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Forbes: Microsoft’s Plans For Bethesda On Xbox Series X Seem More Clear Now

Elcid

Banned
Just buy an Xbox and you can let go of all this anguish. You're setting yourself up for disappointment when Spencer announces Starfield and the rest as Xbox exclusive.
They own Ninja Theory now right? Man I’d buy an Xbox for a Heavenly Sword 2.
 

The Alien

Banned
Why do people think that Microsoft would publish Bethesda games on PS5 even though they haven't done so with any of their other major titles this gen? Why would Bethesda games suddenly be exception to this? Microsoft spent a ton on buying many other devs and you don't see them publishing games by these studios on PlayStation (except deals that were already in place).
Exactly. Will Gears or Halo be on a PS5?
No? Than dont expect the next Doom or TES mainline game to be on there either.

Funny that, in one week, XBox went from "XBox has no games" to "Will XBox games be on my platform?"
 
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Jigga117

Member
Exactly. Will Gears or Halo be on a PS5?
No? Than dont expect the next Doom or TES mainline game to be on there either.

Funny that, in one week, XBox went from "XBox had no games" to "Will XBox games be on my platform?"

Why do people think that Microsoft would publish Bethesda games on PS5 even though they haven't done so with any of their other major titles this gen? Why would Bethesda games suddenly be exception to this? Microsoft spent a ton on buying many other devs and you don't see them publishing games by these studios on PlayStation (except deals that were already in place).

PREACH
 

DavJay

Member
Game pass increase game sales. Just because a game is on it doesn’t mean you can’t buy it. Collecting games is still a thing. That is what keeping blu ray movies on store shelves. They are making money from game pass and disc sales.
 

Mister Wolf

Member
Exactly. Will Gears or Halo be on a PS5?
No? Than dont expect the next Doom or TES mainline game to be on there either.

Funny that, in one week, XBox went from "XBox had no games" to "Will XBox games be on my platform?"

Not only do they want Sony Exclusives, they want Microsoft's exclusives too. All of the sudden Ellie playing the guitar don't hit the same.
 
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#Phonepunk#

Banned
feel like people think Gamepass and Xbox sales are the only way they can make money. since they own the IPs they make even more if they license out to Playstation or Apple or whoever. this is part of why they bought these companies.

the whole argument for making everything is bunk because they want to make more money, not less. do yall think Microsoft is not going to release the next Fallout/TES mobile game on Apple products? get real.
 
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Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
feel like people think Gamepass and Xbox sales are the only way they can make money. they make even more if they license out to Playstation. this is part of why they bought these companies.

the whole argument for making everything is bunk because they want to make more money, not less.
They don't need Sony to make money. They have a built in multiple platform system via Gamepass and Xcloud, PC and console. Sony isn't needed. They turn the miniscule 30% they'd get from a one time purchase on PS into a potential life time subscriber through GP. That elevates one game's value exponentially. Not to mention DLC. Sony is chump change broski.
 
feel like people think Gamepass and Xbox sales are the only way they can make money. since they own the IPs they make even more if they license out to Playstation or Apple or whoever. this is part of why they bought these companies.

the whole argument for making everything is bunk because they want to make more money, not less. do yall think Microsoft is not going to release the next Fallout/TES mobile game on Apple products? get real.

Dude, give it up already. The next Fallout/TES games are ALREADY mobile now that they are MS exclusives on xCloud.
 
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wolffy71

Banned
feel like people think Gamepass and Xbox sales are the only way they can make money. since they own the IPs they make even more if they license out to Playstation or Apple or whoever. this is part of why they bought these companies.

the whole argument for making everything is bunk because they want to make more money, not less. do yall think Microsoft is not going to release the next Fallout/TES mobile game on Apple products? get real.
Will they release a mobile on a platform like apple? Did you really just ask that? You realize that MS doesnt own a mobile platform right?

More money, not less, overall thats a pretty brilliant business strat. I think it may be a touch more complicated than that tho.
 

M16

Member
After they have everyone on Xbox (40M) joined up, where do they get more people?

Also this doesn't consider the price of content... I pointed out in a post that to fund 30 studios to make games is about 5 billion, then they need other 3rd parties to provide other content plus loads of other expenses.
xbox,pc,mobile(xcloud). they already have 100+ million xbox live users.
 

GiJoint

Member
So MS are trying to battle Amazon, Google while trying to keep Sony and Nintendo in check?

Sounds to me like trying to fight too many battles. This could be a potential problem. Spraeding your resources like that needs alot of time and investment. MS 1st parties are still relatively new and it could take years for them to get to the level of Sony and Nintendo. Also you have GamePass that they are trying to grow. How sustainable is having them put their AAA titles on GamePass for a dollar ?

When do we get to a point where the prices gets jacked up because AAA games are not cheap to produce.
Spreading themselves thin?? Hold the line boys! the drama :messenger_tears_of_joy:
You do realise companies have competition right? Microsoft is a big company with many competitors, Sony themselves have many competitors. Geez man.
 
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Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
Spreading themselves thin?? Hold the line boys! the drama :messenger_tears_of_joy:
You do realise companies have competition right? Microsoft is a big company with many competitors, Sony themselves have many competitors. Geez man.
Leave that dude alone, broski! You see he struggling with all this. Damn He's probably really tender right now, all up in his feelings. Let em dream for the love of god. Think of the children!!
 

duhmetree

Member
They don't need Sony to make money. They have a built in multiple platform system via Gamepass and Xcloud, PC and console. Sony isn't needed. They turn the miniscule 30% they'd get from a one time purchase on PS into a potential life time subscriber through GP. That elevates one game's value exponentially. Not to mention DLC. Sony is chump change broski.
Selling extra units of an already juiced fruit is not chump change. If they did that for all their titles it adds up to A LOT of extra revenue from expired goods.

Theoretically speaking, it would be like Selling Doom or Fallout 4 now. There's no reason not to dabble in those waters. Even Sony is starting to do it with PC.
 
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Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
Selling extra units of an already juiced fruit is not chump change. If they did that for all their titles it adds up to A LOT of extra revenue from expired goods.

Theoretically speaking, it would be like Selling Doom or Fallout 4 now. There's no reason not to dabble in those waters. Even Sony is starting to do it with PC.
It weakens the brand is what it does. You forget Amazon and Google are in the ring now. GP needs to be as attractive to gamers as possible. You cant do that putting your heavy hitters on competing platforms. There'd be no reason to for people to sign up to GP/Xbox ecosystem. They want to draw people in, not push em away. Makes no kind of sense.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Who though, Sony doesn't seem to be going down that path, they simply can't sustain the losses made to get to a big userbase for their subscription.

There'll always be somebody with hotter IP. its the one thing that can be predicted reliably, because it always happens. Nobody stays on top forever.

To be truthful I really have no idea how MS' masterplan is going to work out. They can't subsidize it forever and its a service that can only get more expensive to run. Its a great deal now for the consumer, no doubt, but at some point they will have to start clawing back some of their investment.

Whats more if it proves successful, then what's going to be the reaction from the rest of the market? We have 2 big content providers in Sony and Nintendo who aren't going to go away easily, and we have megabuck corporations like Amazon and Google with the infrastructure but no IP sniffing around already.
 

Ten_Fold

Member
ES6, Fallout, and star field will probably be Xbox/PC only, if you wanna play those games, either have a good PC, or buy an Xbox Series X. Also I know gamepass isn’t really profitable for AAA games at all right now. It’s great for small AA/indie games though.
 
So in conclusion there's no real clarity on this issue. And why would they want to make it clear? Let's say they tell us the games will be exclusive and they don't see a real boost to series x sales despite that. Let's say PS5 is the market leader again and by an even wider margin than the PS4 was. They would have to port the games over or at least some of them and then that would be another lie they told. But you also don't want to tell people you're open to the idea, make it vague and murky because some people are going to buy your console as a result.
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
So in conclusion there's no real clarity on this issue. And why would they want to make it clear? Let's say they tell us the games will be exclusive and they don't see a real boost to series x sales despite that. Let's say PS5 is the market leader again and by an even wider margin than the PS4 was. They would have to port the games over or at least some of them and then that would be another lie they told. But you also don't want to tell people you're open to the idea, make it vague and murky because some people are going to buy your console as a result.
They were pretty clear in their messaging about Minecraft IP being multiplatform.
 

duhmetree

Member
It weakens the brand is what it does. You forget Amazon and Google are in the ring now. GP needs to be as attractive to gamers as possible. You cant do that putting your heavy hitters on competing platforms. There'd be no reason to for people to sign up to GP/Xbox ecosystem. They want to draw people in, not push em away. Makes no kind of sense.
I understand that but double dipping may need to be their strategy.

They need to fund their business.... cutting off the Playstation ecosystem is more than likely not viable long term.

The sad truth is a lot of these studios might contract or close without revenue and cash flow. Zenimax is massive. How much is Microsoft willing to pay on top of the $7.5B?
 
First 3 posts from the usual suspects. I thought people "don't care about Bethesda's buggy games"?

OT: of course it should be exclusive. Otherwise why pay 7 billion for it?
To sell lots and lots more copies and make lots and lots more money while still selling more consoles because of Gamepass?
 
Timed exclusivity is probably the best best you can hope for imo. There is no reason to put them day 1 on playstation when you can drive more people to your platform and still collect your $70 a year later from the holdouts.

They might go full exclusive, but I think timed exclusive is probably the bare minimum. Especially since Sony keeps going around buying up timed exclusives, I think Microsoft will feel obligated to respond.
 

MarkMe2525

Member
Good points made and agree and No sorry my comment was not meant to come across as concern like i'm trying to troll.

I'm just genuinely curious of how MS will play this but another user made an excellent point in that the business here is a service type model and not hardware based like Nintendo and Sony.

I just hope GamePass can grow and be that Netflix of gaming. I'd rather have MS be ahead of the curve as a trusted brand running such a service than Amazon and Google.
If they fail at gamepass then they're fucked, but they are in a great position to succeed.
 
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quest

Not Banned from OT
Timed exclusivity is probably the best best you can hope for imo. There is no reason to put them day 1 on playstation when you can drive more people to your platform and still collect your $70 a year later from the holdouts.

They might go full exclusive, but I think timed exclusive is probably the bare minimum. Especially since Sony keeps going around buying up timed exclusives, I think Microsoft will feel obligated to respond.
Yep zero chance starfield is day one on Sony after Tokyo wire and death loop. Phil would be eaten alive by his supporters putting that game on PS5. This is the retaliation for the Sony timed exclusives for the Microsoft warriors no way to take that away from them. In the end it makes no sense to spend 7.5 billion to not make them exclusive to sell consoles. Console users are gamepass subscribers. Not like zenimax games are setting the world on fire it was the reason the company was for sale. They add a lot more value as a exclusive than a few sales as a 3rd party publisher.
 
So, their revenue will be cut in half if not more because of GamePass?
This is a long term game. There’s a reason they created gamepass in the first place - half the people in here don’t seem to get that. Now, if Sony allows gamepass on PlayStation sure - then there will be Bethesda games on it.
 

ZehDon

Gold Member
So, their revenue will be cut in half.. if not more because of GamePass
Going from being another third-party game in a competitive landscape to being a first party headliner with the full weight of a console's marketing push, while still also releasing on the PC Platform, will likely offset that.

I must say, it puzzles me that revenue concern exists only in relation to Microsoft. "If they're not on PlayStation 5, they're leaving half the money on the table!" is the cry, while ignoring that "If they're not on Xbox, they're leaving half the money on the table!" equally applies to Sony. And, yet, when it comes to every PlayStation exclusive, being an exclusive is trumpeted as a good thing, and revenue concerns are nowhere to be seen. Very puzzling.
Can't speak for anyone else, but I tend not to worry about the revenue of a trillion dollar multi-national corporation that's consistently been one of the wealthiest companies in the entire world for the last fifty years. I think they're gonna be ok.
 
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duhmetree

Member
This is a long term game. There’s a reason they created gamepass in the first place - half the people in here don’t seem to get that. Now, if Sony allows gamepass on PlayStation sure - then there will be Bethesda games on it.
Gamepass cannot support all Zenimax studios/titles. It wont be enough revenue. It is a long term outlook but you cannot hemorrhage money

The problem is, ZeniMax is huge.. They have a lot of studios and titles. That needs funding. They just bought ZeniMax for $7.5Billion. I can see them mitigating some losses but not losing 50+% of their revenue and operating at a constant loss. It's not viable... but Microsoft has A LOT of money to burn if they choose to
 

duhmetree

Member
It'd be interesting to know what the subscriber count needs to be for 'break even' for the 23 Microsoft studios and Xbox network?
 

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
I understand that but double dipping may need to be their strategy.

They need to fund their business.... cutting off the Playstation ecosystem is more than likely not viable long term.

The sad truth is a lot of these studios might contract or close without revenue and cash flow. Zenimax is massive. How much is Microsoft willing to pay on top of the $7.5B?
Ive said before; they make $150 million a day. Let them worry about the investment. This acquisition was practically a drop in the bucket. They have about $150 billion of cash on hand. Theyll make it back by this time next year.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Gamepass cannot support all Zenimax studios/titles. It wont be enough revenue. It is a long term outlook but you cannot hemorrhage money

The problem is, ZeniMax is huge.. They have a lot of studios and titles. That needs funding. They just bought ZeniMax for $7.5Billion. I can see them mitigating some losses but not losing 50+% of their revenue and operating at a constant loss. It's not viable... but Microsoft has A LOT of money to burn if they choose to
Sure they can float it.

Xbox division has been around for 20 years, has probably made hardly any profits and corporate bean counters and Nadella approved buying the division $7.5 billion Zenimax.

MS makes $40 billion profit per year. They can afford to funnel a couple billion to Xbox and not blink.
 
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quest

Not Banned from OT
Gamepass cannot support all Zenimax studios/titles. It wont be enough revenue. It is a long term outlook but you cannot hemorrhage money

The problem is, ZeniMax is huge.. They have a lot of studios and titles. That needs funding. They just bought ZeniMax for $7.5Billion. I can see them mitigating some losses but not losing 50+% of their revenue and operating at a constant loss. It's not viable... but Microsoft has A LOT of money to burn if they choose to
Microsoft has plenty of money if their people see long term profits. Gamespass grew 50% in the last 6~8 months. The growth will be from console gamers for a while they need heavy hitters to sell consoles. Halo plus starfield is a nice combo for holiday 2021 for Microsoft. They get to 25 million gamepass subscribers then the money gets real since lots will buy other games, ultimate upgrades and items like dlc.

All I know is that Phil and other higher ups saw something impressive enough to be willing to spend 7.5 billion on it. Can’t wait
Starfield has to be it. The game got Sony hot to trot also. The game must of had spectacular behind closed door showings to get both companies this hot and bothered.
 
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All I know is that Phil and other higher ups saw something impressive enough to be willing to spend 7.5 billion on it. Can’t wait

this is what we should really be talking about. What have they seen that we haven’t. I’m eager for details on Starfield, Orion streaming, and new engine tech.
 
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