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Xbox Is Reportedly 'Heavily Involved' With Big Third Party Studios For Future Exclusives

MonarchJT

Banned
I'm. That's monopoly and nothing more.
Honestly Sony called it, and deserves it, you think Ms didn't know about every timed exclusive or feature exclusive or 3rd party complete exclusive that Sony indiscriminately took left and right? And all this without even needing to gain market being by large margin already a market leader. Sony constantly tries to cut off the legs (metaphorically very violently) of anyone does not have the strength to compete. Imagine if Ms hadn't had the money it have, probably with Sony's moneyhatting the generation would already have been marked by, think about Deathloop, Ghostwire, Avengers, Final Fantasy and who knows how many we don't know yet. And after a generation like the one of the Xbox One it could have meant the end of Ms console division.
I repeat Ms finally has the financial support of the whole company and throughout the ps4 and the beginning of the ps5 gen Sony did nothing but tease the sleeping dog. At this point Ms is forced to do everything to regain the market. Swallowing some of his own medicine might be good for Sony.
 
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ANIMAL1975

Member
Firstly, it's not even an excuse, you just read something out of context doubling down.

You also just don't understand that there's more to working with 3rd-party studios than arbitrarily giving them cash and saying don't release on PlayStation. Some 3rd parties accept any work they can get. While some have a game in mind and NEED a publisher in order to actually make their game and if Microsoft or whoever is the first or only one to say yes; then they are probably going to make a deal.

All third-party means is that it's a studio they essentially don't own, you are making the assumption that means that they are "Paying marketing funds so another consoles base can't play a piece of content ". When it could easily just be a developer who needs a publisher. Which happens all the time. And not a developer already contracted with a publisher who they payed off to exclude other platforms.
Mate you're the one out of context _ first i was replying to manabyte, so maybe that's the reason you did not understand my remark;
second, and also regarding your wall of excuses text, read the tweeter chain _ he is objectively responding to people calling him out on tomb raider, dead rising 4, exclusive dlc, etc.
 

cireza

Banned
This better bring some diversity (looking at you, Japanese companies) because we have enough Western games coming from Xbox Game Studios.
 

BigLee74

Member
I honestly don’t get the uproar on exclusives and timed exclusives, whether bought or nurtured.

We don’t have a right to play all games on all systems. You pick an ecosystem, or two, or them all, and you get what’s made available to you, knowing full well the big companies do everything they can to make their system more attractive than the others.

That’s their business!
 
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I'm glad MS is investing so heavily in their platform and product. When you're invested in their ecosystem or services, it gives you confidence that your money is being well spent.

All that aside... Xbox won't ever "win" anything that has to do with sales. While this place is more balanced than in years past, the standards and metrics were set long ago. Numbers that reflect favorably for Xbox will always be scrutinized to the point that they're irrelevant, while competitors won't be held to the same standards. Metrics that favor Xbox will be deemed irrelevant unless they favor a competitor.

I'm sure there will be the typical "victim complex" reply, but that doesn't negate my point. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter anyway really, as the end user experience isn't affected by it.
 

kuncol02

Banned
They are continuing that strategy in this generation? It really bite them in XOne era when almost none of XOne exclusives got sequel and they ended with almost no games in late generation.
That's exactly what they were doing then with paying third parties to make xbox exclusive games like Ryse, Sunset Overdrive, Quantum Break, Killer Instinct and other games.
 

Bojanglez

The Amiga Brotherhood
I honestly don’t get the uproar on exclusives and timed exclusives, whether bought or nurtured.

We don’t have a right to play all games on all systems. You pick an ecosystem, or two, or them all, and you get what’s made available to you, knowing full well the big companies do everything they can to make their system more attractive than the others.

That’s their businesss!
I agree, generally competition results in better results for the consumer. They may not feel it immediately, but gaming has never been so cheap and accessible with such an abundance of content.

One logical end to this is that the hardware becomes irrelevant, people will just hop around the services that deliver the games, kind of like they do for TV shows and movies now. I think this is why MS are trying to get ahead and consolidate Gamepass as a service, but don't want to be beholden to other content producers (like Netflix in the early days) so the investment in Bethesda makes sense. But for this same reason, it wouldn't surprise me if Amazon, Google, Apple, Disney, Netflix are cooking up plans to become major players in gaming IP too. Google mentioned that MS buying Bethesda was an influencing factor in them shutting down their internal studios, some took this to be the killing off of their ambitions, but what if it was just that it made them double down on entering the market and getting exclusive content by other means i.e. just buying an existing big publisher, let's just say Ubisoft? I look forward to seeing people's reactions if they then made those games Stadia and PC only. I expect certain people will have to do further mental gymnastics to make it fit their narrative :messenger_grinning:
 

jhjfss

Member
They are continuing that strategy in this generation? It really bite them in XOne era when almost none of XOne exclusives got sequel and they ended with almost no games in late generation.
That's exactly what they were doing then with paying third parties to make xbox exclusive games like Ryse, Sunset Overdrive, Quantum Break, Killer Instinct and other games.
The difference being they are not exclusively relying on these 3rd party for games, they are just a supplement to their 1st party studios.
 
They are continuing that strategy in this generation? It really bite them in XOne era when almost none of XOne exclusives got sequel and they ended with almost no games in late generation.
That's exactly what they were doing then with paying third parties to make xbox exclusive games like Ryse, Sunset Overdrive, Quantum Break, Killer Instinct and other games.
This is to bolster Gamepass, not only that but they have an enormous amount of first party studios now. They are literally doing everything different from the start of last generation lol your comparison makes no sense, they didn't even have Gamepass.
 
They are continuing that strategy in this generation? It really bite them in XOne era when almost none of XOne exclusives got sequel and they ended with almost no games in late generation.
That's exactly what they were doing then with paying third parties to make xbox exclusive games like Ryse, Sunset Overdrive, Quantum Break, Killer Instinct and other games.
They have like 23 studios now when they had 5 (?) at the start of Xbox One.

Warchest was a meme. Until it wasn't.

Looking forward to "just wait" to become a meme aswell.
 

kuncol02

Banned
They have like 23 studios now when they had 5 (?) at the start of Xbox One.

Warchest was a meme. Until it wasn't.

Looking forward to "just wait" to become a meme aswell.
I's not about number of studios but about fact that they weren't able to make sequels to many of that games and not only that, but sometimes experience of making games for MS was used in making games for competition. Spiderman was based on Insomniac experience of making SO (first Insomniac open world game).
 

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
I always loved exclusives even if I couldn't get them because I didn't have the console.

This stuff is good for the industry as a whole. I'd love MS to finally catch up to Sony and Nintendo in this regard. I mean, good, they have their Halo and Gears but it's time for them to establish a bit more in this regard. Hopefully they start doing that this get. Make me buy an Xbox Microsoft!
 

betrayal

Banned
If you thought the last two generations of Sony and MS were annoying, you can only be disgusted now. I don't like it. MS is taking this sickening exclusivity thing to a whole new level by throwing money around and taking away games from a large portion of the player base that would have experienced these games without MS.

The whole thing is even more questionable because MS hasn't managed to keep up with the competition (Nintendo and Sony) for 10 years now. Instead of creating a value (=good games) themselves, they simply take existing values (=development studios) and let them work solely for their own benefit in exchange for a lot of money.
 
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DrAspirino

Banned
If you thought the last two generations of Sony and MS were annoying, you can only be disgusted now. I don't like it. MS is taking this sickening exclusivity thing to a whole new level by throwing money around and taking away games from a large portion of the player base that would have experienced these games without MS.
Hahahahahahaha xDDDD

Come on... you have PC, Xbox consoles, Android phones, and soon Android TVs (via xCloud). If you don't have an Xbox console, you still have a shit ton of options to play those games. Large install base, you say? Larger than all the PCs, Android phones, tablets, and TVs? Because right now, the largest install base where gamers are is mobile ;).

Games marketshare

If you add up mobile + PC, you get a 68% marketshare, which is more than TWICE the console marketshare (32%).

If anything, I'd say they're not taking away games, rather putting out games for everyone out there.
 
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kuncol02

Banned
If you thought the last two generations of Sony and MS were annoying, you can only be disgusted now. I don't like it. MS is taking this sickening exclusivity thing to a whole new level by throwing money around and taking away games from a large portion of the player base that would have experienced these games without MS.

The whole thing is even more questionable because MS hasn't managed to keep up with the competition (Nintendo and Sony) for 10 years now. Instead of creating a value (=good games) themselves, they simply take existing values (=development studios) and let them work solely for their own benefit in exchange for a lot of money.
salt bae GIF

Sony brought it on themselves when they started doing that in PSX times. Whole PS position on marked is build on foundation of games they paid to not be available on competition consoles.
 
They are continuing that strategy in this generation? It really bite them in XOne era when almost none of XOne exclusives got sequel and they ended with almost no games in late generation.
That's exactly what they were doing then with paying third parties to make xbox exclusive games like Ryse, Sunset Overdrive, Quantum Break, Killer Instinct and other games.

I's not about number of studios but about fact that they weren't able to make sequels to many of that games and not only that, but sometimes experience of making games for MS was used in making games for competition. Spiderman was based on Insomniac experience of making SO (first Insomniac open world game).
Where are all these new games that the PS4 released last gen... That also got sequels to them as well? Did I miss Bloodborne 2, or the latest Street Fighter? Where is The Order 1886 or Detroit Become Human sequels that supposedly released?

They were games meant to give value to that console just like any other exclusive.
 

Snake29

RSI Employee of the Year
Why do xbox fans act like they are started gaming since yesterday? I see this dumb ass arguments like:

Sony brought it on themselves when they started doing that in PSX times.

Did you forgot that MS did the same all those years before gamepass? And still doing it?

You guys sound ridiculous. If Microsoft is locking down 3rd party titles, its going to game pass.

Fuck your gamepass, Microsoft still wants people in THEIR eco system. same as Sony and Nintendo wants you in their eco system. It's just a nice excuse you guys now using but nothing has changes since they are also locking others out. You can't just say "buy a pc" since that's not an option for a lot of people. It's not like you guys all of a sudden purchased a PS console for some games or the other way around.

Bunch of hypocrites.
 

Kimahri

Banned
I'll say this. The Final Fantasy exclusivity situation right now is pissing me off.

FFVII Remake was timed exclusive, yeah? So when is it going elsewhere? I'd rather Have it lifetime exclusive so we'd at least know it's never going anywhere. This dangling a damn carrot in front of people with a vague "someday" is bullshit. And what's gonna happen with FFXVI? Are we gonna sit there with that game too, one year after initial release, not knowing anything?

It's better to know it's never coming, than to sit and wait. So yeah, I'm more okay with MS buying studios than Sony buying timed exclusives. I'd rather Sony buy Square Enix and get it overwith, then there is no question about it.

But now? Screw that timed exclusive shit. I hate it. It's a blight on the industry, and if MS has any intention of pursuing that path in addition to buying studios, screw them too.
 

fragganaut

Member
There is also chance that MS initially just tried to play catch up with Sony but recognized during it's efforts that it not only had the chance to catch up but actually to become the new no1. Of course there are real risks in this plan and I personally do think, that this was an opportunity for MS that came by chance and therefore wasn't planned out completely.

For me these are their biggest risks:
  • Getting the new Messaging across all new Studio's
  • Inefficiencies during the transition phase, for at least the first one or two years
  • Exaggerated expectations from XBox fans
  • Rejection/Reluctance from a big part of the gaming community
  • Perceived market dominance without having the power of being the market leader (at least yet) stirs up the competitors an may force them into alliances the would otherwise never have considered.
  • ...
I do expect high likelihood of some enhanced cooperation's from EPIC / SONY and to a lesser degree maybe Steam.
Nintendo on the other hand may as well partner with Microsoft, but we will see..
 

martino

Member
It's just as bad when Sony does it, but the difference is that Microsoft has like 20x the money and can literally buy anyone they want...

Definitely worrying.
Why ?
The world and the media doesn't end with Playstation, MS , nintendo or whatever the third party existing that died or even past platform you can think of (all of them being proof of the reverse)
Deep down and even if they built complex syllogistic narrative to pretend otherwise it's just brand attachment making people "feeling" this way.
 
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betrayal

Banned
Hahahahahahaha xDDDD

Come on... you have PC, Xbox consoles, Android phones, and soon Android TVs (via xCloud). If you don't have an Xbox console, you still have a shit ton of options to play those games. Large install base, you say? Larger than all the PCs, Android phones, tablets, and TVs? Because right now, the largest install base where gamers are is mobile ;).

Games marketshare

If you add up mobile + PC, you get a 68% marketshare, which is more than TWICE the console marketshare (32%).

If anything, I'd say they're not taking away games, rather putting out games for everyone out there.

I wasn't referring to smartphones, but to consoles. Also, I'm not interested in which devices can stream the games. If it were up to that and what you say or believe in would be true, the market shares would be completely different and Sony, Nintendo or MS wouldn't be in the lead. And by the way: PS Now has been available on the PC for two years. Making it available for smartphones is not a question of "how", but "why".

But I'm sure all the 8 to 14 year old girls are already waiting to finally be able to play the Ultimate version of Gears of War 5 or to finally be able to secretly play Doom Eternal on their smartphones while eating at grandma's house.

So please, let's be realistic and consider the actual state of video games on consoles and not utopian fantasies that hardly anyone is interested in on the current market.


salt bae GIF

Sony brought it on themselves when they started doing that in PSX times. Whole PS position on marked is build on foundation of games they paid to not be available on competition consoles.


As already written, I'm absolutely not a fan of exclusive titles, no matter if you're talking about Sony or MS. But there are also approaches that are simply more innovative and based on creating value on their own and not simply taking something away from players of other systems. Just look at Nintendo.

There are always two ways to win customers in this business.

1. With own games and own innovation -> You create something new.
or
2. Buy exclusivity and take something away from others -> You do not create something new. You just decrease the current availability.

I think it's not hard to figure out what's better for players.

Personally, I don't give a shit. If I want to play a game that is included in the GP, then I just do it. But when you look at the bigger picture, what MS is doing isn't really good for the video game industry as a whole.It seems a bit like the rich bullied kid who could never keep up and is now throwing money around. Not very sympathetic, but everyone is happy when they get a present from this kid.
 
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reksveks

Member
I wasn't referring to smartphones, but to consoles. Also, I'm not interested in which devices can stream the games. If it were up to that and what you say or believe in would be true, the market shares would be completely different and Sony, Nintendo or MS wouldn't be in the lead. And by the way: PS Now has been available on the PC for two years. Making it available for smartphones is not a question of "how", but "why".

But I'm sure all the 8 to 14 year old girls are already waiting to finally be able to play the Ultimate version of Gears of War 5 or to finally be able to secretly play Doom Eternal on their smartphones while eating at grandma's house.

So please, let's be realistic and consider the actual state of video games on consoles and not utopian fantasies that hardly anyone is interested in on the current market.





As already written, I'm absolutely not a fan of exclusive titles, no matter if you're talking about Sony or MS. But there are also approaches that are simply more innovative and based on creating value on their own and not simply taking something away from players of other systems. Just look at Nintendo.

There are always two ways to win customers in this business.

1. With own games and own innovation...
or
2. buy exclusivity and take something away from others.

Personally, I don't give a shit. If I want to play a game that is included in the GP, then I just do it. But when you look at the bigger picture, what MS is doing isn't really good for the video game industry as a whole.It seems a bit like the rich bullied kid who could never keep up and is now throwing money around. Not very sympathetic, but everyone is happy when they get a present from the kid.

MS are also giving Bethesda more flexibility in terms of being commercial viable. Shit is never this clear cut. Prey and Dishonored are more likely to have a sequel now in my opinion since they have been bought by Microsoft instead of T2, Activision or EA.

The argument between how bad a time exclusive versus a full exclusives is kinda irrelevant.

The other thing that we will never know is how important that cashflow for a timed/full exclusive or buying a company in terms of producing the game at their target quality. The money that Microsoft gave Moon Studios might have enabled them to produce the Switch version.
 
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Reindeer

Member
Wait, didn't Uncle Phil say third party exclusives are bad for the industry? The guy is the biggest flip flopper in gaming industry.
 

Reindeer

Member
It's business just like Jim Ryan's views on next-gen only games. All companies lies.
One lie doesn't make another lie ok. You can pretty much write book about how many times Phil flip flopped in the last 8 years. You can't take anything the guy says seriously anymore.
 

betrayal

Banned
MS are also giving Bethesda more flexibility in terms of being commercial viable. Shit is never this clear cut. Prey and Dishonored are more likely to have a sequel now in my opinion since they have been bought by Microsoft instead of T2, Activision or EA.

The argument between how bad a time exclusive versus a full exclusives is kinda irrelevant.

The other thing that we will never know is how important that cashflow for a timed/full exclusive or buying a company in terms of producing the game at their target quality. The money that Microsoft gave Moon Studios might have enabled them to produce the Switch version.

This may be true, but it doesn't have to be, because it's just speculation. But I absolutely agree that it's better than EA or Activision taking over Bethesda.
 

reksveks

Member
One lie doesn't make another lie ok. You can pretty much write book about how many times Phil flip flopped in the last 8 years. You can't take anything the guy says seriously anymore.
You shouldn't take any company executive seriously. I am still slightly confused at the point of your comment, if it's to highlight that Phil Spencer has lied then, then well done but so has most company executives and that's the point of my comment. BTW I didn't say that one lie makes another ok however I am not going to get overly fussed over these company exec's statements.
 

Reindeer

Member
You shouldn't take any company executive seriously. I am still slightly confused at the point of your comment, if it's to highlight that Phil Spencer has lied then, then well done but so has most company executives and that's the point of my comment. BTW I didn't say that one lie makes another ok however I am not going to get overly fussed over these company exec's statements.
So what you're saying is that we shouldn't take anything Xbox says anymore? So they have no credibility then? Well, that's kinda pathetic of them. Btw, Nintendo is usually very straight forward and Sony has been too to a large extent before Jim Ryan, so I wouldn't compare Phil's frequent lies as some kind of normality, it's more of an individual thing when it comes to him and some other similar execs.
 
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wolffy71

Banned
This is the way I see it.... We as gamers fund both these companies with our money in the end. I would rather MS or Sony, take the money I give them and develop some sort of service, game, or value for us than spend to take a service, game, or value from someone else.

I get 1st party being exclusive, that's their own property, but 3rd party? Nah.
 

reksveks

Member
So what you're saying is that we shouldn't take anything Xbox says anymore? So they have no credibility then? Well, that's kinda pathetic of them. Btw, Nintendo is usually very straight forward and Sony has been too to a large extent before Jim Ryan, so I wouldn't compare Phil's frequent lies as some kind of normality, it's more of an individual thing when it comes to him and some other similar execs.

Your trust in companies is weird and naïve but okay, you do you.

Also you are treating trust as a binary thing, where it isn't.
 
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SafeOrAlone

Banned
I won't be surprised to see a Kojima game.

1. The Ludens figure in Phil's office that was seen recently. If this sounds like tinfoil hat to you, you're not paying attention.

2. Kojima is probably filled to the brim with ideas. Maybe he could use more outlets go get his ideas out.

Only thing is, it's hard to imagine him finding the time to do that and whatever else he may be working on.
 

Reindeer

Member
Your trust in companies is weird and naïve but okay, you do you.

Also you are treating trust as a binary thing, where it isn't.
I can name you plenty of companies that are clear with their messaging and are not known to be frequent liars. Nobody says companies don't lie, I'm not that naive, but lying and flip flopping all the time like Xbox (Phil) do isn't that common with everyone like you wanna make it out to be.
 
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reksveks

Member
I won't be surprised to see a Kojima game.

1. The Ludens figure in Phil's office that was seen recently. If this sounds like tinfoil hat to you, you're not paying attention.

2. Kojima is probably filled to the brim with ideas. Maybe he could use more outlets go get his ideas out.

Only thing is, it's hard to imagine him finding the time to do that and whatever else he may be working on.
There was rumours of him pitching an episodic game right to Sony? That's something that I think is perfect for the Gamepass model.
 

kuncol02

Banned
1. With own games and own innovation -> You create something new.
or
2. Buy exclusivity and take something away from others -> You do not create something new. You just decrease the current availability.
MS has history of mostly paying third party devs to develop exclusive games for them (Ryse, Sunset Overdrive, Halo Wars, Age of Empires 4, MS Flight Simulator, Blue Dragon). Paying to keep things away from others was really rare for them.
 

MonarchJT

Banned
Wait, didn't Uncle Phil say third party exclusives are bad for the industry? The guy is the biggest flip flopper in gaming industry.
if they are relegated to a single platform that is not even covering on third of the entire market , absolutely yes they are horribly bad. Whether it's Ms or Sony or Nintendo it doesn't matter.
Ms, as you can see in the image below has changed its paradigm and, releasing simultaneously on PC, console and mobile with xcloud, can reach +/-80% of the market. The three consoles together Sony Ninty and Ms cover only 28% of the video game market and this 28% must be divided with respect to the marketshare of each console. You will understand the difference between to pay for releasing one exclusive on a console (Playstation) that reaches 15% of the market and and pay to get exclusives on one platform (PC + Xbox + xcloud) where 80% of the market has the opportunity to play the "exclusive" game. The first case is bad for almost the whole market, the second is bad for a very very small part of the market.

Newzoo_Games_Market_Revenues_2020.png
 
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