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Phil Spencer Says Studio Acquisitions Are A Good Thing

Godot25

Banned
Yes, he's always 'congratulating' Sony on things and commenting on them, which is quite unusual for two extremely competitive businesses. Sony never comes out and comments/congratulates on Xbox things so I'm not sure why Phil Spencer keeps doing it... it's a very strange dynamic. I'm just wondering what the tactic is here, because businessmen rarely do things out of the goodness of their hearts for their competitors.

I'm not going to watch the full podcast just to hear exactly what the title of the thread said.
lol. You probably didn't see Twitter accounts of Hermen Hulst, Shuhei Yoshida and Doug Bowser after this year's E3, right?
 

Fredrik

Member
Xbox is always behind Playstation. Sony pushed the power narrative in 2013 then Microsoft started doing that in 2017. Sony pushed the subscription and cloud gaming narrative with PS Now in 2015 then Microsoft started doing that in 2018. Sony pushed the first party games narrative in 2018 now Microsoft pushing the first party games narrative in 2021. Now according to Jim Ryan they are working on bringing their huge IP’s to mobile market because mobile is the biggest cash cow in 2021 just ask Roblox or CoD/Activision. When PS games does come to mobile, I expect Xbox to follow suit after a few years late once again.
Microsoft jumped into the console business with a power narrative, that was how original Xbox was sold. And they’re more powerful now. Microsoft also had a powerful 1st party exclusive IP long before Sony with Halo. Regarding subscriptions Microsoft was ahead of Sony in Xbox Live, ahead of Sony on installable subscription games too. And Microsoft is launching on console and PC day 1 while Sony is playing catch up and comes in late 3 years later. 😉

Chevy Chase Community GIF
 
What are you talking about? :messenger_tears_of_joy: It’s not unusual at all outside of little internet bubbles like NeoGAF.

Here’s an example for you;









Even in competitive sports, where there’s hundreds of millions of pounds at stake, Football clubs like City and Liverpool and their managers always congratulate each other when their opponent wins the league. It’s called not being a little bitch.


lol. You probably didn't see Twitter accounts of Hermen Hulst, Shuhei Yoshida and Doug Bowser after this year's E3

Ok fair enough, apologies then, I genuinely did not see any of those tweets as I don't use twitter and I don't think those were reported on when tweeted, whereas Spencer's comments always seem to be reported in the gaming media for whatever reason. But anyway, I admit I was wrong and apologise. I didn't mean any bad on Phil Spencer regarding the commenting, I was just curious why he was doing it when it never seemed to be reciprocated by anyone else, but I was unaware that some people from Sony had actually done so.
 
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Microsoft jumped into the console business with a power narrative, that was how original Xbox was sold. And they’re more powerful now. Microsoft also had a powerful 1st party exclusive IP long before Sony with Halo. Regarding subscriptions Microsoft was ahead of Sony in Xbox Live, ahead of Sony on installable subscription games too. And Microsoft is launching on console and PC day 1 while Sony is playing catch up and comes in late 3 years later. 😉

Chevy Chase Community GIF
All this and still no one cares, 3rd place forever.

DIgX9KV.png
 
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Greggy

Member
I think many would've preferred timed exclusives like the games you mentioned here instead completely keeping the games from another platform.

Some people think that everyone in the world has reliable internet for xcloud, some can only afford one system and a lot of people also avoid PC because of the higher cost to start.
If you can only afford one system cheaper than a PC and have no internet, MS gave you an incentive to pick the Series S or X instead of the PS5. That's exactly what exclusives are about.
It's exactly why FF16 has been moneyhatted and Spiderman is no longer a multiplat game. So people in that group have an incentive to pick a PS5 and nothing else.
I don't see the controversy here.
 

SafeOrAlone

Banned
Xbox is always behind Playstation. Sony pushed the power narrative in 2013 then Microsoft started doing that in 2017. Sony pushed the subscription and cloud gaming narrative with PS Now in 2015 then Microsoft started doing that in 2018. Sony pushed the first party games narrative in 2018 now Microsoft pushing the first party games narrative in 2021. Now according to Jim Ryan they are working on bringing their huge IP’s to mobile market because mobile is the biggest cash cow in 2021 just ask Roblox or CoD/Activision. When PS games does come to mobile, I expect Xbox to follow suit after a few years late once again.
Nahhh lol, they didn’t.
 

Aroll

Member
Xbox is always behind Playstation. Sony pushed the power narrative in 2013 then Microsoft started doing that in 2017. Sony pushed the subscription and cloud gaming narrative with PS Now in 2015 then Microsoft started doing that in 2018. Sony pushed the first party games narrative in 2018 now Microsoft pushing the first party games narrative in 2021. Now according to Jim Ryan they are working on bringing their huge IP’s to mobile market because mobile is the biggest cash cow in 2021 just ask Roblox or CoD/Activision. When PS games does come to mobile, I expect Xbox to follow suit after a few years late once again.
This reminds me of when people try to argue Sony just copies Nintendo all the time.

Microsoft pushed the power narrative with their very first ever Xbox. They started subscriptions with Xbox Live. Nintendo started "eshops" for smaller indie titles with Wii. Nintendo pushed "first party games" in 1986.

Sony pushed VR with PSVR.

They pushed Blu-ray with PS3.

Etc. etc. etc. Nobody actually cares and none of it matters who did what first.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
What's he done wrong then? As far as I can see he's given us the consumer the best deal in gaming, he's grown the Xbox first party to 23 studios and more are coming. He's got the most powerful hardware on the market and he's also got a budget next gen console as well for the less fortunate.

The no games narrative has well and truly been squashed after the E3 conference. 30 games 27 Day 1 on Gamepass, no other console maker has as much growth or innovation in the last 5 years as Xbox and I haven't even touched on Xcloud.
Translation:

  1. He's spent billions of dollars on a new published because he'd overseen a situation of no Xbox games
  2. Some people are still clinging to the 40% narrative (Colt Eastwood and Tom Warren earning their corn. Also the most powerful hardware on the market always has been and will be in the PC market
  3. Anybody who buys a Series S doesn't realise how unfortunate they are lol.
Eight months in and he's delivered very little. But some are easily satisfied 😁.
 

Jack Uzi

Banned
Xbox is always behind Playstation. Sony pushed the power narrative in 2013 then Microsoft started doing that in 2017. Sony pushed the subscription and cloud gaming narrative with PS Now in 2015 then Microsoft started doing that in 2018. Sony pushed the first party games narrative in 2018 now Microsoft pushing the first party games narrative in 2021. Now according to Jim Ryan they are working on bringing their huge IP’s to mobile market because mobile is the biggest cash cow in 2021 just ask Roblox or CoD/Activision. When PS games does come to mobile, I expect Xbox to follow suit after a few years late once again.
 

AllBizness

Banned
I agree the way that MS is doing the studio acquisitions is really good for the industry.

-They basically buy studio.
-Put their games on game pass
-Let them do whatever the fuck they want within limits

While not unlimited creative freedom it is enough for creative games for game pass in the future. Something the industry seriously needs.
-They basically buy a failing/unprofitable studio at a discount
-Put their games on game pass and they dont sell
-Let their developers fail however they want within limits
 
I would say for all the "organic growth" and "nurturing" talk they bought thier way in.

Then they used thier position to strong-arm other publishers, and continue to do so.

Would that be incorrect?
Bro, this is literally when they entered the market. But even that is besides the point.

Point I made is Microsoft needed to buy a publisher cause they had nothing in the Horizon. All their games were years away.
 

Derktron

Banned
It's a good thing only if the developers who they are trying to aquire want to be bought. That's it. Other than that it just depends on who they are trying to aquire. It goes for both Sony, Microsoft and I guess maybe Nintendo.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Exclusives are critical to games it’s why the Dreamcast was knocked, I think most of its games went to the Xbox and that casted a huge shadow on the Sega brand. It’s not about acquiring studios if you don’t release any games to the public.
 

Helghan

Member
Exclusives are critical to games it’s why the Dreamcast was knocked, I think most of its games went to the Xbox and that casted a huge shadow on the Sega brand. It’s not about acquiring studios if you don’t release any games to the public.
So you think they bought all those studios to do what?
 

Adam_802

Member
Xbox is always behind Playstation. Sony pushed the power narrative in 2013 then Microsoft started doing that in 2017. Sony pushed the subscription and cloud gaming narrative with PS Now in 2015 then Microsoft started doing that in 2018. Sony pushed the first party games narrative in 2018 now Microsoft pushing the first party games narrative in 2021. Now according to Jim Ryan they are working on bringing their huge IP’s to mobile market because mobile is the biggest cash cow in 2021 just ask Roblox or CoD/Activision. When PS games does come to mobile, I expect Xbox to follow suit after a few years late once again.
*CRINGE*

lol thanks for the future copy pasta
 

cHaOs667

Member
Exclusives are critical to games it’s why the Dreamcast was knocked, I think most of its games went to the Xbox and that casted a huge shadow on the Sega brand. It’s not about acquiring studios if you don’t release any games to the public.
The announcement to shut down the Dreamcast came in Jan 2001 - the XBox was released in Nov 2001. Don't mix stuff up.
 
Nah, the Core bundle came with a wired controller. Yup, the big three make weird hardware decisions, sometimes.
I bought a launch 360. It didn't come with a wired controller. It doesn't change the fact that the 360 was the first console to launch with wireless controllers standard. They had rumble too and if I remember the PS3 launch controllers did not.
"Guy who acquires studios says studio acquisitions are a good thing"
This was in the context of Sony buying a studio though.
 

zaanan

Banned
Of course an executive from a company who started business by buying stuff instead of creating it would say that. It's been their modus operandi from the very beginning, ever since they bought DOS when they couldn't create an OS of their own for IBM in time, and it's still the same with Windows and Xbox. They had all these years and the fabled Warchest™ to create studios of their own, but instead of putting in the work they chose the easier route to bandage the problem. Their solution takes content permanently away from people, instead of bringing something new to gaming, unlike what Sony and Nintendo have done.
This guy gets it.
 
Translation:

  1. He's spent billions of dollars on a new published because he'd overseen a situation of no Xbox games
  2. Some people are still clinging to the 40% narrative (Colt Eastwood and Tom Warren earning their corn. Also the most powerful hardware on the market always has been and will be in the PC market
  3. Anybody who buys a Series S doesn't realise how unfortunate they are lol.
Eight months in and he's delivered very little. But some are easily satisfied 😁.
They delivered feature complete consoles that have added new features since launch. The best cross platform game experiences where Smart Delivery is every bit the innovation it was promoted as. Fps boost allowing games to get additional framerate without developers input. Quick resume remains one of the best quality of life improvements on consoles. Game pass is the best value in gaming period. The XSS is the cheapest and easiest entry in to this generation again offering value other platforms lack. The future looks brighter than ever with games being developed in just about every genre. There is plenty for Xbox fans to be satisfied with. 😉
 

Hezekiah

Banned
They delivered feature complete consoles that have added new features since launch. The best cross platform game experiences where Smart Delivery is every bit the innovation it was promoted as. Fps boost allowing games to get additional framerate without developers input. Quick resume remains one of the best quality of life improvements on consoles. Game pass is the best value in gaming period. The XSS is the cheapest and easiest entry in to this generation again offering value other platforms lack. The future looks brighter than ever with games being developed in just about every genre. There is plenty for Xbox fans to be satisfied with. 😉
"Feature complete". What about the most important part - the games? 😁
 

Javthusiast

Banned
Bobby Kotick says having every Activision studio cranking out COD every year is good for his pockets.
 
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Hawke502

Member
Translation:

  1. He's spent billions of dollars on a new published because he'd overseen a situation of no Xbox games
  2. Some people are still clinging to the 40% narrative (Colt Eastwood and Tom Warren earning their corn. Also the most powerful hardware on the market always has been and will be in the PC market
  3. Anybody who buys a Series S doesn't realise how unfortunate they are lol.
Eight months in and he's delivered very little. But some are easily satisfied 😁.
The concern trolling about Series S always makes me laugh. People who buy the Series S know they are buying a low cost entry point console that has worse performance but its cheaper, its exactly the point. In a place like Brazil where the Series X costs 4.600 R$, the Series S is quite popular costing only 2.800.
 

Hawke502

Member
"Feature complete". What about the most important part - the games? 😁
Oh, don't worry, almost every game coming out on Playstation is coming out on Xbox too, the difference is that some of those Xbox owners will get to play it Day one with Gamepass
 

The Alien

Banned
Oh, don't worry, almost every game coming out on Playstation is coming out on Xbox too, the difference is that some of those Xbox owners will get to play it Day one with Gamepass
...and they can play for the low price of $15 a month.
But if you are new to GamePass, you can get a 3 month trial for only $1!!!
Now thats value!!
 

Hawke502

Member
I mean, when it comes to Xbox hardware, MS lawyers pretty much confirmed this during the Epic vs. Apple trial.
But this was obious before that. Sony and Microsoft sell consoles at a loss, their revenue comes from their services and games
 

nowhat

Member
But this was obious before that. Sony and Microsoft sell consoles at a loss, their revenue comes from their services and games
Initially yes, but not towards the end of a console gen. When PS4 was released Sony said they'd need to sell a single AAA game or a year of PS+ to break even - I'm assuming it didn't take long for the console to become profitable. Not with the usual margins one would expect on consumer hardware, but as you said, services and games is where the real money is.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
Oh, don't worry, almost every game coming out on Playstation is coming out on Xbox too, the difference is that some of those Xbox owners will get to play it Day one with Gamepass
The very best games won't be coming out on Xbox. And the biggest third-party games wont be on GamePass day one either.

But every Xbox games will be available to play my PC. Can't wait until 2023.
 

junguler

Banned
if it's like in the case of minecraft, yes it was good, the guy got paid a lot of money and the game stayed on playstation, but in the case of bethesda games it was not good at all. same thing for spider-man games being playstation exclusive despite decades of them being multi-platform.
excluding someone from playing a game is never a good thing no matter how much someone wanting to justify it.
 
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