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Xbox boss Phil Spencer on the future of gaming: ‘The business isn’t how many consoles you sell’

I should point out that global gaming revenue was $137 billion in 2017. PC + Console was 50% of that, mobile was 50% by itself. So I'm not surprised NIntendo & Microsoft are trying to get in on that sweet mobile nectar.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
You have hit the nail on the head.

Plus the fact that Netflix doesn't really make money due to having to spend so much on new content to keep people subscribed. How many will move to Disney's service this year when that launches?

All Nintendo or Sony need to do in the future is decide all their first party catalogue will be available on a subscription service too and Microsoft will struggle to compete if they don't focus on quality.

Plus if MS cares too much about a subscription service, what happens if some other subscription service takes over and players start to leave? What do they have left? Wouldn't they always want to have something to actually sell?
 

Darius87

Member
how it's better? next-gen games requirements on pc rises up to 30-50% proportionally to next xbox, ps5 spec, how many pc with these spec out there? let me guess not many, unless gamers happy all next-gen play indie titles then i guess it's advantage for ms,.
it's pure bs from phill to cover up that they can't sell as many xbox as they wan't, so let's diverse attention from actual hw sales make them irrevelant and talk about what we can do best, even then ms still hiding actual numbers of subscribtions.
it's advantage but by sacrificing console sales, which is worse option, of course there's no other way around for ms, they can't produce exclussives like sony.
 
Surely, selling consoles is more important now, than ever?

With all the different store fronts, don't you want the most popular console?

If Company A sells 50 million consoles and company B sells 100 million, then won't company B make more money taking revenue from all of the other companies that have store fronts?

Why would Ubi, EA, Acti etc want to spend the same amount of money on company A than company B?

When the first exclusive game to Storefront X lands, it should sell (in theory) the most copies on the most popular console.

Like, who honestly thinks people are playing streaming games without a console? Or are paying for 10 gaming subs without at least a PC.

Yet again, Microsoft go flying, head-first into an idea they haven't really thought about that well.
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
Depends on their yearly Financials in terms of profit and revenue. From what I understand wii was sold at profit and their heavy hitters sold a gazillion. I never read theur financial reports but I was always under the assumption they made tons of money off wii. Mind you their profit will grow alot since thy charge for online now.

the wii console sold well but software sales weren't great outside of a few Nintendo games such as Mario and Zelda
 
The funny thing is he is right....you come up with a platform that can be ported to any sort of mobile or technical device that works seamlessly you have pretty much got an install base that can’t be countered by any 1 console
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
The funny thing is he is right....you come up with a platform that can be ported to any sort of mobile or technical device that works seamlessly you have pretty much got an install base that can’t be countered by any 1 console

But then you are relying on those mobile and other technical devices to succeed.
 
But then you are relying on those mobile and other technical devices to succeed.
As opposed to just a console? The way I see it, if Microsoft succeeds just a little bit on other platforms and succeeds a lot on the console, they've won much more than just being on the console.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
But then you are relying on those mobile and other technical devices to succeed.

Indeed, you are going up against all offerings native to those platforms too. And all other similarly platform agnostic streaming services.

The fundamental question for me is whether or not there's much of an audience for console-type games outside of consoles? I'm inclined to think not, with every platform having a distinct style that works for it.
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
Jumping to conclusions without explaining the connection 101?

well people are saying the most consoles wins, wii sold a lot of consoles but had a really low attach rate game wise. just because a console manufacturer sells more donest mean the others are a failure. I have no idea why so many are concerned with sales of a box. game sales are where its at and I want the games I like to sell by the bucket load, if they do we get sequels and alsorts.
 
There's a bit of a drop in critical thinking in this thread for those believing this is an "excuse" and for the amount of smack MS gets for the original reveal everyone seems to have forgotten how it was revealed at the same time.

This may shock many people but MS wasn't aiming to win the sales war from the start. Yeah decent sales was important, and if the original vision took off they wouldn't complain, but people forget what was actually presented at the reveal (which wasn't at E3).

At the reveal the Xbox One was a $500 console that:

1. Required daily check-ins.

2. Restricted used games outside select partners (gamestop etc.)

3. Was online only 94% of the time and you needed to be online to play most games, even sp.

4. The system wouldn't work unless you were online in general.

5. Kinect was built in.

6. The system needed Kinect plugged in to work and as an alternate method for the daily check in.

7. Had TV compatibility that at the time only worked in a few countries.

8. For drm and Kinect language implementation, the console would only launch in 13 countries until compatibility spread which was estimated to take 2-3 years to be everywhere else.

7. App subscription paywall.

Do you think Microsoft was going to sell 80 million consoles with that set up let alone the 45ish it has now??? Of course not.

Some of the above even had side effects after the reversal:

1. Current Xbox One still needed a one time online check to activate the system, though you could use USB. Fixed in later models

2. Current Xbox One still released in 13 countries first. However it reached more less than a year later and not the original 2-3 years.

3. Kinect was bundled still for the first several months.

4. Still $500.

The reason why Ms reversed is because outside of launch, which was looking worse over time with pre-orders, they were expecting a large drop-off due to the backlash.

If Microsoft saw that they would still reach over 50 million Ltd like the current Xbox One, or more, we would still have the drm console today.

Don't think MS was ever making excuses, they knew well they were competing on money and trapping people in their ecosystem from the Xbox One reveal. The fan Googles have made everyone misunderstand the Xbox Ones original goal.

With that said it failing has benefited MS. They have figured out new ways to add games as a service without Gimping the console post Xbox S and X. So next gen they might actually try aiming for unit sales this time. The original Xbox One hadn't figured that out yet.

With xCloud, game pass, and other implementations that work with their offline consoles and used games, MS cab Redo their vision next gen without the backlash and positive reception
 

DanielsM

Banned
well people are saying the most consoles wins, wii sold a lot of consoles but had a really low attach rate game wise. just because a console manufacturer sells more donest mean the others are a failure. I have no idea why so many are concerned with sales of a box. game sales are where its at and I want the games I like to sell by the bucket load, if they do we get sequels and alsorts.

Yet they don't release individual game sales numbers or subscription numbers.

I mean he is correct, but in the context of where Microsoft is -- he is forced to say that because they are drastically going in the wrong direction because hardware numbers and probably individual game sales are going down.

Yeah, the goal is to release subscriptions on the 7 billion people on the planet but so what? Thats everyone's goal.
 
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phil_t98

#SonyToo
Yet they don't release individual game sales numbers or subscription numbers.

I mean he is correct, but in the context of where Microsoft is -- he is forced to say that because they are drastically going in the wrong direction.

Yeah, the goal is to release subscription on the 7 billion people on the planet but so what? Thats everyone's goal.

does any company need to? what does it achieve in releasing them?
 

DanielsM

Banned
does any company need to? what does it achieve in releasing them?

I'm not sure but you say "game sales" is where its at, actually Microsoft is saying the "subscriptions" are where its at as they could compete on anything else. Just my take.

He's not wrong, meaning a business can make money in all kinds of business models.... but at this point, why does anyone want or need Microsoft to be the middleman?

Its basically Microsoft mobile strategy the problem is - there really isn't any services that they have really that consumer wants or needs, generally speaking. In mobile, they have integration with all their other business/enterprise services/products i.e. Exchange, Office, Sharepoint, Teams, etc.
 
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phil_t98

#SonyToo
I'm not sure but you say "game sales" is where its at, actually Microsoft is saying the "subscriptions" are where its at as they could compete on anything else. Just my take.

He's not wrong, meaning a business can make money in all kinds of business models.... but at this point, why does anyone want or need Microsoft to be the middleman?

yeah and that's why they putting first party on gamepads day one, I think they must make a shit ton of money off game pass. good to have choice to buy or have gamepads I guess
 

DanielsM

Banned
yeah and that's why they putting first party on gamepads day one, I think they must make a shit ton of money off game pass. good to have choice to buy or have gamepads I guess

Well, maybe it will work out for them, there are already game rental services, I doubt it works out, but we'll see. Its going to take billions in investment to ever get a service that people continuously subscribe to, imo. Come back and see us in 5-10 years, they're going to have to acquire and build out about 10-15 more studios to even have a shot, and that just raises the stakes.

He's not really wrong per se.... but he wouldn't be saying this if they hadn't already lost.

The real fatal mistake is PC gamers in general, gave up on Microsoft 10-15 years ago.
 
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D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
So the future of a console isn't directly related to the console sales?

Maybe McDonald's will also say it wouldn't matter if they stopped selling burgers.

The future of the console is. The future of their games and services that make bigger profits may not be.
 
At the very least Scarlett should launch in the same 50+ countries simultaneously that PS4 did in 2013. No more 'own goals' like that please.
 
I've been thinking this is true as well--rather like how selling printers is really about being able to sell endless ink cartridges. This is why I don't understand arguments against complete backwards compatibility for all consoles. This adds value to them, and should subtract nothing.
 
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