Support NeoGAF

[Heisenberg007]

My two cents, Microsoft should:

1. Stop saying and believing that console sales do not matter. The big problems started when they started putting too much weight to Cloud gaming; it's not there yet. Console absolutely matter the most and remain the focal point around which everything else revolves: hardware revenue, first-party software revenue, Game Pass subscribers, platform software revenue cut, MAUs, etc.
2. Stop putting AAA games on Game Pass day one and retrain the Xbox userbase to buy first- and third-party games, so they can increase 1P software revenue. That revenue can be used to develop bigger and better games, gradually building upon each iteration and sequel.
3. Stop releasing single-player games day one on PC. Stagger the releases, and don't release some games on PC at all. Keep enough ambiguity, so people don't see Xbox as just an optional box. It should feel essential to own and high on a consumer's wishlist.
4. Series S misstep they can't do anything about now. It's too late to abandon. But produce more Series X. You want the majority of your userbase to play the best versions of your upcoming AAA titles (Hellbalde 2, Fable, Avowed, Starfield, etc.). Series S would not offer the best versions of the game. If the majority of gamers are playing the worse version, it does not promote good word-of-mouth, especially when those peeps can see the graphical fidelity of Spider-Man, Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7, Ratchet, etc. on a PS5.
5. Replace Matt Booty with someone capable of managing these studios. He could not manage 5 studios properly, and now he is supposed to manage 18 studios. It's almost unfair for Matt Booty at this stage.
6. Replace Aaron Greenberg, and hire someone capable to lead marketing.
   1. Partner with upcoming AAA games that are expected to go big (e.g., Cyberpunk 2077 marketing was the right move). Do more of those.
   2. Once you get the contract, market the hell out of those products. See how Sony markets Fifa, COD, and Hogwart's Legacy.
   3. Increase the marketing budget for Xbox consoles and plaster those ads everywhere where it makes sense.

They already have 2 companies that are killing it: Nintendo and Sony. Just copy what they do and learn from them. Microsoft does not have to reinvent the wheel.

• If nothing else works, create a new cheaper first-party-only Game Pass tier and put it everywhere: Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, Steam, Epic, etc. Become a third-party content publisher like EA, cut the hardware losses by gradually phasing out Xbox consoles, and focus entirely on producing great content. They already have the studios and IPs to do that. Once Xbox is phased out, release games natively on PlayStation and Nintendo, like EA does.

 

[TintoConCasera]

It's so nice of you to be so concerned about a multi million dollar company.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Maybe actually release games and promote their stuff?

I swear i'm always watching some Playstation ad somewhere. You'd think Xbox wasn't even a thing...

 

[Sanepar]

After abk they will say they need ea and take2 to compete.

 

[nightmare-slain]

Don't change anything.

The amount of people gushing over this news is hilarious. Microsoft is wrong and doomed! /s

 

[nowhat]

Missing poll option:

 

[reksveks]

Problem for me, as Xbox user, is that I don't see any game in the horizon, an that's include Starfield, that could become a massive console seller that would bring new users to their ecosystem.

I think a good Starfield could if it includes a big marketing campaign

I swear i'm always watching some Playstation ad somewhere. You'd think Xbox wasn't even a thing...

Yeah, I would be so interested to see Xbox's marketing spend and what it looks like, i couldn't get away from Forspoken YT ads.

 

[RGB'D]

Let's be real, Hi Fi Rush is a great game, but it's not a system seller by any stretch.

It isn't for most people by itself, but it is a GOTY contender and definitely increases the value of the catalogue.

 

[jm89]

After abk they will say they need ea and take2 to compete.

After the massive bethesda acquisition people where ok now xbox can compete, but once ABK was announced now they need ABK to compete. It will never end and MS have promised they will continue acquisitions, and no doubt they will.

Maybe the big ones wil be harder to get, but they don't need big ones after abk. They can acquire smaller ones which regulators will find difficult to oppose, and slowly spend years chipping away at the competition and removing games from other platforms as much as possible.

This isn't really about competing anymore, it's about controlling the market through force.

 

[NikuNashi]

I agree Sony will sell more as the supply improved, never disputed such a fact for the market #2. Anything else you claim about Xbox, prove it with facts, links and numbers (like my post above factually proving Series S/X has outsold 360 for the same duration). Otherwise I'll debate until the cows come home. I showed links from late last year, Xbox sold the most consoles in the history of Xbox, the previous 2 financial years are the biggest on record for Xbox. They have more studios than ever and more wins than losses.

Could they be doing even better as you suggest? Hell yes. Could they rival Sony or Ninty if they had those killer exclusive titles across Xbox/PC/xCloud? Hell yes. Is that the market Xbox are solely focused on like Sony/Xbox? Hell NO. Xbox is a different beast now, they're doing what Azure did, going more open.

They're getting there, right now doom and gloom is just the media/forums etc. Once ActiBliz clears up the tune will change within the 12-24 months post that. The writing and execution of this long game has been coming to fruition pretty rapidly, Gamepass being sustainable and profit is a major win and they haven't even really gotten started in terms of titles releasing yet.

So wait another 1-2 years. Don't you get tired of waiting?

 

[Elysion]

They should shrink down the internals of the Series S as much as possible and turn it into a Switch-like hybrid device. That’s imo the only thing that could truly regain mindshare for XBox at this point. A device that plays all current-gen games on the go and at home (instead of heavily downgraded ports, like the Switch) would be an incredible value proposition. To the mass market it would be much more appealing than a Steam Deck imo, and might actually compete with the Switch (or its successor). Though I don’t know how feasible a portable Series S is yet; they might need to wait a few more years for a 2nm process.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Buncha corpo simps ITT that give a damn about the financials of multi trillion dollar companies they own no shares in.

 

[Supple]

The way some of you talk, you’d think Gamepass was a free service that generates no revenue

Sure, it's generating revenue but it's also hemorrhaging money.

 

[onnextflix5]

Citation needed.

Quite the opposite is true, Phil is on record with a waiting list of devs/studios with too many approaching Gamepass for what Xbox can manage and deliver at one time.

Name me a single AAA third party game that came out day one on gamepass,

 

[rhodesianshepard]

Quite the opposite is true, Phil is on record with a waiting list of devs/studios with too many approaching Gamepass for what Xbox can manage and deliver at one time.

Gamepass is great for smaller up and coming AAA studios, especially ones with new IP's. Atomic Heart and Lies of Pi are great gets for Gamepass. Those studios need word of mouth to sell their game because both the studio and the IP are both unknown to gamers. Theoretically, if Atomic Heart or Lies of P was a hit with gamers, it would make little financial sense for the 3rd party developers to release future sequels on Gamepass. The IP(s) would be known quantities with gamers and sell well on their own.

AA and smaller AAA studios is where Gamepass and hopefully PS+ has the ability to thrive this generation. These studios can hedge their bets by taking $ from Microsoft or Sony upfront, so they limit the potential for financial ruin if their game doesn't sell well on their own

 

[delirium trigger]

You can automatically assume doom and gloom for microsoft but you can't consider the possibility of a hit game? Starfield looks pretty good if you ask me. I bought a launch ps5 and recently picked up a series x because 2023 looks like a good year for game pass.

If the activision deal actually goes through I'd be more worried for sony going forward.

 

[Punished Miku]

Buncha corpo simps ITT that give a damn about the financials of multi trillion dollar companies they own no shares in.

I'm enjoying this Xbox more than any others, by a large margin. It makes me wonder if the modern gaming audience is just lame now, which is a huge possibility. Similar phenomenon with movies now, so it wouldn't be surprising that bad taste has finally caught up to a majority of consumers in gaming. That's not an insult, it's my honest opinion when confronted with the quality of the services and games, and the response you see to it. All I see on here are people gushing over AAA, super expensive games that I have bought and cannot even make myself finish. Some of them are fine, but a lot of the are genuinely boring. Kind of reminds me of owning a Dreamcast or a Wii U. I always feel like I'm from an alien world when I get on here; Pentiment was my GOTY, Hi-Fi Rush is in the running for GOTY for me this year, and just on a whim I started up Age of Empires 2 a few days ago and it's great. Atomic Heart and Wo Long in a few weeks. I don't even turn on my PS5. And to not even just be uninterested, but to fight against it like it's some evil company - it's just such a bizarre community at times. Queue laugh emojis +10.

 

[Team Andromeda]

Name me a single AAA third party game that came out day one on gamepass,

A plague tale: requiem

BYE !!!

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

It's so nice of you to be so concerned about a multi million dollar company.

Where is the ZUNE?
And i am not even saying Zune was a bad device; Apparently everyone who owned it was very happy with it. But Zune still failed.

Trying to act like Microsoft has money to born, leads to the expectation that MS should burn money. And that leads to MS not doing a good job. After all why do a good job if you are rich?

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

So wait another 1-2 years. Don't you get tired of waiting?

There is plenty to play.

 

[acm2000]

hardware is stagnant because so are the releases, this year the games finally start coming out

 

[NickFire]

MS just needs to stay focused on making great games, hire top talent to make them, and put in the work instead of trying to buy the market. The last 10 -13 years it felt like they completely lost focus of why they were succeeding with 360, and then started retreating a little bit. So by the time they were all in again, their pipeline was dry. Just make a commitment, stick with it, and get to work making great games. And make sure the people they hire know and accept expectations, and actually have the ability to meet them.

As an aside, it is entirely possible they are already set with regular content for this year and future years. They might be sitting on it just to look weaker than they are while swinging for the fences with Activision.

 

[Lyrical]

I think they need to change something. The only game I'm genuinely looking forward to on Xbox is Forza Motorsport because I know that will be good.

 

[JackSparr0w]

Nice concern trolling over a 2 trillion+ company.

Personally I've enjoyed playing Microsoft games so I hope they stay the course.

I played a couple Playstation games that came to Steam and thought they were meh so

 

[ByWatterson]

Source?

Literally Phil Spencer.

Now, he says growth has slowed, but if he's saying that, it's basically not happening at all. Great growth on PC, though, which, of course, leads me back to my question about how important is being a console platform holder to them, really.

 

[Ozriel]

Literally Phil Spencer.

Now, he says growth has slowed, but if he's saying that, it's basically not happening at all. Great growth on PC, though, which, of course, leads me back to my question about how important is being a console platform holder to them, really.

C’mon, man. There is a world of difference between ‘growth slowing’ and ‘no growth’.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Nice concern trolling over a 2 trillion+ company.

Personally I've enjoyed playing Microsoft games so I hope they stay the course.

I played a couple Playstation games that came to Steam and thought they were meh so

using "concern trolling" to dismiss conversation should be a bannable offense.

 

[Ozriel]

Sure, it's generating revenue but it's also hemorrhaging money.

Source?

It does seem like people tend to state conjecture as factual information

 

[onnextflix5]

A plague tale: requiem

BYE !!!

U call that AAA no wonder Xbox is last place. And is that it, one. So there is nothing else.

 

[Punished Miku]

using "concern trolling" to dismiss conversation should be a bannable offense.

And yet you want to dismiss anyone claiming this is exaggerated concern, which is literally dismissing a conversation and wanting someone banned.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

And yet you want to dismiss anyone claiming this is exaggerated concern, which is literally dismissing a conversation and wanting someone banned.

that wasn't a conversation.

 

[Punished Miku]

that wasn't a conversation.

Well this kind of thread can really only even be received in 3 ways.
1) You agree that MS is in dire trouble and type a response.
2) You disagree that MS is in dire trouble, so you think it's exaggerated.
3) Indifference.

That literally is the conversation. The way a topic is framed also determines if it will have anyone claiming it's exaggerated. The post you quoted literally just says he thinks it's exaggerated, and then describes his opinion on MS. Nothing wrong with it on any level.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Well this kind of thread title can really only even be received in 3 ways.
1) You agree that MS is in dire trouble and type a response.
2) You disagree that MS is in dire trouble, so you think it's exaggerated.
3) Indifference.

4) you have a nuaned take.
5) you are frustrated at MS but need to downplay their current state by saying anything "negative" is "concern trolling"

bla bla bla bla.

That literally is the conversation.

definition of conversation:

A conversation is a verbal exchange between two or more people in which ideas, thoughts, or information are shared and discussed. It typically involves active listening, speaking, and responding to each other in a respectful and engaging manner

The way a topic is framed also determines if it will have anyone claiming it's exaggerated. The post you quoted literally just says he thinks it's exaggerated, and then describes his opinion on MS. Nothing wrong with it on any level

his comment wasn't a conversation . it was just point 5.

 

[Supple]

Source?

It does seem like people tend to state conjecture as factual information

Microsoft confirms Game Pass cannibalizes sales

The UK Competition and Markets Authority's provisional report on the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard acquisition includes…

www.gamesindustry.biz

Xbox Game Pass’s Continued Underperformance Raises Questions

On Thursday, Microsoft revealed that for the second year in a row, Xbox Game Pass has failed to meet its growth targets, this time by a fairly significant margin.

www.forbes.com

 

[Punished Miku]

4) you have a nuaned take.
5) you are frustrated at MS but need to downplay their current state by saying anything "negative" is "concern trolling"

bla bla bla bla.


definition of conversation:

A conversation is a verbal exchange between two or more people in which ideas, thoughts, or information are shared and discussed. It typically involves active listening, speaking, and responding to each other in a respectful and engaging manner



his comment wasn't a conversation . it was just point 5.

He didn't sound frustrated at current MS.

Personally I've enjoyed playing Microsoft games so I hope they stay the course.

Active listening can be difficult! Either way, even bringing up a ban in relation to his mild comment is just way over the top for no reason.

 

[DrFigs]

I think they should focus more on the pc side of things and making xbox a bigger competitor to steam. They're trying to push gamepass, but I don't think the business model of releasing new games day 1 is viable. Except maybe in the shortrun as they try to gain mindshare - kind of like how epic game store gives away free games.

 

[soulbait]

I will never understand the obsession with one console out selling the other. To be successful, you do not have to outsell your competitor. Would MS prefer to sell the most consoles? Absolutely, but it is not the metric they use to determine if they are successful or not.

All of these comments going over sales numbers is nothing but console war foder.

As long as the console(s) I have purchased continue to have good games published for the console(s) then I am happy. I do not care if they sell 1 million, 5 million, or 100 million. As long as I have games to play on the platforms I have invested in that appeal to me, then I am happy. I will let the people who run their businesses and their investors be worried about these other things.

 

[chromatic9]

Buy the game industry
Rename Game Pass to Game Industry Pass
Profit.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

He didn't sound frustrated at current MS.


Active listening can be difficult! Either way, even bringing up a ban in relation to his mild comment is just way over the top for no reason.

practice what you preach:

I played a couple Playstation games that came to Steam and thought they were meh so

lets go the top:

Nice concern trolling over a 2 trillion+ company.

what is the point of this statement?!

the conversation/criticism around Xbox is being dismissed because MS is a 2trillion+ company.

WHEN THE CONVERSATION IS NOT ABOUT MS'S MONEY.....IS ABOUT THEIR ABILITY (OR THE LACK THEREOF) TO PRODUCE THE NECESSARY CONTENT TO MAKE THEIR CONSOLE COMPETITIVE.

Personally I've enjoyed playing Microsoft games so I hope they stay the course.

See?

what does the first comment about "triple trillion dollar company" has to do with:


"I enjoyed playing Microsoft games..."?

yeah...absolutely nothing

I played a couple Playstation games that came to Steam and thought they were meh so

then he throws the PlayStation games on steam and they are meh.

is this a necessary comment in a thread talking about Xbox?...yep. is just unnecessary.

yesterday's meltdown fried your brain.

let me put it in this way for you to understand the subtext of your boyfriend 's comment:

he is an xbox fan/fanboy or whatever. and because he can't accept MS's poor management over the years he uses the "concern trolling" Thought-terminating cliché.

then he said "is good good for me,
therefore issues are not real" this is the line of "I AM THE MARKET".

And for some stupid reason (born from frustration) ends with: "Play Station games are meh anyway"

 

[Dlacy13g]

The plan...stay the course laid out for 2023. Yes 2022 was a disaster 1st party wise and that was largely self inflicted by pushing two major titles to 2023. I am sure MS hoped that Game Pass alone could allow them to tread water in the 2nd half but clearly that didn't happen. That said, 2023 has a good slate of games for the early part of the year and I think its safe to assume it won't just be Starfield and Forza that will come this year beyond those we have release dates for. I expect an aggressive 2nd half of the year marketing push from MS and Xbox to gain back momentum. As far as Activision goes... whether or not it goes through come May/June timing... it will likely be decided at that point and that should come as relief to the Xbox team as this whole ordeal has been quite a distraction to their plans.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Dumping free games on customers takes away the charm of buying, finishing games. If you takeaway game pass i don’t know if it makes or breaks Xbox.

 

[sachos]

Releasing quality exclusives in a timely fashion that make their console an attractive system. Same thing they should have been doing all along under Phil Spencer's reign.

I asked ChatGPT with your post title and your entire post ByWatterson and this is what i got in return:

"Microsoft needs to continue to invest in first-party development to bring new, compelling exclusives to the Xbox platform. They also need to find ways to attract more hardware sales, such as introducing new console models or offering competitive pricing. Additionally, they could explore expanding Gamepass to other platforms to increase their subscriber base. Overall, Microsoft needs to continue to innovate and adapt to stay competitive in the ever-changing gaming industry."

First sentence pretty on point with James Sawyer Ford

EDIT: I asked to answer againg but this time as a huge Sony fanboy

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Copy Sony's strategy with Game Trails, with Day 1 3-5 hour trails for all 1P games Day 1 in the service.

They never promised "full games" Day 1, just that their games would be Day 1. Wiggle room to walk back Day 1 with full games and be legally good.

Can still do Day 1 full releases of smaller games like Pentiment or HiFi Rush. They should start Trails with Starfield; do a 10-hour trail Day 1 in Game Pass. People want to play more? Buy the game. It's that simple.

Works for Sony. Works for EA. MS needs to start thinking of Xbox like a business, not a charity.

 

[rhodesianshepard]

I just read that Halo Infinite cost 500 million to develop, yikes. No idea it was that much. How is the world that bland with that budget?

 

[jroc74]

Stay the course. Might as well.

Xbox will be fine. They just have to compete even more, better. Something.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

I would love to see MS keep producing smaller, more experimental games like HiFi Rush and Pentiment. Now that they have Double Fine on board they could make a case of carving out a niche of weird quirky games. Unfortunately, these type of games don't typically capture mind share like big AAA games, but these games instantly made me more interested in Xbox than anything they've done with their big IPs like Halo and Gears.

And when I think about it, XGS, for me at least, has been more consistent in quality with their smaller output than with their tentpole franchises. For example, Ori 1 & 2 are some of the best Metroidvania games ever produced, and it is a franchise MS should be putting out front and center. And now they have the Psychonauts IP, which has garnered great acclaim, so why not continue with that?

It feels like whenever MS is trying to go head to head with Sony in the AAA department, they fail. It's obvious they don't have the talent and know how to produce games of that magnitude. And when they do produce a big tent pole game it always gets compared to one of Sonys games. So why not scale it down and focus on more originality and creativity? Maybe it's a space that is starting to get left out in this desire to be high end? Game Pass is obviously perfect for these games, you can even shadow drop them and they will find an audience.

I think they do have the talent, at least in certain areas. The talent's there at The Coalition, for example. Double Fine could probably do some great stuff if they had the right budget. The problem with MS is lacking upper management that can stimulate the studios creatively, let alone guide them to have a steady development & release pipeline.

Raw potential is there but they don't have the right leadership at the top of the division to help them reach the next level. They need people with actual AAA game dev experience in the place of Phil Spencer, Matt Booty and Aaron Greenberg just for example. Sony and Nintendo have those type of people at the top of their gaming divisions; it should be common sense.

 

[Ozriel]

http://[URL]https://www.gamesindustry.biz/microsoft-confirms-game-pass-cannibalizes-sales

[/URL]

http://[URL]https://www.forbes.com/...performance-raises-questions/?sh=7c8725b27446

[/URL]

Yeah, none of that talks about ‘hemorrhaging cash’. Revenue from monthly subscription costs replacing one time payments is precisely how Gamepass was designed to work.

Not to mention their games also sell pretty well on Steam.

Your interpretation of that link is quite…interesting.

 

[JLB]

Maybe actually release games and promote their stuff?

I swear i'm always watching some Playstation ad somewhere. You'd think Xbox wasn't even a thing...

Imagine being selected Metacritic Publisher of the year (2021) without "actually releasing games".

 

[bentanchorbolt]

I think people are reading too far into a lot of the news lately. It's obvious that MS is making money off the Xbox brand and will continue to do so as their investments pay off. Changing their business model because a bunch of dorks like us think they should is rather immaterial.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

I think people are reading too far into a lot of the news lately. It's obvious that MS is making money off the Xbox brand and will continue to do so as their investments pay off. Changing their business model because a bunch of dorks like us think they should is rather immaterial.

They're making revenue, yes. But what about the net profits? I wouldn't be surprised if at best Xbox accounts for like 1/30th of MS's total annual net profits. That's couch cushion lint money for Microsoft.

And the revenue is already dropping YoY, we're only in the start of the 3rd year for the new consoles. Meaning their profits are dropping as well. Game Pass has a negative effect on 1P and 3P game sales on Xbox; MS may have to make some big changes to reverse that trend.

Yeah, none of that talks about ‘hemorrhaging cash’. Revenue from monthly subscription costs replacing one time payments is precisely how Gamepass was designed to work.

Not to mention their games also sell pretty well on Steam.

Your interpretation of that link is quite…interesting.

So why is services revenue down quarter over quarter? If Game Pass is working as you said it should, then sales revenue being down would be expected, but services revenue should be UP. Instead that also saw a decline, and MS is expecting further double-digit declines in all the gaming areas (including, again, services) for FY 2022 Q3.

The model isn't working as intended, this should be clear by now. And while they have some good sales on Steam, it's not for all their games. Just very specific ones, like Sea of Thieves. Halo Infinite's doing nothing on Steam sales-wise.