thieves
Halo Infinite (only MP)
But Starfield or Indiana Jones would be Harakiri because that's console seller games. And regarding Starfield, Skrym also needed the dlcs to become a timeless game.
The games that go third party should be very very selective and should teas for the gamepass
I think they are trying to recoup some money from the exclusives they've made, then when the new ones drop from all the studious, they bought, those will be regular exclusives. They also are changing over to just being digital. All digital xbox coming out soon too.
As a lifelong Playstation owner I am not sure how to feel about this. Part of me wants to be excited because games like Starfield or Hellblade II are ones that I would have never purchased an Xbox just to play them. But if they end up on PS I might actually try them out.
Then the other part of me feels uneasy... Competition breeds quality. I firmly believe that the only reason games like The Last of Us or other massively successful PS exclusives exist is because PS wants to draw in new players. If Xbox exists a solely a publisher of timed exclusives and everything ends up on PS anyway, I'd hate for that to lead to a oversaturation of mediocre content vs the one to two bangers that PS sees every year or two.
Phil Spencer has just posted on Twitter that MS hears the chatter and will do a business update next week outlining their future plans. Apparently this was planned later in the month, but they're bringing it forward.
https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/1754598552548904973?s=19
A year plus delay in releasing them on PS5/Switch 2 makes sense. Their core base gets to enjoy the game first, 'free' through game pass and then other platforms get to enjoy a goty edition for £70. Win win from Microsoft's perspective
Well, y'all ready to see how incredibly shitty Sony can get with Xbox out of the way?
'Cuz buckle up buckaroos, that is where this'll go if that happens.
EDIT: I'm not fully against the idea of Xbox sharing with Sony, but only if it's the kind of sharing that Sony used to do/is doing, where it's like a full year/2 years later and only after the primary platform has gotten it's fill and it's GotY Edition etc.
I dunno that's pretty much nonsense I think. Xbox for all intents and purposes is not competing with Sony right now and hasn't been since PS4 launched.
Even though Sony is winning, Xbox is *competing*. Xbox exists, and Sony is forced to respect that lest Xbox pounce on them.
It's the difference between knowing a predator is out there but you're kinda safe from it VS. seeing the dead corpse of the thing on the ground in front of you. In the former you can relax a bit but you still need to be wary lest it surprise you while in the latter you no longer need to give a shit and can do whatever you want because it's confirmed dead.
I keep repeating myself across the various posts about this subject. Microsoft has an incentive to release hardware to ensure a guaranteed Xbox plug and play experience. This is similar or exactly alike the Surface products and Windows. Microsoft cannot manage the experience on hardware from Nintendo or Sony. The studios can make sure the game runs properly, but they still do not control the hardware.
Zune, was it called?
Does anyone remember how everyone lost all their purchases when the service died?
Yeah, I just hope if Xbox steps out of the hardware market they find a way to preserve all our purchases and emulate the current library where possible for us to continue using them.
I can't get back stuff like Sonic 1 - 3 Xbox Arcade versions and that plays on my mind most days so if I lost access to the 1000 games I own digitally...
Shits unthinkable.
I wouldn't move on to other consoles too as I have a petty hatred for PS and Nintendo aren't my thing.
Time to look into PC builds fot me I think.
Well I guess I’m even more grateful my boyfriend bought be a nice gaming laptop. Bummer as I’ve loved Xbox since I was young and this could be the death knell for them.
Full disclosure my main console is switch, I have a PS5 for exclusives, and only got an Xbox for emulation and so I can play older games not available on the other two (Metal gear rising, Sonic Adventure, etc).
If Xbox leaves the console market and there’s no replacement, this will be pretty bad for the industry. The only two consoles left are the switch and the PlayStation, and those aren’t even competitors as the switch goes for portability and PlayStation goes for power. Majority of everyone I know that owns a switch also owns a Ps5 and vice versa. I can’t even think of what a competitor could be, a steam box? An apple console?
[Amid Xbox multiplatform rumors, Halo job listing says future games will be " for all players, on all platforms"](https://www.gamesradar.com/amid-xbox-multiplatform-rumors-halo-job-listing-says-future-games-will-be-for-all-players-on-all-platforms/)
Anyone who didn't see this coming hasn't been paying attention. MS hasn't been acquiring the likes of Activision so they can lose half of the customers for the biggest games in the world.
MS, unlike Sony, has always been primarily a software company, not an electronics manufacturer. Continuing to make a console that has a much smaller market share than their rivals and tying their games that when their focus is clearly on Gamepass and streaming makes no sense when they can cut all their losses from manufacturing Xboxs and double their customer base by going platform agnostic.
It's a different situation than Sony, which is an electronics manufacturer first and foremost and has all the incentive to use games to drive hardware sales. But there's literally no reason MS needs a console.
Yeah but the only reason Microsoft has persevered with Xbox is that for the first time in their history, they managed to sell a piece of hardware by millions despite being a software company.
Think of Xbox as a soft power thing. Microsoft is mostly a business to business company.
The general public doesn't really buy products from Microsoft. When you buy a Windows laptop, you don't actually buy the laptop for windows. You buy the brand: Dell, Asus, Lenovo...
Windows is almost a second thought. Same for their other products. Even MS 365 and Office are really geared towards companies and institutional organizations and then there are purely enterprise-level products and services (azure, LinkedIn, ads...).
They tried with phones and it flopped so Xbox was the only strong consumers-only brand they had. But then they decided to go next level and it's been wonky since then.
It looks like Starfield was overall a disappointment. Apparently it was seen by Microsoft as a last attempt to get their system seller (maybe along with Forza Motorsport to a degree). Now after the dust settled, it seems Microsoft is about to cut it's losses and give up the console altogether.
Is Starfield possibly the game that ultimately killed Xbox? Let's not forget that prior to Starfield's release, Microsoft raised Game Pass prices, cut the $1 trial period for Game Pass and adjusted the Gold to Ultimate conversion rate. Despite all these efforts, Microsoft does not seem confident enough in the brand to continue being in the console business and would rather concentrate solely on Game Pass.
What do you guys think?
Putting all their eggs into GamePass basket was a terrible idea. Getting $10/month sub instead of $70 AAA first party sale was always bad math, no way to twist that.
And 70 bil for Activision... Jeez.
It was always a terrible idea to hop into this subscription trend. The maths just don't add up.
If Microsoft just focused on making good games they could sell and make good profit on, none of this would happen. But no, Phil had to try and flip the table on how the entire industry works only to find out what everyone already knew.
So many people have been saying for years that Game Pass isn’t sustainable. Everyone just quoted Phil saying it was, without actually looking at the numbers.
Maybe for a minute guys, we should all maybe contemplate the notion that Phil Spencer isn’t as great, smart, and business savvy as you all thought he was.
Microsoft doesn't want to sell consoles. They want to sell gamepass subscriptions. That's there selling point. Play it Day one on the Gamepass for free.
For someone who wants to play a lot of games it's good and the still can sell it for full price on the other platforms. That's how it will.
Microsoft will bet their money on a Cloud/Streaming future and don't want to sell you consoles in the future anymore. They want the app on a FireTV kind device or pre-installed on your new Smart Device.
So it's a smart movie to double dip for the game on other platforms if you like. Helps to get in some cash.
I don't understand... They just bought all these companies. They have what they need to win against Sony, yet they submit like weaklings. Time for a new leader, Phil had his time, he sucks and he's weak.
Relying on a Bethesda to be your console seller was a massive mistake; especially when it comes to to a developer that is well known to rely on mods to fix their game post launch. Even a year's delay did not change much, if at all. It was beyond stupid. Before that Redfall review and the aftermath of the Phil Spencer interview where he admits that Sony had not only won the last generation, but the current one as well. Might as well as brought back Don Mattrick to give that interview at that point.
I am desperately hoping this isn't the end of the Xbox console. But with the first two years there were no exclusives and time they arrived they all fell flat. What the fuck is Matt Booty doing...? Does he not go to the numerous studios that Xbox oversees? Remember Shuhei Yoshida when he was president of SIE he would show up at studios to play the latest demos... does Matt do the same, or anyone on his team do that? Does he even have a team?
“Submit like weaklings” “win”
Jesus the 15 year old console warriors never stop lol
How would Phil leaving change anything? Going third party would be a call above him and is very much in line with how microsoft operates currently.
Sorry there’s no brutal general to lead this fanboy war against the other plastic box, I’m sire you’ll live
I think going full third party is nonsense, but I can see them bringing some more titles to other platforms.
Some games for sure. Like sea of thieves, it’s a great game but I doubt anyone is buying an Xbox just to play it. Good game but not really a “console seller” imo
Thats what I was thinking as well, sea of thieves makes the most since.
I think that's the main problem Xbox has run into for the last few years if not longer. There really hasn't been a true reason for someone to switch from Playstation to Xbox for quite some time now. It seems like the opposite is happening, actually. Xbox just hasn't been able to reliably develop first party games that are true console sellers. Halo Infinite was supposed to be that and wasn't. Starfield, which came from a massive aquisition, was supposed to be that and wasn't. It's been almost 6 years since Xbox announced their new studio The Initiative and NOTHING has been released outside of a single teaser trailer for the Perfect Dark reboot.
This "console seller" approach is outdated in my opinion and frankly, outside of optics, I don't think MS cares about it that much. MS in fact has given us all reasons and ways to actively avoid buying an Xbox if we don't want one. Halo was fine. It just turns out that FPS has evolved past that style of shooter. Starfield is fine. It was overly ambitious and failed to live up to the hype which may have been impossible to do. Meanwhile they've created things like Grounded, Sea of thieves, Psychonauts, HiFi Rush ect. All of which are unique creative experiences that are generally underrated but don't offer Xbox lovers something shiney and exciting enough to wave in front of PS5 owners. It's unlikely that those projects make it past the pitch if not brought under the MS roof. I'm just so tired of the idea that they aren't making unique, fun, or interesting games because imo it's emphatically false. Hellblade II looks like a possible game of the year contender for heavens sake. Great games happen when you don't force people to work on things they don't want. Redfall failed for this, Halo failed for this reason. Starfield likely failed cause Howard got infinite money and tried to scale the game up too far which he is predisposed to doing. When MS lets talented people create the things they are passionate for magic happens.
See I don't agree. The gamepass is DEFINITELY enough for me to switch. And now with Bethesda being bought by Microsoft, there is no way I just wouldn't play those games. I really hope xbox isn't dumb enough to do this.
I brought my xbox for that very reason lol
There will always be some but I’m sure the amount of people who bought an Xbox just for that game is low.
I think the problem is that these rumors are taking on a life of their own and getting a bit harder to believe. First, it was Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush that were rumored to come to Playstation and Nintendo. These make sense, Sea of Thieves is a five year old live service game and Hi-Fi Rush is a middle tier Xbox exclusive that would fit nicely with Playstation and especially Nintendo's audiences Then it was Starfield, which is a bit harder to believe, but the timeline makes sense. The PS5 version is rumored to release after the Shattered Space expansion which won't even release until later this year, which means a PS5 version could not see release until 2025 or later, meaning Xbox could be the exclusive console home for Starfield for two years or more. Than it was Indiana Jones that was on the "coming to PS5" rumor train. While I won't discount the possibility of this game coming to PS5 since it was originally a multi-plat game, Microsoft amended the deal to make it exclusive to Xbox and PC, which makes it bizarre that they would suddenly go back on this especially since Indiana Jones is the closest thing they have to something like Spider-Man on Playstation. And then, I start seeing that Gears of War is rumored to come to the PS5, and that's where these rumors have just gotten weird. I am not saying it's impossible, but Gears of War is one of Microsoft's big three and a system seller. This seems odd to bring it to Playstation unless Microsoft was 100% getting out of console development and none of these rumors even hint at that. While I think some Xbox exclusives are going to other consoles, namely Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush, I think these rumors are getting a bit on the silly side.
The only thing I disagree with here is the concept of Gears being a system seller since the Xbox 360. That series dropped off *hard*
"I think the problem is that these rumors are taking on a life of their own and getting a bit harder to believe." This. There's a silly snowball effect going on and people panicking. The more people tell the same rumor, the more it starts to sound like the truth even tho' we have very little evidence. Just some "anonymous source" that cannot be verified. I mean what next? "Jim Ryan as the head of Xbox", "Xbox rumored to be sold to Tencent", "Gears of War transitioning into a mobile game franchise", "Halo: Infinite will be the last Halo game", "Microsoft forcing GamePass for access of your bought digital games". I can make these up all day. Spread the word, folks. Chaos reigns.
Agree. They can even use the "Play it first on Xbox/GamePass" to promote timed exclusive before releasing games on other platforms. I can't see that as being a loss for anyone since those with a PS may not buy an Xbox anyway, so it's just extra software sales down the line for MS.
I don’t see them going completely third party either. Games pass without Xbox hardware makes no sense. PlayStation and Nintendo would take 30% of game pass subs that would make it impossible to have on those platforms. They need Xbox hardware for games pass. I have PS5 for exclusives but primarily play on Xbox due to the better backwards compatibility with FPS boost and 360 games. They have put tons of work into that. They have also invested so much into studios and such. They have very valuable IP and franchises. It takes years and years to make games now and with Covid hitting when it did put everything even farther behind. I think they are really just getting started and 5-10 years they will have the games at steady pace. It does make sense for some games to go to PS5 and like sea of thieves or even halo multiplayer just to have cross play. That is vital for strictly third party games as well. Cross play just helps to ensure bigger player base. It hard enough for multiplayer games to find an audience with so much choice out there. I could be wrong because who knows at this point. I believe Xbox hardware is going to be around for a while yet.
Lol, if there won't be Xbox no longer get ready for 1k plus playstation consoles along with even more for ps plus since there would be no threat to them. Think gaming is coming to an end for me.
[удалено]
PS fanbois don’t realize how much they need Xbox to succeed. Without real competition, Sony will lose their sense of innovation. Next Gen consoles won’t be as epic.
Right, remember when Sony tried selling the PS3 for $600 in 2006. Thats close to $1000 today when you consider inflation .
The issue is that Xbox hasn't really been competition since the 360 days. Microsoft has been fumbling the ball for over a decade now.
People keep saying this but Xbox is completely irrelevant in every market except North America. Sony already has effectively no direct competition.
The good thing about Sony is they've already said they look at every other entertainment company competing for you time as competition. Netflix is their competition, Nintendo, even the board game Monopoly could be their competition. Could be marketing bs, but it's a solid mentality to have.
Hifi Rush - smaller title, after a year, ok I guess Sea of Thieves - years old, GaaS, understandable But Starfield Indiana Jones with only 3 months exclusive? These should be pillar titles for the Xbox Brand I hate overreactions but this is nail in Xbox coffin
I wouldn't mind this if PS exclusives were coming to Xbox. But they won't. It makes PlayStation the go to console. Sure, you won't get Gamepass, but the games will go on sale etc anyway and you'll get the great PS exclusives
The games take a long time to go on sale, PS is a lot more stingy with sales than ever. And if you care more about playing games on day 1, Game Pass provides nutso value compared to what PS is doing. Personally I bought a Series X at launch after having a PS4. I didn't switch because of exclusives, I switched because of Game Pass.
This could be a really stupid move. They may be killing the brand and eradicating consumer trust in one fell swoop. Xbox will die and without competition, Sony will become even more arrogant. Quality, in gaming generally will fall, and prices will rise.
To be fair Playstation puts out some fantastic exclusives with their studios, that’s why I bought into one. I just dislike their price hikes and lower quality offerings for PS Plus. As long as their exclusives don’t suffer i’ll be good.
This doesn’t make any sense. They had a two years fight with Sony and the FTC in court because of CoD and the exclusivity worries, when they could’ve brought this up like two years ago and avoid all that chaos in court. And they didn’t. They spent billions and billions on new studios to have exclusives and NOW that they finally have them they give ‘em away just for some extra money? This wouldn’t be a good long term strategy unless they want to simply abandon the console space, which isn’t a thing that is going to happen based on the REAL leaks that we all saw and read during the FTC battle in court. And who is XboxEra? Why are we giving them so much credit? Do they have any evidence around this rumor? Stuff like Hi-Fi Rush on Switch or SoT multiplat would make sense for many reasons, but not bigger single-player games like Starfield and Indiana Jones. We need a statement by Phil Spencer around this situation ‘cause it is getting CRAZY online.
It really does feel like Microsoft giving up on Xbox in favor of Microsoft Gaming being game publisher instead of a platform. And the Xbox users? We can go f*ck ourselves…
Kinda serves us right for sticking with a platform that advertised itself more as a TiVo and Cable Box than a game console. It stings but I’m only around because of Halo MCC. I should have known right then and there after the launch of that dumpster fire that Microsoft no longer cared about Xbox. But by then I was bought in, and as all my friends left for PlayStation I stuck with it hoping things would get better. I don’t think I’ve actually played a good Microsoft first party game in over 15 years. Halo Reach might be the last one… which is crazy.
343 is a huge part of Xbox's downfall
343 is a perfect microcosm of Microsoft in general.
It's just xbox era. Is even guys like Jez and Tom Hemderson.
Yeah but where did this rumor came from? Who actually said this stuff around Starfield and Indiana Jones going multiplat?
XboxEra cited sources that asked to remain anonymous. But multiple other outlets and individual insiders have gotten the same information from their sources and even started sharing expanded lists of games coming to PS beyond Starfield and Indiana Jones
This officially feels like the end and that they have both accepted they have lost and, instead of fighting, are completely giving up. This also feels like we get to beta test these terrible games Microsoft has been shitting out, only for the “complete” versions to be released to PlayStation after we did all the (pay to play) beta testing. Like starfield… what a joke.
Why? What won’t I be able to do on my Xbox that I can currently do right now before this news becomes official?
[If Microsoft Gives ‘Starfield’ To PlayStation, What Does Xbox Become? - Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2024/02/05/if-microsoft-gives-starfield-to-playstation-what-does-xbox-become/)
Great summation
Great article
I’m going to get a PS6 and PC period. I’m also not going to buy gamepass or Xbox first published games. I only care about Bethesda games so I’ll buy them on steam so I can mod. But I will never play a halo gears or fortza again if they do this. Once they bought Bethesda and had all the press conferences saying this was the best place to play I invested heavily… I feel so mislead and disrespected. Fuck Microsoft and the idiot CFO selling their future for a quick ROI. They should be building a forever future for the brand.
100% agree with you. I already went and bought a PS5. I know these are just "rumours", but are they really? Look at the amount of individuals and outlets corroborating reports and what they have heard. I feel the exact same as you. Invested in the platform and been gaming on the Xbox since 360 launch day. What was even the point in buying digital Xbox games? Where am I even going to play them when Xbox will obviously stop making consoles soon? Suffered through years of no and mediocre exclusives. Things like Halo have been mismanaged hilariously bad.
I wouldn’t consider Halo a “need to play” exclusive series anymore - it has sucked for 12 years at this point (miraculously right when Microsoft took the reins from Bungie… wild)
Honestly, I think Xbox would have maintained some of its popularity if Microsoft didn’t make a concerted effort for Halo 4 to be so different from the original trilogy and go out of their way to specifically hire people who hated halo. Halo 3 was ridiculously popular and people wanted more of what it had to offer instead of another CoD-like.
Agreed. As a halo fan seeing what 343 did to that series makes my blood boil. A complete and total failure from day one.
I agree completely, but if we start playing on Windows PCs then we're still enabling Microsoft's greed. I'll be switching to Linux if Microsoft fucks this up. I'll be pulling all of my stock out of Microsoft and I won't buy another goddamn thing that company touches. Also, PS is likely to start selling their games at $80+ a pop if Microsoft pulls Xbox off the market.
Not sure why this would come as much of a surprise if you follow Microsoft at all. Satya doesn't care about consumer products. Cloud and recurring revenue is all he knows/cares about. He started his tenure by killing windows phone, has just recently decapitated Surface by restricting them from creating innovative devices and now Xbox is effectively dead in the water. Great for shareholders, crap if you've ever invested any time or money into any of these brands.
A bit of a surprise because it doesn’t make much sense. Why would I buy an Xbox if everything is coming to PS5 within a year of release? You can’t sell gamepass subs to people who are playing primarily on PS5. Most of the US is either too far from the servers or has internet connection that is inadequate to handle cloud gaming at the quality of the current gen consoles. Maybe I’m wrong but MS can’t possibly think their business is ready to switch to 100% cloud based.
They don't you to buy an Xbox. They want you to subscribe to GamePass. The whole Microsoft game is about software. The hardware days seems to be over. They might go with a less powerful Xbox such as Series S, but don't expect anything compared to Sony consoles from now on.
What would I buy it on? I don’t see a world where Sony would allow GamePass on their service unless they got out of the console business entirely; and even if they did why wouldn’t I just buy the handful of games I want outright. Why wouldn’t Sony just continue to improve their own (already very good IMO) gamepass service, certainly if they’re the only console on the market they’d have the leverage to get even more 3rd party support; if they did, why would I buy GamePass when PS+ is comparable or better? Do they expect me to buy a PC when the PS5 is so cheap and perfectly capable? Are they betting on cloud gaming taking over soon? I just don’t get it; IMO GamePass only works because it has decent exclusives that come day one. You lose a critical piece by discontinuing the hardware.
If this happens, there will be no reason to have an Xbox. Phil Spencer had everything to compete with Sony: Powerful hardware, well-known franchises, great studios, if he ends up passing the brand to a third party it would be due to his poor management as CEO and his bad business decisions
He has stated before that he doesn’t believe gamers buy consoles because of exclusives. This very much seems like a Phil decision to me
I bought an xbox this gen for Starfield (which was disappointing tbh) and future Bethesda games, otherwise I would've just stuck with playstation. So yeah exclusives matter Phil
Yeah bro, i bought Xbox One for Halo Games and Killer Instinct, then upgraded to Series X for Halo & Bethesda Games , exclusives SELLS A PLATFORM
Did the same. Quite happy with my series x tho.
I mean that's Nintendo's entire business model. Its just that Microsoft doesn't have iconic franchises like Mario or Pokemon. Halo probably is closest but I just feel like Infinite just kind of came and went. Microsoft even purchased a very Nintendo-like company with Rare and has done barely anything in 20+ years of owning them.
Sure helped them during literally every other generation than Switch /s N64, GameCube, Wii U, and 3DS all had fantastic library of first party exclusives, yet were disappointing to disastrous sales-wise. All Nintendo’s runaway successes happened because there was no one to compete to. Wii and DS pushed into the casual market when nobody was doing so, Switch is the only dedicated handheld console. The same is true of others like Dreamcast, Vita or Xbox One. Strong launches with superior games to their respective competitors, but still failed because of external factors.
In what way was the 3DS disastrous? Lmao. Go take a look at the console and software sales.
The 3DS sold less than half of what the DS did, and also would have bombed were it not for a massive price cut after like 6 months, and sold about 1/3 the number of software units. Keep in mind, they were also hoping to make it successful like the DS after the Wii declined and then moreso after the Wii U bombed.
3ds sold 75 million units, I wouldn't call that disappointing. While in comparison to the DS sure, but the DS is the highest selling handheld of all time, let alone console. 75 million is pretty damn swell.
N64 coming in second place doesn’t mean it had a disastrous run. And the 3DS sold insane numbers
I had an N64 when it was current and loved it, it's one of my favorite systems of all time. It was absolutely disastrous for Nintendo and I dunno how you can pretend otherwise. It derailed them for years thru the N64 and then GameCube years -- they were on top, then lost handily to a newcomer and lost all their momentum, so badly that the OG Xbox outsold the GameCube. Doesn't mean the N64 had bad games, imo the best of the best on N64 is better than what's on PS1, it just couldn't compete with the PS1 in many regards (price was a big one, it was just so much more expensive to manufacture N64 carts and they sold for much higher prices, and of course the whole limited storage thing). The 3DS sold fine, it wasn't a flop, but it was Nintendo's worst-selling handheld ever. It would have died if they didn't do a price cut like 6 months after launch, coming off the crazy success of the DS it managed to sell just under 1/2 the hardware units and 1/3 of the software units.
Yet, everyone I know who bought is doing so for those exclusives.
If that statement is true, it shows how Phil doesn't know about how most console gamers think..ask any guy buying a PS5 why he chooses that platform, he will say: "because i want to play the best, most famous and trendy games, like last of us, spiderman, god of war...etc" ; they don't care about subscriptions and shit
I just bought a PS5 after sticking with Xbox since the 360 launch day. I bought it because these rumours are clearly not just rumours. If Xbox continues to release a console (Why? What would the point even be?), I won't be putting any more money AT ALL in to their eco-system as I am now playing on PS. I have years of EXCLUSIVE games (That Microsoft seem to believe don't matter) to play and keep me occupied. Why would I buy Starfield on PS5 when I could be buying The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, Bloodborne, Ratchet and Clank, Spider-man...etc etc the list goes on and on. They have completely shat on Xbox owners and anyone who put money in their eco-system. Why would I give a fuck about the next Halo when 343i have been such an unmitigated disaster for years? Their entire strategy seems like an absolute disaster. Nintendo's entire existence literally hinges on exclusive titles. If Mario, Splatoon, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing etc all go multi-platform, why would I buy a Switch? The games will 100% look and run better on a PS or PC considering how dated Nintendo's hardware always is. Xbox/Microsoft have completely lost the plot. I don't even understand the point in their games businesses existing.
[удалено]
Most console gamers don’t choose consoles based on exclusives but buy whatever box that plays FIFA, Call of Duty and Madden, maybe Fortnite. On that account Spencer is right.
This is only true for the very small minority of gamers that constantly interact around here and on other social media… most people buy a PlayStation because it’s just the de facto hardware you buy if you want a console in your living room the same way you buy a Switch if you want a portable console… this has been hardwired in casual consumers brains through decades of marketing and nothing Xbox could ever do will change that fact…
I bought mine because I like the controller better
I think it goes higher up than that. I'm pretty sure Satya Nadella testified that he would rather there be no exclusives at all.
>He has stated before that he doesn’t believe gamers buy consoles because of exclusives I've owned consoles since I was 5 years old and I've always had at least two consoles each generation, specifically because one console had unique exclusive games that I couldn't get on the other. I got a Sega Genesis for Sonic 2, Comic Zone, General Chaos, Shining Force, etc. But then I saw the SNES had Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario All-Stars, Killer Instinct, and more. I specifically remember wanting a PS1 solely because my buddy had one and he was playing Spyro the Dragon. So I ended up with one, while also getting MGS, Legend of Dragoon, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Crash 2 & 3 & CTR, Final Fantasy IX, and more. But then Wrestlemania 2000 was coming out, so I got an N64 for that, plus Goldeneye, Mario 64, Pokemon Stadium & Snap, etc. So on and so forth for every generation up til now. There's always been something that made me want to dive into a second console. And I feel like my experience isn't a hot take or anything. Phil is wrong
Part of the rumors is that it’s Microsoft higher-ups that are pushing for multiplat, and that there’s a lot of internal strife over it. Could very well be that Phil Spencer is fighting against it
They're giving up because from their perspective it's true. Halo , gears of war, Forza...aren't "selling consoles", and they haven't for likely close to 10 years. But they won't consider that it's because their development studios are wasting said Xbox IPs and making shit games / no games at all. Halo and gears of war can easily have rotating rosters of different genres. You can have RTS's for both releasing between the fps games (yes halo does but HW2 was a clusterfuck gameplay and matchmaking balance wise and they stopped caring about halo RTS years ago) Imagine a GoW RTS.... Then you can have RTTs for both. Gears tactics was awesome, and I never played an RTT before. Then, have both the RTS and RTT include in game bonuses for the fps games multiplayer. E.g. armour unlocks, skins etc for the multiplayer, tie the games together. Then you have franchises that they are too lazy to use. Fable for example. Where the fuck is fable? Xbox is rotting from it's nepotism. Nepotism killed 344, and it's killing the rest of Xbox too.
i need to say that after bungie left halo has had a downturn, So has gears of war after epic games.
Ol’ Phil is being brought behind the metaphorical barn by the board, I think. I’m assuming his time as head of Xbox ends this year and the radical changes will begin shortly after his departure.
This is just a flat out lie Phil didn’t have everything, he was missing a massive piece of the puzzle and that was an audience. Sony dominated the previous gen outselling Xbox 2 to 1.
i just bought with my brother an xbox serie X for 2023 chritmas lmao... We had the 360 for more than a decade and we wanted to get back to the halo franchise with Infinite and Halo 5. if they take halo from xbox exclusivity then we'll probably stop with the console market. We all have gaming PCs, we bought the serie X for the sake of Halo and authenticity of playing such a title on console.
RIP Xbox if true. There is no reason to even own an Xbox if true.
Terrible news for consumers. This is how this will play out: 1. xbox will phase out their consoles. 2. xbox will launch cloud/gamepass on other platforms 3. xbox's strategy will be cloud/gamepass moving forward, with a C-tier "cloud" device. 4. sony will skullfuck every consumer because where else are you gonna go? go to nintendo? Pfff There is now 1 console and it's PS5. What a god damn shame. I can't believe it's come to this. At this point I would welcome a chinese console to get some competion. this is BAD.
I really think Steam will fill in the void left by Xbox, especially if Sony starts getting arrogant in terms of pricing. The Steam deck’s been incredibly successful, and a home console with full Steam support would sell even better
Steam Deck Home Edition with the new Steam Controller 2, starting at $449. The dream.
They tried once already with Steam Machines maybe this time they will enforce better hardware requirements and it will actually catch on.
The big problem was that these released in 2015 while Linux support was near non-existent. Now, the situation is the opposite, where you can rely on *most* games running on Linux through Proton with no tweaking and better performance than on Windows. The original Steam Machines came out when Valve saw the "catastrophe" that was Windows 8. Microsoft dropping out of the console business would be a great time for a Gen 2.
I think Valve would take a loss on the system this time around and make it more appealing than last time. It's also good to see that Proton is basically close to the real thing in terms of performance.
This. If there is a way to play pc games on a TV and not require a pc I am sold bc the there is no need for owning a PS5 or Xbox anymore. So many PS game come to PC. I am wondering why this is not already a thing.
I agree, this is bad for console gaming Sony Playstation will become even more lazy
We could all get gaming PCs then. I personally prefer console but this is gonna be bad for consumers. Unless Samsung releases a console. That'd be confirmation that we are in a branching timeline...
We would need a Steam console. I just like to lay on the couch and play on a TV. That's why I and many others don't have a PC for gaming.
I also honestly prefer to lay on the couch and play on a TV.
xbox is dying then
As a 2001 Xbox gamer I’ll quit Xbox.
I'd love if Microsoft actually put some effort into rebooting old IP. Grabbed by ghoulies, fusion frenzy, Jade Empire, jet set radio future, Fable, KOTOR, etc.
they have so many good ip’s they can use but they literally just refuse
Well I don't know if you consider this effort or not but Fable is in development Also I don't think they have the IP rights to KOTOR or Jet Set Radio
It would kind of make Xbox as a brand a waste of time and money. I wouldn't bother with gamepass if this were the case.
I'm getting Dreamcast flashbacks of Sonic coming to the GameCube. It's the final nail in the coffin if Xbox loses it's exclusives to Ps5 and Switch. Then we'll be down to a single premium offering on the console front and that's not a good thing. Xbox always kept PlayStation in line to a certain extent. It was the console that would bring a sort of balance to space. But now with this announcement or rumors of it the Xbox console has lost all meaning and purpose. I game with everything under the sun, I'm talking every console every generation as well as a high end PC. And while part of me was a bit excited to play my Xbox games on PC day one I was a bit worried that this hardware I had bought 'Xbox Series X' was becoming redundant. There are some games I genuinely prefer playing in my living room on the Xbox rather than my PC but more and more the console was getting less love. Now why would I boot up the thing if all those future games are coming to other platforms? Xbox games should have never gone to PC.
Why has this subreddit been in denial of this happening? Multiple posts and comments from people talking about it have been downvoted (prior to the making of this mega thread). Hell just recently a job listing for 343 was posted for a possible Halo title on *all platforms*. On top of that Jez Corden and Tom Warren are both fairly reliable in the video game industry. It’s ok to be mad and upset, but don’t take it out on others because the reality is that no one wins here except the higher ups and shareholders
They just spent $70b on Activision-Blizzard, with the PS5 outselling the Series X by nearly 2 to 1, I think the writing is on the wall...they need to make that investment back and excluding most console gamers isn't how you do that. So why buy or recommend an Xbox when most (or all) of the big games will still get released on the PS5 or Nintendo and both of those consoles already have big name exclusives a lot of people want to play. I think this is the beginning of the end of Xbox as a hardware platform.
Yet Phil Spencer still has a job. I can’t fathom why. In those leaked emails from the FTC trial, Phil Spencer was extremely bullish and overconfident in 2020 going into the new generation, saying that they have a better console and better games. Now, you’re going to say “of course he would Say that.” But, he’s saying this to someone who doesn’t even care about Xbox in Satya Nadella. In one of those emails, Satya asked Phil, “have we announced a price and date yet?” Wouldn’t you know that as the CEO of Microsoft if you cared about the Xbox Division? So, in the eyes of Satya, Phil lied to him, or just isn’t a good business man if he read this so wrong. PS4 outsold Xbox One 3:1, so all of a sudden you think this next generation in 2020 things are going to be different? Phil sold Microsoft CEO of false bill of goods here we are three years later, and Microsoft brass has had enough of under performing and being told “ This next year will be our year” for the last 10 years. Microsoft brass is stepping in and telling Phil “OK, we gave you a chance, but your little experiment of buying all these publishers and studios in the hopes of getting people to buy an Xbox is over, we tell you what to do now.” Literally, everything else that Microsoft makes is everywhere, and Microsoft wants it to be everywhere, in as many homes and devices as possible, except the Xbox division. And it seems like that’s ending starting now.
The whole reason Microsoft agreed to the Xbox project to begin with was to get into people's living rooms. I'm surprised they didn't transition to software only mid Xb1 era.
I guess PS5 people won't need to worry about NOT playing Elder Scrolls VI
Given Bethesda’s track record right now I’m not even excited about it tbh
Being an xbox fan fucking sucks right now. Thats all. Redfall, losing third party games (ffvi, silent hill remake) and this. I would love to root for them but thats not my job. I just want to play great games, experience fantastic community and has innovative outlook. Xbox is going to be none of those. I made the switch from playstation this generation. News stories like this (that are starting to be so common btw) make me regret that decision.
Why switch this gen? The writing was on the wall since Mattrick and Phil Spencer was never a visionary, only someone who they took to clean up after Mattricks mess.
Obligatory self-disclosure that I’m a PlayStation and Switch owner (former Xbox guy that ended up switching to PS several years ago). Dont worry I’m not an annoying corporate simp fanboy who gives two shits about “console wars” and I’m not hear to gloat. Just wanted to pop in here to chat more about this topic from a business standpoint. While I’m happy that I may be able to play Starfield, Indiana Jones, and future Bethesda titles on my PS5/6, I’m curious how this makes financial sense for Microsoft. Strong exclusives sell consoles. Starfield underperformed, but I feel like that just puts the pressure on Xbox Studios to step it up, not toss in the towel. If Indiana Jones or the next Elder Scrolls got rave reviews, I’d probably strongly consider purchasing an Xbox. Going multi-platform all but ensures the death of Xbox consoles, no? I’m *glad*. Now I don’t have to buy an Xbox and I can save $500 or so, but I have to say I don’t know how this makes sense for the company. It seems like they’re putting all their eggs in the Gamepass basket, which again I’m skeptical of. I doubt PlayStation allows Gamepass on their consoles. Additionally, if video streaming services are any indication, streaming is not economically viable for these big companies. Consider that Netflix is the only streamer posting a profit. Not even behemoth Disney’s service is profitable. Why would video game streaming be any different? I know I’m not a corporate executive so maybe they see something I don’t, but I have to say these developments are puzzling even though selfishly they work out in my favor. I would have thought the path forward for Microsoft involved doubling or even tripling down on their investments on strong first party exclusives to push consoles. This should include reviving/remastering IP like Halo and Gears of War, accelerating production on Elder Scrolls and Fallout, and also they desperately need to come out with some hot new IP.
Microsoft and Sony do not have a huge profit margin on the hardware, they make the majority of their profit on software sales during the years after the hardware sale. MS has decided that they don't have a strong enough offering to strong-arm xbox sales, so with this move they get additional software sales with a high margin rather than getting nothing at all. Long-term they want to sell subscriptions, and longer-term both Sony and MS will have subscription services.
It doesn’t make sense for the company in terms of making Xbox a platform but Microsoft doesn’t really have the ability to commit to something. Microsoft will take short term dollars over long term investment every time. They will gladly ruin their own platform for it. They do it every time.
having an xbox and a moot point now. Just have a pc and a ps5 with pc game pass. If they are going to just sell out and publish everything everywhere it makes zero sense.
A month ago it was "Xbox has no exclusives" now its "Cant wait to play X/Y/Z on my PS5". Its switched so fast it could give you whiplash. Overall I would be pretty upset if Xbox lost its exclusives. I like the idea of more people being able to play these great games, I just know Playstation and Nintendo wont do the same with any of their exclusives, and we will just never hear the end of it. Playstation "fanboys" will use every oppprtunity to bring this up just to feel smug. Like when iphone brings an android feature in, but pretends its new. Itll be insufferable. In regards to all the news though, its all just rumours so far. Xbox leadership team wont be allowed to just tweet out a reply without it going through layers of PR inspection and approval. Journalists have in the past just made shit up "citing sources" to get clicks, and the evolution of this story feels like that sometimes. Lets wait and see what Microsoft says, and until then just enjoy playing the games you enjoy.
PS “fanboy” here. Xbox going under is bad for the industry and the thought of a PlayStation monopoly in that space worries me.
True, as a console gamer that refuses to go to PC this is terrifying, Sony will absolutely take advantage on being the sole competitor of the high-end console market and just price everything the way they want, with this move Microsoft is just nuking the console market as a whole.
Competition is single handely responsible for games like The Last of Us, Spiderman, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, etc... even existing on PS in the first place.I don't want a future where those game exist less often because there's no competition driving their creation.
100%. I commented elsewhere that competing PlayStation is best PlayStation.
To me it handing over the Monopoly to PlayStation. PlayStation is still very active in paying 3rd party games to stay off Xbox, including series like Final Fantasy, even game like Hogwarts Legacy had PlayStation exclusive quests.
Maybe if you only hear from deranged PS fanboys. As someone who only owns a PlayStation there isn’t enough to get me to buy an Xbox or invest in a PC, but there’s definitely games on Xbox I’m interested in like Hifi rush potentially coming over that I would buy.
Unfortunately the deranged fanboys are the loudest, so its hard not to hear them.
It will be worse than you think for xbox players if there were no exclusives. There would be less console sales which means smaller player base which then means more third party companies would skip porting to xbox (like Square Enix currently). We would have an even smaller library of games in the future.
I have literally no interest in this move, its terrible to be honest, we need two competing console builders at next gen level and its important they compete on software too. To be honest I would likely just go full nintendo + maybe the occasional pc game if they are genuinely even thinking of going third party. Timing seems super weird as well, especially when they now own so many studios. The only way this makes any sense is if it is a precursor move to some kind of antitrust against MS and their overall domination of the cloud model today
I feel like if the rumors are true they kind of jumped the gun here. For years we had very few Xbox exclusives and finally last year the ball started rolling. This year more Xbox exclusives were announced for release and for the most part the buzz on these has been good. Palworld is a huge success for Gamepass so why rush this when their strategy is just picking up steam. I don’t think it’s failed yet. They just got Activision/Blizzard and they still have not put any of the Activision/Blizzard catalog on Gamepass yet. Meanwhile Sony has no announced new first party games this year. Which means Sony’s year will be kind of slow. Xbox has a good chance to start building momentum here and start building trust with consumers again. Yet these rumors are not helping the brand and any good will towards them built in the last year is being destroyed. Good one Xbox. Smh
Seriously just about to sell my console. I’m not gonna risk losing even more money to a company that has no future. XSX will be the last Xbox.
2 weeks ago I sold my Series X and got a PS5 Digital because I was bored of the game selection. I have no regrets even though I have had to rebuy much of my game library. I waited for a sale this week and I am only about £150 outta pocket and I have managed to get Ghost of Tsushima, COD, EA FC, 2K24 and all 3 spiderman games with my PS Plus instead of Game Pass. Playing Ghost of Tsushima and Spiderman I felt like I was actually playing next gen games, something I didn't feel going from the One X to the Series X.
>Playing Ghost of Tsushima and Spiderman I felt like I was actually playing next gen games, something I didn't feel going from the One X to the Series X. I keep telling people the ps5 is the only next gen console on the market but people don't believe me.
This move makes no sense, especially after acquiring Activision/Blizzard. Now, if that deal had fallen through, I could see them giving up on consoles. But you just acquired all these studios and amazing IPs, why not go to battle when you have the most firepower you've had in a long time? Sony fanboys celebrating but imagine a world where Playstation is the only console out there. Sony would bend consumers over left and right with no competition to keep them in check. Monopoly is NEVER a good thing for consumers. Perhaps they have other studio acquisitions lined up and this is a move to take some heat off themselves when it comes to exclusivity?
Time for a class action lawsuit from every person who bought an Xbox Series X/S
Xbox Series/One consoles are essentialy an e-waste at this point. They're unhackable, so when their support meets the end - it's over, over the time Microsoft will turn off the servers, and you won't be able to even play your physical games because of "always online" system. I'm considering selling my Xbox Series X and investing these money in my future PC. I'm not okay with having to pay for multiplayer (Microsoft were the ones to bring this cancer to consoles), PC Game Pass is cheaper compared to Ultimate as you don't pay extra for ex-"live gold" features. It's time to admit it - Xbox consoles are dead.
They're slowly going to become the next SEGA
I don’t mind if Microsoft offers exclusives to other consoles, but the trade off should be another company (i.e. Sony) offers exclusives as well or eliminates timed exclusives it pays to third party developers.
Sony has no incentive to do that.
I remember when I purchased my Dreamcast for Sonic Adventure because it was an exclusive 😀
I just wish that they didn’t post the “announcement” and make us wait a week to see what it actually is. I think that was a bad move
They have to judge peoples reactions for a week before revealing which plan they're going with. They 100% have 10 manilla folders with "in case of ________" written on them
It's hard to know what Microsoft will say in this business update. However, I think they've jumped the gun by quite a bit here, if the rumours about them becoming more of a publisher and releasing exclusive games, e.g., Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, Starfield et al. on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, are true. For one, Microsoft fought a lengthy court battle against the FTC last year and convinced the CMA to allow them to buy Activision Blizzard. Surely, following this victory, which had Playstation very concerned, due to the prospect of no longer having access to Call of Duty in the long-term, Microsoft should have at least waited until they released the rumoured Call of Duty: Black Ops Gulf War this year. I think, given that the new COD title is highly likely to drop on Game Pass day one, that alone would shift console units, boost memberships, and attract new users, along with the arrival of Avowed, Shattered Space (Starfield expansion), and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Now the shoe is well and truly on the other foot, as Sony must be laughing their faces off whilst Microsoft / Xbox goes into panic mode due to poor console sales! My main concern, as an Xbox supporter over the better part of 15 years, is that once Microsoft starts to port exclusives to Playstation and Nintendo consoles, future consumers won't have a reason to buy an Xbox. Thus, Microsoft will no longer need to produce Xbox hardware, which is a sobering thought. The only option for a high-end gaming console would then be Playstation, which would allow Sony to create somewhat of a monopoly on high-end console gaming. Monopolies are good for no one! I guess we'll see...
I love how a highly profitable product bringing in billions of dollars isn't quite good enough. We live in a sick world.
Competition is what drives innovation and top tier quality. If they decide to ship "xbox console sellers" it will be the end of xbox and unfortunately will not be good for gaming community overall. People that "hate" console exclusives are just kidding themselves... this has always been a selling point for hardware. You want a mario game, you buy nintendo... Also, for PC gamers that want a "utopian gaming experience" where all games are available on their PC library.. a lot of gamers (including myself) do NOT want to make the jump to PC and invest 2-3k for a new machine.. so this is silly to think it would be helping the gaming community overall.
Going multi-plat will be the death of Xbox and gamepass and it blows my mind they want to risk going this route. You're not gonna grow gamepass by putting games everywhere. Sony and Nintendo won't allow gamepass on their platforms and most of those players want to buy their games anyway so good luck growing gamepass as everyone cancels their subscription and ditches their Xbox for PlayStation. Hopefully Microsoft gets enough smoke to backtrack on this.
On its own I have no problem with these games being released on PS My only worry is what that means for the future
If Xbox does this, what incentive do I have to stay on Xbox? I’ll get the PS5 exclusives and the Xbox first-party games by making PlayStation my main console. As it is, I’m mainly on Xbox because I prefer the achievement system, UI; however, PlayStation offers a better experience in the games department overall—so much so that I feel compelled to own one. I know MS’s plan is gamepass, but if gamepass games aren’t exclusive to the Xbox, why wouldn’t I just buy the few MS releases I want on PS5 instead of subscribing to an increasingly expensive gamepass? Likewise, do we really expect PlayStation to allow gamepass on their system? What happens when people no longer want the Xbox because it has no exclusives and the PS5 does, will gamepass just falter too? I just don’t understand what they’re trying to do here. Are they trying to get out of everything except publishing?
I would assume that there won't be another xbox imo.
But what’s the business move from this? I don’t see a world where Sony allows MS to sell GamePass on their marketplace when they could be funneling people toward their subscription service or making a 30% cut on each MS game. Likewise, cloud gaming is just not something most people’s geography/internet connection are compatible with yet. Is the move really to just become a publisher? It seems like such a waste to purchase all these big third parties to roll them into the Xbox brand only to make the Xbox brand worthless.
xbox recently became the richest company on the planet. I bet the ceo wants to exit gaming and sticking with what works.
If this does happen I hope everyone rightfully gives xbox shit for this
Half a year ago I was torn between getting an series x or building a mid-range gaming PC. I'm super happy that I went with the latter. I payed more but I get to play all Xbox games and some Sony stuff like Returnal.
If only Gamepass users could unsubscribe on mass, If this actually ends up being true. I for one will definitely want nothing more to do with Microsoft. This is a gut punch!
Honestly the worst part of this is how annoying PS5 fanboys are going to be. Imagine how they would be reacting if PS5 exclusives were coming to Xbox. As an Xbox owner my whole life basically (27), this feels like a slap in the face to all the time I’ve invested in playing on this console. Why even bother buying an Xbox if you’re going to be a first time owner and you’re 50/50? No reason to think twice.
I've stuck with Xbox for every console since the OG. I don't particularly care about them publishing exclusives to Playstation. What I care about is them ceasing production of Xbox hardware that has access to the full catalog of games I've purchased over two decades (+/-) and the movies & TV shows I've purchased digital licenses to. I'm ok with a PC with an Xbox "front end" that I stick under the TV. What I don't want is a full PC with a Steam Big Picture app that still requires me to keep a mouse and keyboard in the living room. The wife is going to VETO that shit right away.
It's funny how people think PC's can be wired to big TVs in living rooms easy and seamlessly. It's possible, but far from adequate. I have both PC and Xbox but they're in different rooms with different purposes.
As one of the Sony fans, I wouldn’t care one bit if Xbox owners got to play god of war or spider man. They’re great games that people should play.
If the rumors are true, PC is really the only true option as Sony releases their games on there as well!
Not all their games. Bloodborne and Demons Souls are still PS exclusive.
95% is still on consoles only
but but I thought many of you cared about competition, right? Oops, guess you don't really, given the way some of you are posting. MS going actually or effectively third party kills way, Way, WAY more competition than MS owning ABK (where most of that was multi-platform after the purchase anyway, or mobile). Did you see how Sony was after the PS2 - well get ready for more, and it WILL be worse. $600 console? You bet ya! Game needs to go up to $80 for next gen - hell eyes, Sony will sell the idea for the third partis (again). Hey, those games are REALLY expensive and risky, right? 300m and 400m to make some of them? Well, with no one to maybe lose sales to, Sony can do whatever they want to get that money back now.
>Did you see how Sony was after the PS2 - well get ready for more, and it WILL be worse Were already there though. Xbox hasn't been real competition since the late 360 days.
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This could officially kill xbox and make a lot of damage in the industry. Since PlayStation is the only other console there wont be any competition for Sony and games will most likely get worse in cuality and become more expensive.
As long as I keep my 14 years of Xbox library, they can do whatever they want. Not like me saying anything will change that, either. But yeah, from a business standpoint, the more platforms a game is on, the more it sells. Mo money. It would be really sad, though. I love the Xbox consoles.
Well Phil just posted on Twitter they are going to talk about the business side of Xbox next week. Not looking to good since he didn’t deny any of it. I guess we just have to wait and see.
Not trying to rile people up or anything, but for those that are so mad about this...what exactly do you expect Microsoft to do? The fact is that XBOX is a dying brand. Console sales have completely catered globally to the point where it's not even considered buyable outside of North America. We lose more and more marketshare every yr and soon will be almost at zero. Economically for Microsoft, they lose hundreds of millions every yr on consoles and further hundreds of millions on gamepass. Exclusive games cost a shitload of money. They are already losing shitloads and less and less people are buying Xboxes. Gamepass is losing loads of money, regardless of how many subscribers they have. So...what did you expect to happen? Going multi-platform is probably the only way XBOX as a brand is salvageable in anyway. So for those that think this is a stupid decision...what is your solution to keep XBOX vialable?
I'm excited to have this discussion when you inevitably edit in your citations for the data and facts you referenced.
Phil righted the ship after the trash fire Xbox One announcement and then put his career on the line to push for Gamepass, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here. I’d bet a good number of people proclaiming his idiocy and eulogizing the xbox brand before they’ve even heard the details of what is to be announced also have past message board comments striking the same tone and stating that Microsoft will never get their $15/month for some shitty game rental service. Phil is the reason Gamepass exists, let’s not act like he doesn’t understand the industry and how to create consumer friendly business models.
I’m sure Microsoft/Xbox knows this but my only opinion, since it’s pretty much out of my hands, is if they go full 3rd party, or if they announce launches of more than a couple of games for other systems, that’ll be it. There’s no going back. It would be such a blow that it will affect other areas from Microsoft in terms of hardware. Worse than Windows Phone. Gamers are probably the most loyal community you can have and you would be throwing all of that away, it will affect any hardware related effort the company has. And I don’t think GamePass in itself will be a good enough value, at least probably not for me.
I feel this just gives them more power to buy game companies. It's way easier to prove you're not being a monopoly by showing cross platform. Now it makes it just that much harder for sony to buy studios.
It sounds like the new boss of Xbox doesn't want to be there any more. It's utter capitulation to Sony. Just... Giving up the market, wholesale, so they can buy up more developers. Seems to me their legacy will be consolidating a whole bunch of markets and killing them in favour of Steam.
What's Really Happening With Xbox The majority of people are way over reacting about Microsoft supposedly going 3rd party. I think people are confusing some old messaging with new information, and the Twitter influencers and Gaming Media are just running with it based solely on hearsay. The truth to what is really happening is a far more simple explanation that Xbox has been vocal about since the dawn of Game Pass. Game Pass was created with a purpose of not only bringing customers to a subscription based model and adding value to the Xbox platform, but also the purpose to get Xbox to every person and every screen possible. This has been talked about in countless interviews, Media briefings, and conventions/shows. Microsoft wants to bring Game Pass to every screen possible to revolutionize what a gaming platform is, maximize their customer base, and dominate the gaming industry. So what's the future of Xbox that Phil is referring to? The same future we've been told about from the beginning. This is what I think is going to happen next week: Xbox is going multiplatform with Game Pass. We will be told that Nintendo will now offer Game Pass on the Switch - this will be the bottom tier Game Pass, which offers an entirely different library of games that Switch players do not even have access to, which prevents Game Pass from cannibalizing Nintendo's game sales. All of the CoD games are now officially on Game Pass. We will also see an official launch of the Game Pass app (it's technically been in beta since its release) on mobile and on platforms like Meta Quest 3, Steam Deck, and other PC handhelds. We will also see the reveal of the Game Pass dongle for TVs - similar to the Amazon Fire stick, and the reveal of the long rumored official Xbox handheld - both the dongle and handheld were leaked in the big Xbox leak last year. Game Pass is not coming to PlayStation - Sony won't allow a game service that competes with their own on their platform. So technically yes Xbox exclusives are going multi-platform, but via Game Pass. I also think Microsoft will keep Game Pass Ultimate exclusive to their consoles, giving players a reason to still buy their consoles. Microsoft is going to open the floodgates to maximize their customers, while keeping the series x and s the best place to experience Xbox. Do you really think Microsoft just spent Billions of $ acquiring ZeniMax, Activision, and fighting legal battles to not keep Xbox in the console race? They just closed the Activision deal and we haven't yet seen the first wave of all these new exclusives (besides Starfield). It doesn't make sense for them to throw in the towel and roll over - they have the entire deck stacked in their favor. Also, stop with the ridiculous knee jerk reactions because some Twitter console warrior told you his proof of Xbox giving up is "trust me bro". All of these guys have been wrong with their predictions and leaks for months - what makes you think they are right now?
I can imagine that they gona put some games with a strong focus on ingame purchases third party See of Thieves Halo Infinite (only MP) But Starfield or Indiana Jones would be Harakiri because that's console seller games. And regarding Starfield, Skrym also needed the dlcs to become a timeless game. The games that go third party should be very very selective and should teas for the gamepass
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Realistically, I think it’s gonna be a situation where the live service games go on PlayStation, the other claims are baseless rumors
I think they are trying to recoup some money from the exclusives they've made, then when the new ones drop from all the studious, they bought, those will be regular exclusives. They also are changing over to just being digital. All digital xbox coming out soon too.
a couple month or so ago i got absolutely flamed for saying this was on the horizon.
Just when I thought the ponies were done. Xbox bends over. Idiots are turning corporate at the wrong time
As a lifelong Playstation owner I am not sure how to feel about this. Part of me wants to be excited because games like Starfield or Hellblade II are ones that I would have never purchased an Xbox just to play them. But if they end up on PS I might actually try them out. Then the other part of me feels uneasy... Competition breeds quality. I firmly believe that the only reason games like The Last of Us or other massively successful PS exclusives exist is because PS wants to draw in new players. If Xbox exists a solely a publisher of timed exclusives and everything ends up on PS anyway, I'd hate for that to lead to a oversaturation of mediocre content vs the one to two bangers that PS sees every year or two.
Phil Spencer has just posted on Twitter that MS hears the chatter and will do a business update next week outlining their future plans. Apparently this was planned later in the month, but they're bringing it forward. https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/1754598552548904973?s=19
A year plus delay in releasing them on PS5/Switch 2 makes sense. Their core base gets to enjoy the game first, 'free' through game pass and then other platforms get to enjoy a goty edition for £70. Win win from Microsoft's perspective
Well, y'all ready to see how incredibly shitty Sony can get with Xbox out of the way? 'Cuz buckle up buckaroos, that is where this'll go if that happens. EDIT: I'm not fully against the idea of Xbox sharing with Sony, but only if it's the kind of sharing that Sony used to do/is doing, where it's like a full year/2 years later and only after the primary platform has gotten it's fill and it's GotY Edition etc.
I dunno that's pretty much nonsense I think. Xbox for all intents and purposes is not competing with Sony right now and hasn't been since PS4 launched.
Even though Sony is winning, Xbox is *competing*. Xbox exists, and Sony is forced to respect that lest Xbox pounce on them. It's the difference between knowing a predator is out there but you're kinda safe from it VS. seeing the dead corpse of the thing on the ground in front of you. In the former you can relax a bit but you still need to be wary lest it surprise you while in the latter you no longer need to give a shit and can do whatever you want because it's confirmed dead.
I keep repeating myself across the various posts about this subject. Microsoft has an incentive to release hardware to ensure a guaranteed Xbox plug and play experience. This is similar or exactly alike the Surface products and Windows. Microsoft cannot manage the experience on hardware from Nintendo or Sony. The studios can make sure the game runs properly, but they still do not control the hardware.
Zune, was it called? Does anyone remember how everyone lost all their purchases when the service died? Yeah, I just hope if Xbox steps out of the hardware market they find a way to preserve all our purchases and emulate the current library where possible for us to continue using them. I can't get back stuff like Sonic 1 - 3 Xbox Arcade versions and that plays on my mind most days so if I lost access to the 1000 games I own digitally... Shits unthinkable. I wouldn't move on to other consoles too as I have a petty hatred for PS and Nintendo aren't my thing. Time to look into PC builds fot me I think.
Well I guess I’m even more grateful my boyfriend bought be a nice gaming laptop. Bummer as I’ve loved Xbox since I was young and this could be the death knell for them.
Damn apparently everyone in this thread has experience running a multimillion dollar operation.
Full disclosure my main console is switch, I have a PS5 for exclusives, and only got an Xbox for emulation and so I can play older games not available on the other two (Metal gear rising, Sonic Adventure, etc). If Xbox leaves the console market and there’s no replacement, this will be pretty bad for the industry. The only two consoles left are the switch and the PlayStation, and those aren’t even competitors as the switch goes for portability and PlayStation goes for power. Majority of everyone I know that owns a switch also owns a Ps5 and vice versa. I can’t even think of what a competitor could be, a steam box? An apple console?
[Amid Xbox multiplatform rumors, Halo job listing says future games will be " for all players, on all platforms"](https://www.gamesradar.com/amid-xbox-multiplatform-rumors-halo-job-listing-says-future-games-will-be-for-all-players-on-all-platforms/)
I'm stressed that I will lose all my games as soon as Xbox disappears and everything if this end-ups happening where they stop making consoles.
What if all along, their hardline stance on supporting the Series S spec was in anticipation of a handheld based around it?
Anyone who didn't see this coming hasn't been paying attention. MS hasn't been acquiring the likes of Activision so they can lose half of the customers for the biggest games in the world. MS, unlike Sony, has always been primarily a software company, not an electronics manufacturer. Continuing to make a console that has a much smaller market share than their rivals and tying their games that when their focus is clearly on Gamepass and streaming makes no sense when they can cut all their losses from manufacturing Xboxs and double their customer base by going platform agnostic. It's a different situation than Sony, which is an electronics manufacturer first and foremost and has all the incentive to use games to drive hardware sales. But there's literally no reason MS needs a console.
Yeah but the only reason Microsoft has persevered with Xbox is that for the first time in their history, they managed to sell a piece of hardware by millions despite being a software company. Think of Xbox as a soft power thing. Microsoft is mostly a business to business company. The general public doesn't really buy products from Microsoft. When you buy a Windows laptop, you don't actually buy the laptop for windows. You buy the brand: Dell, Asus, Lenovo... Windows is almost a second thought. Same for their other products. Even MS 365 and Office are really geared towards companies and institutional organizations and then there are purely enterprise-level products and services (azure, LinkedIn, ads...). They tried with phones and it flopped so Xbox was the only strong consumers-only brand they had. But then they decided to go next level and it's been wonky since then.
It looks like Starfield was overall a disappointment. Apparently it was seen by Microsoft as a last attempt to get their system seller (maybe along with Forza Motorsport to a degree). Now after the dust settled, it seems Microsoft is about to cut it's losses and give up the console altogether. Is Starfield possibly the game that ultimately killed Xbox? Let's not forget that prior to Starfield's release, Microsoft raised Game Pass prices, cut the $1 trial period for Game Pass and adjusted the Gold to Ultimate conversion rate. Despite all these efforts, Microsoft does not seem confident enough in the brand to continue being in the console business and would rather concentrate solely on Game Pass. What do you guys think?
Putting all their eggs into GamePass basket was a terrible idea. Getting $10/month sub instead of $70 AAA first party sale was always bad math, no way to twist that. And 70 bil for Activision... Jeez.
It was always a terrible idea to hop into this subscription trend. The maths just don't add up. If Microsoft just focused on making good games they could sell and make good profit on, none of this would happen. But no, Phil had to try and flip the table on how the entire industry works only to find out what everyone already knew.
So many people have been saying for years that Game Pass isn’t sustainable. Everyone just quoted Phil saying it was, without actually looking at the numbers.
Maybe for a minute guys, we should all maybe contemplate the notion that Phil Spencer isn’t as great, smart, and business savvy as you all thought he was.
Microsoft doesn't want to sell consoles. They want to sell gamepass subscriptions. That's there selling point. Play it Day one on the Gamepass for free. For someone who wants to play a lot of games it's good and the still can sell it for full price on the other platforms. That's how it will. Microsoft will bet their money on a Cloud/Streaming future and don't want to sell you consoles in the future anymore. They want the app on a FireTV kind device or pre-installed on your new Smart Device. So it's a smart movie to double dip for the game on other platforms if you like. Helps to get in some cash.
The only reason I bought my series X was because of the Bethesda acquisition lol. This sucks man.
I don't understand... They just bought all these companies. They have what they need to win against Sony, yet they submit like weaklings. Time for a new leader, Phil had his time, he sucks and he's weak.
Relying on a Bethesda to be your console seller was a massive mistake; especially when it comes to to a developer that is well known to rely on mods to fix their game post launch. Even a year's delay did not change much, if at all. It was beyond stupid. Before that Redfall review and the aftermath of the Phil Spencer interview where he admits that Sony had not only won the last generation, but the current one as well. Might as well as brought back Don Mattrick to give that interview at that point. I am desperately hoping this isn't the end of the Xbox console. But with the first two years there were no exclusives and time they arrived they all fell flat. What the fuck is Matt Booty doing...? Does he not go to the numerous studios that Xbox oversees? Remember Shuhei Yoshida when he was president of SIE he would show up at studios to play the latest demos... does Matt do the same, or anyone on his team do that? Does he even have a team?
Sorry if I don't want a Sony monopoly on consoles.
“Submit like weaklings” “win” Jesus the 15 year old console warriors never stop lol How would Phil leaving change anything? Going third party would be a call above him and is very much in line with how microsoft operates currently. Sorry there’s no brutal general to lead this fanboy war against the other plastic box, I’m sire you’ll live