Xbox - Series S/X: Thread 01

[wakka]

Yeah, I don't think it's sustainable in the way it's currently structured. More of a temporary loss leader, buying MS some goodwill - they appear to be on a major charm offensive - as well as providing a cheap way to jump into a late-gen Xbox and try out all the exclusives.

As GamePass adds the option of streaming games (xCloud) and other stream-focused gaming platforms (Google's, etc) launch, I expect them to operate similarly to how Amazon Video currently works for movies and TV. A marketplace that's open to everyone with a free account to rent or purchase access to individual games, plus a 'Prime' style subscription that allows free/at-no-additional-charge access to a selection of games.

That subscription could also include tiers, and I would expect day one access to first party titles to be on a more expensive tier than the current £7.99.

[Digfox]

More of a temporary loss leader

It's not a loss leader, even if they haven't maximised the returns yet. It's similar to the thinking with streaming, why reach just 40m devices when I can open my audience to 100m+ devices. Monetizing consumers that might not purchase and I would imagine the MI supports the fact than Game Pass customers are spending more (i.e. buying Fallout 4 digitally when it is removed from GP etc.) as MS have suggested. Opening up consumers to also buying old games or DLC/in-game items they may not have otherwise.

Hardcore MS consumers will not only be buying the Gold/Ultimate version of Forza/Gears etc. but also buying Game Pass. I'm also not convinced MS is paying anywhere near the sums Netflix did in order to keep Paramount or Universal content on their service.

Personally I've been very impressed with some of the games they have lined up recently. I would love MS to make the online free and concentrate on a premium Live user profile that includes Game Pass, even if it meant GP had to increase in price. That's one difference that MS face is that GP unlike Netflix or Spotify is one fee on top of another if you want to play any of the numerous multiplayer content.

[wakka]

That's interesting, I hadn't figured that. So GamePass is a direct winner financially, as well as providing increased playtime on first party games and a good reason to buy an Xbox? I'd have thought it ate too much into first party game sales to be something they'd see a direct return on.

[Digfox]

We don't have the numbers, but I'd bet a lot of money on it increasing the revenue and profit for Microsoft. It might be too early to assess whether third-party publishers are making money from Game Pass.

[briareos_kerensky]

Take this with a grain of salt, but there are preliminary reports of the APU that will power the next X Box and Playstation. The codename is apparently Gonzalo, and it's based on AMD's Zen (either Zen+ or Zen2) and Navi Lite architectures; clocks are 3.2 Ghz and 1 Ghz for CPU and GPU respectively, so it's a considerable bump compared to XBOXs and PS4 Pros.
AMD haven't revealed Navi-based graphics cards yet, but will they are expected to do so at this year's E3; the third series of Zen-based CPUs has just been unveiled.

[Digfox]

One of the worst kept secrets...

[Neon Ignition]

The way I currently see it is that Game Pass's biggest strength to MS is that it's a largely positive addition to the XBO infrastructure because of the position the XBO is in. You launch something like Sea of Thieves on there and you have an early in Game Pass life title that was never likely to make a massive splash (baddum-tish) in sales, that £7.99 per head quickly becomes additional revenue, plus added micro-sales and then a % of those users continuing the service after they're done with the game who may not have signed up originally. If MS were in Sony's position and released something not designed to milk users post-launch (ala God of War) it's feasible the service would be harmful to that individual games sales as users take advantage of a single months low service price.

The back catalogue etc is a nice sweetener but like Netflix, eventually your users are with you long enough that they clamour for more and newer experiences. MS can never meet that demand if GP became a core pillar of their business and I have little doubt that that have no chance ever getting third parties on board with putting their new major releases on the service.

It'll be very interesting to see how the service evolves next-gen, MS surely has some big plans around it now, but even looking over at Sony and its lapsy-daisy approach to PSNow it looks like we're going into next gen with the key focus remaining on slipping in a disc or navigating a poor UI design store front.

[nonny]

I think one of the other benefits is it continues to create an influx into online multiplayer communities... I hopped into Gears 4 earlier and there's still plenty of people playing. I would love to know how many are playing through game pass versus actual purchase of the game.

As for value for money, I've already finished 3 games of the service (Hellblade, Abzu and Thomas was alone)... Now giving Rime a look.

[Neon Ignition]

http://www.jeuxvideo.com/news/1006598/projet-scarlet-les-deux-prochaines-xbox-devoilees-a-l-e3-2019.htm

New report says there will be two models. One will be cheaper, weaker powered, with no disc drive the other more powerful with a disc drive. Got a feeling that that approach won't land as well as they hope it will.

Both will use SSDs and will launch late 2020

[Cassius_Smoke]

So I read that as 'here is an expensive console and here is his ****ter brother'
Thanks, I'll buy neither.

[wakka]

The cheaper version is going to have to be really very cheap indeed to sell I think, especially at launch.

It's a shame to hamstring the top hardware with a lower powered model out of the gate, too.

[J0e Musashi]

Outside of The Witcher 3 GOTY (which was £10.50 and impossible to D/L from the JPN PSN), I refuse to buy any games for Xbox. Game Pass has by far enough titles to last me a lifetime; not to mention the free games each month with Live too.

[Neon Ignition]

That's exactly the issue, your system is only every as good as the base model so that cheaper model still needs to be a XBX beater to warrant existence. An E3 reveal feels daft as well, basically Sony sits it out and gives MS the floor. It means they can do what they did last time and read all of MS's moves and make their own later reveal annihilate them by being the answer to all concerns even if the systems aren't that different.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Yep. Sony win if they pitch a comparable console at a price between the xboxs

[CMcK]

Looking at the article linked above it looks like it might be a low end model for 1080p only and a full fat 4k model.