Support NeoGAF

[Elios83]

Am i going crazy ? Everyone in this thread is jumping to conclusions based on a random quote which seems to have been improvised during an interview, and yet, the quote actually doesnt say anything new.

Even assuming it is an improvised quote (and not a prepared one), he seems to have worded it carefully enough to not confirm anything really. Microsoft already puts out games on what they consider "multiple platforms" because they count their two xboxes, PC and cloud.

GAF jumping to conclusions as usual.

That's not the case though.
Nadella is clearly signaling a discontinuity with what has been happening until now.

He says :"We think that *now*, we have the ability to really do what we've always set out to do"

So he's clearly referring to an ability they didn't have before but they always wanted. And the before and after is the amount of studios they own which now requires them to go multiplatform to make sense.
It will be gradual though, they'll start with multiplayer and older games.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Don't worry mate. My Series X and PS5 are pretty comfortable along side each other. Because when I want to play games, I will buy a console and I don't need to port-beg hard enough that X company would bring some games to my preferred piece of plastic

Then there was no reason to have the meltdown you're having, yet here we are

 

[Banjo64]

1. Because by the time Xbox came to market, PlayStation was already at their second generation. Duh? By the time Xbox came to the market PS2 was already estabilished
3. Now. But this was not the case at the start of PS4 generation when people built their digital libraries. And it was primary reason why Sony fought hard against cross-play implementation.

I realise Phil said this so it must be true, but I owned a hundred games digitally on 360 and PS3 (mainly PS3).

PS3 in particular was a very inviting digital platform at the end of its life with millions of players subscribing to PS Plus for the games on offer. Meanwhile Xbox was focussed on Kinect alone. Obviously we couldn’t take these game over with us, but the idea of digital games became entrenched in the second half of that generation and PS had a much rosier image.

I realise it’s easier to just blame the Xbox One reveal as the source of all their problems, but really they had their eye of the ball for years before hand.

So yeah, built libraries may be the correct terminology but build mindshare began way before.

 

[Skifi28]

My first thought with all this is.....if they are going to put their games on PlayStation,they better start making better fucking games.....who the fuck is going to buy broken shit like Redfall when they have GOW and lots of other PlayStation exclusives to choose from.

You will buy Redfall and you will like it.

 

[TheGodfather07]

Microsoft have no choice but to do this. It's not even fair on those teams to release games exclusively on a dead platform. Gamepass hasn't worked out and they can't backtrack. So the only way forward to actually sell their games is to do it on other platforms. Microsoft have basically forced themselves into a corner by going all in on gamepass and killing software sales on their platform.

 

[demigod]

Yup. Saw that this gen.
Sony raised prices of consoles and players be like "let's buy more"
Sony raises prices of subscription and players be like "let's buy record amount of PS5"

Look. We know what happened last time when Sony felt untouchable in console space. It was called 599USD console in year of our lord 2007. Anybody who thinks Sony will have any reason to price their console competitive when they will be only company making consoles for newest FIFA, Call of Duty and for their first-party games is just delusional at this point. If you think that Sony would try to sell PS6 at a loss (which is done every gen for competitive reasons) with cornered market, you are just plain dumb.

You’re a . I love it when folks like you rewrite history. Sony raised prices, are you telling me xbox series games are still $59.99? Ms are so generous and have a huge warchest, that’s why they didn’t raise the prices of their consoles like Sony did, amirite? Did you forget that ms tried to raise xbox live gold and received major backlash for it? And who was it that raised the price of games from $49.99 to $59.99? I miss $40 Sony games, thanks MS. Who made folks pay for online while PC gamers play online for free? Who introduced horse armor to nickel and dime their customers? Who was the platform holder that refused cross platform play?

PCs are still competition, Sony will have to subsidize still. Why do you think there are PS Pro versions? You’re not so bright are you?

 

[Astray]

So you really think that Sony would be willingly selling PlayStation consoles at a loss on market when Xbox is not making consoles?

I really admire your optimism. Or stupidity.

I will ignore you calling me stupid for no real reason and proceed to talk the points.

Why are you assuming that no one enters the console space when Microsoft is out? Why would you assume that "making a profit" means raising the price by x2?

Sony's most tone-deaf generation had them lose a lot of money on PS3s from the very start (at $600 MSRP), what makes you think they won't learn from it?

Also PC is now a very real factor, and going with a $700-$800 price point is basically inviting "console killer PC builds" to come eat your lunch.

 

[Chittagong]

He actually did it the absolute madman hahahahahahaha!

 

[demigod]

Someone check if Tim Dog is okay.

He’s not. He’s been port begging for FF7 Remake.

 

[jroc74]

Yeah this is more like it tbh, atm MS is using the same vague language they always do that leaves a huge amount of interpretation.
But yeah Exclusives will be first party titles, legacy content and COD multiplat, for now at least. If its true Sea of Thieves or Hifi Rush is coming to PS5/Switch then all bets are off since both are recent first party games. Who the fuck knows,its Xbox and they have trouble maintaining consistent messaging for a week let alone for a whole strategy…

See, this rumor is what has some ppl shook.

Everyone's waiting, holding their breath to see if its true, lol.

 

[SirTerry-T]

I was under the impression the Xbox had no games?

 

[chilichote]

And this way they will make more money than ever before (in the gaming industry), simply because they no longer have to develop console(s) and sell them at cost and can sell their software on even more devices.

If you can't beat your competition, make money from them^^

 

[Godot25]

Then there was no reason to have the meltdown you're having, yet here we are

Funny you are talking about meltdowns after ABK saga last year

 

[DJ12]

So you really think that Sony would be willingly selling PlayStation consoles at a loss on market when Xbox is not making consoles?

I really admire your optimism. Or stupidity.

Got this crap from the discord?

Who sells their consoles for a $200 loss again?

It's not Sony that would love to be able to charge more.

The entire argument would revolve around Sony believing xbox is actually a threat to playstation anyway and if you believe they do then stupidity really does prevail, but not how you suggest it does.

 

[Three]

I was under the impression the Xbox had no games?

It now has multiplatform games which were owned by a different company before but now proceeds go to MS instead. Hooray?

 

[Three]

I mean, they just made an aquisition that they will be putting on Sony and Nintendo ... of course they're publishing for all platforms. They'll have strategic first-party exclusives (by exclusive I mean Xbox and PC) and then games (e.g. COD, or older titles) they can publish multi-plat console. Unless I've missed sometyhing?

I'm kind of with you on this. I think people are reading too much into this but would be pleasantly surprised if it really is all platforms.

 

[Orbital2060]

Im curious if they switch to ARM cores instead of x86 for their next consoles, as some rumours suggest. They didnt build the cloud + gamepass network to rely solely stationary consoles, but could mix things up with a console plus a portable deck/claw/switch unit.

The problem with leaving the gaming hardware business is that it leaves the market open for Google or Apple to swoop in with a gaming device + cloud network + their walled gardens, and overtake the market completely if Microsoft pulls out and thats a risk they cant afford to ignore. Sony is not a competitor to Microsoft in that sense.

 

[buenoblue]

This is good news. Having a single platform to play all games is nice.

On a side note, Xbox seems to have a different plan every year or two. Though
Ive never heard Phil or a top exec say that they need to make great games! the opposite in fact. Make some great games with that bottomless pit of money you morons

 

[Ivan]

What if Sony doesn't want to help them at all by giving them access to their user base and just wants to watch this unfold?

 

[Badlucktroll]

I think they are going to be like “Get it on Gamepass on Xbox, or pay full price on Playstation”.

 

[GHG]

What if Sony doesn't want to help them at all by giving them access to their user base and just wants to watch this unfold?

I've said this before, Sony shouldn't help them out. Even said it regarding the COD deal. Should have let them piss 70 billion down the drain (they still might regardless).

 

[Stuart360]

Although i think this is Xbox's long term goal, i feel people are jumping the gun a bit at the minute.
I'm sure it will be the usual 'case by case' situation, or maybe gaas games or mp games etc. Maybe games released on other consoles later.

I mean companies dont make decisions like this overnight, and although i didnt follow the ABK buy thread much, wasnt Xbox trying their hardest to keep COD off Playstation?, doesnt sound like a company about to go full third party

I suppose they could be looking at Gamepass being the hook to buy an Xbox going forward. You know pay $70 here, or buy our console with Gamepass and play games for 'free', etc.

The only question mark this brings for me is if they will release a Xbox console next get, although all rumours seem to be that they intend to.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Although i think this is Xbox's long term goal, i feel people are jumping the gun a bit at the minute.
I'm sure it will be the usual 'case by case' situation, or maybe gaas games or mp games etc. Maybe games released on other consoles later.

I mean companies dont make decisions like this overnight, and although i didnt follow the ABK buy thread much, wasnt Xbox trying their hardest to keep COD off Playstation?, doesnt sound like a company about to go full third party

I suppose they could be looking at Gamepass being the hook to buy an Xbox going forward. You know pay $70 here, or buy our console with Gamepass and play games for 'free', etc.

The only question mark this brings for me is if they will release a Xbox console next get, although all rumours seem to be that they intend to.

Honestly, if they could've kept COD off Playstation, they would have more leverage getting GP on Playstation in the future.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

Like I said before I think the biggest catalyst for this was the Activision Blizzard purchase.

They have a 69 Billion dollars reason to try and make their money back and you don't do that by turning everything they just bought into an Xbox exclusive you do it by doing what SEGA did and put your games on everything.

 

[DJ12]

I think they are going to be like “Get it on Gamepass on Xbox, or pay full price on Playstation”.

Or neither as gamepass is the seal of mediocrity.

All these big franchises they've put out for gamepass have got worse.

Even FH5 is a by the numbers map pack dlc rather than an improvement to the series.

Gamepass will be the death of Microsoft Gaming.

Now if your idea was "play this shite on gamepass, or pay full price on PlayStation for a version we are actually happy to release when it's finished not just to get shit on our service" then I think you are on to a winner.

 

[Three]

Im curious if they switch to ARM cores instead of x86 for their next consoles, as some rumours suggest. They didnt build the cloud + gamepass network to rely solely stationary consoles, but could mix things up with a console plus a portable deck/claw/switch unit.

The problem with leaving the gaming hardware business is that it leaves the market open for Google or Apple to swoop in with a gaming device + cloud network + their walled gardens, and overtake the market completely if Microsoft pulls out and thats a risk they cant afford to ignore. Sony is not a competitor to Microsoft in that sense.

MS doesn't care about the hardware business even though it has a dwindling one itself. What makes you think Amazon or Google would? MS was only afraid of Amazon and Google because of their ability to compete in cloud, not their ability to release hardware. Apple wasn't even mentioned.

(lol at MS for probably doing a cease and desist on this image. Had to upload it again somewhere myself.)

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Just in time for Sega to move in and buy the Xbox division! That’s right bitches Sega is back! It’s round 2 PlayStation!

 

[Vol5]

Spencer sidelined?

 

[SplunkyMunkey]

They shouldn't of wasted money on buying publishers they already had sufficient studios. all they had to do is what sony was doing make great games

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Until they concede from making consoles I would say no if I was Playstation as well.

I wouldn't.

It's short-sighted as hell.

It only really benefits Xbox for Playstation to release their games to a much wider audience.

Not at all.

Exclusive games are the reason people choose one console over the other. If console buyers know they can play all Sony's FP games AND MS FP games on PS5 versus Only MS FP games on Xbox; the value proposition for buying an Xbox evaporates completely (what little there currently is anyway).

Once MS Xbox hardware business completely dies, and it would in this scenario, Sony would be the sole defacto high-end console platform and MS would have made themselves into an effective 3rd party publisher without even realizing it (yes... Spencer is that dumb).

It would be the greatest own-goal for Xbox as a hardware platform since Kinect and their XB1 "TV, TV, TV" debacle.

This is why to some extent, I don't believe what MS was offering Sony was just their FP games on PS. I reckon they were also trying to agree for Sony to put their FP games on Xbox as part of the deal; which of course would be why Sony would tell them to get fucked.

 

[jm89]

Live footage of Gavon West

 

[Del_X]

Maybe, but also why? Why buy it when you could just buy a Playstation and play Xbox and Playstation games.

To have a brain dead easy way ti play higher fidelity titles. Why buy a PC when you have to wait two years for Sony’s latest strong woman title to get ported?

 

[Edmund]

I was under the impression the Xbox had no games?

no GOOD games.

 

[Darsxx82]

That's not the case though.
Nadella is clearly signaling a discontinuity with what has been happening until now.

He says :"We think that *now*, we have the ability to really do what we've always set out to do"

So he's clearly referring to an ability they didn't have before but they always wanted. And the before and after is the amount of studios they own which now requires them to go multiplatform to make sense.
It will be gradual though, they'll start with multiplayer and older games.

Not quite. If you see the original quote "now" is referring to the situation after ABK and how this allows them to be in a larger space, especially the mobile market. Because Xbox already launches games on other consoles and after ABK in even more quantities.

I don't think anyone is certain of what MS can do, but these words from Nadella definitely do not clarify anything for one side or the other beyond what is already a reality today. And that reality is that XBOX is already the main publisher on PlayStation and soon on Switch, in addition to launching games on PC and mobile phones... and 3rd party cloud plataforms

That is, that is the place where they wanted to be of course. I perfectly understand the interpretations that each one can (or wants) to make given the ambiguity of MS and the "strange" situation of Xbox now that it has ABK + Bethesda and an extreme multitude of Studios that need to be amortized.... But it is It's a question of applying the logic and if MS (as confirmed) is going to continue releasing console hardware and establish an attractive ecosystem for potential users, it will certainly need exclusivity for that ecosystem. XBOX did not buy so many Studios, Bethesda and especially ABK to be a simple 3rd party like EA or Take two.....

This is where what many here denied or affirmed a lie from MS in the ABK acquisition thread comes in... "case by case". This has turned out to be true. How far will this "case by case" go? This is what we are going to see over the next few years.

 

[zapper]

tomorrow we will have some answers with developerdirect, these statements seem vague to me as usual for Microsoft

 

[Badlucktroll]

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Errr MS ARE the Sith!

 

[Topher]

So many knew the acquisition of Activision would not happen. So many like to think they’re in the know.

lol.....the vast majority in GAF's ABK poll voted that the deal would go through.

Jim Ryan once said they believe in generations, yet we know how that turned out. Execs talk without knowing what they’re talking about.

News at 11.

 

[twilo99]

That's the Microsoft/Xbox that i miss, the ones who innovated and forced their competitors to get with the times.

Nah, they are still doing it

 

[StueyDuck]

Nah, they are still doing it

They absolutely are not doing that.

Consolidation is the most backwards thinking MS has been in a long long time with the Xbox brand

 

[Topher]

Funny you are talking about meltdowns after ABK saga last year

 

[Evil Calvin]

"we are very with what's going on"

??????????

 

[ReBurn]

Its far from over. Watch as MS teams up with someone who wants into the console business.........(hint it has a apple logo).......and they just happen to make thier own ARM based chip......hmmm.......
Or ms could release its own hybrid handheld still, at a very competitive price. Maybe they take the Nintendo route, one system, who cares if it's powerfull.

Serious question...if someone wanted into the console space why would they team up with Microsoft? I love my Xbox, but the last couple of generations of Xbox haven't gone in a way that should make someone want to choose Microsoft as the partner that will bring them success there.

If we're being serious I don't see anyone champing at the bit to jump into the console space. Console gaming is largely stagnant from an overall growth perspective. Console growth is slowing in relationship to PC and mobile. It would take more time and money than would be reasonable to capture market share that could sustain a new entrant.

Apple could have entered the console space by now if they really wanted to. They don't need Microsoft's help. But their focus on mobile is much more lucrative. Pretty sure they're just going to stay focused on being a leader in mobile gaming. I think the best case from them would be an improved Apple TV that plays mobile games as well as iPhone or iPad.

 

[Draugoth]

 

[Killjoy-NL]

They're going to be testing the waters. Both MS and Sony.

 

[//DEVIL//]

i was just listening to the xbox two podcast. (they have contacts inside xbox)

rand said that he heard that behind the scenes after the 70B acquisition, Xbox needs the "make money on that immediately"

If you are talking about Rand Al Thor or whatever his name is. Then with all respect this kid knows nothing. Just like most of them trying to be pretend they know shit for clicks. I don't even give them clicks because none of them are worth my time.

MS isn't broke to worry about making money from Activision right now lol. This is a strategic purchase for them and calculated one.

Oh and to them this kind of money is nothing.

 

[Elios83]

Not quite. If you see the original quote "now" is referring to the situation after ABK and how this allows them to be in a larger space, especially the mobile market. Because Xbox already launches games on other consoles and after ABK in even more quantities.

I don't think anyone is certain of what MS can do, but these words from Nadella definitely do not clarify anything for one side or the other beyond what is already a reality today. And that reality is that XBOX is already the main publisher on PlayStation and soon on Switch, in addition to launching games on PC and mobile phones...

That is, that is the place where they wanted to be of course. I perfectly understand the interpretations that each one can (or wants) to make given the ambiguity of MS and the "strange" situation of Xbox now that it has ABK + Bethesda and an extreme multitude of Studios that need to be amortized.... But it is It's a question of applying the logic and if MS (as confirmed) is going to continue releasing console hardware and establish an attractive ecosystem for potential users, it will certainly need exclusivity for that ecosystem. XBOX did not buy so many Studios, Bethesda and especially ABK to be a simple 3rd party like EA or Take two.....

This is where what many here denied or affirmed a lie from MS in the ABK acquisition thread comes in... "case by case". This has turned out to be true. How far will this "case by case" go? This is what we are going to see over the next few years.

The answer is pretty clear imo.
The Activision acquisition is signaled by Nadella as the turning point compared to what they have done so far that will allow their long time goal of being a major publisher releasing their games on all platforms.
If he was talking just about a few selected titles there would be nothing new compared to the past that they can only do *now* (post Activision acquisition), the answer would have not much sense.

The reason behind that is clear, you can't invest 80 billions on publishers that used to work also financially by being fully multiplatform just to try to drive sales of an almost dead console brand or only to push a subscription service that has already saturated and is unlikely to get the subscribers they need to offset the costs of putting all their games day one there.
More games they add, more difficult and complicated is to sustain the situation. Adding COD on Gamepass this year will create a revenues hole even with the game still available on Playstation.
Also not focusing on console platforms anymore has been their desire, their decision to kill console exclusives is the main culprit behind Xbox Series doing worse than Xbox One...and this is all on them, not even the competition.
So this is a logic conclusion, not a sudden development.

Of course there will be graduality, they will never say they're abandoning hardware, they'll never issue a PR stating they're going third party. We won't see games where they already paid for the exclusivity (ex. Indiana Jones) becoming multiplatform day one.
But we'll see more and more games going fully multiplatform. Multiplayer games and old catalogue games will be the beginning.

 

[Godot25]

rand said that he heard that behind the scenes after the 70B acquisition, Xbox needs the "make money on that immediately"

lol. This is not "secret info from behind the scenes"
It's literally what Amy Hood (CFO of Microsoft) said as an argument why they won't make Call of Duty exclusive. It was not in relation to Xbox as a whole but in relation to exclusivity of ABK titles (mainly COD).

 

[Horseganador]

It is ironic that after everything that has happened these years, thousands of comments and news about Xbox purchases, the same setup about exclusive futures repeated thousands of times since 2020, of selling a bright future where they were going to destroy Sony, in the end have to resort to these and Nintendo to save the business after a gigantic investment, in the end everything that we said a lot about Series S or the GP and its "profitability" we were right no matter how much they criticized us for it, the change of course of Xbox is clear since Nadella removed the GP from his bonuses.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

You aren't counting Nintendo while most of the world doesn't count Xbox.