If you think logically with no emotionally immature response, you understand that the multi-platform approach is the right move for XBOX to be a successful company that will bring quality content for the consumer. XBOX is giving you the choice to either pay the full price in your PS5 or you can have the value for money option, which is Game Pass. You can take whatever choice you want. It's a win-win scenario for XBOX from a business perspective.
It's good news that gamers are accepting Xbox as a new multi-platform publisher. It makes little sense to have exclusivity and keep alive the stupid marketing of "console wars" because the whole console market is stagnant with no signs of growth, as Spencer has mentioned before.
No growth means that sales remain the same, but the development has more than tripled compared to the previous generation.
The Last of US Part 1 had a budget of $100 million, while the Last of US 2 had a $200 million budget, but it had fewer sales than the first one!
The first Spiderman (2018) had a $100 million budget with 10 million unit sales in the first year. The Spiderman 2 had a $300 million budget, which was triple compared to the first one, and it had almost the same sales and revenue.
We can see that the revenue is at the same level while the development cost has more than tripled. This means less profit margin and a huge risk for the developer, which is why Sony invested in live service (with no success) hoping to bring more money.
Xbox is making the right choice financially to expand on all platforms by selling full-price games and keeping with Game Pass growth. This is the way to bring multiple sources of revenue from your product and have a higher profit margin.
XBOX should invest more in AA production if they want to keep a good lineup every year and boost Game Pass content every month. We need good single-player games that don't need to have 40-50 hours of gameplay to enjoy them. Games like Hellblade 2, Hi-Fi Rush, Avowed, and Indiana Jones are some good examples of what kind of games we need for Game Pass. Of course, we will still have 2-3 big AAA games every year, but it doesn't need to be the only option. Game studios can create low-cost, cinematic experiences with polished gameplay with a short to medium story duration that doesn't extend 8-12 hours. This is the AA recipe for Game Pass. Nintendo has followed the "AA" route of success for years by creating short games with high-quality gameplay.
I prefer games to be delayed if that means giving more time to developers to optimize the game for the release time. We have many examples of failure of AAA games during the release period due to "unfinished" games with many bugs and bad optimization, which does not give a good first impression to the consumers and negatively affects sales. Starfield, Redfall, and Star Wars Outlaws are some of the AAA games that received bad reviews because of bad releases even though most of these games are 7-8 in terms of quality.
XBOX has already a great line up for 2025 with many day one releases on Game Pass, which are either first party or third party game. I prefer Fable not to be released in 2025 if they want more time to polish and optimize the game for a good release in 2026.
We should give developers more time to create good games with no technical problems that will require huge update-hot fixes after the release. We have already seen many AAA game released with a lot of bugs which is the reason for many negative reviews and bad first impression that ruins the whole reputation - even if the game was good in terms of gameplay and writing.
Redfall, Starfield, Star Wars Outlaws are a few examples of AAA games which have received negative reviews because of a bad release with many bugs/bad optimization.
No, I want the UI to be more community freindly like steam. I want to have better comment section in games' page, five-star reviews, upvotes/downvote on comments. I want better exploration and more filters when I search for games. A steam-like UI will be the optimal UI for XBOX app.
@TheSimulator Because Game Pass is value for money. If you want to pay full price, then you will need to pay 70$ for every game. On the other hand, you can play all the day one releases on Game Pass for 15 bucks per month. You don't even need a full-year subscription, you can wait for 2-3 releases and enjoy all content with a one month subscription.
Game Pass is more valuable than full price. You need 200-300$ to buy 3-4 AAA games at a full price, while you can enjoy these same games on game pass with a one month subscription.
@Millionski The 30% revenue cut from other platforms is not a problem when you can get a 70% of price by reaching tens of millions of gamers. Playstation 5 has a 65 million units, Switch has 143 million and Steam has 132 million active users. These are huge numbers for a big consumer base, which include all platforms, that you can sell your product(XBOX games) and make a lot of money despite the 30% revenue cut. Exclusivity limite consumer base on XBOX console, which has sold only 22 million units. This is clearly not sustainable. There is no indication that making all XBOX games to be exclusives will vastly increase sales on XBOX console units. This is not gonna happen, it's just a pure fantasy and baseless assumptions from die-hard XBOX fans who want to keep with the stupid "console war" because they are childish and immature.
From a business perspective, Microsoft is doing the right move with multiplatorm sales and focused on Game Pass as the main service. Full price sales+ game pass subs will increase revenue and profit by reaching every single gamer out there who is willing to spend money on XBOX content and services.
You're right that cloud gaming is the long term vision, but Microsoft is following a step by step plan. The first step was the creation of Game Pass, then the second step is multiplatform sales. The next step will be the XBOX mobile store in order to compete in mobile market, while also making a handheld device.
Emotional reaction from an immature fanbase is not the answer. We have to see the bigger picture, which is XBOX transformation of becoming the biggest third party publisher in the world.
Phil Spencer was right that the console market is stagnant, while the cost for AAA production is pretty huge. A triple A game needs to make 15-20 million in sales for decent profitability. You can't achieve these kind of numbers in sales while having exclusives on your own console, which limits the consumer base. Even Sony has a problem with exclusive game sales, that's why they are releasing all their first party to PC.
XBOX is making the right choice to open their fanbase in order to sale their products to all kind of gamers from PC, console to mobile. It's a win-win scenario to release a first party game on day one on Game Pass, and at the same time to have it on full price sale in other platforms. XBOX will make money both by subscriptions and full price sales by giving access to the consumer to enjoy the first party content as he likes.
The future is content, not hardware. The development of cloud gaming will dominate the next generation, in which we will have the option to play every game in every device. XBOX is in the right direction for a sustainable business.
Game Pass as a service will be available in every device just like video streaming services. This is the way to increase subscribers for Game Pass, which will boost your revenue and profits, and then you can reinvest some of the money to put more content in your service, whether being first party or third. However, even if you don't like the sub model and you want to own your games, you still have the option to buy XBOX in every platform. It's just a win win scenario.
Microsoft just need to adding more and more games on Game Pass. They need to keep going for producing quality first party content, and making deals to bring more third party titles. We need more content every month on Game Pass.
@GuyinPA75 Microsoft has record revenue and profit under Nadella, and it has become the most valuable company in the world with $3 trillion marketcap. Nadella isn't going anywhere until he decides to retire.
@MrMagic It is not an unrealistic scenario after the mega aqcuisition of ABK.
Sony revenue: $27 billion.
XBOX+ ABK= total revenue of $22 billion.
XBOX can futher increase revenue through multiplatform sales and increasing sub growth on Game Pass. XBOX will have its strongest first party content during the period 2024-2026. There will be many games coming out on game pass and as multiplatform sales at full price.
Sony has a total of 20 studios in which 4 of them are supporting studios like Bluepoint, Nixxes, Valkyrie Entertainment and Neon Koi.
XBOX has over 40 studios which make a variety of different games like mobile, live service, AAA, AA and indie games. XBOX has a powerhouse of 20.000 employees which can produce a massive content every single year.
It is expected for XBOX to drastically increase revenue in the coming years, and there's a serious chance to become the market leader by surpassing Sony. But even if it doesn't surpass Sony in terms of revenue, XBOX is still more profitable than Sony even with a lower revenue.
Net sales: ¥11.3 trillion ($72.2 billion, up 12% year-on-year) Operating income: ¥1.04 trillion ($6.6 billion, up 5%)
Game & Network Services net sales: ¥4.3 trillion ($27.5 billion, up 17%) Game & Network Services operating income: ¥290.2 billion ($1.9 billion, up 16%)
We can see that Sony had a revenue of $27,5 billion and operating income of $1.9 billion in 2023.
XBOX had a revenue $16 billion in 2023.
Activision Blizzard had a revenue of $7 billion and $2,15 billion in net income. Activision Blizzard alone is more profitable than Sony's gaming division.
If you combine XBOX+ Activision Blizzard revenue it will still be lower than Sony total revenue of $27 billion, but XBOX will be more profitable even with lower revenue.
Also, we don't how much impact the aqcuisition will have in XBOX revenue growth through Game Pass, live service games and mobil games which is in development. The end of the fiscal year for 2024 will show how much bigger XBOX has become compared to Sony.
@Kooky_Geezer I don't think they closed Tango because of high wages. The average salary for japanese game developers is 50-60.00 dollars, which is not a lot of money compared to US.
Microsoft just decided to divest from Japan because they didn't have any success to bring japenrse consumers to the XBOX platform. Japanese are very proud about their own culture, and they have a unique coporate culture in which they support each other. Especially on gaming, Japanese consumers are very dedicated for supporting their own gaming companies like Sony, Nintendo, Sega, Square Enix, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Konami etc etc.
@TheSimulator It would take DECADES of low profits and wasting too much time to build the XBOX as a "quality exlcusive console platform" in a stagnant- dying console market. This is not sustainable for any company. You should see all the new data and the new market trend in game industry. Multiplatform, mobile, cloud and GaaS is the future of gaming. The production cost of AAA is so expensive that even Sony will become a multiplatform company by selling her games day one on PC for higher profit margin. Consoles market is not growing enought to justify the high risk and investment for AAA console exlcusive games.
Day one first party games is the selling point for Game Pass. It would be a wrong move for Microsoft to change their tactics.
Call of Duty coming on Game Pass won't hurt sales for Microsoft. Most of the game revenue is coming from microtransactions which will be available on Game Pass. Futhermore, you can have the choice to either buy at a full price of 70$ or have a yearly subcription on Game Pass, which is more money spent for the same game.
Most people who play exclusively Call of Duty every year without playing other games, they have no reason to have a yearly subscription on Game Pass because it's cheaper to actually buy the games at a full price. But many people who just want to try the game, it would be a great addition on Game Pass library.
Also, we shouldn't forget that Call of Duty is making more that 1$ billion in revenue on PS5 platform. This is another reason for XBOX to become a third party company and have multiplatform games sold at a full price for the extra cash along with the Game Pass subs growth.
XBOX knows that console market is stagnant and has no growth. The most consumer spending is going on mobile games, live service and PC, which is a growing market. Microsoft will create the next evolution of Game Pass, which will be cloud based sub service that will be available through xbox mobile store and handheld device. You could play AAA games like Halo and Hellblade in your tv box or handheld device via cloud.
This is the future of gaming. Game Pass is the future of gaming. Console sales and exclusivity is a dying market, which is not sustainable anymore. Even Sony is having troubles with low profit margin even tho it has succesfull exclusives games. Helldivers 2 is the first succesfull Sony live service, and it's the most profitable game at the moment for her. Multiplatform is the future.
As for Nintendo, it feels okay not to be a market leader while having her own fanbase, which can sale full price games that doesn't have the production cost of a typical AAA games. Nintendo has her own philosophy not to following hardware trend and prefer to make cheaper games on previous gen hardware, which can make more sales with better profit margin.
@Moby Consoles will not be the dominant force in gaming for the near future. PC gaming is making a huge comeback, while mobile games have the biggest spending in the industry. We will soon have smartphone with better hardware than PS5/Series X. Microsoft has already announced the new xbox mobile store that they will combined it with the new xbox handheld device. A new handheld device and a new mobile store combined with the development of cloud gaming will make XBOX games and Game Pass to be available on 3 billion consumers.
@Moby Being a multiplatform company doesn't mean the XBOX will stop making consoles. Console is just another option to join XBOX ecosystem, and it's the only way to have Game Pass as a console gamer. Microsoft needs all kind of platform to sale her products, which is console, mobile, cloud, "rival" platforms(steam, PS, Switch). This is the way for high profit margins.
It is the right way for XBOX to become a third party multiplatform company. XBOX could increase revenue and profit margin by selling first party games at a full price on PS/Switch. They could have day one releases on Game Pass, which will increase subs growth, and at the same time they could sales full price games in other platforms.
Phil Spencers has stated that they can't compete Playstation. Gamers won't sales their PS5 and join XBOX. It's pointless for Microsoft to waste resources and time to compete on "consoles wars" through exclusivity and hardware sales, when they have the choice to become a multiplatfrom software based company that could generate billions of dollars and profit through full price games, subcription services, cloud gaming, mobile games, GaaS and microtransactions.
I support Microsoft decision for XBOX to become a third party publisher. However, I don't support more restructure and layoffs. It's time for XBOX to flex its muscles by giving us quality games whether being AAA, AA, live services or indie titles.
A price rise will hurt Game Pass but multiplatform games is the right move to increase sales and revenue for the XBOX. Having first party titles at full price sale in other platforms like PS5 will increase profitablitiy while having the games day one on Game Pass.
I think Phil Spencer should make a move and speak out about the current state of XBOX. Is XBOX going to be a multiplatform company? What's Game Pass current revenue and expenses? Is Game Pass even profitable?
Another option is to have more first and second party content day one on Game Pass every month. As for the old titles, they should bring permanently old AAA games to Game Pass. Every game that comes on Game Pass should stay forever. This is a way to increase the value of the service by creating a huge library of games.
@TheSimulator Cause Sony and Nintendo has already established popular platforms which took decades to build a royal consume base.Phil Spencer himself has stated that XBOX can't compete Sony on "console wars", and XBOX cannot make gamers to sell their PS5 and move on Game Pass. It's a waste of resource and time to compete against Sony/Nintendo with hardware and exclusive games. It's pointless strategy for Microsoft, which has to adapt to the new market challenge. And the new market is not "console wars" but content war in all platforms. Microsoft doesn't even has Sony/Nintendo as gaming rival, but it compete against Amazon, Apple, Google and Netflix, which follow similar strategy with Microsoft.
Check this video which explains the whole Microsoft strategy to dominate the gaming industry:
@Kevw2006 The long term plan for Game Pass is to release new day content every single month, so you have a reason for yearly subscription. However, it seems that XBOX wants the big publisher it owns like Activision and Blizzard to focus on the development of live service games based on popular IPs, which will be multiplatform and will be exist on game pass at the same time. The main source of revenue for games like Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo etc etc is microtransactions in all platforms. Call of Duty is making 1 billion in revenue on PS5 userbase.
Multiplatform is the way for XBOX to have access in all platforms and the global gaming consumer base. They will even bring Call of Duty on Switch 2. This is the way for XBOX to sale their games at a full price in all users in any platform and, at the same time, selling microtransactions for the consumers. The logic of exclusivity is just stupid and outdated because you limit your own consumer base and you're losing money from additional customers.
Phil Spencer himself has stated that Game Pass is not the only service for XBOX success, and it's a fraction of XBOX general revenue. Multiplatform, subscription service, mobile games, cloud gaming is all different products that could bring a lot of money for Microsoft.
That was the plan from the very beginning. But Microsoft is waiting for the right moment to annouce that XBOX will become a thir party multiplatform company without facing the stupid immature reaction of XBOX fanboys, who don't want to change their views on exclusivity and insist on "console wars".
Sony's Playstation is not a rival. Playstastion is just a client for XBOX to make a lot of money.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner You don't know the official data, you just make your own baseless conclusions. The last data about game pass is that it had a revenue of 3 billion dollars with 22 millions subs. Game Pass has now 34 millions but Microsoft hasn't reveal any data for the current revenue. However, we can make the safe assumption that Game Pass has more revenue with 34 million subs compared to the previous report of 3 billion revenue with 2 million subs. And we already know that it's profitable by Phil Spencer.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner Game Pass has now 34 million fully paid subscribers compared to 22 million in 2022. That maybe not a huge number but Game Pass is making more money every year, and it's sustainable. Game Pass is probably making 4-5 billion in revenue...cause we know that Game Pass was making 3 billion dollars with 20 millions subs. Of course, subscription price is not the only source of revenue for Game Pass, because you can spend additional money for microtransactions on Game Pass live service games. For example, you can play games like Diablo, Palworld and Halo Infinite via Game Pass and spend money on microtransactions for those games.
I believe Game Pass will have a major boost on subs growth when Activision Blizzad will bring all their games to the service. Just imagine how many subs will come for games like Call of Duty, Overwatch, Warcraft etc etc. All these new subs will play these games via game pass and they will spend extra money for microtransactions.
We know that Game Pass has two sources of revenue through subscription price and in-game microtransactions made by the existing games to the service.
The business plan for XBOX was to become a third party publisher that will make a lot of money from software like multiplatform games, live service games, mobile games, cloud and subscription service. XBOX was never meant to become a hardwared based company with exclusives games. Having exclusives games limits sales growth and profit margin. Even Sony is having problem with low sales of first party AAA titles that have huge development budget.
In order for XBOX to succeed, they need to focus more on Game Pass subscription growth, and become a multiplatform company by having popular live service in all platforms. Call of Duty is making 1 billion dollars in revenue on PS5. XBOX has now popular IPs like Call of Duty, Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom which all should be multiplatform franchises because they have a massive appeal in the mainstream users.
As for single player titles, we could still have 1-2 AAA from XBOX studios like Ninja Theory, inXile, Obsidian, Playground, Arkane etc etc.
It seems that Microsoft is abandoning double A/indie projects because they don't have much appeal and don't generate high profit margin. So they are focusing all their resources to big blockbusters games coming from popular IPs which could make a lot of money from sales, microtransactions and subs growth.
I want to remind you the statements made by Phil Spencer and Natella about XBOX business plan:
In an internal memo to employees, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer explained the strategy like this: We have a different vision for the future of gaming. A future where players have a unified experience across devices. A future where players can easily discover a vast array of games with a diverse spectrum of business models. A future where more creators are empowered to realize their creative vision, reach a global audience, unite their communities, and succeed commercially. A future where every screen is an Xbox. It’s a bold idea, particularly because right now, the word Xbox is synonymous with a console that sits under your TV. So if it’s not a physical machine, what is Xbox?
In an interview with The Verge, Spencer said that “Xbox is our gaming platform and content business.” Notably, he did not use the word “console.” Instead, Xbox is an idea, a platform that spans multiple fronts. It started as a console, and now PC and the cloud are a huge part of the Xbox strategy, as is the subscription service Game Pass. With the addition of Activision Blizzard (and its games like Candy Crush and Call of Duty Mobile), as well as the potential for a Microsoft mobile app store, you can add mobile devices to that, too. One day we might include a handheld to that mix. And following the success of previous multiplatform games, most notably Minecraft, rival platforms like the PS5 and Nintendo Switch are increasingly becoming a part of the overall concept of Xbox.
“I like the fact that we get a mix of things happening with our business,” Spencer explained. “Our business model is not just about hardware sales, it’s not just about first-party game sales. It’s a diverse business model that leads to the business success that we’re seeing today, which I think is kind of a testament to the path that we’ve been on for the last few years.”
When discussing the ideal of Microsoft being focused on software across as many platforms as possible, Nadella was asked about Xbox exclusives. Here’s what he said: If it was up to me I would love to get rid of the entire exclusives on consoles, but that’s not for me to define especially as a low share player in the console market. The dominant player there [Sony] has defined market competition using exclusives, so that’s the world we live in. I have no love for that world.
Microsoft wants Xbox to be a “good” games publisher on Sony and Nintendo
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Nadella said that with the Activision Blizzard deal coming to a close, Microsoft has a chance to become a “good” publisher on both Sony and Nintendo. Separately, Nadella was quizzed about the future of Xbox in light of news that Microsoft’s market value has surpassed that of Apple’s, to which he said that Microsoft wants to build and release games across all platforms.
“We think that now we have the ability to do what we’ve always set out to do, which is build great games and deliver them to folks across all platforms,” Nadella said, listing “Xbox and consoles,” PC, mobile, and cloud as target platforms. “We want to do our very best in gaming — it’s a core business for us,” Nadella added before changing topics and moving on to AI.
@Nintendo4Sonic Traditional gaming can't make you a market leader. Nintendo is just happy with being a third player with less revenue and decent profit compared to Playstation and XBOX. Hardware sales doesn't mean anything, you should check software sales. Nintendo is making 10-12 billions dollars in revenue and 3-4 billion in profit. It's a good financial performance for a mid size publisher but it's too small to become a market leader.
Nintendo managed to create a unique identity of a game company which make funny cartoonish games with high quality gameplay which suitable for kids. It's like the Disney of gaming. They have their own franchise and fanbase. The average Nintendo game make 5-6 millions on sales with the expection of big releases like Pokemon or Zelda, which are extremely popular in the general audience.
XBOX has different philosophy and strategy which aims to become a top third party publisher that will make a lot of money not from hardware but from software, subscription services, cloud gaming, mobile games, live services games which will be available in all platforms. There's even a deal with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty on Switch 2. Microsoft wants XBOX to make 40-50 billions in revenue with high profit margin. The only way to achieve that kind of financial success is to become multiplatform and invest more on subscription services via Game Pass and Cloud gaming.
@Nintendo4Sonic Game Pass is the future of gaming, and the most valuable service at the moment. The fact that we can play AA/AAA/indies games with a small monthly subscription fee is a great budget option for many casuals and gamers who don't want to spend a fortune to buy 70$ full price games. Nintendo is not sustainable, doesn't have big market share, and can't compete with Sony to become market leader. Nintendo is a traditional company that makes great games which is selling for full price in her royal fanbase.
@TheSimulator I actually think that all first party content should be multiplatform because Microsoft can make more money and sustain the massive amount of content made by all these studios. Having more revenue and better profit margins will make the business more sustainable, and Microsoft won't need to layoff employees or close down studios.
I believe that Microsoft top excutives are taking control of XBOX Division, while Phil Spencer is forced to follow orders. I don't think that Phil Spencer wanted to close down Tango, while he was the one that praised the studio and stated that they will invest more in Tango, which was the only Japanese studio of XBOX.
The only big loss from these closed studios is Tango GameWorks, which was the only Japanese studio on XBOX with a very talented team and good games. Hi Fi Rush was the best XBOX game for 2023. I just can't understand why Microsoft closed Tango. I know that Hi Fi rush didn't meet sales expectations but the game was well received and could make more money by going multiplatform.
I recently played the whole Survivor Trilogy. All three games are awesome! They are very entertaining games with story driven cinematic gameplay. It was a real pleasure to have this kind of immersive and scripted gameplay with Lara having to climb and jump while the whole world is getting destroyed around her.
The story with Trinity is not something special, but it's a good story as whole experience if you play all the games at once like I did with the trilogy.
@Kooky_Geezer Who cares about hardware? Hardware is just another option for those gamers that want Game Pass in the console market. Microsoft is selling consoles at a loss, they are losing 200$ for every console unit. Hardware is not important, but Game Pass subs growth is the real metric of success. If Microsoft could have all the subs from PC, it would be the most profitable way for them. Console is just another platform for access on Game Pass, nothing more.
Also, multiplatform sales+ Game Pass subs growth is the perfect strategy for XBOX to make a lot of money in all platforms. XBOX has now over 40 studios with a lot of popular Ips and great live service games that make billions of dollars in all platforms. Exclusivity will sabotage these games.
@MrMagic You're right. Technically, they are not "free" games because you pay a small fee every month as a subscriber. However, the whole point of Game Pass is the value of price/content that offers to the consumer.
You could purchase Hellblade at a full price for 50$ or play it through Game Pass for 14$ bucks.
You could buy Starfield, Hi-Fi Rush, Indiana Jones, Diablo 4 etc etc for 300$ on a full price, or you could play all these games on Game Pass in two months for 30$.
You don't need to spend a crazy amount of money to own the games when you can play them in a subcription service like Game Pass for a small fee every month.
@ShadowofTwilight Many of XBOX fans can't understand the business perspective behind Microsoft strategy. Microsoft is losing money from hardware and selling consoles. The only reason that they are selling console at a loss is because they expect to make a profit from software via games and subscriptions. However, Microsoft has already lost the console wars and they don't care to compete Sony in console market. XBOX has transformed from harware-based(old school model) to software based model, in which the main service is Game Pass that can have access in any platform whether being PC, console and cloud.
XBOX can make a lot of money by becoming a third party publisher which will sell first party games at a full price on other platforms like PS/Switch, while at the same time having all first parties and third parties games day one on Game Pass, which will incrase the numbers of subscribers.
Right now, the only reason to have an XBOX console is if you want to have Game Pass through console. But it doesn't matter for Microsoft. It will be more profitable for XBOX to have Game Pass on PC without the need to sell consoles at a loss. Even if Microsoft start selling all first party games on PS5, then you can still have XBOX consoles for Game Pass. You don't need nothing else expect Game Pass. Game Pass is the secret weapon which differentiate XBOX compared to other platforms like PS/Switch.
Game Pass won't come to any other platform because Sony will lose a lot of money from people who will play all their games on Game Pass instead of buying them on PS Store, in which Sony takes 30% revenue cut.
Game Pass is everything. It's the first source of revenue for XBOX. The second source of revenue is live service games and mobile games, which make billions of dollars through microtransactions in ALL platforms. The third source of revenue could be multiplatform sales at a full price.
XBOX fans should become less "gamers" and more "corporate" to support Microsoft's growth plan for XBOX. Every business plan that makes a lot of money is the right move for XBOX.
We were expecting that XBOX will have a huge revenue increase due to Activision Blilzzard acquisition. What we need now is for XBOX to produce massive content to support Game Pass and develop its multiplatform strategy.
XBOX has now over 40 studios with a variety of games coming out every year from live service to single player games. They should bring all their games on Game Pass. All Activision Blizzard should come to Game Pass, and I expect to be announced in the coming summer fest event.
XBOX can provide day one content on Game Pass and, at the same time, could have their first party titles multiplatform on PS5/Switch to make more revenue and higher profit margin. Game Pass subscription growth and multiplatform sales could vastly increase XBOX revenue in the next year, which will dominate the market share.
Besides first party content, I really want XBOX to produce more second party games which will bring day one on Game Pass. XBOX has already bringing a lot of day one indie every month to the service, but it needs to bring more AA/AAA games to the service in order incrase the value of the content, which will attract more subscribers.
XBOX should really develop more AAA action-adventure, story driven cinematic games like Sony. These are the most popular games for the mainstream audience. They are many third party studio which will cooperate with XBOX for second party cinematics games. I mean studios like Remedy, Moon Studios, Eidos Montreal, Crystal Dynamics, Don't Nod, Telltale, etc etc
We need more double A and triple A games coming day one on Game Pass. XBOX should bring new day one releases every month and bring some older AAA titles permanently to the service.
I believe action adventure story driven AAA or AAA games is a great content for Game Pass, which will attract more subscribers. I mean games like the ones below:
Gotham Knights, Marvels Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman Arkham Series.
All these games were made by Rocksteady(Arkham series) and Crystal Dynamics/Eidos Montreal
Game Pass could have other story driven games like Forspoken, Assassin Creed Mirage, Mafia Trilogy, Alan Wake 2, Final Fanstasy 16, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, RoboCop, Devil May Cry 5, all TellTales's games, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, Beyond: Two Souls etc etc.
Microsoft should invest more money to increase content with good story driven games. It doesn't need to be GOTY level, they could be average/good games which are enjoyable to play.
@Fiendish-Beaver I am really surprised that you don't have such a basic information about XBOX state. I will give you the podcast that is the OFFICIAL pdocast of XBOX in which Phil Spencer and others XBOX excutives talk about the business of XBOX.
As for the quality of the content, I have to disagree with you. Now it's the time that Game Pass have the best content due to first part releases and all Activision Blizzard games. Also, we still have third part day one releases like Persona games, quality indies and viral games like Palworld. Game Pass library is getting bigger and bigger with every addition of new games.
@Fiendish-Beaver You're ill-informed about Game Pass. There is no estimation but it is a FACT that Game Pass has now 35 million subs. The XBOX excutives revealed the numbers of subs during the last XBOX podcast two months ago.
I quote the last news:
"Microsoft finally provides new subscriber numbers after more than two years.
Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service now has 34 million subscribers. That’s up 36 percent from the 25 million Microsoft previously reported more than two years ago. Microsoft revealed the new 34 million figure in an official Xbox podcast today, as part of an announcement that some Xbox exclusives are coming to the PS5 and Nintendo Switch.
It’s the first time Microsoft has disclosed fresh Xbox Game Pass subscriber numbers since announcing its Activision Blizzard acquisition in January 2022.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer previously admitting he had been seeing growth slow on Xbox Game Pass for consoles. “We’re seeing incredible growth on PC ... On console, I’ve seen growth slow down, mainly because at some point you’ve reached everybody on console that wants to subscribe,” said Spencer in a Wall Street Journal interview in October 2022.
It’s clear that Microsoft is a ways away from hitting its ambitious goal of 100 million Xbox Game Pass subscribers by 2030. Microsoft targeted a 73 percent growth rate for Game Pass subscriptions for a single fiscal year that ended in June 2022, but only managed 28 percent. The company then dropped Xbox Game Pass growth as a target for Satya Nadella’s executive compensation last year, after first exceeding its ambitious Game Pass internal targets in 2020 and then failing to meet compensation targets for two years in a row.
The 34 million figure is reflective of the fact Xbox Series S / X consoles haven’t been selling as well as PS5 hardware, and that consumers aren’t flocking to Game Pass for Xbox Cloud Gaming on mobile devices. Microsoft also started converting Xbox Live Gold subscribers over to Xbox Game Pass Core last year, and the company has confirmed to The Verge that the 34 million includes those subscribers, too.
While Xbox president Sarah Bond mentioned that 34 million Xbox Game Pass subscribers will have access to Diablo IV next month, the game won’t actually be available to all Game Pass subscribers. “The 34 million Game Pass membership number is accurate. Diablo IV is coming to Xbox Game Pass on March 28th, with the exception of the Xbox Game Pass Core catalog,” says Kari Perez, head of communications for Xbox, in a statement to The Verge.
Microsoft’s goal isn’t to convert everyone into a Game Pass subscriber, either, according to Spencer. “Our goal is not to make everybody a game pass subscriber,” says Spencer in an interview with The Verge. “I’ve said many times that maybe 10-15 percent of our content and services revenue is subscriber revenue. It’s a good business for us today, Game Pass, but in no way is there a plan that says ‘Okay, everybody needs to become a Game Pass subscriber.’”
That said, Microsoft is still hoping to eventually grow Game Pass, particularly on mobile. The company is building an Xbox mobile gaming store to take on Apple and Google, but Apple’s recent App Store changes haven’t gone the way Microsoft was expecting. “Apple’s new policy is a step in the wrong direction,” says Xbox president Sarah Bond."
@Fiendish-Beaver You keep showing your arguments based on wrong facts, which doesn't represent the real situation about XBOX.
You said that Microsoft doesn't reveal any information and that Game Pass is failing according to some random insiders. This is just misinformation. Spencer revealed that Game Pass has officially 34 millions subs, which is almost 10m more subs compared to the previous report in the early 2022 that we knew that the service had 25 million subs and 3 billion in revenue.
Again, multiplatform will not hurt Game Pass subs growth. Phil Spencer has stated that there millions of gamers who are PS users and don't have any XBOX service. These are royal consumer in SONY, and Spencer said that they can't make them change platform by coming to XBOX. By going multiplatform, XBOX will reach the consumer base of PS5/Switch, which have millions of gamers who don't have any access on XBOX content and prefer to buy games at a full price instead of being subs to Game Pass.
You should read more carefully Spencer statements:
"Spencer continued, “Our focus is on, how do we continue to grow the games industry by reaching more players in more places, and how do we grow Xbox as part of that - Xbox as a hardware platform, Xbox as a publisher of great games, and Xbox as a platform for the world’s best creators.”
Spencer had some more words to say about exclusives in general.
“I do have a fundamental belief that over the next 5 or 10 years that exclusive games, games that are exclusive to one piece of hardware, are going to be a smaller and smaller part of the industry.”
“And that’s not some great insight,” he continued, “because if you look at the last 10 years, and what the biggest games are today, it’s a natural place - whether it’s one console and PC, multiple consoles, mobile and console and PC, you see big games landing on multiple platforms. And we want to be a great platform for creators to realise that potential.”"
@Fiendish-Beaver You seem that you refuse to accept Microsoft growth plan, and you insist in your own baseless views.
Game Pass is NOT a direct competitor to the full price games at PS5. The value of Game Pass is that you can play ANY game - first or third party- for a low price of 10 dollars every month compared to the full price that you have to pay on PS5.
Exclusives is not the reason why people subscribe to Game Pass. It's the total value of the content that make Game Pass a great service, despite having games on other platforms at full price. You can't compare Game Pass, which is a subscription service, to full price model. There are two different models, in which Microsoft can profit from both model by going multiplatform and having her games full price in other platforms.
You logic is flawed. People, who already have Game Pass, won't quit the service to buy XBOX games on PS5 for full price. That will be a quite expensive move to quit Game Pass, which cost ten bucks per month, and paying 200-300 dollars to buy these same games on PS5 - the same games that are available on Game Pass.
However, even in that scenario, in which you abandon Game Pass to buy full price games on PS5, Microsoft will still make a lot of money. Even you quit Game Pass and start buying Starfield, Hellblade 2 etc on PS5 at a full price, Microsoft will still make a lot of money from full price sales. Microsoft can literally can't lose, it's a win win tactic.
The argument that multiplatform will hurt Game Pass subs growth is absurd, it doesn't make any sense at all. Game Pass will always be the valuable service, and will get even better with more first/third party day one releases and all Activision Blizzard games in the near future.
More content=more subs=more revenue= more content again
There is much negativity about Ubisoft. The games looks awesome! It looks better than Jedi Survivor. It will be the first serious open world star wars game. I know that Ubisoft will make a great a open world map, as always, but I want them to make a really good story. I suppose the combat will be like Tom Clancy and some stealth mechanics. The Star Wars Outlaws seems to have AAA production values, so it won't be a cheap game like Avatar, which was an typical Ubisoft average game.
I know that the games will have good open world and fun combat. The real challenge for Ubisoft is to deliver a good story game with good pacing, not useless grind, not pointless side quest to progress the story. Ubisoft should prove to everyone that they can make a good story driven action adventure game similar to Sony's Spiderman, God of War etc... and Cyberpunk 2077, Hellblade and all these great story driven games.
Assassin Creed Mirage was a great game, not GOTY level, but it was a better game than Valhalla, which had bigger budget and more gameplay. Unlike Valhalla, AC Mirage didn't have stupid grind, pointless quest and a lot of filler gameplay. AC Mirage had good campaign of 15 hours, which had much better pacing than Valhalla filler quests.
We don't need bigger games but quality ones. Ubisoft made a good point by turning quality>quantity with AC Mirage. This is what I expect from Star War Outlaws. I want quality. I don't want 60 hours of filler and boring gameplay. I want 15-20 hours of high quality story driven gameplay.
The recent FTC v Microsoft trial leaks were some of the biggest in the history of interactive entertainment. The erroneously-uploaded files offer a candid look at upcoming plans for Xbox, including new mid-gen refreshes and a potential hybrid compute console that could change the future of gaming.
Popular Now: NVIDIA to unveil top-end GeForce RTX 5090, and high-end RTX 5080 at first later this year
The leaked documents show that Xbox Game Pass is a big part of this plan. Microsoft eventually wants to lead the Big 3 hierarchy and help usher the industry into a new age of disruption, and it wants to use Game Pass to help make it happen.
Note: The following figures are estimates that are based on a leaked Xbox slide presentation from Fiscal Year 2022, which is from July 2021 - June 2022. Microsoft is currently in its Fiscal Year 2024 timeline. The information below may be outdated and may not reflect the newer 10-year streaming deals that Microsoft has made with NVIDIA and even Ubisoft in an attempt to appease regulators in the Microsoft-Activision merger. It's also likely that the 110 million figure includes the conversion from Xbox LIVE -> Xbox Game Pass Core, which represents some ~11 million subscribers. Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer has commented on the leaks, saying that: "So much has changed."
In the next 7 years, Microsoft believes Xbox Game Pass may grow substantially. By 2030, Microsoft expects Xbox Game Pass to have about 110 million subscribers.
Xbox Game Pass subscribers expected to grow to 110 million by 2030 20301
Open Gallery 3
As shown in the documents, cloud should be a substantial method of access for Game Pass subscribers. Based on the slides, Xbox expects about 32 million of its Xbox Game Pass subscriber base to be "cloud-first gamers" who play games from a myriad of devices including smart TVs, streaming sticks (via apps), low-end PCs, and mobile devices.
The combination of hardware, services, and content could help supercharge cloud gaming on Xbox Game Pass.
As for the other segments, console is expected to lead with about 58 million subscribers, and PC-first gamers are expected to be in third place at 20 million. It's clear that Microsoft hopes it can capture some of the more fring gamers with its cloud ambitions.
@Fiendish-Beaver You make a lot of arguments based on factless assumptions.
Let me tell what we really know about the future of XBOX:
1) Microsoft will not abandon console market even if XBOX becomes a multiplatform company. The reason is that 15-20 million subscribers of Game Pass are coming from console.
2) Sony will not allow Game Pass on her platform because it will jeopardize her own store and services.
3) Game Pass will not become a first part only service like EA play or Ubisoft Plus even if XBOX becomes a multiplatform company. XBOX is the biggest gaming publisher at the moment with the financial goal to reach 50-60 subs in the next two years and almost 100 sub until the end of the decade. Game Pass will not abandon day one third party games because they increase the value of the service. To the contrary, XBOX will produce more first/second/third party content after finishing all these aqcuisitions and having more revenue from the increasing subscription base.
It's pretty clear that Game Pass can't reach 50-100 million subs with first party alone. XBOX needs third party content to attract different kind of gamers to the service. It's the smart move to diversify Game Pass library to have all kind of content that will please a lot of gamers-consumers.
The only scenario for Microsoft to abandon console market is if it has subscribers growth coming exclusively from PC and cloud, which will not happen because we already know that half of Game Pass subs prefer consoles as the main platform.
@RIghteousNixon How can you disagree with me? I just said the same argument as you, that XBOX will become a multiplatform company because it has to sale its games to other platforms, which have a huge consumer base. XBOX needs to expand consumer base by approaching PS/Switch fanbase.Also, porting games is not a big issue. I believe XBOX has the resource to port all first party titles within one year.
Why are they bringing their exclusive titles on other platforms? The reason they're doing it is because the Nintendo model and the Sony model of proprietary titles on proprietary platforms is the wrong model. It's a broken model. Nintendo started this in 1985. It worked for 40 years. Sony emulated that in 1995 with PlayStation, Microsoft emulated that in 2001 with Xbox and for a long time it worked and then it didn't.
Supporting your content by managing the distribution on your platform is like a movie studio owning a chain of movie theaters and the only way you can watch their movie is in their theaters. Now, that'll work and they'll make money, but they won't make as much money as they do if they distribute their movies in six or seven different other ways.
Microsoft's going to have timed exclusives. They're going to put some content on PlayStation and Switch, they're going to put some content exclusively on Game Pass, and they're going to tweak it and figure it out. Buying Activision, they agreed with regulators that they would do this but they didn't agree because the regulator said so. They always were going to do this. Buying Activision and pulling Call of Duty off of PlayStation wouldn't have made sense, they would not have sold as many copies of Call of Duty if they put it exclusively on Xbox.
It is true that the exclusivity model seems outdated when the industry is faced with rising budgets and the pressing need to find new gamers. However, only Xbox seems intent on truly breaking down the barriers between console platforms. PlayStation is only doing it with PC, and with a significant delay, too. There's no indication Nintendo will do any of that in the foreseeable future, either.
Their Xbox Live Gold membership was 50 million. Their Game Pass subscription number was 25 million, and then when they changed how they reported Core, the number went to 34. Why didn't it go to 75? Why didn't it go to 50? It didn't because whoever reported that they are counting Xbox Live Gold members as part of Game Pass is reporting it wrong. Sorry. It's just not right. Xbox Live Gold membership has not gone down. That's not how they count it.
When we start to get Activision Blizzard games I expect subscribers to pick up. I do think that Game Pass is going to become huge. I do think the number is going to be 200 million plus subscribers. I've been saying that in the next 10 years, I think it'll get to 200 million and I'll make that bet with anybody. I promise I'll pay it will be 200 million in the next 10 years. They are that committed to it
I don't think new subscribers have dried up. The huge acquisitions were really just Bethesda which is starting to show some traction and then Activision, which has no traction yet because the first title hasn't shown up. Come back and ask me that question a year from now once they have Call of Duty on there.
Why are they bringing their exclusive titles on other platforms? The reason they're doing it is because the Nintendo model and the Sony model of proprietary titles on proprietary platforms is the wrong model. It's a broken model. Nintendo started this in 1985. It worked for 40 years. Sony emulated that in 1995 with PlayStation, Microsoft emulated that in 2001 with Xbox and for a long time it worked and then it didn't.
Supporting your content by managing the distribution on your platform is like a movie studio owning a chain of movie theaters and the only way you can watch their movie is in their theaters. Now, that'll work and they'll make money, but they won't make as much money as they do if they distribute their movies in six or seven different other ways.
Microsoft's going to have timed exclusives. They're going to put some content on PlayStation and Switch, they're going to put some content exclusively on Game Pass, and they're going to tweak it and figure it out. Buying Activision, they agreed with regulators that they would do this but they didn't agree because the regulator said so. They always were going to do this. Buying Activision and pulling Call of Duty off of PlayStation wouldn't have made sense, they would not have sold as many copies of Call of Duty if they put it exclusively on Xbox.
@Fiendish-Beaver Even if you cancel you cancel your game pass sub and buy all xbox games on PS5, Microsoft will make a lot of money by selling the games at a full price.
Microsoft will sale her games at 50-60$ range. Sony will take 30% revenue cut, so Microsoft will have a pure profit of 42$ per unit. If XBOX manages to make 6-8 million sales on PS5, it will have a revenue of 250-350$ million per game, which is enough to cover the development budget and make a small profit without even counting the additional revenue from PC(steam etc) and Game Pass subs. It's a win-win scenario for Microsoft, which will make a lot of money by having her games on multiplatform consoles and Game Pass.
However, it's very unlikely for someone, who has already game pass, to abandon the service and start buying the games at a full price on PS5. It will be a very stupid move because Game Pass has so much content which worth thousands of dollars, and adds new day one releases almost every month from first/third parties, which worth hundreds of dollars. And Game Pass will have more value in the near future by adding all the games of Activision Blizzard while at the same time releasing AAA first games like Helblade, Indianna Jones and some AA games like Avowed. Phil Spencer has stated that he wants a new first party games every 3 months, which is at least 4 first party titles for the whole year. Having over 40 studios and 19.000 developers, XBOX has enough manpower to release a lot of games every single year.
Spencer has said that Game Pass was making 3 billion in revenue when it had 22 million subs, and it was profitable. It's pretty clear that Game Pass has more revenue now with over 34 million subs, which makes the service more stable from a financial perspective.
The goal for Game Pass is to increase subscription numbers to 50-60 millions subs in the next two years, and in 100-200 million subs in the next decade.
It's the right move for XBOX to bring all their games to multiplatform because this is the only way to increase profits and revenue. It will be a win-win move to release first party games on Game Pass and, at the same time, to sale full price on PS5/Switch. There is a huge consume base on PS5/Switch which are gamers who don't have Game Pass but they are paying for full price games on their favorite platform.
XBOX needs more and more content for Game Pass and be less depended on third party games. They should get to a point in which they will release only first/second/third party day one games on Game Pass, which will be permanent content, not time limit third party games. XBOX has over 40+ studios and 19.000 employess, plus their second party deals, to release new content every single month. XBOX has the resources to make 3-4 AAA games every year, same number of AA and some indies without even counting the live service games such as Call of Duty, Warcraft etc etc.
Besides Gears, it would be a great move to announce that all Activision Blizzard games will come to Game Pass. It would be a huge boost to the service.
Comments 141
Re: Microsoft Announces Major GDC Presence With 'Xbox Expanding To Any Screen' In 2025
@Ricky-Spanish
If you think logically with no emotionally immature response, you understand that the multi-platform approach is the right move for XBOX to be a successful company that will bring quality content for the consumer. XBOX is giving you the choice to either pay the full price in your PS5 or you can have the value for money option, which is Game Pass. You can take whatever choice you want. It's a win-win scenario for XBOX from a business perspective.
Re: Microsoft Announces Major GDC Presence With 'Xbox Expanding To Any Screen' In 2025
It's good news that gamers are accepting Xbox as a new multi-platform publisher. It makes little sense to have exclusivity and keep alive the stupid marketing of "console wars" because the whole console market is stagnant with no signs of growth, as Spencer has mentioned before.
No growth means that sales remain the same, but the development has more than tripled compared to the previous generation.
The Last of US Part 1 had a budget of $100 million, while the Last of US 2 had a $200 million budget, but it had fewer sales than the first one!
The first Spiderman (2018) had a $100 million budget with 10 million unit sales in the first year. The Spiderman 2 had a $300 million budget, which was triple compared to the first one, and it had almost the same sales and revenue.
We can see that the revenue is at the same level while the development cost has more than tripled. This means less profit margin and a huge risk for the developer, which is why Sony invested in live service (with no success) hoping to bring more money.
Xbox is making the right choice financially to expand on all platforms by selling full-price games and keeping with Game Pass growth. This is the way to bring multiple sources of revenue from your product and have a higher profit margin.
Re: Xbox Says It's Got A 'Bunch Of Stuff' It Hasn't Even Announced Yet
XBOX should invest more in AA production if they want to keep a good lineup every year and boost Game Pass content every month. We need good single-player games that don't need to have 40-50 hours of gameplay to enjoy them. Games like Hellblade 2, Hi-Fi Rush, Avowed, and Indiana Jones are some good examples of what kind of games we need for Game Pass. Of course, we will still have 2-3 big AAA games every year, but it doesn't need to be the only option. Game studios can create low-cost, cinematic experiences with polished gameplay with a short to medium story duration that doesn't extend 8-12 hours. This is the AA recipe for Game Pass. Nintendo has followed the "AA" route of success for years by creating short games with high-quality gameplay.
Re: Reaction: Fable's Delay Is A Shame, But The New Gameplay Footage Looks Awesome
I prefer games to be delayed if that means giving more time to developers to optimize the game for the release time. We have many examples of failure of AAA games during the release period due to "unfinished" games with many bugs and bad optimization, which does not give a good first impression to the consumers and negatively affects sales. Starfield, Redfall, and Star Wars Outlaws are some of the AAA games that received bad reviews because of bad releases even though most of these games are 7-8 in terms of quality.
Re: Xbox Has Officially Delayed Fable Into 2026
XBOX has already a great line up for 2025 with many day one releases on Game Pass, which are either first party or third party game. I prefer Fable not to be released in 2025 if they want more time to polish and optimize the game for a good release in 2026.
We should give developers more time to create good games with no technical problems that will require huge update-hot fixes after the release. We have already seen many AAA game released with a lot of bugs which is the reason for many negative reviews and bad first impression that ruins the whole reputation - even if the game was good in terms of gameplay and writing.
Redfall, Starfield, Star Wars Outlaws are a few examples of AAA games which have received negative reviews because of a bad release with many bugs/bad optimization.
Re: Talking Point: Are You Happy With The Current Xbox UI As It Stands In 2025?
No, I want the UI to be more community freindly like steam. I want to have better comment section in games' page, five-star reviews, upvotes/downvote on comments. I want better exploration and more filters when I search for games. A steam-like UI will be the optimal UI for XBOX app.
Re: One Of The Most Impressive Open Worlds Of This Generation Hits Xbox Game Pass Next Week
It looks a good mid game that it's worh playing on Game Pass.
Re: Microsoft CEO: 'We Are Redefining What It Means To Be An Xbox Fan'
@TheSimulator Because Game Pass is value for money. If you want to pay full price, then you will need to pay 70$ for every game. On the other hand, you can play all the day one releases on Game Pass for 15 bucks per month. You don't even need a full-year subscription, you can wait for 2-3 releases and enjoy all content with a one month subscription.
Game Pass is more valuable than full price. You need 200-300$ to buy 3-4 AAA games at a full price, while you can enjoy these same games on game pass with a one month subscription.
Subscription> full price.
Re: Microsoft CEO: 'We Are Redefining What It Means To Be An Xbox Fan'
@Millionski The 30% revenue cut from other platforms is not a problem when you can get a 70% of price by reaching tens of millions of gamers. Playstation 5 has a 65 million units, Switch has 143 million and Steam has 132 million active users. These are huge numbers for a big consumer base, which include all platforms, that you can sell your product(XBOX games) and make a lot of money despite the 30% revenue cut. Exclusivity limite consumer base on XBOX console, which has sold only 22 million units. This is clearly not sustainable. There is no indication that making all XBOX games to be exclusives will vastly increase sales on XBOX console units. This is not gonna happen, it's just a pure fantasy and baseless assumptions from die-hard XBOX fans who want to keep with the stupid "console war" because they are childish and immature.
From a business perspective, Microsoft is doing the right move with multiplatorm sales and focused on Game Pass as the main service. Full price sales+ game pass subs will increase revenue and profit by reaching every single gamer out there who is willing to spend money on XBOX content and services.
You're right that cloud gaming is the long term vision, but Microsoft is following a step by step plan. The first step was the creation of Game Pass, then the second step is multiplatform sales. The next step will be the XBOX mobile store in order to compete in mobile market, while also making a handheld device.
Re: Microsoft CEO: 'We Are Redefining What It Means To Be An Xbox Fan'
Emotional reaction from an immature fanbase is not the answer. We have to see the bigger picture, which is XBOX transformation of becoming the biggest third party publisher in the world.
Phil Spencer was right that the console market is stagnant, while the cost for AAA production is pretty huge. A triple A game needs to make 15-20 million in sales for decent profitability. You can't achieve these kind of numbers in sales while having exclusives on your own console, which limits the consumer base. Even Sony has a problem with exclusive game sales, that's why they are releasing all their first party to PC.
XBOX is making the right choice to open their fanbase in order to sale their products to all kind of gamers from PC, console to mobile. It's a win-win scenario to release a first party game on day one on Game Pass, and at the same time to have it on full price sale in other platforms. XBOX will make money both by subscriptions and full price sales by giving access to the consumer to enjoy the first party content as he likes.
The future is content, not hardware. The development of cloud gaming will dominate the next generation, in which we will have the option to play every game in every device. XBOX is in the right direction for a sustainable business.
Game Pass as a service will be available in every device just like video streaming services. This is the way to increase subscribers for Game Pass, which will boost your revenue and profits, and then you can reinvest some of the money to put more content in your service, whether being first party or third. However, even if you don't like the sub model and you want to own your games, you still have the option to buy XBOX in every platform. It's just a win win scenario.
Microsoft just need to adding more and more games on Game Pass. They need to keep going for producing quality first party content, and making deals to bring more third party titles. We need more content every month on Game Pass.
Re: Xbox's Console User Count At Record High, Says Microsoft Gaming CEO
@GuyinPA75 Microsoft has record revenue and profit under Nadella, and it has become the most valuable company in the world with $3 trillion marketcap. Nadella isn't going anywhere until he decides to retire.
Re: Xbox's Console User Count At Record High, Says Microsoft Gaming CEO
@MrMagic It is not an unrealistic scenario after the mega aqcuisition of ABK.
Sony revenue: $27 billion.
XBOX+ ABK= total revenue of $22 billion.
XBOX can futher increase revenue through multiplatform sales and increasing sub growth on Game Pass. XBOX will have its strongest first party content during the period 2024-2026. There will be many games coming out on game pass and as multiplatform sales at full price.
Sony has a total of 20 studios in which 4 of them are supporting studios like Bluepoint, Nixxes, Valkyrie Entertainment and Neon Koi.
XBOX has over 40 studios which make a variety of different games like mobile, live service, AAA, AA and indie games. XBOX has a powerhouse of 20.000 employees which can produce a massive content every single year.
It is expected for XBOX to drastically increase revenue in the coming years, and there's a serious chance to become the market leader by surpassing Sony. But even if it doesn't surpass Sony in terms of revenue, XBOX is still more profitable than Sony even with a lower revenue.
https://gameworldobserver.com/2023/10/20/xbox-studios-list-microsoft-gaming-activision-blizzard-bethesda
https://www.essentiallysports.com/esports-news-as-per-reports-playstation-scores-the-lowest-in-profitability-as-compared-to-xbox-and-nintendo-but-rules-in-revenue/
Re: Xbox's Console User Count At Record High, Says Microsoft Gaming CEO
@MrMagic
Sony revenue and profit in 2024 from gaming:
Full-year (12 months ended March 31, 2024)
Net sales: ¥11.3 trillion ($72.2 billion, up 12% year-on-year)
Operating income: ¥1.04 trillion ($6.6 billion, up 5%)
Game & Network Services net sales: ¥4.3 trillion ($27.5 billion, up 17%)
Game & Network Services operating income: ¥290.2 billion ($1.9 billion, up 16%)
We can see that Sony had a revenue of $27,5 billion and operating income of $1.9 billion in 2023.
XBOX had a revenue $16 billion in 2023.
Activision Blizzard had a revenue of $7 billion and $2,15 billion in net income. Activision Blizzard alone is more profitable than Sony's gaming division.
If you combine XBOX+ Activision Blizzard revenue it will still be lower than Sony total revenue of $27 billion, but XBOX will be more profitable even with lower revenue.
Also, we don't how much impact the aqcuisition will have in XBOX revenue growth through Game Pass, live service games and mobil games which is in development. The end of the fiscal year for 2024 will show how much bigger XBOX has become compared to Sony.
Re: Rumour: Rocksteady Founders Sign New Studio Game Deal With Xbox
@Kooky_Geezer I don't think they closed Tango because of high wages. The average salary for japanese game developers is 50-60.00 dollars, which is not a lot of money compared to US.
Microsoft just decided to divest from Japan because they didn't have any success to bring japenrse consumers to the XBOX platform. Japanese are very proud about their own culture, and they have a unique coporate culture in which they support each other. Especially on gaming, Japanese consumers are very dedicated for supporting their own gaming companies like Sony, Nintendo, Sega, Square Enix, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Konami etc etc.
Re: Talking Point: What Convinced You To Pick Xbox In The First Place?
"What Convinced You To Pick Xbox In The First Place?"
Game Pass.
Re: Xbox Is Shutting Four Studios, Including Arkane Austin And Tango Gameworks
@TheSimulator It would take DECADES of low profits and wasting too much time to build the XBOX as a "quality exlcusive console platform" in a stagnant- dying console market. This is not sustainable for any company. You should see all the new data and the new market trend in game industry. Multiplatform, mobile, cloud and GaaS is the future of gaming. The production cost of AAA is so expensive that even Sony will become a multiplatform company by selling her games day one on PC for higher profit margin. Consoles market is not growing enought to justify the high risk and investment for AAA console exlcusive games.
Re: Xbox Reiterates Every First Party Title Is Coming To Game Pass 'Day One'
Day one first party games is the selling point for Game Pass. It would be a wrong move for Microsoft to change their tactics.
Call of Duty coming on Game Pass won't hurt sales for Microsoft. Most of the game revenue is coming from microtransactions which will be available on Game Pass. Futhermore, you can have the choice to either buy at a full price of 70$ or have a yearly subcription on Game Pass, which is more money spent for the same game.
Most people who play exclusively Call of Duty every year without playing other games, they have no reason to have a yearly subscription on Game Pass because it's cheaper to actually buy the games at a full price. But many people who just want to try the game, it would be a great addition on Game Pass library.
Also, we shouldn't forget that Call of Duty is making more that 1$ billion in revenue on PS5 platform. This is another reason for XBOX to become a third party company and have multiplatform games sold at a full price for the extra cash along with the Game Pass subs growth.
XBOX knows that console market is stagnant and has no growth. The most consumer spending is going on mobile games, live service and PC, which is a growing market. Microsoft will create the next evolution of Game Pass, which will be cloud based sub service that will be available through xbox mobile store and handheld device. You could play AAA games like Halo and Hellblade in your tv box or handheld device via cloud.
This is the future of gaming. Game Pass is the future of gaming. Console sales and exclusivity is a dying market, which is not sustainable anymore. Even Sony is having troubles with low profit margin even tho it has succesfull exclusives games. Helldivers 2 is the first succesfull Sony live service, and it's the most profitable game at the moment for her. Multiplatform is the future.
As for Nintendo, it feels okay not to be a market leader while having her own fanbase, which can sale full price games that doesn't have the production cost of a typical AAA games. Nintendo has her own philosophy not to following hardware trend and prefer to make cheaper games on previous gen hardware, which can make more sales with better profit margin.
Re: Xbox Is Reportedly 'Considering' Hellblade 2 For PlayStation 5
@Moby Consoles will not be the dominant force in gaming for the near future. PC gaming is making a huge comeback, while mobile games have the biggest spending in the industry. We will soon have smartphone with better hardware than PS5/Series X. Microsoft has already announced the new xbox mobile store that they will combined it with the new xbox handheld device. A new handheld device and a new mobile store combined with the development of cloud gaming will make XBOX games and Game Pass to be available on 3 billion consumers.
Re: Xbox Is Reportedly 'Considering' Hellblade 2 For PlayStation 5
@Moby Being a multiplatform company doesn't mean the XBOX will stop making consoles. Console is just another option to join XBOX ecosystem, and it's the only way to have Game Pass as a console gamer. Microsoft needs all kind of platform to sale her products, which is console, mobile, cloud, "rival" platforms(steam, PS, Switch). This is the way for high profit margins.
Re: Xbox Is Reportedly 'Considering' Hellblade 2 For PlayStation 5
It is the right way for XBOX to become a third party multiplatform company. XBOX could increase revenue and profit margin by selling first party games at a full price on PS/Switch. They could have day one releases on Game Pass, which will increase subs growth, and at the same time they could sales full price games in other platforms.
Phil Spencers has stated that they can't compete Playstation. Gamers won't sales their PS5 and join XBOX. It's pointless for Microsoft to waste resources and time to compete on "consoles wars" through exclusivity and hardware sales, when they have the choice to become a multiplatfrom software based company that could generate billions of dollars and profit through full price games, subcription services, cloud gaming, mobile games, GaaS and microtransactions.
I support Microsoft decision for XBOX to become a third party publisher. However, I don't support more restructure and layoffs. It's time for XBOX to flex its muscles by giving us quality games whether being AAA, AA, live services or indie titles.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Considering Game Pass Price Hike To Accommodate Call Of Duty
A price rise will hurt Game Pass but multiplatform games is the right move to increase sales and revenue for the XBOX. Having first party titles at full price sale in other platforms like PS5 will increase profitablitiy while having the games day one on Game Pass.
I think Phil Spencer should make a move and speak out about the current state of XBOX. Is XBOX going to be a multiplatform company? What's Game Pass current revenue and expenses? Is Game Pass even profitable?
Another option is to have more first and second party content day one on Game Pass every month. As for the old titles, they should bring permanently old AAA games to Game Pass. Every game that comes on Game Pass should stay forever. This is a way to increase the value of the service by creating a huge library of games.
Re: Xbox Is Shutting Four Studios, Including Arkane Austin And Tango Gameworks
@TheSimulator Cause Sony and Nintendo has already established popular platforms which took decades to build a royal consume base.Phil Spencer himself has stated that XBOX can't compete Sony on "console wars", and XBOX cannot make gamers to sell their PS5 and move on Game Pass. It's a waste of resource and time to compete against Sony/Nintendo with hardware and exclusive games. It's pointless strategy for Microsoft, which has to adapt to the new market challenge. And the new market is not "console wars" but content war in all platforms. Microsoft doesn't even has Sony/Nintendo as gaming rival, but it compete against Amazon, Apple, Google and Netflix, which follow similar strategy with Microsoft.
Check this video which explains the whole Microsoft strategy to dominate the gaming industry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hReTSFU43W4
Re: Xbox Is Shutting Four Studios, Including Arkane Austin And Tango Gameworks
@Kevw2006 The long term plan for Game Pass is to release new day content every single month, so you have a reason for yearly subscription. However, it seems that XBOX wants the big publisher it owns like Activision and Blizzard to focus on the development of live service games based on popular IPs, which will be multiplatform and will be exist on game pass at the same time. The main source of revenue for games like Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo etc etc is microtransactions in all platforms. Call of Duty is making 1 billion in revenue on PS5 userbase.
Multiplatform is the way for XBOX to have access in all platforms and the global gaming consumer base. They will even bring Call of Duty on Switch 2. This is the way for XBOX to sale their games at a full price in all users in any platform and, at the same time, selling microtransactions for the consumers. The logic of exclusivity is just stupid and outdated because you limit your own consumer base and you're losing money from additional customers.
Phil Spencer himself has stated that Game Pass is not the only service for XBOX success, and it's a fraction of XBOX general revenue. Multiplatform, subscription service, mobile games, cloud gaming is all different products that could bring a lot of money for Microsoft.
That was the plan from the very beginning. But Microsoft is waiting for the right moment to annouce that XBOX will become a thir party multiplatform company without facing the stupid immature reaction of XBOX fanboys, who don't want to change their views on exclusivity and insist on "console wars".
Sony's Playstation is not a rival. Playstastion is just a client for XBOX to make a lot of money.
Re: Xbox Is Shutting Four Studios, Including Arkane Austin And Tango Gameworks
@PsBoxSwitchOwner You don't know the official data, you just make your own baseless conclusions. The last data about game pass is that it had a revenue of 3 billion dollars with 22 millions subs. Game Pass has now 34 millions but Microsoft hasn't reveal any data for the current revenue. However, we can make the safe assumption that Game Pass has more revenue with 34 million subs compared to the previous report of 3 billion revenue with 2 million subs. And we already know that it's profitable by Phil Spencer.
Re: Xbox Is Shutting Four Studios, Including Arkane Austin And Tango Gameworks
@PsBoxSwitchOwner Game Pass has now 34 million fully paid subscribers compared to 22 million in 2022. That maybe not a huge number but Game Pass is making more money every year, and it's sustainable. Game Pass is probably making 4-5 billion in revenue...cause we know that Game Pass was making 3 billion dollars with 20 millions subs. Of course, subscription price is not the only source of revenue for Game Pass, because you can spend additional money for microtransactions on Game Pass live service games. For example, you can play games like Diablo, Palworld and Halo Infinite via Game Pass and spend money on microtransactions for those games.
I believe Game Pass will have a major boost on subs growth when Activision Blizzad will bring all their games to the service. Just imagine how many subs will come for games like Call of Duty, Overwatch, Warcraft etc etc. All these new subs will play these games via game pass and they will spend extra money for microtransactions.
We know that Game Pass has two sources of revenue through subscription price and in-game microtransactions made by the existing games to the service.
Re: Reaction: Xbox's Push Towards 'Microsoft Gaming' Looks More Drastic Than We First Thought
The business plan for XBOX was to become a third party publisher that will make a lot of money from software like multiplatform games, live service games, mobile games, cloud and subscription service. XBOX was never meant to become a hardwared based company with exclusives games. Having exclusives games limits sales growth and profit margin. Even Sony is having problem with low sales of first party AAA titles that have huge development budget.
In order for XBOX to succeed, they need to focus more on Game Pass subscription growth, and become a multiplatform company by having popular live service in all platforms. Call of Duty is making 1 billion dollars in revenue on PS5. XBOX has now popular IPs like Call of Duty, Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom which all should be multiplatform franchises because they have a massive appeal in the mainstream users.
As for single player titles, we could still have 1-2 AAA from XBOX studios like Ninja Theory, inXile, Obsidian, Playground, Arkane etc etc.
It seems that Microsoft is abandoning double A/indie projects because they don't have much appeal and don't generate high profit margin. So they are focusing all their resources to big blockbusters games coming from popular IPs which could make a lot of money from sales, microtransactions and subs growth.
Re: Xbox Is Shutting Four Studios, Including Arkane Austin And Tango Gameworks
@Nintendo4Sonic
I want to remind you the statements made by Phil Spencer and Natella about XBOX business plan:
In an internal memo to employees, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer explained the strategy like this:
We have a different vision for the future of gaming. A future where players have a unified experience across devices. A future where players can easily discover a vast array of games with a diverse spectrum of business models. A future where more creators are empowered to realize their creative vision, reach a global audience, unite their communities, and succeed commercially. A future where every screen is an Xbox.
It’s a bold idea, particularly because right now, the word Xbox is synonymous with a console that sits under your TV. So if it’s not a physical machine, what is Xbox?
In an interview with The Verge, Spencer said that “Xbox is our gaming platform and content business.” Notably, he did not use the word “console.” Instead, Xbox is an idea, a platform that spans multiple fronts. It started as a console, and now PC and the cloud are a huge part of the Xbox strategy, as is the subscription service Game Pass. With the addition of Activision Blizzard (and its games like Candy Crush and Call of Duty Mobile), as well as the potential for a Microsoft mobile app store, you can add mobile devices to that, too. One day we might include a handheld to that mix. And following the success of previous multiplatform games, most notably Minecraft, rival platforms like the PS5 and Nintendo Switch are increasingly becoming a part of the overall concept of Xbox.
“I like the fact that we get a mix of things happening with our business,” Spencer explained. “Our business model is not just about hardware sales, it’s not just about first-party game sales. It’s a diverse business model that leads to the business success that we’re seeing today, which I think is kind of a testament to the path that we’ve been on for the last few years.”
When discussing the ideal of Microsoft being focused on software across as many platforms as possible, Nadella was asked about Xbox exclusives. Here’s what he said:
If it was up to me I would love to get rid of the entire exclusives on consoles, but that’s not for me to define especially as a low share player in the console market. The dominant player there [Sony] has defined market competition using exclusives, so that’s the world we live in. I have no love for that world.
Microsoft wants Xbox to be a “good” games publisher on Sony and Nintendo
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Nadella said that with the Activision Blizzard deal coming to a close, Microsoft has a chance to become a “good” publisher on both Sony and Nintendo. Separately, Nadella was quizzed about the future of Xbox in light of news that Microsoft’s market value has surpassed that of Apple’s, to which he said that Microsoft wants to build and release games across all platforms.
“We think that now we have the ability to do what we’ve always set out to do, which is build great games and deliver them to folks across all platforms,” Nadella said, listing “Xbox and consoles,” PC, mobile, and cloud as target platforms. “We want to do our very best in gaming — it’s a core business for us,” Nadella added before changing topics and moving on to AI.
Re: Xbox Is Shutting Four Studios, Including Arkane Austin And Tango Gameworks
@Nintendo4Sonic Traditional gaming can't make you a market leader. Nintendo is just happy with being a third player with less revenue and decent profit compared to Playstation and XBOX. Hardware sales doesn't mean anything, you should check software sales. Nintendo is making 10-12 billions dollars in revenue and 3-4 billion in profit. It's a good financial performance for a mid size publisher but it's too small to become a market leader.
Nintendo managed to create a unique identity of a game company which make funny cartoonish games with high quality gameplay which suitable for kids. It's like the Disney of gaming. They have their own franchise and fanbase. The average Nintendo game make 5-6 millions on sales with the expection of big releases like Pokemon or Zelda, which are extremely popular in the general audience.
XBOX has different philosophy and strategy which aims to become a top third party publisher that will make a lot of money not from hardware but from software, subscription services, cloud gaming, mobile games, live services games which will be available in all platforms. There's even a deal with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty on Switch 2. Microsoft wants XBOX to make 40-50 billions in revenue with high profit margin. The only way to achieve that kind of financial success is to become multiplatform and invest more on subscription services via Game Pass and Cloud gaming.
Re: Xbox Is Shutting Four Studios, Including Arkane Austin And Tango Gameworks
@Nintendo4Sonic Game Pass is the future of gaming, and the most valuable service at the moment. The fact that we can play AA/AAA/indies games with a small monthly subscription fee is a great budget option for many casuals and gamers who don't want to spend a fortune to buy 70$ full price games. Nintendo is not sustainable, doesn't have big market share, and can't compete with Sony to become market leader. Nintendo is a traditional company that makes great games which is selling for full price in her royal fanbase.
Re: Xbox Is Shutting Four Studios, Including Arkane Austin And Tango Gameworks
@TheSimulator I actually think that all first party content should be multiplatform because Microsoft can make more money and sustain the massive amount of content made by all these studios. Having more revenue and better profit margins will make the business more sustainable, and Microsoft won't need to layoff employees or close down studios.
I believe that Microsoft top excutives are taking control of XBOX Division, while Phil Spencer is forced to follow orders. I don't think that Phil Spencer wanted to close down Tango, while he was the one that praised the studio and stated that they will invest more in Tango, which was the only Japanese studio of XBOX.
Re: Xbox Is Shutting Four Studios, Including Arkane Austin And Tango Gameworks
The only big loss from these closed studios is Tango GameWorks, which was the only Japanese studio on XBOX with a very talented team and good games. Hi Fi Rush was the best XBOX game for 2023. I just can't understand why Microsoft closed Tango. I know that Hi Fi rush didn't meet sales expectations but the game was well received and could make more money by going multiplatform.
Re: Soapbox: The Best Modern Tomb Raider Is Well Worth Your Time On Xbox Game Pass
I recently played the whole Survivor Trilogy. All three games are awesome! They are very entertaining games with story driven cinematic gameplay. It was a real pleasure to have this kind of immersive and scripted gameplay with Lara having to climb and jump while the whole world is getting destroyed around her.
The story with Trinity is not something special, but it's a good story as whole experience if you play all the games at once like I did with the trilogy.
Re: Xbox's Gaming Revenue Is Up 51% YoY Following Activision Blizzard Acquisition
@Kooky_Geezer Who cares about hardware? Hardware is just another option for those gamers that want Game Pass in the console market. Microsoft is selling consoles at a loss, they are losing 200$ for every console unit. Hardware is not important, but Game Pass subs growth is the real metric of success. If Microsoft could have all the subs from PC, it would be the most profitable way for them. Console is just another platform for access on Game Pass, nothing more.
Also, multiplatform sales+ Game Pass subs growth is the perfect strategy for XBOX to make a lot of money in all platforms. XBOX has now over 40 studios with a lot of popular Ips and great live service games that make billions of dollars in all platforms. Exclusivity will sabotage these games.
Re: Microsoft CEO Comments On Xbox's New PlayStation Store Success
@MrMagic You're right. Technically, they are not "free" games because you pay a small fee every month as a subscriber. However, the whole point of Game Pass is the value of price/content that offers to the consumer.
You could purchase Hellblade at a full price for 50$ or play it through Game Pass for 14$ bucks.
You could buy Starfield, Hi-Fi Rush, Indiana Jones, Diablo 4 etc etc for 300$ on a full price, or you could play all these games on Game Pass in two months for 30$.
You don't need to spend a crazy amount of money to own the games when you can play them in a subcription service like Game Pass for a small fee every month.
Re: Microsoft CEO Comments On Xbox's New PlayStation Store Success
@ShadowofTwilight Many of XBOX fans can't understand the business perspective behind Microsoft strategy. Microsoft is losing money from hardware and selling consoles. The only reason that they are selling console at a loss is because they expect to make a profit from software via games and subscriptions. However, Microsoft has already lost the console wars and they don't care to compete Sony in console market. XBOX has transformed from harware-based(old school model) to software based model, in which the main service is Game Pass that can have access in any platform whether being PC, console and cloud.
XBOX can make a lot of money by becoming a third party publisher which will sell first party games at a full price on other platforms like PS/Switch, while at the same time having all first parties and third parties games day one on Game Pass, which will incrase the numbers of subscribers.
Right now, the only reason to have an XBOX console is if you want to have Game Pass through console. But it doesn't matter for Microsoft. It will be more profitable for XBOX to have Game Pass on PC without the need to sell consoles at a loss. Even if Microsoft start selling all first party games on PS5, then you can still have XBOX consoles for Game Pass. You don't need nothing else expect Game Pass. Game Pass is the secret weapon which differentiate XBOX compared to other platforms like PS/Switch.
Game Pass won't come to any other platform because Sony will lose a lot of money from people who will play all their games on Game Pass instead of buying them on PS Store, in which Sony takes 30% revenue cut.
Game Pass is everything. It's the first source of revenue for XBOX. The second source of revenue is live service games and mobile games, which make billions of dollars through microtransactions in ALL platforms. The third source of revenue could be multiplatform sales at a full price.
XBOX fans should become less "gamers" and more "corporate" to support Microsoft's growth plan for XBOX. Every business plan that makes a lot of money is the right move for XBOX.
Re: Microsoft CEO Comments On Xbox's New PlayStation Store Success
We were expecting that XBOX will have a huge revenue increase due to Activision Blilzzard acquisition. What we need now is for XBOX to produce massive content to support Game Pass and develop its multiplatform strategy.
XBOX has now over 40 studios with a variety of games coming out every year from live service to single player games. They should bring all their games on Game Pass. All Activision Blizzard should come to Game Pass, and I expect to be announced in the coming summer fest event.
XBOX can provide day one content on Game Pass and, at the same time, could have their first party titles multiplatform on PS5/Switch to make more revenue and higher profit margin. Game Pass subscription growth and multiplatform sales could vastly increase XBOX revenue in the next year, which will dominate the market share.
Besides first party content, I really want XBOX to produce more second party games which will bring day one on Game Pass. XBOX has already bringing a lot of day one indie every month to the service, but it needs to bring more AA/AAA games to the service in order incrase the value of the content, which will attract more subscribers.
XBOX should really develop more AAA action-adventure, story driven cinematic games like Sony. These are the most popular games for the mainstream audience. They are many third party studio which will cooperate with XBOX for second party cinematics games. I mean studios like Remedy, Moon Studios, Eidos Montreal, Crystal Dynamics, Don't Nod, Telltale, etc etc
Re: EA's Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Is Heading To Xbox Game Pass This Week
We need more double A and triple A games coming day one on Game Pass. XBOX should bring new day one releases every month and bring some older AAA titles permanently to the service.
I believe action adventure story driven AAA or AAA games is a great content for Game Pass, which will attract more subscribers. I mean games like the ones below:
Tomb Raiders Survivor trilogy(Tomb Raiders 2013, 2015, 2018). Great cinematics games.
Gotham Knights, Marvels Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman Arkham Series.
All these games were made by Rocksteady(Arkham series) and Crystal Dynamics/Eidos Montreal
Game Pass could have other story driven games like Forspoken, Assassin Creed Mirage, Mafia Trilogy, Alan Wake 2, Final Fanstasy 16, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, RoboCop, Devil May Cry 5, all TellTales's games, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, Beyond: Two Souls etc etc.
Microsoft should invest more money to increase content with good story driven games. It doesn't need to be GOTY level, they could be average/good games which are enjoyable to play.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@Fiendish-Beaver I am really surprised that you don't have such a basic information about XBOX state. I will give you the podcast that is the OFFICIAL pdocast of XBOX in which Phil Spencer and others XBOX excutives talk about the business of XBOX.
You can see the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGlD9SO3rKU&t=1s
As for the quality of the content, I have to disagree with you. Now it's the time that Game Pass have the best content due to first part releases and all Activision Blizzard games. Also, we still have third part day one releases like Persona games, quality indies and viral games like Palworld. Game Pass library is getting bigger and bigger with every addition of new games.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@Fiendish-Beaver You're ill-informed about Game Pass. There is no estimation but it is a FACT that Game Pass has now 35 million subs. The XBOX excutives revealed the numbers of subs during the last XBOX podcast two months ago.
I quote the last news:
"Microsoft finally provides new subscriber numbers after more than two years.
Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service now has 34 million subscribers. That’s up 36 percent from the 25 million Microsoft previously reported more than two years ago. Microsoft revealed the new 34 million figure in an official Xbox podcast today, as part of an announcement that some Xbox exclusives are coming to the PS5 and Nintendo Switch.
It’s the first time Microsoft has disclosed fresh Xbox Game Pass subscriber numbers since announcing its Activision Blizzard acquisition in January 2022.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer previously admitting he had been seeing growth slow on Xbox Game Pass for consoles. “We’re seeing incredible growth on PC ... On console, I’ve seen growth slow down, mainly because at some point you’ve reached everybody on console that wants to subscribe,” said Spencer in a Wall Street Journal interview in October 2022.
It’s clear that Microsoft is a ways away from hitting its ambitious goal of 100 million Xbox Game Pass subscribers by 2030. Microsoft targeted a 73 percent growth rate for Game Pass subscriptions for a single fiscal year that ended in June 2022, but only managed 28 percent. The company then dropped Xbox Game Pass growth as a target for Satya Nadella’s executive compensation last year, after first exceeding its ambitious Game Pass internal targets in 2020 and then failing to meet compensation targets for two years in a row.
The 34 million figure is reflective of the fact Xbox Series S / X consoles haven’t been selling as well as PS5 hardware, and that consumers aren’t flocking to Game Pass for Xbox Cloud Gaming on mobile devices. Microsoft also started converting Xbox Live Gold subscribers over to Xbox Game Pass Core last year, and the company has confirmed to The Verge that the 34 million includes those subscribers, too.
While Xbox president Sarah Bond mentioned that 34 million Xbox Game Pass subscribers will have access to Diablo IV next month, the game won’t actually be available to all Game Pass subscribers. “The 34 million Game Pass membership number is accurate. Diablo IV is coming to Xbox Game Pass on March 28th, with the exception of the Xbox Game Pass Core catalog,” says Kari Perez, head of communications for Xbox, in a statement to The Verge.
Microsoft’s goal isn’t to convert everyone into a Game Pass subscriber, either, according to Spencer. “Our goal is not to make everybody a game pass subscriber,” says Spencer in an interview with The Verge. “I’ve said many times that maybe 10-15 percent of our content and services revenue is subscriber revenue. It’s a good business for us today, Game Pass, but in no way is there a plan that says ‘Okay, everybody needs to become a Game Pass subscriber.’”
That said, Microsoft is still hoping to eventually grow Game Pass, particularly on mobile. The company is building an Xbox mobile gaming store to take on Apple and Google, but Apple’s recent App Store changes haven’t gone the way Microsoft was expecting. “Apple’s new policy is a step in the wrong direction,” says Xbox president Sarah Bond."
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@Fiendish-Beaver You keep showing your arguments based on wrong facts, which doesn't represent the real situation about XBOX.
You said that Microsoft doesn't reveal any information and that Game Pass is failing according to some random insiders. This is just misinformation. Spencer revealed that Game Pass has officially 34 millions subs, which is almost 10m more subs compared to the previous report in the early 2022 that we knew that the service had 25 million subs and 3 billion in revenue.
Again, multiplatform will not hurt Game Pass subs growth. Phil Spencer has stated that there millions of gamers who are PS users and don't have any XBOX service. These are royal consumer in SONY, and Spencer said that they can't make them change platform by coming to XBOX. By going multiplatform, XBOX will reach the consumer base of PS5/Switch, which have millions of gamers who don't have any access on XBOX content and prefer to buy games at a full price instead of being subs to Game Pass.
You should read more carefully Spencer statements:
"Spencer continued, “Our focus is on, how do we continue to grow the games industry by reaching more players in more places, and how do we grow Xbox as part of that - Xbox as a hardware platform, Xbox as a publisher of great games, and Xbox as a platform for the world’s best creators.”
Spencer had some more words to say about exclusives in general.
“I do have a fundamental belief that over the next 5 or 10 years that exclusive games, games that are exclusive to one piece of hardware, are going to be a smaller and smaller part of the industry.”
“And that’s not some great insight,” he continued, “because if you look at the last 10 years, and what the biggest games are today, it’s a natural place - whether it’s one console and PC, multiple consoles, mobile and console and PC, you see big games landing on multiple platforms. And we want to be a great platform for creators to realise that potential.”"
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@Fiendish-Beaver You seem that you refuse to accept Microsoft growth plan, and you insist in your own baseless views.
Game Pass is NOT a direct competitor to the full price games at PS5. The value of Game Pass is that you can play ANY game - first or third party- for a low price of 10 dollars every month compared to the full price that you have to pay on PS5.
Exclusives is not the reason why people subscribe to Game Pass. It's the total value of the content that make Game Pass a great service, despite having games on other platforms at full price. You can't compare Game Pass, which is a subscription service, to full price model. There are two different models, in which Microsoft can profit from both model by going multiplatform and having her games full price in other platforms.
You logic is flawed. People, who already have Game Pass, won't quit the service to buy XBOX games on PS5 for full price. That will be a quite expensive move to quit Game Pass, which cost ten bucks per month, and paying 200-300 dollars to buy these same games on PS5 - the same games that are available on Game Pass.
However, even in that scenario, in which you abandon Game Pass to buy full price games on PS5, Microsoft will still make a lot of money. Even you quit Game Pass and start buying Starfield, Hellblade 2 etc on PS5 at a full price, Microsoft will still make a lot of money from full price sales. Microsoft can literally can't lose, it's a win win tactic.
The argument that multiplatform will hurt Game Pass subs growth is absurd, it doesn't make any sense at all. Game Pass will always be the valuable service, and will get even better with more first/third party day one releases and all Activision Blizzard games in the near future.
More content=more subs=more revenue= more content again
Re: Star Wars Outlaws Launches This August On Xbox Series X|S
There is much negativity about Ubisoft. The games looks awesome! It looks better than Jedi Survivor. It will be the first serious open world star wars game. I know that Ubisoft will make a great a open world map, as always, but I want them to make a really good story. I suppose the combat will be like Tom Clancy and some stealth mechanics. The Star Wars Outlaws seems to have AAA production values, so it won't be a cheap game like Avatar, which was an typical Ubisoft average game.
I know that the games will have good open world and fun combat. The real challenge for Ubisoft is to deliver a good story game with good pacing, not useless grind, not pointless side quest to progress the story. Ubisoft should prove to everyone that they can make a good story driven action adventure game similar to Sony's Spiderman, God of War etc... and Cyberpunk 2077, Hellblade and all these great story driven games.
Assassin Creed Mirage was a great game, not GOTY level, but it was a better game than Valhalla, which had bigger budget and more gameplay. Unlike Valhalla, AC Mirage didn't have stupid grind, pointless quest and a lot of filler gameplay. AC Mirage had good campaign of 15 hours, which had much better pacing than Valhalla filler quests.
We don't need bigger games but quality ones. Ubisoft made a good point by turning quality>quantity with AC Mirage. This is what I expect from Star War Outlaws. I want quality. I don't want 60 hours of filler and boring gameplay. I want 15-20 hours of high quality story driven gameplay.
In Ubisoft we trust!
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@Fiendish-Beaver Xbox Game Pass subscribers expected to grow to 110 million by 2030
Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/93547/xbox-game-pass-subscribers-expected-to-grow-110-million-by-2030/index.html
The recent FTC v Microsoft trial leaks were some of the biggest in the history of interactive entertainment. The erroneously-uploaded files offer a candid look at upcoming plans for Xbox, including new mid-gen refreshes and a potential hybrid compute console that could change the future of gaming.
Popular Now: NVIDIA to unveil top-end GeForce RTX 5090, and high-end RTX 5080 at first later this year
The leaked documents show that Xbox Game Pass is a big part of this plan. Microsoft eventually wants to lead the Big 3 hierarchy and help usher the industry into a new age of disruption, and it wants to use Game Pass to help make it happen.
Note: The following figures are estimates that are based on a leaked Xbox slide presentation from Fiscal Year 2022, which is from July 2021 - June 2022. Microsoft is currently in its Fiscal Year 2024 timeline. The information below may be outdated and may not reflect the newer 10-year streaming deals that Microsoft has made with NVIDIA and even Ubisoft in an attempt to appease regulators in the Microsoft-Activision merger. It's also likely that the 110 million figure includes the conversion from Xbox LIVE -> Xbox Game Pass Core, which represents some ~11 million subscribers. Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer has commented on the leaks, saying that: "So much has changed."
In the next 7 years, Microsoft believes Xbox Game Pass may grow substantially. By 2030, Microsoft expects Xbox Game Pass to have about 110 million subscribers.
Xbox Game Pass subscribers expected to grow to 110 million by 2030 20301
Open Gallery 3
As shown in the documents, cloud should be a substantial method of access for Game Pass subscribers. Based on the slides, Xbox expects about 32 million of its Xbox Game Pass subscriber base to be "cloud-first gamers" who play games from a myriad of devices including smart TVs, streaming sticks (via apps), low-end PCs, and mobile devices.
The combination of hardware, services, and content could help supercharge cloud gaming on Xbox Game Pass.
As for the other segments, console is expected to lead with about 58 million subscribers, and PC-first gamers are expected to be in third place at 20 million. It's clear that Microsoft hopes it can capture some of the more fring gamers with its cloud ambitions.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@Fiendish-Beaver You make a lot of arguments based on factless assumptions.
Let me tell what we really know about the future of XBOX:
1) Microsoft will not abandon console market even if XBOX becomes a multiplatform company. The reason is that 15-20 million subscribers of Game Pass are coming from console.
2) Sony will not allow Game Pass on her platform because it will jeopardize her own store and services.
3) Game Pass will not become a first part only service like EA play or Ubisoft Plus even if XBOX becomes a multiplatform company. XBOX is the biggest gaming publisher at the moment with the financial goal to reach 50-60 subs in the next two years and almost 100 sub until the end of the decade. Game Pass will not abandon day one third party games because they increase the value of the service. To the contrary, XBOX will produce more first/second/third party content after finishing all these aqcuisitions and having more revenue from the increasing subscription base.
It's pretty clear that Game Pass can't reach 50-100 million subs with first party alone. XBOX needs third party content to attract different kind of gamers to the service. It's the smart move to diversify Game Pass library to have all kind of content that will please a lot of gamers-consumers.
The only scenario for Microsoft to abandon console market is if it has subscribers growth coming exclusively from PC and cloud, which will not happen because we already know that half of Game Pass subs prefer consoles as the main platform.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@RIghteousNixon How can you disagree with me? I just said the same argument as you, that XBOX will become a multiplatform company because it has to sale its games to other platforms, which have a huge consumer base. XBOX needs to expand consumer base by approaching PS/Switch fanbase.Also, porting games is not a big issue. I believe XBOX has the resource to port all first party titles within one year.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@Fiendish-Beaver Michael Pachter:
Why are they bringing their exclusive titles on other platforms? The reason they're doing it is because the Nintendo model and the Sony model of proprietary titles on proprietary platforms is the wrong model. It's a broken model. Nintendo started this in 1985. It worked for 40 years. Sony emulated that in 1995 with PlayStation, Microsoft emulated that in 2001 with Xbox and for a long time it worked and then it didn't.
Supporting your content by managing the distribution on your platform is like a movie studio owning a chain of movie theaters and the only way you can watch their movie is in their theaters. Now, that'll work and they'll make money, but they won't make as much money as they do if they distribute their movies in six or seven different other ways.
Microsoft's going to have timed exclusives. They're going to put some content on PlayStation and Switch, they're going to put some content exclusively on Game Pass, and they're going to tweak it and figure it out. Buying Activision, they agreed with regulators that they would do this but they didn't agree because the regulator said so. They always were going to do this. Buying Activision and pulling Call of Duty off of PlayStation wouldn't have made sense, they would not have sold as many copies of Call of Duty if they put it exclusively on Xbox.
It is true that the exclusivity model seems outdated when the industry is faced with rising budgets and the pressing need to find new gamers. However, only Xbox seems intent on truly breaking down the barriers between console platforms. PlayStation is only doing it with PC, and with a significant delay, too. There's no indication Nintendo will do any of that in the foreseeable future, either.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@Fiendish-Beaver
A quote from Michael Pachter:
Their Xbox Live Gold membership was 50 million. Their Game Pass subscription number was 25 million, and then when they changed how they reported Core, the number went to 34. Why didn't it go to 75? Why didn't it go to 50? It didn't because whoever reported that they are counting Xbox Live Gold members as part of Game Pass is reporting it wrong. Sorry. It's just not right. Xbox Live Gold membership has not gone down. That's not how they count it.
When we start to get Activision Blizzard games I expect subscribers to pick up. I do think that Game Pass is going to become huge. I do think the number is going to be 200 million plus subscribers. I've been saying that in the next 10 years, I think it'll get to 200 million and I'll make that bet with anybody. I promise I'll pay it will be 200 million in the next 10 years. They are that committed to it
I don't think new subscribers have dried up. The huge acquisitions were really just Bethesda which is starting to show some traction and then Activision, which has no traction yet because the first title hasn't shown up. Come back and ask me that question a year from now once they have Call of Duty on there.
Why are they bringing their exclusive titles on other platforms? The reason they're doing it is because the Nintendo model and the Sony model of proprietary titles on proprietary platforms is the wrong model. It's a broken model. Nintendo started this in 1985. It worked for 40 years. Sony emulated that in 1995 with PlayStation, Microsoft emulated that in 2001 with Xbox and for a long time it worked and then it didn't.
Supporting your content by managing the distribution on your platform is like a movie studio owning a chain of movie theaters and the only way you can watch their movie is in their theaters. Now, that'll work and they'll make money, but they won't make as much money as they do if they distribute their movies in six or seven different other ways.
Microsoft's going to have timed exclusives. They're going to put some content on PlayStation and Switch, they're going to put some content exclusively on Game Pass, and they're going to tweak it and figure it out. Buying Activision, they agreed with regulators that they would do this but they didn't agree because the regulator said so. They always were going to do this. Buying Activision and pulling Call of Duty off of PlayStation wouldn't have made sense, they would not have sold as many copies of Call of Duty if they put it exclusively on Xbox.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@Fiendish-Beaver Even if you cancel you cancel your game pass sub and buy all xbox games on PS5, Microsoft will make a lot of money by selling the games at a full price.
Microsoft will sale her games at 50-60$ range. Sony will take 30% revenue cut, so Microsoft will have a pure profit of 42$ per unit. If XBOX manages to make 6-8 million sales on PS5, it will have a revenue of 250-350$ million per game, which is enough to cover the development budget and make a small profit without even counting the additional revenue from PC(steam etc) and Game Pass subs. It's a win-win scenario for Microsoft, which will make a lot of money by having her games on multiplatform consoles and Game Pass.
However, it's very unlikely for someone, who has already game pass, to abandon the service and start buying the games at a full price on PS5. It will be a very stupid move because Game Pass has so much content which worth thousands of dollars, and adds new day one releases almost every month from first/third parties, which worth hundreds of dollars. And Game Pass will have more value in the near future by adding all the games of Activision Blizzard while at the same time releasing AAA first games like Helblade, Indianna Jones and some AA games like Avowed. Phil Spencer has stated that he wants a new first party games every 3 months, which is at least 4 first party titles for the whole year. Having over 40 studios and 19.000 developers, XBOX has enough manpower to release a lot of games every single year.
Spencer has said that Game Pass was making 3 billion in revenue when it had 22 million subs, and it was profitable. It's pretty clear that Game Pass has more revenue now with over 34 million subs, which makes the service more stable from a financial perspective.
The goal for Game Pass is to increase subscription numbers to 50-60 millions subs in the next two years, and in 100-200 million subs in the next decade.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
It's the right move for XBOX to bring all their games to multiplatform because this is the only way to increase profits and revenue. It will be a win-win move to release first party games on Game Pass and, at the same time, to sale full price on PS5/Switch. There is a huge consume base on PS5/Switch which are gamers who don't have Game Pass but they are paying for full price games on their favorite platform.
XBOX needs more and more content for Game Pass and be less depended on third party games. They should get to a point in which they will release only first/second/third party day one games on Game Pass, which will be permanent content, not time limit third party games. XBOX has over 40+ studios and 19.000 employess, plus their second party deals, to release new content every single month. XBOX has the resources to make 3-4 AAA games every year, same number of AA and some indies without even counting the live service games such as Call of Duty, Warcraft etc etc.
Re: Rumour: Multiple Reveals Confirmed Ahead Of June's Xbox Showcase
Besides Gears, it would be a great move to announce that all Activision Blizzard games will come to Game Pass. It would be a huge boost to the service.