Originally posted by Neon Ignition
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Looks at PS5 Pro, hmmmmmmmm, k Microsoft. -
If Xbox hardware goes, then Gamepass will collapse with it, however I can see MS going the dirty route after that of suing the other hardware manufacturers claiming it’s unfair and anti consumer if gamepass isn’t allowed on all platforms and all hardware, which will just be a waste of everyone’s time, but I can see that as a route they have thought about seriously.Comment
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If SFV would have been an Xbox exclusive back then, I reckon the entire FGC would have picked up that console. One game that would have the power to pull in broader range of gamers? I think this may have been the idea on the Bethesda front. Actually thinking about it, even an Xbox exclusive remake of Oblivion would have enticed me.Originally posted by wakka View Post
I guess the acquisitions were a bit too late into this current generation though. There's alway the next-gen reboot to try again.... will they?Last edited by hudson; 28-01-2025, 11:14.Comment
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We've definitely seen some dramatic reversals in fortunes in the industry before. Nintendo were counted out in the GameCube years and again in the WiiU doldrums, and both times came roaring back. Sony seemed indefatigable in the PS2 era but the first couple of years of the 360 humbled them and forced them to radically change strategy.
The last decade of Xbox has just been so boring though. So many middling or outright bad first party games and an absolute snore of a hardware line-up this gen. Game Pass was a good idea in theory but the concept of a Netflix for games just doesn't seem to be sticking, I personally think because how most people consume games is very different to how they consume TV shows and movies.
It's really hard to imagine them coming back at this point. I honestly just don't think they've got it in them. They seem to be stuck playing out the same failed strategies.Comment
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Better hardware, by itself, won't change Microsoft's position significantly. The original Xbox and the Xbox 360 were the 'better' hardware in their respective console generations and that wasn't enough to make them market leaders.
Up until a few years ago, platform-exclusive games were the key to success but with the rise of game development costs, not all companies can afford that strategy. Sony publishing its games on PC attests to that.
Microsoft had the financial clout to pursue that strategy but they chose not to. Given enough time, I'm sure the pull of having all of their many studios' games exclusive to their platform -- yes, Call of Duty eventually included -- would move that needle dramatically.Comment
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Yep, their hardware sales in the US are unwinding which is essentially a deadly blow. In its entire history Xbox hardware sales have only been hot for around 3-4 years and even then they were heavily US/UK orientated. Nintendo has pulled off those big comebacks before but they largely stand alone and even then it required a complete restart of branding which MS has positioned itself away from because it all begins and ends with the poisoned Xbox branding.
I think at this point PC gamers have made it clear that they're not going to get on board with Game Pass in a meaningful way, it's been 6 years and far more still steer to paying on Steam for their games. Even of those who use it, I'd wager a good number use PC Game Pass by proxy of having Xbox subs. It would take Mr Magoo to be in charge of Microsoft to not see that the mobile market has literally zero time for full scale games on the device, something Capcom is seeing right now with Resi sales.
That leaves the traditional market and TV etc, TV is a massive deadhorse. It's a literal assumption that because you have a screen you're simply too passive to consoles to engage yet aren't passive enough to buy a controller, set up an account, learn the fundamentals of gaming etc enough to buy into a sub service etc. Daft.
Spencer is now leaning quite hard into the 'hours spent playing is a metric of success' Netflix mentality now that their position has shifted and it's practically migraine inducing as to how dumb that take is. Gaming is not TV - someone at MS needs to get their through their skulls fast. Game budgets are too big to be sustained by a subscription fee, if you're going to push that approach you need monetisation elsewhere which is where the whole GAAS approach kicked in. You can't sustain GAAS title upon GAAS title release but they need constant new content so they're stuck in a rut.
It doesn't matter how many people play Hellblade II, Hi-Fi Rush, Starfield (for the most part) etc any single player orientated game - or for how many hours. They can play it for a single hour or for a thousand hours - MS has still lost hundreds upon hundreds of millions because that game is generating jack **** in money. Their revenue is strong and improving but I feel like no-one there is putting enough of a consideration into how strong it should be rather than how strong it is.
"We've got 30m Game Pass users now!" Yes - because you renamed your other service. The heads of Xbox are playing musical chairs because someone is going to be sacrificed for the official shift to third party and it's clearly going to be Spencer. In essence, Spencers push to expand Xbox's third party studios has backfired - like a Receptionist pushing for an automated service - you're making a case for your own redundancy. He's not a major third party head, he's a guy brought in to make Xbox consoles work, and he failed. They'll appoint someone more Activision minded in time and then we'll see the usual arc emerge where many of the existing Xbox Studio projects and studios acquired will get shuttered for not landing big hits.
If anything, the impending collapse of Ubisoft paves the way for them to slide on in as a major player ahead of next gen too. If anything, at bare minimum, it's a clear red flag to stop investing money into their ecosystem on purchases.
Despite all the bad PR and attention they've brought onto their hardware in the last 12 months and seen how aggressively Xbox console sales are collapsing, we're still at a point in time where Nintendo and Sony platforms and fans haven't yet seen a Gears, Forza or Halo entry launch to those markets. As soon as that happens it will be like sealing the deal. Game Pass is not enough of a draw for people to invest ever spiralling upward RRP asking prices for a console that has zero exclusives vs ones that do. Competing on hardware uniqueness is a loss too, few care about their consoles now and it'll be a smaller subset who care about an Xbox handheld - a subset who can literally buy one right this second as MS is gleefully telling everyone with its current ad campaign thrusting Legion Go's and Decks in your face stating in massive green text THIS IS AN XBOX.
It's much like a year ago, the sense that that have no idea what they're doing - too dazed by the success Activision has shown them is possible. When the dust settles though it's going to get brutal for Xbox console fans and - I very strongly suspect - anyone still working at Double Fine, Rare etcComment
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Microsoft are now teeing up to buy TikTok apparently. What does this mean for eggbox?Comment
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Probably nothing to be honest.
I'd argue Microsoft did pursue that strategy, just ineptly. The games released during the Xbox One era in particular were nowhere near good enough. Many, like State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3, were outright bad. All this while Sony released smashes like Spider-Man and Horizon: Zero Dawn.Originally posted by Deuteros
At this stage, IMO it's highly unlikely that all of their studios games will become exclusive to a future Xbox console. Their direction of travel is the opposite - they're porting games left and right. It's assured income. Conversely, keeping them exclusive and hoping they're enough of a draw to drive hardware sales would be very risky. I don't think Nadella's got the appetite for that whatsoever after 10 years of dwindling income.Comment
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Yep, by the time the fifth gen Xbox launches they won't be releasing a single exclusive game for the system. For them doing so either stifles a hit or cements a bomb, the hardware is living on time borrowed from Game Pass nowComment
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Xbox Content and Services Revenue in Q2 rose by 2%, overally gaming revenue fell by 7% - Xbox hardware fell by 29%
I can only imagine how catastrophic those figures would look if Activision wasn't counterbalancing to an epic degree. Though even with that factored in it suggests that they are on course to head backward as the collapse of the hardware business - which is now at the same level as Xbox One was in the months before XSX launched - is pulling everything else down without COD massively shifting the Game Pass needle.Comment
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I'm dizzy
From the amount of spin on the Game Pass growth
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Good lord, they must of pulled Gordon Gecko himself out of retirement to massage those numbers with a tanker of lube.Comment
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A known leader responded saying they expect Nadalla will cancel Xbox next-gen hardware soon. It's just discussion but this far out shows just how a million miles from having control of their brand messaging MS are.Last edited by Neon Ignition; 31-01-2025, 23:42.Comment
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They’ll 100% keep the idea of next gen Xbox going until the last second and then say something like “we took a long hard look and realised Xbox fans should not be tied to particular hardware - even our own”
I for one would welcome this.
I like the idea of an Xbox-branded PC so you can get the console-like experience specifically while gaming - maybe even a special Xbox gaming mode that shuts down non-essential Windows background stuff during your session.
I can’t see any negatives with having a fixed specification that games can adhere to. And I don’t mean Valve’s “should run great on Steam Deck”. I mean a 100% fixed spec (or certified options), from graphics card to RAM and everything in between, that guarantees a level of performance and other benefits like pre-compiled shaders.
Alternatively, maybe they could just focus on an Xbox handheld. That’s the only USP they’d need.Comment
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