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Xbox Will Reportedly Hold An Event Related To Bethesda Next Month

Blond

Banned
It's not like they're adding indepedent developers to Xbox Game Studios. This is an entire publishing arm. It's uncharted territory.

I think we'll see multiplats from them

If Sony aquired Capcom or Square Enix i'd expect them same thing from them too. They'd be indepedent bodies seperate to WWS and how that would play out in terms of exclusivity is anyone's guess.
I personally think Microsoft and Sony money hatting some of these studios would be better for them. Especially Square where management just seems to be all over the place.
 

Blond

Banned
I think a mix is the most logical outcome if everyone boxes out subjective desires from a consumer standpoint. There is absolutely merit to arguments about the potential benefits of gp exclusives. But conversely, the notion that they would spend 7.5 billion and not try maximizing their return even if market share remains stagnant, seems like overly wishful thinking to me. A huge difference between video streaming and game subscriptions is the potential audience reach. Video streamers by and large can reach anyone on earth as long as they have a smartphone (pad, tv, console, etc.). So going purely exclusive does not artificially cap profit or roi. But for games that cost a hundred million, if not hundreds of millions to develop and market, there is a huge albatross on their profitability if you completely ignore 2/3 of the non-Nintendo consoles in the wild.
One thing I’ve gotten from Phil is that he wants Sony to allow game pass on the PlayStation. It’s very clear that’s what he wants, it’s Microsoft’s entire strategy even with Windows as there’s code that clearly implies they wanted to make Windows have a subscription. That recurring revenue is what’s making companies like Amazon, Costco, Apple and Best Buy so much money. Less products, more services, more people spending smaller amounts of money equals more money for them.
 

NickFire

Member
One thing I’ve gotten from Phil is that he wants Sony to allow game pass on the PlayStation. It’s very clear that’s what he wants, it’s Microsoft’s entire strategy even with Windows as there’s code that clearly implies they wanted to make Windows have a subscription. That recurring revenue is what’s making companies like Amazon, Costco, Apple and Best Buy so much money. Less products, more services, more people spending smaller amounts of money equals more money for them.
I think you could arrive at that conclusion without anything Phil has said, done, not said, or not done. MS is, always has been, and always will be about making as much money as possible.
 
One thing I’ve gotten from Phil is that he wants Sony to allow game pass on the PlayStation. It’s very clear that’s what he wants, it’s Microsoft’s entire strategy even with Windows as there’s code that clearly implies they wanted to make Windows have a subscription. That recurring revenue is what’s making companies like Amazon, Costco, Apple and Best Buy so much money. Less products, more services, more people spending smaller amounts of money equals more money for them.

Totally agree. Microsoft are primarily a software/OS company and not a hardware one. If they could get Gamepass (even if it's xCloud) on a Playstation, that would be a massive win for them.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the reasons why Sony remove web support from the PS5.
 

MonarchJT

Banned
Totally agree. Microsoft are primarily a software/OS company and not a hardware one. If they could get Gamepass (even if it's xCloud) on a Playstation, that would be a massive win for them.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the reasons why Sony remove web support from the PS5.
i completely agree. Sony saw multiple streaming services coming that could annoy them Stadia, Gamepass, Luna the probably they blocked the browser for this exact reason
 
Reasons for releasing on Playstation:
-There's only one logical argument for Microsoft releasing Zenimax properties on Playstation: they would be missing out on revenue because of playstations install base. Microsoft doesn't NEED this money at all, even with acquisition cost, but they could want it.

Reasons against releasing on Playstation:
-Build Xbox brand strength (Doubles the recognizable IP that is exclusive to Xbox ecosystem)
-Drives users to gamepass. Having a stable of established and brand new IP that are only available in your ecosystem offers consumers a couple choices: either pay full MSRP or pick up a monthly subscription.
-Forces users to consume in the Xbox ecosystem. This gives users the ability to consume in various ways (console, PC, mobile) but maintains them as Xbox clients. This increases their likelihood of subscriptions which Microsoft is emphasizing across all their brands (e.g. Microsoft office is primarily a subscription now)
- Increase console adoption. Even if gamepass is their ultimate goal, it doesn't make hardware sales moot. It offers a more compelling reason to also buy a Xbox console for playstation users and gives single console buyers in the general public a harder decision when choosing between Xbox and playstation.


They could go either way, or a hybrid approach but the more compelling argument to me is definitely in favor of exclusivity. Focusing solely on the acquisition cost really is shortsighted as the upfront cost is made with the future in mind, not just the immediate finances. It is why console manufacturers sell at a loss with the goal of eventually breaking even or minimizing the loss as hardware becomes cheaper to produce (they also tend to lower the MSRP as well when that happens).

TLDR: it takes money to make money, sometimes 7.5 billion

Keeping everything exclusive with the exception of deals already locked in, or online/multiplayer type titles already released and being supported makes by far the most sense.

I think it ultimately comes down to a single question and from there I think you have your answer on whether or not the biggest games from Bethesda will become Xbox console exclusive.

Do you believe Microsoft spent $7.5 billion to have Bethesda and all their major game technology and intellectual property, such as Starfield, Doom, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, Dishonored, Prey, Quake, Rage, did Microsoft spend that money to make all those franchises from Bethesda synonymous with the Xbox brand and inseparable from Xbox? As in you think Bethesda, you think Xbox & Game Pass?

If your answer to that is yes there's only one strategy that will accomplish that goal. Microsoft did this to initiate a major power shift. This isn't just a strictly business "we will get all those sales from Xbox, PC, Playstation and Nintendo" move. This is a move that says they know and understand Bethesda's power and following, and they want it all for Xbox.

This is for Xbox consoles, PC, Xbox Game Pass, this is for Xcloud, Android streaming, iPhone streaming, web browser streaming because I believe they just recently previewed their browser based game streaming solution or something like that?
 
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pasterpl

Member
I think that MS will honour all previous contracts (those we know about like deathloop but also those we might not yet be aware of eg marketing deal for some other game, we know that Sony was trying to secure starfield exclusivity, might as well agreed some other type of deal), i also think that if a project is already deep in development for Sony platforms MS might keep it and release it, no logic in scrapping it if it is almost finished
 
If Sony purchased them instead, there would be NO QUESTION whether or not the games would be exclusive. Sony wouldn't even allow Spiderman to show up in any games on other platforms. Yet, there are some people questioning whether this acquisition is any different from Ninja Theory or Playground Games.

If MS wanted timed exclusives, it would have cost them far less than $7.5 billion.
Yes and Microsoft are far more financially secure than Sony as well, yet certain people keep saying how they need to recoup the 7.5 billion 😅
 
I think that MS will honour all previous contracts (those we know about like deathloop but also those we might not yet be aware of eg marketing deal for some other game, we know that Sony was trying to secure starfield exclusivity, might as well agreed some other type of deal), i also think that if a project is already deep in development for Sony platforms MS might keep it and release it, no logic in scrapping it if it is almost finished
Contractual agreements have to be honoured, even if other talks were underway unless documents were signed they mean nothing. Deathloop and Ghostwire and I'm afraid that's all Sony will be getting.
 

RGB'D

Member
Keeping everything exclusive with the exception of deals already locked in, or online/multiplayer type titles already released and being supported makes by far the most sense.

I think it ultimately comes down to a single question and from there I think you have your answer on whether or not the biggest games from Bethesda will become Xbox console exclusive.

Do you believe Microsoft spent $7.5 billion to have Bethesda and all their major game technology and intellectual property, such as Starfield, Doom, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, Dishonored, Prey, Quake, Rage, did Microsoft spend that money to make all those franchises from Bethesda synonymous with the Xbox brand and inseparable from Xbox? As in you think Bethesda, you think Xbox & Game Pass?

If your answer to that is yes there's only one strategy that will accomplish that goal. Microsoft did this to initiate a major power shift. This isn't just a strictly business "we will get all those sales from Xbox, PC, Playstation and Nintendo" move. This is a move that says they know and understand Bethesda's power and following, and they want it all for Xbox.

This is for Xbox consoles, PC, Xbox Game Pass, this is for Xcloud, Android streaming, iPhone streaming, web browser streaming because I believe they just recently previewed their browser based game streaming solution or something like that?
Agreed. It just makes little sense to spend 7.5 billion otherwise. If it does nothing to strengthen your brand, why do it in the first place?
 

Ceadeus

Member
I really hope to see TES6 trailer and at the very end it says : Xbox and pc exclusive right in front of a fire background. Then a splash of oil would dip in the fire and the word FOREVER would appears.
 

pasterpl

Member
Microsoft cares about money and as far as I am concerned, money also comes from copies sold. If they only care about gamepass subscriptions then they should mind as well not even bother releasing games on disc or individually.

you are looking at this as something that should generate money short term, while this is most likely a long play; eg. Let’s say ms releases starfield on PlayStation, they sell 5mln copies $70 will give them $350m (minus Sony cut) and that’s it, while if it is Xbox exclusive, it will sell decently and might “steal” 5% of ps users (people who were thinking about getting ps5 but were swayed by starfield to buy Xbox), this will give ms new users that will not only buy starfield but will also buy other games for Xbox from which ms will be getting 30% cut, and some of them will subscribe to gamepass. If that 5%=5m users and 20% of these will subscribe to gp this will give ms at least 120m in subscription revenue in one year + commission from other game sales on platform, so keeping game exclusive might generate same revenues in 2 years as releasing it on ps5 as well ( I am ignoring starfield sales that would come from Xbox base regardless + pc sales)
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
It would need some resources for sure, the Windows Store and Steam versions aren’t the same.

I agree that a PS5 version would need more resources though since the hardware is different and Bethesda studios are using their own engines.

But who knows they might’ve already ported their engine to PS5 prior to the acquisition? For the devs it would suck to just scrap something they’ve worked their ass off to get right. And iirc MS has said that they don’t want to end development that has already started. So Starfield might absolutely come to PS5. Might be a good way to lure PS owners over if a sequel or DLC is Xbox/PC exclusive.
Microsoft needs an exclusive this fall-holiday season if Starfield is ready it will be exclusive. Microsoft knows they are missing exclusive content and won't give it away to Sony especially when Horizon 2 is selling big this fall.
One thing I’ve gotten from Phil is that he wants Sony to allow game pass on the PlayStation. It’s very clear that’s what he wants, it’s Microsoft’s entire strategy even with Windows as there’s code that clearly implies they wanted to make Windows have a subscription. That recurring revenue is what’s making companies like Amazon, Costco, Apple and Best Buy so much money. Less products, more services, more people spending smaller amounts of money equals more money for them.
I'm sure he wants to kill his console for a whole 7 dollars a month after Sony's cut. Then be at Sony's mercy with no console business. Sony could double the cut to 60% on him and nothing he could do. Putting gamepass on sony is going out of business as there is zero reason to buy a Xbox and zero leverage on a sony monopoly. For a whole 7 dollars a month im sure they can totally support 23 studios on that. Until sony says nope then buys off the remains for pennies on the dollar with only 7 pc users and 2 cloud users to fund them.
 
It's not like they're adding indepedent developers to Xbox Game Studios. This is an entire publishing arm. It's uncharted territory.

I think we'll see multiplats from them

If Sony aquired Capcom or Square Enix i'd expect them same thing from them too. They'd be indepedent bodies seperate to WWS and how that would play out in terms of exclusivity is anyone's guess.

You know for an absolute fact this would never happen unless Sony were forced by an outside party to do so, like the MLB when it comes to The Show.

One thing I’ve gotten from Phil is that he wants Sony to allow game pass on the PlayStation. It’s very clear that’s what he wants, it’s Microsoft’s entire strategy even with Windows as there’s code that clearly implies they wanted to make Windows have a subscription. That recurring revenue is what’s making companies like Amazon, Costco, Apple and Best Buy so much money. Less products, more services, more people spending smaller amounts of money equals more money for them.

There's 0% chance GamePass will come to PlayStation unless Microsoft are ready to shutter the Xbox division as a games console platform. Bringing all of the big Zenimax/Bethesda games Day-and-Date to PS5 would be the clearest indication of this, and in such a case I doubt Sony would take issue with GamePass on PlayStation; they would probably even reduce their 30% cut to a 15% or even 10% cut as a result, or perhaps Sony still retains their 30% but Microsoft & Sony merge GamePass and PS Now into a sort of unified platform and they share revenue on it.

I strongly doubt the dedicated Xbox fanbase would take kindly to it, though. Anyway, that's the only way or reason Microsoft would be able to get GamePass on PlayStation (or Switch, for that matter), but you have to ask yourself if it's really worth the long-term costs, and also show a massive vote of no confidence in their own ecosystem's ability to self-sustain and grow. The optics could look outright terrible.
 
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You know for an absolute fact this would never happen unless Sony were forced by an outside party to do so, like the MLB when it comes to The Show.

No I don't because as I just said it's uncharted territory and you have absolutely no idea yourself.

You can pretend you do, but you don't.

SCE formerly had another divsion besides World Wide Studios who developed for the PC platform first and formost.
 
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Fredrik

Member
Microsoft needs an exclusive this fall-holiday season if Starfield is ready it will be exclusive. Microsoft knows they are missing exclusive content and won't give it away to Sony especially when Horizon 2 is selling big this fall.
Yeah I’m not talking about what I think they need to do, I’m talking about what I think they’ll actually do.

If I was in charge and determined to make Xbox relevant I would scream from the hills that everything from Bethesda was exclusive as soon as possible, I wouldn’t wait until people have already bought PS5 so a bunch of people would get cranky years later. Let people know so they can plan their investment.

And then I would develop Minecraft 2 and make that Xbox exclusive and I would make Minecraft 1 with RT Xbox exclusive too.

And then I would buy Sega, restart Virtua Fighter, Sega Rally and Shinobi, make all of them Xbox exclusive.

And I would make sure The Witcher 4 was Xbox exclusive too.

And I would drop the nice guy Phil stance, it’s not working when nobody else is nice.

But I’m not in charge. Fortunately I guess lol
 
No I don't because as I just said it's uncharted territory and you have absolutely no idea yourself.

You can pretend you do, but you don't.

SCE formerly had another divsion besides World Wide Studios who developed for the PC platform first and formost.

It's called logical reasoning; Sony are actively buying timed exclusivity to games they don't even own the IP rights to, some for 2+ years of exclusivity. On what planet do you think they would consider making Capcom or Square-Enix games multiplat in a hypothetical, considering they essentially have paid to keep games like SFV and FF7R off of Xbox (and to an extend, Switch, though technological reasons could be assumed a natural roadblock there sans cloud streaming) either for 1+ years or for multiple years in the case of SFV (technically speaking, Capcom COULD do a port of SFV to Xbox because their exclusivity terms for PS4/PC ended in either late 2019 or early 2020 with the arcade release of SFV, but if they are considering this, it would probably get announced and/or released in the Fall or early 2020 coinciding with the rest of Season 5 or its conclusion)? Show me on the celestial map where this planet is.

The other divisions alongside WWS you're referring to developed for PC because Sony does not consider PC a competing platform brand. And even in that case, they have been pretty slow in doing ports of 1P games to the platform. Logical conclusion would assume that if they purchased any massive publisher, those games would be PlayStation and PC-exclusive, without question.

Microsoft cares about money and as far as I am concerned, money also comes from copies sold. If they only care about gamepass subscriptions then they should mind as well not even bother releasing games on disc or individually.

Sony also cares about money, yet I never see people advocating they bring their 1P to Xbox and Nintendo platforms or more of their 1P to PC. In fact, when even some rumors of PC ports come about, there's tons of vitriol and pushback from big parts of the PlayStation online hardcore/core community.

The games being exclusive to Xbox/PC and subscription services like GamePass (which also comes with Xcloud for streaming) doesn't prevent disc copies from being sold; both options are readily available for most people in the ecosystem particularly those with Series consoles. They can also still digitally purchase the games on any devices supported in the ecosystem. They do not need PlayStation or Switch to sell physical disc copies.
 
It's called logical reasoning; Sony are actively buying timed exclusivity to games they don't even own the IP rights to, some for 2+ years of exclusivity. On what planet do you think they would consider making Capcom or Square-Enix games multiplat in a hypothetical, considering they essentially have paid to keep games like SFV and FF7R off of Xbox (and to an extend, Switch, though technological reasons could be assumed a natural roadblock there sans cloud streaming) either for 1+ years or for multiple years in the case of SFV (technically speaking, Capcom COULD do a port of SFV to Xbox because their exclusivity terms for PS4/PC ended in either late 2019 or early 2020 with the arcade release of SFV, but if they are considering this, it would probably get announced and/or released in the Fall or early 2020 coinciding with the rest of Season 5 or its conclusion)? Show me on the celestial map where this planet is.

The other divisions alongside WWS you're referring to developed for PC because Sony does not consider PC a competing platform brand. And even in that case, they have been pretty slow in doing ports of 1P games to the platform. Logical conclusion would assume that if they purchased any massive publisher, those games would be PlayStation and PC-exclusive, without question.



Sony also cares about money, yet I never see people advocating they bring their 1P to Xbox and Nintendo platforms or more of their 1P to PC. In fact, when even some rumors of PC ports come about, there's tons of vitriol and pushback from big parts of the PlayStation online hardcore/core community.

The games being exclusive to Xbox/PC and subscription services like GamePass (which also comes with Xcloud for streaming) doesn't prevent disc copies from being sold; both options are readily available for most people in the ecosystem particularly those with Series consoles. They can also still digitally purchase the games on any devices supported in the ecosystem. They do not need PlayStation or Switch to sell physical disc copies.

I don't think you have any authority at all to know what Sony's plan would be if they were to purchase massive publishing arms like Capcom or Square Enix
 

NullZ3r0

Banned
It's not like they're adding indepedent developers to Xbox Game Studios. This is an entire publishing arm. It's uncharted territory.

I think we'll see multiplats from them

If Sony aquired Capcom or Square Enix i'd expect them same thing from them too. They'd be indepedent bodies seperate to WWS and how that would play out in terms of exclusivity is anyone's guess.
:messenger_tears_of_joy:

Seriously? Sony won't even allow Spiderman to be in games on other platforms. And that's just the likeness of one character. We all know Sony plays for keeps.
 
:messenger_tears_of_joy:

Seriously? Sony won't even allow Spiderman to be in games on other platforms. And that's just the likeness of one character. We all know Sony plays for keeps.

Obviously since it's a world wide studios product.

If Capcom or Square were bought, they'd be remain as a seperate division and not part of World Wide Studios
 
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FritzJ92

Member
It'You guys are making this more complicated than it needs to be.
MS literally said why they are buying Bethesda
"We want to reach as many players as possible" and they aren't buying them to intentionally take the games from anyone. Thus having your games on Xbox, PC, Mobile, and any web browser is literally reaching everyone. There is no need to improve your competitor product if you are already reaching all the players in the world.

TLDR; Zenimax will be exclusive except for the two games that has already been associated with PlayStation (Ghostwire and Deathloop)
 

devilNprada

Member
Seriously? Sony won't even allow Spiderman to be in games on other platforms. And that's just the likeness of one character. We all know Sony plays for keeps.
You sure this is what's going on? How is Spiderman in Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 and in mulitple other Switch games?
 
-Does making a game exclusive help Game Pass?

-Does making a game multi-platform hurt Game Pass?

If the answer to either of those is yes, the game will be exclusive. If the answer to both is no, it will be multi-plat.
But shouldn't the question also include Xbox? I don't know if MS see GamePass and Xbox as one and the same, but to me they are not. Not yet, anyhow. I think the majority of Xbox owners -particularly hardcore/core fans of the brand- still view GamePass as a supplemental benefit of the Xbox platform, they don't view Xbox as a simple gateway into GamePass where GamePass holds the priority.

So a decision that doesn't hurt GamePass per se, could actually still hurt Xbox as a brand, and Microsoft needs to be mindful of that because the vast majority of GamePass subs so far are mainly coming from Xbox owners, with PC gamers somewhere 2nd to that. Mobile gamers make up the smallest fraction by far. Microsoft has to make sure they don't alienate core members invested into the Xbox platform as a brand with bringing games to PlayStation and Switch platforms, even if their calculations show that such would possibly be of benefit to GamePass.

I think they're still 2-3 years out from being able to make decisions like that which can essentially "sacrifice" some portion of the Xbox fanbase and not feel the sting because it's likely around 2-3 years out where GamePass as a brand will be able to fully stand on its own two feet and have reached a critical adoption point where they can afford to let the Xbox brand linger a bit by favoring more console platform-agnosticism in other hardware ecosystems (primarily Sony and Nintendo).

I don't think you have any authority at all to know what Sony's plan would be if they were to purchase massive publishing arms like Capcom or Square Enix

Never said I had any authority on the topic xD. However, I do have common sense and knowing Sony's business practices, strategy and the ecosystem they want to support, it's a logical conclusion to assume any Capcom/SE etc. games, if they were to acquire said companies, would be PlayStation & PC only.

They have already established such a precedent with timed exclusives and a few of their own 1P. You can't simply ignore precedent and pretend it doesn't matter or can't be used to make an educated guess on how things may go in the future. You can do that while still considering alternatives, even if the alternatives have a lower probability of happening.
 
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RGB'D

Member
I don’t know, in theory I guess they could sell a Gamepass sub to anyone with a PC but it has nothing to do with the games they’re selling on Steam. Steam is it’s own thing, Microsoft are selling games there and Valve are taking their % cut from the sale just as they do when Sony or anybody else are selling their games there. It’s not far from a competing platform.
I think generally the games come to Steam way down the line. Im pretty sure that MCC was pretty recent so I think it's more of a double dip situation. But as GPU subscriber there isn't any advantage for me to use steam for MC releases/gamepass content and there is enough for me to spend my money on in the PC AA space with steam
 
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Zok310

Banned
Inb4 someone replies "But MS is so rich, they don't even care about money. They are playing the long Gamepass game and are not interested in a 70% cut they'll get from putting their games on PlayStation" and then completely ignoring the follow-up question that would be "Then why does MS put their games on Steam on PC (and some on Nintendo) and not keep them GamePass exclusive?"
Phill pushing game pass cause I feel higher ups at MS want out of hardware. If MS can be a major 3rd party pub with must have ips then Xbox would not be needed. Simply put the shit on steam/PSN/Nintendo/ Blu-ray/game pass then sit back and watch the money pile up.
If history is anything to go by MS wants their software on as many device as possible. Sure Sony and Nintendo may have to allow GP on their platform but there is no effing way MS is walking away from 70% cut by not allowing certain 1st party games on other platforms, this is because MS is greedy and without a doubt they love money.
 

reksveks

Member
Phill pushing game pass cause I feel higher ups at MS want out of hardware. If MS can be a major 3rd party pub with must have ips then Xbox would not be needed. Simply put the shit on steam/PSN/Nintendo/ Blu-ray/game pass then sit back and watch the money pile up.
If history is anything to go by MS wants their software on as many device as possible. Sure Sony and Nintendo may have to allow GP on their platform but there is no effing way MS is walking away from 70% cut by not allowing certain 1st party games on other platforms, this is because MS is greedy and without a doubt they love money.
It's not about becoming a 3rd party publisher, it's about becoming a platform holder so they can take 30% of all mtx that's the play.

If users switch from fortnite to a another br that's availabe on xcloud and they buy in-game transactions, they could start to make a shit tonne of money.

This is the blocker for xbox being on Sony and Nintendo devices.
 

Fredrik

Member
I think generally the games come to Steam way down the line. Im pretty sure that MCC was pretty recent so I think it's more of a double dip situation. But as GPU subscriber there isn't any advantage for me to use steam for MC releases/gamepass content and there is enough for me to spend my money on in the PC AA space with steam
MCC is old but I think everything new is coming to Steam day 1. That’s how I’ve understood it at least, might be wrong I guess but their latest releases has been like that; Ori and the Will of the Wisps, The Medium.
I play the Microsoft Store versions too but there are absolutely those who rather want the Steam version.
 

sublimit

Banned
I think by the end of this event people will be even more confused than before about what is going to happen and there will be a lot of "grey zones" that MS will not be clear about.

Of course "group A" will interpret the event the way they want to interpret and "group B" will interpret it the way they want to interpret it.I expect a lot of spinning .

In any case the only thing that will matter ultimately (longterm) are the actions.
 
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MonarchJT

Banned
MCC is old but I think everything new is coming to Steam day 1. That’s how I’ve understood it at least, might be wrong I guess but their latest releases has been like that; Ori and the Will of the Wisps, The Medium.
I play the Microsoft Store versions too but there are absolutely those who rather want the Steam version.
that's okay, people will play full price to have it under steam or the usual gamepass price and have it under XBOX app
 

Warablo

Member
Business can ignore money in your console war reality?
How many people you fancy gonna buy a $500 console or PC to play Bethesda games?
So they paid 7.5 billion dollars to continue business as usual? If you think they are in rush to make their money back as fast as possible is short sighted. This is a investment into Game Pass.

Microsoft will be fine with PC+Xbox+xcloud.

Microsoft could have literally paid way less if all they wanted were Bethesda games on Game Pass on day 1.
 
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Kagey K

Banned
I don’t remember Sony being so kind as to honor agreements that time they bought a publisher.

Most people probably won’t remember, because Sony has never bought anything.
 
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Phill pushing game pass cause I feel higher ups at MS want out of hardware. If MS can be a major 3rd party pub with must have ips then Xbox would not be needed. Simply put the shit on steam/PSN/Nintendo/ Blu-ray/game pass then sit back and watch the money pile up.
If history is anything to go by MS wants their software on as many device as possible. Sure Sony and Nintendo may have to allow GP on their platform but there is no effing way MS is walking away from 70% cut by not allowing certain 1st party games on other platforms, this is because MS is greedy and without a doubt they love money.

So...they're a business, then? Like Sony?

Funny, maybe Sony are looking to "get out of hardware" too since they're porting more of their titles to PC. Why lose money on making those consoles, right?

Early Bethesda games like Starfield will be cross-gen, so you are looking at not just the ~5M PS5 userbase, but at 130M PS4/PS5 userbase.

Bethesda games sell a lot more on PlayStation. That's why they were valued at $7.5B. It'd be a big, bold move (not completely impossible, but a big move nevertheless) to pay $7.5B for games, then remove the biggest market for those games by not releasing them on PlayStation, and then putting those games on Gamepass that doesn't make much profit as of now.

This isn't actually true; someone in another thread linked the sales split between platform for an older Bethesda game and it was around 70% Xbox/PC, PlayStation platform(s) having a little under 30% of that. Given Bethesda's roots as a PC developer, and their games having the most modding capabilities there, I would not be surprised if the lions-share of their sales go to PC, followed by Xbox.

Using console install base as a means of guessing where specific games or types of games sell most at is dumb; by the same logic, consoles selling 100+ million units should have attach rates 10x higher than consoles selling 10 million units; heck, by that logic we can also say some of Sony's 1P games would only sell 1 million copies on a platform with 10 million install base, considering some "only" sell around 10 million copies with 100+ million console owners.

This stuff can, as you can see, work as much against your argument as you seem to think it works in favor of it.
 
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MonarchJT

Banned
Phill pushing game pass cause I feel higher ups at MS want out of hardware. If MS can be a major 3rd party pub with must have ips then Xbox would not be needed. Simply put the shit on steam/PSN/Nintendo/ Blu-ray/game pass then sit back and watch the money pile up.
If history is anything to go by MS wants their software on as many device as possible. Sure Sony and Nintendo may have to allow GP on their platform but there is no effing way MS is walking away from 70% cut by not allowing certain 1st party games on other platforms, this is because MS is greedy and without a doubt they love money.
basically we will see exactly the opposite of what you wrote happen! bravo
 

devilNprada

Member
They have been doing it since 2001. So does Sony. And Nintendo.
You keep speaking as if they are equals..

Though i don't think Xbox will or should go multiplat... Your argument totally downplays how many Units are out in the wild.
Xbox stands more to gain selling on Nintendo. than Nintendo selling on Xbox...

They are not equals.
 
You keep speaking as if they are equals..

Though i don't think Xbox will or should go multiplat... Your argument totally downplays how many Units are out in the wild.
Xbox stands more to gain selling on Nintendo. than Nintendo selling on Xbox...

They are not equals.
It doesn't matter how big they are. As someone who only plays on console, if I can play MS + Sony games on a PS5, why would I ever buy an Xbox? Their brand will slowly shrink into irrelevancy until they end up as a third party publisher with no platform.
 

NickFire

Member
It doesn't matter how big they are. As someone who only plays on console, if I can play MS + Sony games on a PS5, why would I ever buy an Xbox? Their brand will slowly shrink into irrelevancy until they end up as a third party publisher with no platform.
How do you get from you having no reason to buy an Xbox all the way to their brand shrinking to irrelevancy? Even if you personally did not buy an Xbox, your rationale is that you could just play their games on a different console? So you would still be a customer. And regarding irrelevancy, on what planet would EA, Activision, Take 2, etc., be considered irrelevant brands? By no means do I think MS is on the verge of going 3rd party, but if they did they would be a massive 3rd party brand, with a long history of selling services with great success, and a subscription service already in place. They would be as relevant as anyone in software history.
 
How do you get from you having no reason to buy an Xbox all the way to their brand shrinking to irrelevancy? Even if you personally did not buy an Xbox, your rationale is that you could just play their games on a different console? So you would still be a customer. And regarding irrelevancy, on what planet would EA, Activision, Take 2, etc., be considered irrelevant brands? By no means do I think MS is on the verge of going 3rd party, but if they did they would be a massive 3rd party brand, with a long history of selling services with great success, and a subscription service already in place. They would be as relevant as anyone in software history.
My rationale is that I can either play only MS games on an Xbox or I could play MS + Sony games on a PS5. I think the choice is pretty clear here. And with shrink into irrelevancy I meant their console business.
 

Andodalf

Banned
"MS hates Xbox, they'd never give them 4 Bil to acquire a big company. they'd sooner them go totally multiplat" - Sony stans about Xbox buying WB this time last year

"MS spent 7 Bil on a company? That must mean they're going multiplat!" - Sony Stans now



Make up your mind you desperate kids.
 

devilNprada

Member
My rationale is that I can either play only MS games on an Xbox or I could play MS + Sony games on a PS5. I think the choice is pretty clear here. And with shrink into irrelevancy I meant their console business.
Again 121+ million consoles sold yet their best selling games sell 20 million copies... That leaves 100+ million consoles purchased for reasons other than Sony exclusive games.
This attachment rate is about the same as Halo 2 was for xbox.

I would ask you... If Sony did not sell any first party games last generation... Do you think they would have sold 50 million consoles?
 
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