Support NeoGAF

[Cyberpunkd]

They lose $$ on every hardware console they sell. What's the point of even producing them, especially if your consumer base doesn't even buy a lot of games either?

If Xbox publishes its 1P games on Nintendo and PS, they will make their Xbox hardware even more redundant. It'll reach a point where only a handful of people will buy Xbox. So the revenue/profit from selling software will not be financially viable anymore.

There are some bizarre assumptions with this strategy, all of which can be explained by solid business fundamentals.

1. Yes, platform holders except sometimes Nintendo take a hit on consoles sold AT THE BEGINNING. Then better yields and more experience in production makes the costs go down, which nicely lines up with people YoY sales of a console (you never have peak sales in the first one, two years)
2. By selling consoles you tie people to your ecosystem, add to that your storefront where you pocket 70% of the sale price vs. 10-15% at retail.

So in order to make money Microsoft needs to:
1. Drive down the cost of producing consoles.
2. Provide compelling argument to purchase the Xbox over it's competitors, which historically has been done via exclusive games.

It seems like someone at Microsoft just fundamentally does not believe they will ever have a strong enough exclusive offerings to drive console adoption, which is just crazy thought to me, because that's like saying you do not believe in your business.

 

[Godot25]

Xbox console sales are on their way to being worse than Xbox One. Which was such a disaster to Microsoft at the time that Spencer had to convince Nadella not to shut the division down.

So we gladly ignoring fact that Microsoft is releasing their games on PC day one (which they didn't do during first three years of Xbox One era), which will obviously have impact on sales of consoles, because you don't need console to enter ecosystem?

Yeah. I'm sure Microsoft thought that they would challenge PlayStation 5 for sales crown when they are literally telling players that they don't need Xbox console to subscribe to Game Pass. It's almost like if they wanted people to buy consoles and only buy consoles they would stop releasing their first-party games on PC, right?

It's almost like it's their strategy to not rely on sales of consoles alone.

 

[Godot25]

Despite the cheaper model and Game Pass, XBS is selling worse than Xbox One. Yeah, it's time to revisit the previous plan.

You forgot to add "I wish"

 

[Varteras]

So we gladly ignoring fact that Microsoft is releasing their games on PC day one (which they didn't do during first three years of Xbox One era), which will obviously have impact on sales of consoles, because you don't need console to enter ecosystem?

Yeah. I'm sure Microsoft thought that they would challenge PlayStation 5 for sales crown when they are literally telling players that they don't need Xbox console to subscribe to Game Pass. It's almost like if they wanted people to buy consoles and only buy consoles they would stop releasing their first-party games on PC, right?

It's almost like it's their strategy to not rely on sales of consoles alone.

None of what you said counterpoints anything about Microsoft potentially getting out of consoles as a competitor. You, like so many Xbox fans, seem to equate Microsoft no longer being a console competitor with Microsoft leaving gaming. They don't go hand in hand. Only in the mind of a console warrior would this be true.

 

[Ar¢tos]

I see that you really want to talk about business stuff. So much that you ignored everything I wrote to focus on imaginary sadness in your head

Keep on going.

What you expected me to do?
You talk about assets with long term value in... the highly unstable video-game industry... Where the only things owned are IPs (that are hard to keep alive for a long time, unless you are Nintendo) and Studio trademarks, that are worthless, because without the right employees they are nothing and a few key employees quitting can destroy the value of the studio (like Bungie).
Expecting a return in 30+ years of assets in this industry is either very risky or very dumb when a single bad game can destroy a studio.
Unless ATK has a non gaming real state or insurance division, relying on gaming alone is ultra risky for such a long term return.

 

[Emet_bp]

If they decide to put some of their flagship titles on PlayStation and / or Nintento consoles, I think they will leave out titles that have direct competitors from Sony/Nintendo 1st party.
Eg. They can bring Forza Horizon franchise to PlayStation, but Forza Motorsport will probably stay only on Xbox and PC (eventually also on Nintendo, since there is no Gran Turismo or anything like that).

 

[THE DUCK]

Playstation now released in 2014

It was cloud steaming only in 2014, (and it was bad), it wasn't until 2019 that you could locally download like gamepass. Gamepass launched in June of 2017, fully downloadable games from day 1.

 

[Godot25]

None of what you said counterpoints anything about Microsoft potentially getting out of consoles as a competitor. You, like so many Xbox fans, seem to equate Microsoft no longer being a console competitor with Microsoft leaving gaming. They don't go hand in hand. Only in the mind of a console warrior would this be true.

Of course they are not getting out.
That would be dumb. They would effectively kill Game Pass on consoles (one of their main revenue stream for Xbox division) and they would kill 30% revenue that they are currently getting from every purchase on their platform.

So let me get this straight. It's logical for Microsoft to forgo 100% cut of their first party games (including Call of Duty) on their platform and whole Game Pass for consoles subscription to enter the market as a third party developer where they would need to send 30% of every game purchase to Sony?

That's probably dumbest business plan I ever heard.

 

[KungFucius]

Thanks. Will be skipping them.

Lame fanboy take. There are some great games in their catalog but sure you must never explore anything outside of your fanboy devotion because reasons. It is also worth the time playing Starfield a bit so you can complain about it.

This is a disadvantage for their platform though.

Outside the PC. Why one would buy an Xbox if he can play their games on ps or Nintendo ?

Just buy that platform. And get Nintendo games as a plus Xbox games for example on one platform vs just ms games .

Gamepass. I don't see why you would buy it in addition to a PS if you already have one and only want to play a couple Xbox games here and there. but if you know you like Gamepass games, why not buy an Xbox for that? Or why not build that gaming PC you always wanted?

Maybe Gamepass on a console that only sells 1/4 -1/3 of PS + PC combined with full price titles on all other platforms is something that will work for them. Trying to compete head on has not. With the cost of PS+ Extra being so high, buying a system just for gamepass to supplement the PS (for exclusives only) is a reasonable alternative to buying a PS and subbing to PS+extra. Keep in mind that COD will be on gamepass.

 

[Varteras]

Of course they are not getting out.
That would be dumb. They would effectively kill Game Pass on consoles (one of their main revenue stream for Xbox division) and they would kill 30% revenue that they are currently getting from every purchase on their platform.

So let me get this straight. It's logical for Microsoft to forgo 100% cut of their first party games (including Call of Duty) on their platform and whole Game Pass for consoles subscription to enter the market as a third party developer where they would need to send 30% of every game purchase to Sony?

That's probably dumbest business plan I ever heard.

An even dumber business plan is to keep watching your console market share shrink to irrelevancy and keep spending money on that platform.

 

[Kerotan]

Imagine how stupid it would be if they put their back catalogue on playstation but not Bethesda.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

It was cloud steaming only in 2014, (and it was bad), it wasn't until 2019 that you could locally download like gamepass. Gamepass launched in June of 2017, fully downloadable games from day 1.

Still a sub service you quacker

 

[Godot25]

What you expected me to do?
You talk about assets with long term value in... the highly unstable video-game industry... Where the only things owned are IPs (that are hard to keep alive for a long time, unless you are Nintendo) and Studio trademarks, that are worthless, because without the right employees they are nothing and a few key employees quitting can destroy the value of the studio (like Bungie).
Expecting a return in 30+ years of assets in this industry is either very risky or very dumb when a single bad game can destroy a studio.
Unless ATK has a non gaming real state or insurance division, relying on gaming alone is ultra risky for such a long term return.

I'm expecting posts like this. For example

Yeah. It's risky business to spend 68 billion. But let's not pretend that Microsoft bought ABK so they can return 68 billion to the bank by XYZ years. They bought the asset that is giving them access to one of the most successful coveted revenue streams in traditional gaming market currently (live services), revenue stream and expertise from mobile gaming (which is biggest gaming market in the world) and ABK is opening doors for Microsoft to have Xbox store on mobile right in time when legislators in EU and Japan are cracking open Apple/Google duopoly. ABK have inherent value for strategy of Xbox that is not about immediate revenue returns.

Is there is possibility that everything will backfire? Yeah. Nokia is example of strategy going south.

But it's still baffling for people to pretend that console sales are everything when Xbox was ahead of Nintendo in revenue even before ABK deal with 1/3 of console install base. And while Sony is also contemplating strategy of giving people access to PlayStation services without need to buy PlayStation consoles.

 

[Godot25]

An even dumber business plan is to keep watching your console market share shrink to irrelevancy and keep spending money on that platform.

Well I guess we will see. I'm pretty sure nobody here would have a balls to predict WHEN Xbox will forgo their console business. They just keep talking about it. "One day" "Soon"
As I said. Wishful thinking.

 

[Scotty W]

It begins. It took the collapse of the Xbox console business and spending $70B on a massive third party publisher for MS to realize that they are a software business first and foremost.

I have never owned an Xbox, but I don’t think thus is true. I think the age of consoles is coming to an end. It is probably connected with photorealism. I can’t see any point in console wars once that omega point has been reached.

 

[Perrott]

1. Because not every game have to exists to sell consoles. That's Sony's philosophy and one of the reasons why they shut down Pixel Opus. Because it was small team and they would not produce games that would sell PlayStation consoles. That's also why they gutted Media Molecule and Japan Studio. Sony wants blockbusters and if you can't give them, you are done. But since Microsoft has a Game Pass they are fine with games that will keep existing subscribers engaged.

You're getting it all wrong.

• PixelOpus was shutdown because four years have passed since they wrapped up their last project and not only they had not released anything during that timeframe but they seemingly also had nothing to show for whatever they had been working on, which is a big red flag for a smaller studio that doesn't deal with projects of the magnitude of a God of War, Horizon or The Last Of Us.
• Media Molecule suffered from layoffs because they were irresponsable and stupid enough to waste over a decade on the absolutely terrible idea that was Dreams, instead of making actual creative videogames in vein of LittleBigPlanet or Tearaway. They could have released two PS4 titles and one PS5 title over the course of the last ten years, but they opted to reboot Dreams three different times. Cool, it was their (studio management's) choice. Now they have to deal with the consequences.
• And something similar applies to the Japan Studio: you can't spend an entire generation making games that either don't sell or no one cares about. That's irresponsable, as it was irresponsable to break ties with Fumito Ueda or to not greenlight Bloodborne 2 immediately after the release of the original. Hell, their internal teams could have at least tried to release a single, big game with Japanese flavor in the vein of Metal Gear, NieR: Automata, Persona or Final Fantasy, all games with Japanese spirit but global appeal, but they didn't. Except for Astro-Bot, whose team now has a full studio of their own, while the rest of the Japan Studio had to fuck off after blowing the several chances Sony gave them to get their shit together.

Sony's editorial strategy is not responsible for the outcome of all those teams. They suffered the consequences of their own ineptitude.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Well I guess we will see. I'm pretty sure nobody here would have a balls to predict WHEN Xbox will forgo their console business. They just keep talking about it. "One day" "Soon"
As I said. Wishful thinking.

Yeah, I don't expect Xbox to leave at all. And gaming market demonstrated that mass consumer does not care about exclusivity or anything. What probably will happen is that some Xbox games will come at later dates to some other platforms - and it won't change anything simple because those (like time exclusives) don't sell much at later date. Back catalogue hitting Luna did not lead to any changes. And Switch is basically the mobile/PC of asian area anyway.

Let's be real - console market is not growing. At all. While game budgets are growing like crazy as workforce is not becoming cheaper. I do curious of Switch 2 effect in the market as it will have much better third party support.

 

[T-0800]

But I'm used to it. People are talking about demise of Xbox since 2014.

Boy did they prove us all wrong. Things are going so well.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

Ah well there you go then. Pack up boys, lets go home.

 

[Fredrik]

If they open things up and allow Xbox customers to purchase 3rd party games from 3rd party storefronts then they will be forgoing the cut that they would usually make on those transactions (it would effectively become $0).

They already allow that on PC so I’m thinking they’re okay with that. And I think they treat actual game sales as a bonus now, their focus is to sell subscriptions.
But Gamepass can pull in some bonus sales on their own store because of the price cuts and saves not synced to Steam. And they can always do launcher exclusives like everyone else on PC. Not ideal for the customers but it is what it is, in the future I think boxes will be replaced with brand-specific launchers anyway and launcher exclusivity is going to be the norm for all platforms.

 

[Godot25]

Boy did they prove us all wrong. Things are going so well.

Kinda yeah...

 

[Varteras]

Well I guess we will see. I'm pretty sure nobody here would have a balls to predict WHEN Xbox will forgo their console business. They just keep talking about it. "One day" "Soon"
As I said. Wishful thinking.

It may or may not. But the whole point of our conversation was you acting like there was no precedent for Xbox to leave when it actually almost did. People aren't merely talking out of their ass. It was very nearly a reality and the situation for console sales looks way more dire now than it did even last generation. No, PC didn't do that. Xbox dropping the ball in many different ways, with both PlayStation and Nintendo doing what they do best, did. Now we've got a growing cloud of smoke around it possibly happening again, or Xbox taking a very different approach to the console market that involves them not really being a competitor. Is that smoke an actual fire or is it GHG and his family ripping that hookah hard? Who knows?

 

[azertydu91]

Kinda yeah...

I'll take what's not profit for a 100 billion.

Meanwhile spendings at ms:

 

[T-0800]

Kinda yeah...

 

[THE DUCK]

Still a sub service you quacker

Lol, so was OnLive, wake up and smell the feathers. It was nothing like gamepass, just like psnow streaming crap. Psnow maxed out at like 3 million subs and that was even after 2 years of local downloads.

 

[baphomet]

Why does he need to bring PlayStation into this?

Sounds like his wife's boyfriend has a PS5 and a Switch.

 

[Ar¢tos]

You're getting it all wrong.

• PixelOpus was shutdown because four years have passed since they wrapped up their last project and not only they had not released anything during that timeframe but they seemingly also had nothing to show for whatever they had been working on, which is a big red flag for a smaller studio that doesn't deal with projects of the magnitude of a God of War, Horizon or The Last Of Us.
• Media Molecule suffered from layoffs because they were irresponsable and stupid enough to waste over a decade on the absolutely terrible idea that was Dreams, instead of making actual creative videogames in vein of LittleBigPlanet or Tearaway. They could have released two PS4 titles and one PS5 title over the course of the last ten years, but they opted to reboot Dreams three different times. Cool, it was their (studio management's) choice. Now they have to deal with the consequences.
• And something similar applies to the Japan Studio: you can't spend an entire generation making games that either don't sell or no one cares about. That's irresponsable, as it was irresponsable to break ties with Fumito Ueda or to not greenlight Bloodborne 2 immediately after the release of the original. Hell, their internal teams could have at least tried to release a single, big game with Japanese flavor in the vein of Metal Gear, NieR: Automata, Persona or Final Fantasy, all games with Japanese spirit but global appeal, but they didn't. Except for Astro-Bot, whose team now has a full studio of their own, while the rest of the Japan Studio had to fuck off after blowing the several chances Sony gave them to get their shit together.

Sony's editorial strategy is not responsible for the outcome of all those teams. They suffered the consequences of their own ineptitude.

PixelOpus was 2 guys in a room inside another studio (probably SSM, where the studio incubation project is). Sony kept Japan Studio open a full gen doing basically nothing and couldn't pay 2 guys to keep doing new creative things? They were working with Sony Animation in a new project, even if it took another 4 years for it to come out, it would still be cheaper than keeping Japan Studio running with it's 800 employees for a single month.
I don't understand Sony rush to close them.

 

[GHG]

They already allow that on PC so I’m thinking they’re okay with that. And I think they treat actual game sales as a bonus now, their focus is to sell subscriptions.
But Gamepass can pull in some bonus sales on their own store because of the price cuts and saves not synced to Steam. And they can always do launcher exclusives like everyone else on PC. Not ideal for the customers but it is what it is, in the future I think boxes will be replaced with brand-specific launchers anyway and launcher exclusivity is going to be the norm for all platforms.

What do you mean they "allow" that on PC?

The gaming stores you listed predate the Xbox store on windows. Windows is also an open platform, if they now attempted to lock it down it would result in a whole host of anti-trust issues (along with the fact that it would only accelerate the development of gaming on Linux, PC gamers would leave Windows en-masse with immediate effect).

The two things aren't even remotely comparable, their reasons for existing in the console space and on PC are two different things entirely.

As for launcher exclusivity, that ship has sailed. The trend has been going in the opposite direction in recent years.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Thanks god that they are actually selling the games too, right? It's almost like you can also buy them on Steam, Xbox App on Windows or Xbox Store on consoles. And judging by fact that they are probably biggest publisher on Steam, they aren't doing such a bad job

Of course it's their goal. If it wasn't they would not be releasing their first-party games in Game Pass. Fact how big slice of revenue is from Game Pass just shows how diverse their revenue stream of Xbox actually is or where the ceiling of Game Pass is in current market. They have everything from live service revenue, through hardware revenue and game sales to the revenue from mobile gaming.

Clearly they aren’t selling enough. That’s why they are taking these drastic steps in hopes to increase games sales.

 

[SmokedMeat]

All it took was for steam to destroy physical games, if they see money in it they could destroy digital games too.

Well yeah, when you give PC gamers a superior alternative, they’re going to take it.

You’re looking at it through the lens of a console player though. Digital on consoles has been garbage. So many games left to die on dead hardware. No stores competing for your money. No refunds.

And you can only accept it. Just like streaming. Thinking an open platform will one hundred percent go streaming over a closed console is silly. When Sony and Microsoft say it’s time - it’s time. You either fall in line or buy Nintendo.

 

[Heisenberg007]

There are some bizarre assumptions with this strategy, all of which can be explained by solid business fundamentals.

1. Yes, platform holders except sometimes Nintendo take a hit on consoles sold AT THE BEGINNING. Then better yields and more experience in production makes the costs go down, which nicely lines up with people YoY sales of a console (you never have peak sales in the first one, two years)
2. By selling consoles you tie people to your ecosystem, add to that your storefront where you pocket 70% of the sale price vs. 10-15% at retail.

So in order to make money Microsoft needs to:
1. Drive down the cost of producing consoles.
2. Provide compelling argument to purchase the Xbox over it's competitors, which historically has been done via exclusive games.

It seems like someone at Microsoft just fundamentally does not believe they will ever have a strong enough exclusive offerings to drive console adoption, which is just crazy thought to me, because that's like saying you do not believe in your business.

1. The “in the beginning” part is true for PlayStation, but not for Xbox. Microsoft has confirmed publicly that they never made any profit on selling any Xbox unit, ever.

2. Exactly. And Microsoft has done a terrible job of doing this. Their console sales have declined and will decline even faster if they release their exclusive games elsewhere. Having said that, this is their only route imo: abandon consoles and become like EA that sells games everywhere.

 

[Godot25]

Clearly they aren’t selling enough. That’s why they are taking these drastic steps in hopes to increase games sales.

If they weren't selling enough they would brought every game on competing platforms . Because the more platforms you will release your games on the more sales you get. Shocker, I know...

Halo Infinite bombed (hence why Xbox restructured 343) and they still didn't bring game on PlayStation. Gee I wonder why.

Maybe it's because there are flagship and system seller games/franchises that won't be ported on other platforms but there are also game that can be ported to other platforms without harm because they were not system sellers in first place and because "fuck it we will earn more money," right? Bucket where are games like Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, As Dusk Falls, Tell Me Why belongs...

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Lol, so was OnLive, wake up and smell the feathers. It was nothing like gamepass, just like psnow streaming crap. Psnow maxed out at like 3 million subs and that was even after 2 years of local downloads.

Was PSNow a game sub service with hundreds of instantly accessable games regardless of when you started your sub? Y/N

 

[SmokedMeat]

Pubs supported steam step by step and you couldn't get games anywhere else. As soon as they push eexclusive streaming games on pc and make it affordable to do so on a good enough quality people will take the offer like they did on steam. Most people tried to resist steam at first but absolutely loved it in the end. Exclusive mp streamed games will also kill cheating for good which is a plus tho.

We have it now. It’s just another option on PC.

And who is “they”? PC is an open platform. There is no “they” calling the shots like on PlayStation/Xbox.

 

[Varnish La PS]

Honestly, I would love to see the Gears on PS, I don't care about the rest.

 

[Darsxx82]

The reality is the next Xbox will probably only sell 10-25 million units because the XBS is probably going to fall to 35 million units. There is zero chance that a device in decline at roughly 25 million is going to double its user base. It's already passed its peak. The only question now is how fast do sales shrivel up.

Neogaf is certainly not the place where some of you go to have a serious discussion....

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

It seems like Tom Henderson mentioned in Discord that there will be 4 more games that will come to Switch 2 and 3 to PS5 this year, including "big exclusive game in Q4". Curious which games?

 

[Badlucktroll]

My guess is that Activision and Bethesda/Zenimax are going to stay totally multiplatform

 

[HeWhoWalks]

Neogaf is certainly not the place where some of you go to have a serious discussion....

Combat his argument. What’s going to suddenly drive hardware growth gen over gen?

 

[3liteDragon]

Deleted

 

[bitbydeath]

Well yeah, when you give PC gamers a superior alternative, they’re going to take it.

You’re looking at it through the lens of a console player though. Digital on consoles has been garbage. So many games left to die on dead hardware. No stores competing for your money. No refunds.

And you can only accept it. Just like streaming. Thinking an open platform will one hundred percent go streaming over a closed console is silly. When Sony and Microsoft say it’s time - it’s time. You either fall in line or buy Nintendo.

You must have missed the golden age of PC. People will say the same about digital games in future on PC too.

 

[Astray]

It seems like Tom Henderson mentioned in Discord that there will be 4 more games that will come to Switch 2 and 3 to PS5 this year, including "big exclusive game in Q4". Curious which games?

Lol it's Starfield.

Q4 would mark almost a year since Starfield was 1st released.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

I mean...it's only a matter of time at this point.
MS to be the biggest 3rd party.

 

[nial]

1. Because not every game have to exists to sell consoles. That's Sony's philosophy

Is that why they bought Housemarque despite Returnal only selling a whooping 500K units at the time?

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Is that why they bought Housemarque despite Returnal only selling a whooping 500K units at the time?

Didn't they buy Housemarque because Tencent was interested them?

 

[Varteras]

Didn't they buy Housemarque because Tencent was interested them?

According to Housemarque, there were a number of companies interested. They mentioned companies in China and America.

 

[Fredrik]

What do you mean they "allow" that on PC?

The gaming stores you listed predate the Xbox store on windows. Windows is also an open platform, if they now attempted to lock it down it would result in a whole host of anti-trust issues (along with the fact that it would only accelerate the development of gaming on Linux, PC gamers would leave Windows en-masse with immediate effect).

The two things aren't even remotely comparable, their reasons for existing in the console space and on PC are two different things entirely.

As for launcher exclusivity, that ship has sailed. The trend has been going in the opposite direction in recent years.

Talking about how they currently allow you to buy their games on Steam if you want instead of Microsoft Store. It seems like they’re okay with losing that cut knowing they’ll sell more games through Steam.

No facts, just crystal ball talk now. You’re not looking far away into the future, I definitely don’t expect launcher exclusivity to go away, quite the opposite. Right now Steam is gigantic so publishers want to be there for normal purchases, unless a bag of money exist, but subscription libraries have their own launchers and that segment will grow. And I expect all the big ones to have their own store with launcher within a decade or so for both normal purchases and subscription libraries, possibly not Nintendo but you never know. We’ll see plenty of timed exclusives like Sony do between PS and PC, driving people to use a brand-specific launcher is going to be a focus. And I think the end game is a brand-specific app scenario on the TV or mobile or PS portal like device with games running on a remote server. E-sport could possibly stay as it is.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

There are some bizarre assumptions with this strategy, all of which can be explained by solid business fundamentals.

1. Yes, platform holders except sometimes Nintendo take a hit on consoles sold AT THE BEGINNING. Then better yields and more experience in production makes the costs go down, which nicely lines up with people YoY sales of a console (you never have peak sales in the first one, two years)
2. By selling consoles you tie people to your ecosystem, add to that your storefront where you pocket 70% of the sale price vs. 10-15% at retail.

So in order to make money Microsoft needs to:
1. Drive down the cost of producing consoles.
2. Provide compelling argument to purchase the Xbox over it's competitors, which historically has been done via exclusive games.

It seems like someone at Microsoft just fundamentally does not believe they will ever have a strong enough exclusive offerings to drive console adoption, which is just crazy thought to me, because that's like saying you do not believe in your business.

They clearly don't and they shouldn't.

Xbox leadership is trash and doesn't understand the market. Their entire executive team spends far too much time pallying up with their lunatic rabid Xbox fanbase and so instead of getting the temperature of the wider consumer, they only gain the sense of what their echo chamber of idiots want.

So they run their business by trying to make big elaborate moves in the market, instead of just focusing on the slow burn of cultivating in-house talent to make great games. Their leadership team is composed of too many wider MS people and DEI hires, instead of people with a proven track record in the gaming space.

Xbox should have done everything possible to hold onto and promote the team that ran the original Xbox and the first half of the Xbox 360 gen. Instead, they chose to bring in derpsters from the wider MS business, pissing off the core Xbox folks and provoking them to leave; resulting in a team of clueless suits who don't know anything about gaming and worse, couldn't give a shit about making games as a creative art form.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

According to Housemarque, there were a number of companies interested. They mentioned companies in China and America.

Yeah, I think that the reason.

Lol it's Starfield.

Q4 would mark almost a year since Starfield was 1st released.

I doubt it is Starfield. But I think Microsoft is preparing the launch titles for PS4 Pro

 

[nial]

Didn't they buy Housemarque because Tencent was interested them?

But why would Sony even care enough about this if Housemarque does not make blockbuster games, which is ALL they want?