@Titntin I just really want you to elaborate how XBOX is in decline. Do you even remember the state of XBOX before Phil Spencer take over? Microsoft was ready to close down the entire XBOX Division after XBOX ONE launch. These are words from Spencer himself:
"Today Microsoft celebrates the start of its fourth (or fifth?) generation of video game console hardware with the launch of the Xbox Series X/S. But Microsoft Xbox Chief Phil Spencer says the company's gaming efforts almost didn't make it to this point, and Microsoft was considering abandoning the console space just after the 2013 launch of the Xbox One."
"In an extensive interview with Shacknews, Spencer looks back a bit at the tumult within Microsoft in general (and the Xbox division in particular) leading up to the Xbox One rollout. The retirement of Xbox President Don Mattrick in July of 2013, just after the Xbox One's troubled E3 debut, left planning for the Xbox One launch "distributed amongst the company in what I would say is a way that wasn't really feasible for Xbox," Spencer said.
With just months to go before launch when Mattrick left, control of the Xbox brand was splintered across three teams: a platform team headed by Marc Whitten; a first-party games team led by Spencer in "another" part of the company; and a separate marketing team that had been "moved out" from the rest of the Xbox planning. "I don't think it was the best move for stability of our launch," Spencer recalled.
@Titntin I didn't acknowledge anything. I just said that we need to wait until all games come on game pass and see what will the impact be on sub growth. You said that the aqcuisition didn't have any spike on subs, which is an illogical thing to say, because you can't expect sub growth while there is no ABK content on game pass yet.
You are saying that XBOX is in decline...can you elaborate your opinion about that? How XBOX is weaker now compared to the previous generation?
Now, XBOX has over 40 studios with all these acquisitions during the period 2018-2023.
It has one of the most popular franchise with high grossing live service games and mobile games.
Game Pass has over 35 million subs and we expect more growth in the near future.
In terms of revenue, XBOX will surpass Sony for the fiscal year of 2024.
Sony has 22 studios while XBOX has over 40 studios.XBOX is already making more content with better roadmap of first party than Playstation for 2024.
All the facts show that XBOX is on the right track to dominate the market. The next step is to just be more productive with all these studios by releasing more first party games, bringing more day one third parties on game pass and adding all ABK games.
Of course, it should make quality content, good games, that will bring value to Game Pass and more sales for XBOX. This is indeed a challenge that XBOX studios should face, and deliver quality game.
@Titntin I agree that we can both have different perspectives and it's okay. However, you make a statement on wrong facts such this below:
"The acquisition of this company has hardly seen a spike in subs either from what we can gather, and judging by the new '3rd party publisher moves'."
We haven't even seen Activision Blizzard games on Game Pass, so we can't know the impact on the subscription growth. We need to have all ABK games on game pass, and then to see how much this move will affect subs.
Exclusivity was never an option for Activision Blizzard. Microsoft would be crazy to abandon rival platforms such a Playstation in which games like Call of Duty make a crazy amount of money as a live service game. They should keep ABK as a multiplatform company, and add all their games to Game Pass to increase content and subs growth.
In my opinion, the "game player view" is a naive and wrong view. All these talks about exclusivity and "console wars" is just childish play with not an actual benefit about XBOX brand. We have to see the bigger picture and see how much XBOX revenue can grow by going multiplatform and invest more on Game Pass. XBOX has the chance to make money by both game pass subs and multiplatform full price sales. Xbox can surpass Sony in revenue and become the market leader.
@Titntin You have a wrong view about these games. Activision Blizzard has made 8 billion dollars in revenue and 2.5 billion dollars net profit from these franchise. Franchise like Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo, Candy Crash can generate hunders of millions to billions of dollars every single year. It's one of the most high grossing live service games out there. if you bring all these games to Game Pass and keep them multiplatform, XBOX could make a lot of money from subs growth and multiplatform sales-microtransactions in all platforms.
If you only want single player games, then Activision Blizzard is not your first priority, because it's a company that makes live service games as a top products. XBOX has 22 studios and Bethesda to produce high quality AAA single player titles. From Activision Blizzard, you could get the new Call of Duty campaing every year, some story expansion in WoW and a new diablo game every few years, but you shouldn't not expect new single player titles every year. It's a live service company.
XBOX should make day one releases with first/third party games. Besides first party content, they should make more deals fro second party games like Toys for Bob or bringing more day one third party games on Game Pass. That's the way to increase the value of Game Pass. More games, more value; more value, more subs; more subs, more revenue;
They should bring all these games at once on Game Pass. We don't need one game per time. XBOX should make the big move to bring all Activision Blizzard games in one month and increase the value of Game Pass for the consumer.
Activision Blizzard + first/third party day one releases is winning strategy in my view for Game Pass to increase subscription base.
Under Phil Spencer, XBOX has become the world biggest publisher with over 40 studios and 19.000 employees. Do you remember the state of XBOX before 2014? Spencer literally saved XBOX from closing down by Microsoft. Spencer has made a lot acquisitions durign the period 2018-2023. In 2018, XBOX aqcuired Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Undead Labs and Compulsion Games. They created a new studio, The Initiative. In 2020, XBOX aqcuired Bethesda and, in 2023, it had Activision Blizzard.
XBOX has become a true powerhouse under Phil Spencer leadership. He's doing fine with having Game Pass as the main service and going multiplatform for more sales at full price by selling their games to PS/Switch platforms.
The next step for Phil Spencer is to make Game Pass the top service platform for gaming. To achieve that goal, I believe that he should focus on releasing first/third party EVERY SINGLE MONTH that will be AAA/AA games. He also could make more second party deals for publishing games under XBOX with external studios. XBOX should release at least 2-3 AAA single games every year besides live service games.
XBOX future is Game Pass growth, not consoles. XBOX consolo will continue to exist, but it will an optional choice for those who want to enjoy Game Pass on console platform.
Multiplatform and day one release on Game Pass will increase revenue and profit margin for XBOX to an enormous level. You can't lose the opportunity to make more money because of the exclusivity, which limits the consumer base in one platform.
XBOX brand is bright. XBOX haw now a diverse portfolio of studio that making all kind of games from AAA games, live service, mobile etc etc. It has some of the most popular franchise like Call of Duty, Diablo, Warcraft, Halo, Gears, Elder Scroll, Fallout etc etc.
XBOX can and should dominate the market with that kind of manpower. Phil Spencer spend years for creating the resources(a lot of acquisitions), but now he has to show his management skills and be productive for releasing quality content that will make XBOX the dominant force on gaming.
@theduckofdeath Sony is known for making blockbuster cinematics games. You're right that they have a long history with pop culture from their film/music divisions.
Microsoft has a more diverse portfolio with XBOX. You have all kind of games like game as a service, rts, fps, rpg games etc etc. However, I think that we will see more "cinematic games" from XBOX as well, because it's extremely popular in mainstream audience. We already expect games like Hellblade 2, Indianna Jones, Blade, Fable etc etc which are all story driven action adventure games....
As a PC gamers, these are the type of games that I really like to play. Games like God of War, Spiderman, Cyberpunk 2077, Gotham Knights, Guardians of the Galaxy, Final Fantasy 16, Last of Us etc etc.
I don't a have PS console, so I buy Sony's games on steam sales when they are available. But as a game pass subscriber, I expect more story driven games from XBOX.
@Fiendish-Beaver Because you don't understand that Game Pass is bigger service than both EA play/Ubisoft Plus. We don't have any information that Game Pass will become a first party only service and abandon third parties. This is your own baseless assumption. It will be a fail move to abandon third party content because Game Pass will become less competitive and won't have much value for a user to become a sub. To the contrary, Game Pass will increase third part content while there's revenue ans sub growth. Phil Spencer has said that XBOX spent 1 billion dollars on third party content in 2023, and they will bring more games to the service in the next years.
You just have your facts wrong dude.
Game Pass will not be a first party service. XBOX consoles won't cease to exist. Multiplatform will bring more revenue and profits for Microsoft. First/third party games with day one releases will make Game Pass even more valuable.
My suggestions for game pass growth are the ones below:
1) They should bring all Activision Blizzard Games on game pass in 2024, which means all Call of Duty titles, Diablo games, WoW, Warcraft rts series, Diablo games, Overwatch, Starcraft etc should come on game pass. That would be a great boost for gamepass' content and will attract many gamers to the service.
2) They should invest more on story driven games. Sony studios are known for making quality AAA story-driven games which are incredible popular for the mainstream audience. Microsoft could bring more story driven games or aqcuire studios that make good single play games like Remedy Entertaiment, Don't Nod, Moon Studios, Eidos Montreal/Cystal Dynamics etc etc.
3) They should bring more third party games on gamepass. Spencer said that they spent almost 1 bilion in 2023 for third party content. They should keep bringing day one third party releases but they could invest more money to bring older titles permanently on game pass.
A good idea is to bring massive jrpg/anime games from japanese publishers in order to attract japanese consumers. They can bring games like Naruto Storm Series, One Piece games, Dragonball games(Fighterz, xenoverse, kakarot), Demon Slayer, Mega man collection series, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Tales of Arise/Scarlet Nexus, Devil May Cry, Street Fighter, Tekken etc etc. All these games are popular franchises by japanese publishers, which are old but great titles. Microsoft doesn't need to spend 200$ millions to bring a new AAA game to the service. They could spend 300$ millions to bring 30 japanese titles on game pass, which will add value to the service.
4) The final step, which is optional, is to keep the huge spending spree and aqcuire big publishers like Embracer or Ubisoft. Ubisoft is good choice because it's a legendary publisher with a lot of popular franchises like Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Tom Clancy etc etc. Ubisoft is a huge publisher with 40 internal studios and 20.000 employees. If Microsoft buys Ubisoft, Xbox will become the bigger publisher of all time with over 80 studios and 40,000 manpower. By comparison, Sony has 23 studios and 7,000 employees, while Nintendo has 7,000-8,000 workforce along with partners.
@Fiendish-Beaver Again, Game Pass won't come on PS5 because Sony won't allow it. If Game Pass comes on PS5, then there will be no reason to buy XBOX games at full price on PS store, and Sony will lose a lot of money from revenue cut on her platform. Also, if gamepass comes on PS, then Sony will lose a lot of subscribers from PS Plus, which is the main rival service against Game Pass.
Multiplatform XBOX games won't hurt XBOX consoles because it doesn't matter for Microsoft to make sale a lot of hardware in the first place. Game pass will remain exclusive on XBOX consoles, which will be available for the 15-20 console user who don't like PC.
"Why do you thing there has not been a single third-party exclusive on the Xbox this generation? And why has there been several on the PlayStation during that same period? "
Again, you misjudge Microsoft new tactic because you don't understand the new reality of XBOX. Sony needs exclusive games, first or second party, because they still follow the tactic of "more exclusives= more PS5 sales". However, Microsoft doesn't need any exclusivity, they just need more content on gamepass and it doesn't matter if the same game are not exclusive. For example, you can either buy Life of P at a full price or play it via sub on game pass. It's day one releases which the selling point on Game Pass, not exclusives games to sale more XBOX consoles. It's a total different tactic from Microsoft, which want to replace hardware based plan to software based plan, which is more profitable anyway.
So, let me repeat again:
1) Game Pass won't come on PS5.
2) Multiplatform XBOX games will boost revenue and profit.
3) XBOX consoles will keep coming out but they are not the selling point anymore. The only thing that matters is subscribers growth on Game Pass.
3) Besides Game Pass, Microsoft has now a lot of popular GaaS games like Callf of Duty, Overwatch etc etc which generate a lot of money through microtransactions in all platforms. Microsoft needs more multiplatform games, bigger consumer base, more sales and more revenue and higher profit margin.
4) XBOX can make a lot of money by both raising subs on gamepass and sell multiplatform games despite the low sales on console hardware.
5) If a consumer wants to play Starfield via gamepass, Microsoft will make money through subscription. If a consumer wants to buy Starfield on PS5, Microsoft will make money through full price sale. It's a win-win scenario. Microsoft can't lose, it will make a lot of money by approaching all platforms.
@LX_FENIX Under Phil Spencer, XBOX has become the world biggest publisher with over 40 studios and 19.000 employees. Do you remember the state of XBOX before 2014? Spencer literally saved XBOX from closing down by Microsoft. Spencer has made a lot acquisitions durign the period 2018-2023. In 2018, XBOX aqcuired Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Undead Labs and Compulsion Games. They created a new studio, The Initiative. In 2020, XBOX aqcuired Bethesda and, in 2023, it had Activision Blizzard.
XBOX has become a true powerhouse under Phil Spencer leadership. He's doing fine with having Game Pass as the main service and going multiplatform for more sales at full price by selling their games to PS/Switch platforms.
@NEStalgia I agree that it will take years for cloud gaming to be a serious thing but it will be the future of gaming. Microsoft long term prediction has cloud subs as a big part of Game Pass. But these are 10 years predictions until 2034.
The realistic scenario for Game Pass for the next 2-3 years is to increase the number of subs from 34 million to 50-60 million. I believe that the best way to make the content more attractive for more subs is to release day one games every single month, whether be first or third parties games. Also, they could bring more old third party games to their platform which will be permanently on Game Pass without an expire time. They could bring day one release new games and 10-15 old games every month to create a huge library for gamers.
@Fiendish-Beaver "Once the core games that attract people into the Xbox ecosystem are on the PlayStation, there is literally no reason to own an Xbox."
....so what's the problem about that? XBOX will sale its first party games at a full price on PS users and, at the same time, will have the same games day one on gamepass to increase the number of subscribers. It's a win-win scenario for XBOX in terms of revenue and profits.
"Then what happens? Game Pass will be a First Party only service that Sony may permit on their platform. It may prove popular, it may not. Will Microsoft still want to put new games on to the service day one? Probably not."
Game Pass WILL NOT come on PS5 because SONY won't allowed it. If gamepas comes on PS5, then there will be no reason to buy any third party on PS Store and Sony will lose a lot of money. Sony will not allow to jeopardize her own platform with such a move. Having said that, the only console in which you can have Game Pass is XBOX consoles, which is enough reason to buy XBOX in the first place.
"What also may happen is that Sony, now being the only high-end console manufacturer will charge full price and then a little profit for their consoles; so expect to be paying £800 or more for your PlayStation.
What Sony may also do is charge more to Developers to put games on to their platform. Currently Sony charge 30%, which is the same as Microsoft. However, with Xbox out of the picture (in terms of consoles) and with the PlayStation being the only high-end console, they may choose to raise that to 40% or even 50%. "
Sony WILL NOT have any monopoly and XBOX will not abandon hardware completely. XBOX will release a next gen home console because they know that there is a consumer base of 15-20 million gamers who prefer to have gamepass on console, and they are not PC gamers. XBOX don't want to lose these console consumers. However, XBOX will not compete Sony on hardware sales because there is no point. Game Pass is the main service and the only thing that matters is subscription growth. If Gamepass managed to increase subs to 50-60 million, Sony will not be able to compete because they don't have a similar service.
Gamepass could have a combined subs of 50-60 million in all platforms whether it's PC, console and cloud. And by going multiplatform will have extra sales(more revenue) from users in other platforms who will buy the XBOX games at a full price.
If Sony wants to increase the price of her console in the next gen or charge more than 30% cut, it's irrelevant for a subscriber of Game Pass. If you have Game Pass and you're part of XBOX ecosystem, then you don't care about your rival platform. For example, I am a PC gamer and I have Game Pass. I only buy Sony games on steam sales because I am satisfied with Game Pass. Sony makes great cinematic games but I don't care so much about her content if it's not available. If Sony doesn't sale her games on PC, then see won't take a penny from me, because I don't belong on PS ecosystem and I have Game Pass, which has enough content and games to spend a lot of time.
@Vaako007 You belong to the niche market that you prefer physical sales for games and films. But it doesn't matter. You kind doesn't matter because the mainstream audience prefer digital only and subscription services. The film industry is completely dominated by sub streaming. Same thing is happening with gaming. However, you will always have the choice to either buy or sub for a game. Even in the film market you have the choice to buy your films rather than being a sub to a streaming service. I don't see any problem with that. And I definitely don't believe that Game Pass is some kind of problem for the industry. Game Pass is the future, which will be available to play console games in your phone through cloud. The only thing that matters for gamepass is to increase its number of subscribers from 35 million to 50-60 million in order to be more profitable and have enough revenue to futher support its content with more day releases and more third party games along with first party ones.
@Vaako007 First of all, it doesn't matter if you don't believe in subscription model. It is an objectively fact that game pass is an big value as a service for many people, because you get so many games, including day one releases, for a small price every month. And the value of game pass will become much bigger as they are releasing more first party titles and when they will bring all Activision Blizzard games to the service.
If you like to own the games, XBOX will still give you the choice for full purchase in your xbox console. There is no gamepass exlusive games, but you have the option to either play the game via subscription or full purchase. However, it's pretty clear that most people prefer gamepass for its value, they don't care to own the games, they just want to play games for a small price every month. It's the same evolution like tv streaming, which dominates the film market. Nobody cares to buy films on blue ray disk(expect some niche collectors) because they can watch all the films/tv series in sub services like Netflix, HBO, Disney plus etc etc.
Game Pass is the main service and the future for XBOX. Consoles might have low sales and playerbase around 10-20 million sale, but Game Pass had already 34 million subscribers in any platform(PC, console, cloud) and it's expected to grow to almost 100 million subs.
Microsoft SHOULD be going multiplatform. They need that extra cash to increase profit margin. They need to sales Halo, Gear, Starfield, Elder Scrolls, Call of Duty etc etc to PS5/Switch because there's a huge consumer base on these platforms, which have millions of users who don't have gamepass, so the only way to profit from them, is by selling the games at full price.
Game Pass and multiplatform is the future for XBOX to dominate the gaming market. It's the only way to increase revenue and profit to a new records. XBOX is the biggest publisher in the world at the moment with over 40 studios and 19.000 employees. XBOX studios have a diverse portfolio by making AAA games, mobile games, GaaS etc and they have multi-million dollar franchise which are extremely popular in any platform.
XBOX have so much content that it will be stupid no to appeal the whole gaming community because of some stupid "exclusivity strategy" bull-***** inspired by hardcore XBOX fanboys who don't understand business. More money, more profit, this is the way.
Microsoft is doing the right thing by quiting hardware and focusing on software, which is more profitable. Game Pass subscribers growth should be the main goal for XBOX, not console sales. Phil Spencer has stated that Microsoft is losing 200$ dollars for every console sales. It's more profitable for Microsoft to become a third party publisher by selling the games on multiplatform and having them on gamepass day one. By having gamepass growth and multiplatform sales at the same time, Microsoft can make a lot of money either from gamepass subs and full price sales for PS5/Switch, which have huge consumer base.
Having said that, Microsoft won't completely quit the console market because they know that there's a small percent of gamers who want to play gamepass on console. They will release a next gen console, which will be a powerful one, but that's it. There won't be two editions like S/X or a mid gen upgrade. It will be one powerful console for the 15-20 million xbox gamers who prefer consoles over PC.
Game Pass is the main service and the future for XBOX. Consoles might have low sales and playerbase around 10-20 million sale, but Game Pass had already 34 million subscribers in any platform(PC, console, cloud) and it's expected to grow to almost 100 million subs.
Microsoft SHOULD be going multiplatform. They need that extra cash to increase profit margin. They need to sales Halo, Gear, Starfield, Elder Scrolls, Call of Duty etc etc to PS5/Switch because there's a huge consumer base on these platforms, which have millions of users who don't have gamepass, so the only way to profit from them, is by selling the games at full price.
Game Pass and multiplatform is the future for XBOX to dominate the gaming market. It's the only way to increase revenue and profit to a new records. XBOX is the biggest publisher in the world at the moment with over 40 studios and 19.000 employees. XBOX studios have a diverse portfolio by making AAA games, mobile games, GaaS etc and they have multi-million dollar franchise which are extremely popular in any platform.
XBOX have so much content that it will be stupid no to appeal the whole gaming community because of some stupid "exclusivity strategy" ***** inspired by hardcore XBOX fanboys who don't understand business. More money, more profit, this is the way.
@HonestHick You're right, Sony won't bring her games on XBOX. They will go multiplatform by releasing the games on PC/PS5. XBOX won't quit console market because they need subscriber for gamepass coming from console gamers. XBOX has already announced that they will make a next gen console. However, Game Pass is the main service for XBOX gamers.
This is a good month. XBOX should bring a day one new release ever month, either a first party or a third party. This is how you bring value to the service compared to other platforms.
@HonestHick I just told you: it doesn't matter if Microsoft has low sales. The only thing that matters is the number of subscribers on Game Pass. As a XBOX user, you have the privilege to enjoy day one first party releases on Game Pass with zero cost, while PS user have to pay full price 70$ for the same games. Microsoft has nothing to lose by going multiplatform. You can have playstation as the main console, and have Gamepass on PC or cloud. Microsofft will make money from software with any way.
That's the thing you don't understand my friend. It's all about money and high profit margin. If XBOX could make a lot of money and record revenue by going multiplatform and have high sub growth on gamepass, you should be happy. It doesn't make any economic sense to have exclusive games anymore because the sales are too low in one platform. Even Sony is considering for going full multiplatform in the next year.
@FatGuyInLilCoat If you have the option to have both consoles, then you don't have any problem. However, even if you only PS5, it doesn't matter to Microsoft from the moment you're gamepass subscriber in other platforms(PC, cloud). If you have PC, then you're the ultimate winner, because you can have both gamepass and Sony's games that will come on PC in the near future.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner The last report showed it had 3 million sales during launch, which is very poor sales for a AAA game. We don't have any recent report about sales, which shows that FF16 hasn't made any significant improvement in sale numbers. The game probably is still under 5 millions in sales, which is very low for AAA standards. The only way to boost sales is by porting the FF16 on PC in the following months.
@FatGuyInLilCoat
Of course they are referring to PC while going multiplatform. I didn't say that they will bring their games on XBOX. The reality is that Sony doesn't make enough sales on PS5 alone that justify the 300 million dollar budget investment to AAA games. Making 10 millions sales is not enought anymore for Sony. They need to reach 15-20 millions units to make a decent profit from their AAA games.
@FatGuyInLilCoat These are not first party titles from Sony. Microsoft has 3 first party titles in 2024, and many third party games which will come day one on gamepass.
Final Fantasy 16/Rebirth are second party games, which are time exclusive on PS5, and they come on PC in the following months. However, both FF 16 and Rebirth had poor sales during the launch on PS5, which is a sign that exlcusivity doesn't work anymore. Even Sony CEO admitted that he wanted to move on multiplatform strategy to improve sales and profit margin for AAA games, which have an enormous development budget.
Final Fantasy 16 sold only 3 million units on PS5, which is very low for AAA game. I am not even sure if Square Enix have made enough money to cover the development cost without making any profit. For AAA games, you need 10-15 millions sales to become high profitable for any company. Even with 10 million sales like Spiderman 2, Sony has made a small profit of 75 million dollars, which is not enough money for such a huge game that costed 300 million dollars budget during the development time.
@HonestHick I disagree with you. XBOX has already a positive momentum with gamepass becoming bigger, while having better lineup in 2024 than Sony. Activision Blizzard games will come to gamepass. We had Hi Fi Rush, Redfall(which was failure), Forza and Starfield in 2023, and we are now having Hellblade 2, Indiana Jones and Avowed in 2024. XBOX started to show its muscles from 2023, and we have a long way until 2026 with a lot of games coming out. However, by going multiplatform, XBOX will achieve much more revenue growth and, at the same time, will have all the new games day one on gamepass for sub growth.
I just can't understand why you're so negative about multiplatform. If you are already a gamepass sub, you have nothing to lose from multiplatform. You will enjoy day one games as you do it right now. Nothing wil change. Multiplatform is just a growth plan for extra revenue and bigger profit margin for the first party titles.
@HonestHick You play Gears with gamepass on Series console or buy it full price on PS5. Either way, you will give your money to XBOX, which is the only thing that matters when we are talking about revenue growth. It's a win-win scenario for Microsoft, because they make you spend money either on gamepass or buy full price games on PS5. I agree that you need quality games to increase gamepass value for subs growth, but I trust XBOX that will deliver good games. Hellblade 2, Avowed, Indianna Jones, all Activision Blizzard games will boost gamepass content, and I expect to see some serious subscription growth after all these new games coming to the service.
@Decimateh All Activision Blizzard games will come to gamepass in the future. However, I think it would be a great move to bring these games to the service as quickly as possible, because it will be a huge boost on gamepass content, which will bring more value for the consumer to be a subscriber.
@Nintendo4Sonic What do you mean you get fooled? If you like the content on a streaming service, then you pay to enjoy it. If you don't like the content, then you don't pay for subscription. Personally, I have a sub on netflix/disney when I have enough content that I want to watch for at least a month. If I ran out of content, then I cancel my sub on these services and wait for new content- series or movies- that I am really interested.
@HonestHick The only reason to have an XBOX console is to be gamepass subscriber. There is no other console in which you can have game pass. Other than gamepass, XBOX consoles are just an optional choice for a gamer. You can easily have a PS5 consoles and have gamepass on your pc. This is good way to have acces on both platforms without the need to buy two consoles. This is the Microsoft plan from the very beginning: focus on Game Pass growth, not console growth.
Microsoft is the biggest gaming publisher at the moment behind Tencent, with more than 40 studios and 20.000 employees. Sony has 23 studios and 5,000 employess while Nintendo has 7,000 employees along with partners.
XBOX has so much manpower that they can release so many new games, so much new content, that they could sale games in full price on PS5/Switch while having them day one on game pass. Multiplatform and Gamepass is a win-win scenario for XBOX Division to make a lot of money with high profit margin.
@HonestHick You need to understand the different strategy between Sony and Microsoft.
Sony keeps the classic hardware based strategy "make exclusive games, sell more consoles" cycle. They wanted to sell as many consoles as possible, in order to have a huge playerbase that will spend money on their games. Sony PS5 has almost triple sales compared to XBOX Series, but even with so many consoles, they still don't make enough profit from AAA sales on console, which is the reason that they are going multiplatform(on PC) in order to make more sales and improve profit margin.
Microsoft has clearly abandoned the console sales, and they don't care to compete against PS5. The new model is software based in which the main service is Game Pass. The only thing that matters is to increase the number of subscribers on game pass in any platform(pc, console, cloud). The XBOX Series consoles has just total 27 million sales, but the Game Pass subscribers is over 34 million in all platforms, which is the main service.
XBOX will become a multiplatform publisher in the near future because they need that extra revenue by selling their games to the consumer base in other consoles, which don't have gamepass and are not a part of xbox ecosystem. The transition is slow, they first release some indie and double A titles like Pentiment and Hi Fi Rush, but they will evenctually announce big releases like Starfield, Halo, Gears etc will come to Playstation as a full price games. Futhermore, companies like Bethesda and Activision Blizzard already have many popular IPs like Elder Scrolls, Call of Duty, Diablo which are multiplatform and they are making billions of dollars in PS5. These titles will be day one on game pass, but it doesn't make any sense to make them exclusive and stop selling them on PS5. Activision Blizzard(and Microsoft) will lose a lot of money by blocking PS users to spend money on microtransactions in Call of Duty. The live service games are most profitable while being multiplatform.
They should bring all Activision Blizzard Games on game pass in 2024, which means all Call of Duty titles, Diablo games, WoW, Warcraft rts series, Diablo games, Overwatch, Starcraft etc should come on game pass. That would be a great boost for gamepass content and will attract many gamers to the service.
@HonestHick It doesn't matter if you buy the PS5 Pro to play the new gta. If you are gamepass subscriber, then it's fine strategy. You can be a gamepass subscriber and have all the other console platform for games that don't exist on game pass catalog. Phil Spencer was pretty clear when he said that doesn't believe in console wars anymore, while going multiplatform and having game pass is the most profitable way. Microsoft sells software, not hardware. XBOX console is just an optional choice for those who don't like PC gaming, and they prefer to be gamepass subs on console.
XBOX doesn't need to invest on hardware anymore. They should become a software based company by going multiplatform and having Game Pass as the main service. The purpose of Game Pass is to have access to the service on any platform(pc, console, mobile, cloud). Of course, XBOX won't quit console market, they will still produce a next gen console, but they don't need to compete in "console wars" against Sony and Nintendo. A console is just another option for having access on Game Pass. Nothing more than that.
What really matters is to increase the number of subscribers on Game Pass from 34 million to 50-60 million, in order to have a huge revenue growth and enough profits to dominate the market.
The second step is going multiplatform to increase sales by having XBOX games on other platforms in full price. We, as xbox gamers, will have day one first party title on gamepass, while PS/Switch gamers will buy the same games in full price for 50-70 bucks. This is extra money for XBOX that could boost the overall revenue besides gamepass subs growth.
XBOX doesn't need any mid gen console. They should focus more on becoming the biggest software third party publisher in the history of gaming. They have the resources, but they need the right growth plan to achieve such an ambitious goal.
They should bring more third party games on gamepass. Spencer said that they spent almost 1 bilion in 2023 for third party content. They should keep bringing day one third party releases but they could invest more money to bring older titles permanently on game pass.
A good idea is to bring massive jrpg/anime games from japanese publishers in order to attract japanese consumers. They can bring games like Naruto Storm Series, One Piece games, Dragonball games(Fighterz, xenoverse, kakarot), Demon Slayer, Mega man collection series, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Tales of Arise/Scarlet Nexus, Devil May Cry, Street Fighter, Tekken etc etc. All these games are popular franchises by japanese publishers, which are old but great titles. Microsoft doesn't need to spend 200$ millions to bring a new AAA game to the service. They could spend 300$ millions to bring 30 japanese titles on game pass, which will add value to the service.
@Ricky-Spanish yeah, you're right. Game Pass is the ultimate value service for me. As a PC gamer, I find that it has great content, and it will become even better in the near future, with more third parties and all Activision Blizzard games and all the new first party titles which will come day one. We were waiting for years for a good lineup, and after all these aqcuisitions, now we can finally enjoy the content that we were expecting from the very beginning.
@Nintendo4Sonic Whether you like it or not, the subscription model is the future of the entertaiment industry. Music, movies and videogames are all part of the new sub model. As for retails, you don't need them anymore, and companies are losing a lot of money in physical sales compared to digital. Gaming companies can increase their profit margin by going digital only without losing money in the retail market.
@Ricky-Spanish This is such a naive opinion. Nobody forces you to have a subscription. You can either buy the game or be a sub to gamepass. If you like to own the games, then it's fine. But you don't need to hate gamepass as an alternative option. There many people(like me) who are big supporters of gamepass because it's super value for a casual gamer that he can enjoy a variety of different games without spending a fortune.
@Nintendo4Sonic dude, are you serious? Can you tell me one reason why you don't support Game Pass? The service has great content, a lot of games to play, with a small price every month. I don't understand why you're so negative about the sub model.
Well, it's a great game that will boost gamepass content, which is already great. XBOX needs to bring more third party story driven titles like Control. It would be a nice idea to aqcuire Remedy Entertaiment, which is a very talented studio that creates quality story driven games. We need more "cinematic games" to compete against Sony.
Comments 141
Re: Which Activision Blizzard Game Do You Want Next On Xbox Game Pass?
@Titntin I just really want you to elaborate how XBOX is in decline. Do you even remember the state of XBOX before Phil Spencer take over? Microsoft was ready to close down the entire XBOX Division after XBOX ONE launch. These are words from Spencer himself:
"Today Microsoft celebrates the start of its fourth (or fifth?) generation of video game console hardware with the launch of the Xbox Series X/S. But Microsoft Xbox Chief Phil Spencer says the company's gaming efforts almost didn't make it to this point, and Microsoft was considering abandoning the console space just after the 2013 launch of the Xbox One."
"In an extensive interview with Shacknews, Spencer looks back a bit at the tumult within Microsoft in general (and the Xbox division in particular) leading up to the Xbox One rollout. The retirement of Xbox President Don Mattrick in July of 2013, just after the Xbox One's troubled E3 debut, left planning for the Xbox One launch "distributed amongst the company in what I would say is a way that wasn't really feasible for Xbox," Spencer said.
With just months to go before launch when Mattrick left, control of the Xbox brand was splintered across three teams: a platform team headed by Marc Whitten; a first-party games team led by Spencer in "another" part of the company; and a separate marketing team that had been "moved out" from the rest of the Xbox planning. "I don't think it was the best move for stability of our launch," Spencer recalled.
Re: Which Activision Blizzard Game Do You Want Next On Xbox Game Pass?
@Titntin I didn't acknowledge anything. I just said that we need to wait until all games come on game pass and see what will the impact be on sub growth. You said that the aqcuisition didn't have any spike on subs, which is an illogical thing to say, because you can't expect sub growth while there is no ABK content on game pass yet.
You are saying that XBOX is in decline...can you elaborate your opinion about that? How XBOX is weaker now compared to the previous generation?
Now, XBOX has over 40 studios with all these acquisitions during the period 2018-2023.
It has one of the most popular franchise with high grossing live service games and mobile games.
Game Pass has over 35 million subs and we expect more growth in the near future.
In terms of revenue, XBOX will surpass Sony for the fiscal year of 2024.
Sony has 22 studios while XBOX has over 40 studios.XBOX is already making more content with better roadmap of first party than Playstation for 2024.
All the facts show that XBOX is on the right track to dominate the market. The next step is to just be more productive with all these studios by releasing more first party games, bringing more day one third parties on game pass and adding all ABK games.
Of course, it should make quality content, good games, that will bring value to Game Pass and more sales for XBOX. This is indeed a challenge that XBOX studios should face, and deliver quality game.
Re: Which Activision Blizzard Game Do You Want Next On Xbox Game Pass?
@Titntin I agree that we can both have different perspectives and it's okay. However, you make a statement on wrong facts such this below:
"The acquisition of this company has hardly seen a spike in subs either from what we can gather, and judging by the new '3rd party publisher moves'."
We haven't even seen Activision Blizzard games on Game Pass, so we can't know the impact on the subscription growth. We need to have all ABK games on game pass, and then to see how much this move will affect subs.
Exclusivity was never an option for Activision Blizzard. Microsoft would be crazy to abandon rival platforms such a Playstation in which games like Call of Duty make a crazy amount of money as a live service game. They should keep ABK as a multiplatform company, and add all their games to Game Pass to increase content and subs growth.
In my opinion, the "game player view" is a naive and wrong view. All these talks about exclusivity and "console wars" is just childish play with not an actual benefit about XBOX brand. We have to see the bigger picture and see how much XBOX revenue can grow by going multiplatform and invest more on Game Pass. XBOX has the chance to make money by both game pass subs and multiplatform full price sales. Xbox can surpass Sony in revenue and become the market leader.
Re: Which Activision Blizzard Game Do You Want Next On Xbox Game Pass?
@Titntin You have a wrong view about these games. Activision Blizzard has made 8 billion dollars in revenue and 2.5 billion dollars net profit from these franchise. Franchise like Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo, Candy Crash can generate hunders of millions to billions of dollars every single year. It's one of the most high grossing live service games out there. if you bring all these games to Game Pass and keep them multiplatform, XBOX could make a lot of money from subs growth and multiplatform sales-microtransactions in all platforms.
If you only want single player games, then Activision Blizzard is not your first priority, because it's a company that makes live service games as a top products. XBOX has 22 studios and Bethesda to produce high quality AAA single player titles. From Activision Blizzard, you could get the new Call of Duty campaing every year, some story expansion in WoW and a new diablo game every few years, but you shouldn't not expect new single player titles every year. It's a live service company.
XBOX should make day one releases with first/third party games. Besides first party content, they should make more deals fro second party games like Toys for Bob or bringing more day one third party games on Game Pass. That's the way to increase the value of Game Pass. More games, more value; more value, more subs; more subs, more revenue;
Re: Which Activision Blizzard Game Do You Want Next On Xbox Game Pass?
They should bring all these games at once on Game Pass. We don't need one game per time. XBOX should make the big move to bring all Activision Blizzard games in one month and increase the value of Game Pass for the consumer.
Activision Blizzard + first/third party day one releases is winning strategy in my view for Game Pass to increase subscription base.
Re: Phil Spencer Celebrates 10 Years As Head Of Xbox This Weekend
Under Phil Spencer, XBOX has become the world biggest publisher with over 40 studios and 19.000 employees. Do you remember the state of XBOX before 2014? Spencer literally saved XBOX from closing down by Microsoft. Spencer has made a lot acquisitions durign the period 2018-2023. In 2018, XBOX aqcuired Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Undead Labs and Compulsion Games. They created a new studio, The Initiative. In 2020, XBOX aqcuired Bethesda and, in 2023, it had Activision Blizzard.
XBOX has become a true powerhouse under Phil Spencer leadership. He's doing fine with having Game Pass as the main service and going multiplatform for more sales at full price by selling their games to PS/Switch platforms.
The next step for Phil Spencer is to make Game Pass the top service platform for gaming. To achieve that goal, I believe that he should focus on releasing first/third party EVERY SINGLE MONTH that will be AAA/AA games. He also could make more second party deals for publishing games under XBOX with external studios. XBOX should release at least 2-3 AAA single games every year besides live service games.
XBOX future is Game Pass growth, not consoles. XBOX consolo will continue to exist, but it will an optional choice for those who want to enjoy Game Pass on console platform.
Multiplatform and day one release on Game Pass will increase revenue and profit margin for XBOX to an enormous level. You can't lose the opportunity to make more money because of the exclusivity, which limits the consumer base in one platform.
XBOX brand is bright. XBOX haw now a diverse portfolio of studio that making all kind of games from AAA games, live service, mobile etc etc. It has some of the most popular franchise like Call of Duty, Diablo, Warcraft, Halo, Gears, Elder Scroll, Fallout etc etc.
XBOX can and should dominate the market with that kind of manpower. Phil Spencer spend years for creating the resources(a lot of acquisitions), but now he has to show his management skills and be productive for releasing quality content that will make XBOX the dominant force on gaming.
Re: Three Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (March 28)
@theduckofdeath Sony is known for making blockbuster cinematics games. You're right that they have a long history with pop culture from their film/music divisions.
Microsoft has a more diverse portfolio with XBOX. You have all kind of games like game as a service, rts, fps, rpg games etc etc. However, I think that we will see more "cinematic games" from XBOX as well, because it's extremely popular in mainstream audience. We already expect games like Hellblade 2, Indianna Jones, Blade, Fable etc etc which are all story driven action adventure games....
As a PC gamers, these are the type of games that I really like to play. Games like God of War, Spiderman, Cyberpunk 2077, Gotham Knights, Guardians of the Galaxy, Final Fantasy 16, Last of Us etc etc.
I don't a have PS console, so I buy Sony's games on steam sales when they are available. But as a game pass subscriber, I expect more story driven games from XBOX.
Re: Phil Spencer Would Like To See Other Digital Storefronts Appear On Xbox
@Fiendish-Beaver Because you don't understand that Game Pass is bigger service than both EA play/Ubisoft Plus. We don't have any information that Game Pass will become a first party only service and abandon third parties. This is your own baseless assumption. It will be a fail move to abandon third party content because Game Pass will become less competitive and won't have much value for a user to become a sub. To the contrary, Game Pass will increase third part content while there's revenue ans sub growth. Phil Spencer has said that XBOX spent 1 billion dollars on third party content in 2023, and they will bring more games to the service in the next years.
You just have your facts wrong dude.
Game Pass will not be a first party service. XBOX consoles won't cease to exist. Multiplatform will bring more revenue and profits for Microsoft. First/third party games with day one releases will make Game Pass even more valuable.
This is the true state of XBOX at the moment.
Re: Three Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (March 28)
My suggestions for game pass growth are the ones below:
1) They should bring all Activision Blizzard Games on game pass in 2024, which means all Call of Duty titles, Diablo games, WoW, Warcraft rts series, Diablo games, Overwatch, Starcraft etc should come on game pass. That would be a great boost for gamepass' content and will attract many gamers to the service.
2) They should invest more on story driven games. Sony studios are known for making quality AAA story-driven games which are incredible popular for the mainstream audience. Microsoft could bring more story driven games or aqcuire studios that make good single play games like Remedy Entertaiment, Don't Nod, Moon Studios, Eidos Montreal/Cystal Dynamics etc etc.
3) They should bring more third party games on gamepass. Spencer said that they spent almost 1 bilion in 2023 for third party content. They should keep bringing day one third party releases but they could invest more money to bring older titles permanently on game pass.
A good idea is to bring massive jrpg/anime games from japanese publishers in order to attract japanese consumers. They can bring games like Naruto Storm Series, One Piece games, Dragonball games(Fighterz, xenoverse, kakarot), Demon Slayer, Mega man collection series, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Tales of Arise/Scarlet Nexus, Devil May Cry, Street Fighter, Tekken etc etc. All these games are popular franchises by japanese publishers, which are old but great titles. Microsoft doesn't need to spend 200$ millions to bring a new AAA game to the service. They could spend 300$ millions to bring 30 japanese titles on game pass, which will add value to the service.
4) The final step, which is optional, is to keep the huge spending spree and aqcuire big publishers like Embracer or Ubisoft. Ubisoft is good choice because it's a legendary publisher with a lot of popular franchises like Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Tom Clancy etc etc. Ubisoft is a huge publisher with 40 internal studios and 20.000 employees. If Microsoft buys Ubisoft, Xbox will become the bigger publisher of all time with over 80 studios and 40,000 manpower. By comparison, Sony has 23 studios and 7,000 employees, while Nintendo has 7,000-8,000 workforce along with partners.
Re: Phil Spencer Would Like To See Other Digital Storefronts Appear On Xbox
@Fiendish-Beaver Again, Game Pass won't come on PS5 because Sony won't allow it. If Game Pass comes on PS5, then there will be no reason to buy XBOX games at full price on PS store, and Sony will lose a lot of money from revenue cut on her platform. Also, if gamepass comes on PS, then Sony will lose a lot of subscribers from PS Plus, which is the main rival service against Game Pass.
Multiplatform XBOX games won't hurt XBOX consoles because it doesn't matter for Microsoft to make sale a lot of hardware in the first place. Game pass will remain exclusive on XBOX consoles, which will be available for the 15-20 console user who don't like PC.
"Why do you thing there has not been a single third-party exclusive on the Xbox this generation? And why has there been several on the PlayStation during that same period? "
Again, you misjudge Microsoft new tactic because you don't understand the new reality of XBOX. Sony needs exclusive games, first or second party, because they still follow the tactic of "more exclusives= more PS5 sales". However, Microsoft doesn't need any exclusivity, they just need more content on gamepass and it doesn't matter if the same game are not exclusive. For example, you can either buy Life of P at a full price or play it via sub on game pass. It's day one releases which the selling point on Game Pass, not exclusives games to sale more XBOX consoles. It's a total different tactic from Microsoft, which want to replace hardware based plan to software based plan, which is more profitable anyway.
So, let me repeat again:
1) Game Pass won't come on PS5.
2) Multiplatform XBOX games will boost revenue and profit.
3) XBOX consoles will keep coming out but they are not the selling point anymore. The only thing that matters is subscribers growth on Game Pass.
3) Besides Game Pass, Microsoft has now a lot of popular GaaS games like Callf of Duty, Overwatch etc etc which generate a lot of money through microtransactions in all platforms. Microsoft needs more multiplatform games, bigger consumer base, more sales and more revenue and higher profit margin.
4) XBOX can make a lot of money by both raising subs on gamepass and sell multiplatform games despite the low sales on console hardware.
5) If a consumer wants to play Starfield via gamepass, Microsoft will make money through subscription. If a consumer wants to buy Starfield on PS5, Microsoft will make money through full price sale. It's a win-win scenario. Microsoft can't lose, it will make a lot of money by approaching all platforms.
Re: Phil Spencer On Porting Exclusives: 'Every Decision We Make Is To Make Xbox Stronger'
@LX_FENIX Under Phil Spencer, XBOX has become the world biggest publisher with over 40 studios and 19.000 employees. Do you remember the state of XBOX before 2014? Spencer literally saved XBOX from closing down by Microsoft. Spencer has made a lot acquisitions durign the period 2018-2023. In 2018, XBOX aqcuired Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Undead Labs and Compulsion Games. They created a new studio, The Initiative. In 2020, XBOX aqcuired Bethesda and, in 2023, it had Activision Blizzard.
XBOX has become a true powerhouse under Phil Spencer leadership. He's doing fine with having Game Pass as the main service and going multiplatform for more sales at full price by selling their games to PS/Switch platforms.
Re: Phil Spencer On Porting Exclusives: 'Every Decision We Make Is To Make Xbox Stronger'
@somnambulance Because the point is not to sale more consoles but have more subscribers on Game Pass in any platform(PC, console, cloud).
Re: Phil Spencer Would Like To See Other Digital Storefronts Appear On Xbox
@NEStalgia I agree that it will take years for cloud gaming to be a serious thing but it will be the future of gaming. Microsoft long term prediction has cloud subs as a big part of Game Pass. But these are 10 years predictions until 2034.
The realistic scenario for Game Pass for the next 2-3 years is to increase the number of subs from 34 million to 50-60 million. I believe that the best way to make the content more attractive for more subs is to release day one games every single month, whether be first or third parties games. Also, they could bring more old third party games to their platform which will be permanently on Game Pass without an expire time. They could bring day one release new games and 10-15 old games every month to create a huge library for gamers.
Re: Phil Spencer Would Like To See Other Digital Storefronts Appear On Xbox
@Fiendish-Beaver "Once the core games that attract people into the Xbox ecosystem are on the PlayStation, there is literally no reason to own an Xbox."
....so what's the problem about that? XBOX will sale its first party games at a full price on PS users and, at the same time, will have the same games day one on gamepass to increase the number of subscribers. It's a win-win scenario for XBOX in terms of revenue and profits.
"Then what happens? Game Pass will be a First Party only service that Sony may permit on their platform. It may prove popular, it may not. Will Microsoft still want to put new games on to the service day one? Probably not."
Game Pass WILL NOT come on PS5 because SONY won't allowed it. If gamepas comes on PS5, then there will be no reason to buy any third party on PS Store and Sony will lose a lot of money. Sony will not allow to jeopardize her own platform with such a move. Having said that, the only console in which you can have Game Pass is XBOX consoles, which is enough reason to buy XBOX in the first place.
"What also may happen is that Sony, now being the only high-end console manufacturer will charge full price and then a little profit for their consoles; so expect to be paying £800 or more for your PlayStation.
What Sony may also do is charge more to Developers to put games on to their platform. Currently Sony charge 30%, which is the same as Microsoft. However, with Xbox out of the picture (in terms of consoles) and with the PlayStation being the only high-end console, they may choose to raise that to 40% or even 50%. "
Sony WILL NOT have any monopoly and XBOX will not abandon hardware completely. XBOX will release a next gen home console because they know that there is a consumer base of 15-20 million gamers who prefer to have gamepass on console, and they are not PC gamers. XBOX don't want to lose these console consumers. However, XBOX will not compete Sony on hardware sales because there is no point. Game Pass is the main service and the only thing that matters is subscription growth. If Gamepass managed to increase subs to 50-60 million, Sony will not be able to compete because they don't have a similar service.
Gamepass could have a combined subs of 50-60 million in all platforms whether it's PC, console and cloud. And by going multiplatform will have extra sales(more revenue) from users in other platforms who will buy the XBOX games at a full price.
If Sony wants to increase the price of her console in the next gen or charge more than 30% cut, it's irrelevant for a subscriber of Game Pass. If you have Game Pass and you're part of XBOX ecosystem, then you don't care about your rival platform. For example, I am a PC gamer and I have Game Pass. I only buy Sony games on steam sales because I am satisfied with Game Pass. Sony makes great cinematic games but I don't care so much about her content if it's not available. If Sony doesn't sale her games on PC, then see won't take a penny from me, because I don't belong on PS ecosystem and I have Game Pass, which has enough content and games to spend a lot of time.
Re: Phil Spencer Would Like To See Other Digital Storefronts Appear On Xbox
@Vaako007 You belong to the niche market that you prefer physical sales for games and films. But it doesn't matter. You kind doesn't matter because the mainstream audience prefer digital only and subscription services. The film industry is completely dominated by sub streaming. Same thing is happening with gaming. However, you will always have the choice to either buy or sub for a game. Even in the film market you have the choice to buy your films rather than being a sub to a streaming service. I don't see any problem with that. And I definitely don't believe that Game Pass is some kind of problem for the industry. Game Pass is the future, which will be available to play console games in your phone through cloud. The only thing that matters for gamepass is to increase its number of subscribers from 35 million to 50-60 million in order to be more profitable and have enough revenue to futher support its content with more day releases and more third party games along with first party ones.
Re: Phil Spencer Would Like To See Other Digital Storefronts Appear On Xbox
@Vaako007 First of all, it doesn't matter if you don't believe in subscription model. It is an objectively fact that game pass is an big value as a service for many people, because you get so many games, including day one releases, for a small price every month. And the value of game pass will become much bigger as they are releasing more first party titles and when they will bring all Activision Blizzard games to the service.
If you like to own the games, XBOX will still give you the choice for full purchase in your xbox console. There is no gamepass exlusive games, but you have the option to either play the game via subscription or full purchase. However, it's pretty clear that most people prefer gamepass for its value, they don't care to own the games, they just want to play games for a small price every month. It's the same evolution like tv streaming, which dominates the film market. Nobody cares to buy films on blue ray disk(expect some niche collectors) because they can watch all the films/tv series in sub services like Netflix, HBO, Disney plus etc etc.
Re: Phil Spencer Would Like To See Other Digital Storefronts Appear On Xbox
Game Pass is the main service and the future for XBOX. Consoles might have low sales and playerbase around 10-20 million sale, but Game Pass had already 34 million subscribers in any platform(PC, console, cloud) and it's expected to grow to almost 100 million subs.
Microsoft SHOULD be going multiplatform. They need that extra cash to increase profit margin. They need to sales Halo, Gear, Starfield, Elder Scrolls, Call of Duty etc etc to PS5/Switch because there's a huge consumer base on these platforms, which have millions of users who don't have gamepass, so the only way to profit from them, is by selling the games at full price.
Game Pass and multiplatform is the future for XBOX to dominate the gaming market. It's the only way to increase revenue and profit to a new records. XBOX is the biggest publisher in the world at the moment with over 40 studios and 19.000 employees. XBOX studios have a diverse portfolio by making AAA games, mobile games, GaaS etc and they have multi-million dollar franchise which are extremely popular in any platform.
XBOX have so much content that it will be stupid no to appeal the whole gaming community because of some stupid "exclusivity strategy" bull-***** inspired by hardcore XBOX fanboys who don't understand business. More money, more profit, this is the way.
Re: Major Game Maker Reportedly Questioning Xbox Support Amidst 'Falling Sales'
Microsoft is doing the right thing by quiting hardware and focusing on software, which is more profitable. Game Pass subscribers growth should be the main goal for XBOX, not console sales. Phil Spencer has stated that Microsoft is losing 200$ dollars for every console sales. It's more profitable for Microsoft to become a third party publisher by selling the games on multiplatform and having them on gamepass day one. By having gamepass growth and multiplatform sales at the same time, Microsoft can make a lot of money either from gamepass subs and full price sales for PS5/Switch, which have huge consumer base.
Having said that, Microsoft won't completely quit the console market because they know that there's a small percent of gamers who want to play gamepass on console. They will release a next gen console, which will be a powerful one, but that's it. There won't be two editions like S/X or a mid gen upgrade. It will be one powerful console for the 15-20 million xbox gamers who prefer consoles over PC.
Game Pass is the main service and the future for XBOX. Consoles might have low sales and playerbase around 10-20 million sale, but Game Pass had already 34 million subscribers in any platform(PC, console, cloud) and it's expected to grow to almost 100 million subs.
Microsoft SHOULD be going multiplatform. They need that extra cash to increase profit margin. They need to sales Halo, Gear, Starfield, Elder Scrolls, Call of Duty etc etc to PS5/Switch because there's a huge consumer base on these platforms, which have millions of users who don't have gamepass, so the only way to profit from them, is by selling the games at full price.
Game Pass and multiplatform is the future for XBOX to dominate the gaming market. It's the only way to increase revenue and profit to a new records. XBOX is the biggest publisher in the world at the moment with over 40 studios and 19.000 employees. XBOX studios have a diverse portfolio by making AAA games, mobile games, GaaS etc and they have multi-million dollar franchise which are extremely popular in any platform.
XBOX have so much content that it will be stupid no to appeal the whole gaming community because of some stupid "exclusivity strategy" ***** inspired by hardcore XBOX fanboys who don't understand business. More money, more profit, this is the way.
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
@HonestHick You're right, Sony won't bring her games on XBOX. They will go multiplatform by releasing the games on PC/PS5. XBOX won't quit console market because they need subscriber for gamepass coming from console gamers. XBOX has already announced that they will make a next gen console. However, Game Pass is the main service for XBOX gamers.
Re: These Nine Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (March 20 - April 2)
This is a good month. XBOX should bring a day one new release ever month, either a first party or a third party. This is how you bring value to the service compared to other platforms.
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
@HonestHick I just told you: it doesn't matter if Microsoft has low sales. The only thing that matters is the number of subscribers on Game Pass. As a XBOX user, you have the privilege to enjoy day one first party releases on Game Pass with zero cost, while PS user have to pay full price 70$ for the same games. Microsoft has nothing to lose by going multiplatform. You can have playstation as the main console, and have Gamepass on PC or cloud. Microsofft will make money from software with any way.
That's the thing you don't understand my friend. It's all about money and high profit margin. If XBOX could make a lot of money and record revenue by going multiplatform and have high sub growth on gamepass, you should be happy. It doesn't make any economic sense to have exclusive games anymore because the sales are too low in one platform. Even Sony is considering for going full multiplatform in the next year.
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
@FatGuyInLilCoat If you have the option to have both consoles, then you don't have any problem. However, even if you only PS5, it doesn't matter to Microsoft from the moment you're gamepass subscriber in other platforms(PC, cloud). If you have PC, then you're the ultimate winner, because you can have both gamepass and Sony's games that will come on PC in the near future.
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
@PsBoxSwitchOwner The last report showed it had 3 million sales during launch, which is very poor sales for a AAA game. We don't have any recent report about sales, which shows that FF16 hasn't made any significant improvement in sale numbers. The game probably is still under 5 millions in sales, which is very low for AAA standards. The only way to boost sales is by porting the FF16 on PC in the following months.
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
@FatGuyInLilCoat
Of course they are referring to PC while going multiplatform. I didn't say that they will bring their games on XBOX. The reality is that Sony doesn't make enough sales on PS5 alone that justify the 300 million dollar budget investment to AAA games. Making 10 millions sales is not enought anymore for Sony. They need to reach 15-20 millions units to make a decent profit from their AAA games.
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
@themightyant From wiki:
PlayStation Studios (formerly SCE Worldwide Studios and SIE Worldwide Studios) ... Number of employees. ≈4,000 (2022).
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
@FatGuyInLilCoat These are not first party titles from Sony. Microsoft has 3 first party titles in 2024, and many third party games which will come day one on gamepass.
Final Fantasy 16/Rebirth are second party games, which are time exclusive on PS5, and they come on PC in the following months. However, both FF 16 and Rebirth had poor sales during the launch on PS5, which is a sign that exlcusivity doesn't work anymore. Even Sony CEO admitted that he wanted to move on multiplatform strategy to improve sales and profit margin for AAA games, which have an enormous development budget.
Final Fantasy 16 sold only 3 million units on PS5, which is very low for AAA game. I am not even sure if Square Enix have made enough money to cover the development cost without making any profit. For AAA games, you need 10-15 millions sales to become high profitable for any company. Even with 10 million sales like Spiderman 2, Sony has made a small profit of 75 million dollars, which is not enough money for such a huge game that costed 300 million dollars budget during the development time.
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
@HonestHick I disagree with you. XBOX has already a positive momentum with gamepass becoming bigger, while having better lineup in 2024 than Sony. Activision Blizzard games will come to gamepass. We had Hi Fi Rush, Redfall(which was failure), Forza and Starfield in 2023, and we are now having Hellblade 2, Indiana Jones and Avowed in 2024. XBOX started to show its muscles from 2023, and we have a long way until 2026 with a lot of games coming out. However, by going multiplatform, XBOX will achieve much more revenue growth and, at the same time, will have all the new games day one on gamepass for sub growth.
I just can't understand why you're so negative about multiplatform. If you are already a gamepass sub, you have nothing to lose from multiplatform. You will enjoy day one games as you do it right now. Nothing wil change. Multiplatform is just a growth plan for extra revenue and bigger profit margin for the first party titles.
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
@HonestHick You play Gears with gamepass on Series console or buy it full price on PS5. Either way, you will give your money to XBOX, which is the only thing that matters when we are talking about revenue growth. It's a win-win scenario for Microsoft, because they make you spend money either on gamepass or buy full price games on PS5. I agree that you need quality games to increase gamepass value for subs growth, but I trust XBOX that will deliver good games. Hellblade 2, Avowed, Indianna Jones, all Activision Blizzard games will boost gamepass content, and I expect to see some serious subscription growth after all these new games coming to the service.
Re: Poll: How Excited Are You For Diablo 4 On Xbox Game Pass?
@Decimateh All Activision Blizzard games will come to gamepass in the future. However, I think it would be a great move to bring these games to the service as quickly as possible, because it will be a huge boost on gamepass content, which will bring more value for the consumer to be a subscriber.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of 'Control' On Xbox Game Pass?
@Nintendo4Sonic What do you mean you get fooled? If you like the content on a streaming service, then you pay to enjoy it. If you don't like the content, then you don't pay for subscription. Personally, I have a sub on netflix/disney when I have enough content that I want to watch for at least a month. If I ran out of content, then I cancel my sub on these services and wait for new content- series or movies- that I am really interested.
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
@HonestHick The only reason to have an XBOX console is to be gamepass subscriber. There is no other console in which you can have game pass. Other than gamepass, XBOX consoles are just an optional choice for a gamer. You can easily have a PS5 consoles and have gamepass on your pc. This is good way to have acces on both platforms without the need to buy two consoles. This is the Microsoft plan from the very beginning: focus on Game Pass growth, not console growth.
Microsoft is the biggest gaming publisher at the moment behind Tencent, with more than 40 studios and 20.000 employees. Sony has 23 studios and 5,000 employess while Nintendo has 7,000 employees along with partners.
XBOX has so much manpower that they can release so many new games, so much new content, that they could sale games in full price on PS5/Switch while having them day one on game pass. Multiplatform and Gamepass is a win-win scenario for XBOX Division to make a lot of money with high profit margin.
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
@HonestHick You need to understand the different strategy between Sony and Microsoft.
Sony keeps the classic hardware based strategy "make exclusive games, sell more consoles" cycle. They wanted to sell as many consoles as possible, in order to have a huge playerbase that will spend money on their games. Sony PS5 has almost triple sales compared to XBOX Series, but even with so many consoles, they still don't make enough profit from AAA sales on console, which is the reason that they are going multiplatform(on PC) in order to make more sales and improve profit margin.
Microsoft has clearly abandoned the console sales, and they don't care to compete against PS5. The new model is software based in which the main service is Game Pass. The only thing that matters is to increase the number of subscribers on game pass in any platform(pc, console, cloud). The XBOX Series consoles has just total 27 million sales, but the Game Pass subscribers is over 34 million in all platforms, which is the main service.
XBOX will become a multiplatform publisher in the near future because they need that extra revenue by selling their games to the consumer base in other consoles, which don't have gamepass and are not a part of xbox ecosystem. The transition is slow, they first release some indie and double A titles like Pentiment and Hi Fi Rush, but they will evenctually announce big releases like Starfield, Halo, Gears etc will come to Playstation as a full price games. Futhermore, companies like Bethesda and Activision Blizzard already have many popular IPs like Elder Scrolls, Call of Duty, Diablo which are multiplatform and they are making billions of dollars in PS5. These titles will be day one on game pass, but it doesn't make any sense to make them exclusive and stop selling them on PS5. Activision Blizzard(and Microsoft) will lose a lot of money by blocking PS users to spend money on microtransactions in Call of Duty. The live service games are most profitable while being multiplatform.
Re: Poll: How Excited Are You For Diablo 4 On Xbox Game Pass?
They should bring all Activision Blizzard Games on game pass in 2024, which means all Call of Duty titles, Diablo games, WoW, Warcraft rts series, Diablo games, Overwatch, Starcraft etc should come on game pass. That would be a great boost for gamepass content and will attract many gamers to the service.
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
@HonestHick It doesn't matter if you buy the PS5 Pro to play the new gta. If you are gamepass subscriber, then it's fine strategy. You can be a gamepass subscriber and have all the other console platform for games that don't exist on game pass catalog. Phil Spencer was pretty clear when he said that doesn't believe in console wars anymore, while going multiplatform and having game pass is the most profitable way. Microsoft sells software, not hardware. XBOX console is just an optional choice for those who don't like PC gaming, and they prefer to be gamepass subs on console.
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
XBOX doesn't need to invest on hardware anymore. They should become a software based company by going multiplatform and having Game Pass as the main service. The purpose of Game Pass is to have access to the service on any platform(pc, console, mobile, cloud). Of course, XBOX won't quit console market, they will still produce a next gen console, but they don't need to compete in "console wars" against Sony and Nintendo. A console is just another option for having access on Game Pass. Nothing more than that.
What really matters is to increase the number of subscribers on Game Pass from 34 million to 50-60 million, in order to have a huge revenue growth and enough profits to dominate the market.
The second step is going multiplatform to increase sales by having XBOX games on other platforms in full price. We, as xbox gamers, will have day one first party title on gamepass, while PS/Switch gamers will buy the same games in full price for 50-70 bucks. This is extra money for XBOX that could boost the overall revenue besides gamepass subs growth.
XBOX doesn't need any mid gen console. They should focus more on becoming the biggest software third party publisher in the history of gaming. They have the resources, but they need the right growth plan to achieve such an ambitious goal.
Re: Reminder: Xbox Game Pass Is Losing Two Games This Weekend (March 15)
They should bring more third party games on gamepass. Spencer said that they spent almost 1 bilion in 2023 for third party content. They should keep bringing day one third party releases but they could invest more money to bring older titles permanently on game pass.
A good idea is to bring massive jrpg/anime games from japanese publishers in order to attract japanese consumers. They can bring games like Naruto Storm Series, One Piece games, Dragonball games(Fighterz, xenoverse, kakarot), Demon Slayer, Mega man collection series, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Tales of Arise/Scarlet Nexus, Devil May Cry, Street Fighter, Tekken etc etc. All these games are popular franchises by japanese publishers, which are old but great titles. Microsoft doesn't need to spend 200$ millions to bring a new AAA game to the service. They could spend 300$ millions to bring 30 japanese titles on game pass, which will add value to the service.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of 'Control' On Xbox Game Pass?
@Ricky-Spanish yeah, you're right. Game Pass is the ultimate value service for me. As a PC gamer, I find that it has great content, and it will become even better in the near future, with more third parties and all Activision Blizzard games and all the new first party titles which will come day one. We were waiting for years for a good lineup, and after all these aqcuisitions, now we can finally enjoy the content that we were expecting from the very beginning.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of 'Control' On Xbox Game Pass?
@Nintendo4Sonic Whether you like it or not, the subscription model is the future of the entertaiment industry. Music, movies and videogames are all part of the new sub model. As for retails, you don't need them anymore, and companies are losing a lot of money in physical sales compared to digital. Gaming companies can increase their profit margin by going digital only without losing money in the retail market.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of 'Control' On Xbox Game Pass?
@Ricky-Spanish This is such a naive opinion. Nobody forces you to have a subscription. You can either buy the game or be a sub to gamepass. If you like to own the games, then it's fine. But you don't need to hate gamepass as an alternative option. There many people(like me) who are big supporters of gamepass because it's super value for a casual gamer that he can enjoy a variety of different games without spending a fortune.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of 'Control' On Xbox Game Pass?
@Nintendo4Sonic dude, are you serious? Can you tell me one reason why you don't support Game Pass? The service has great content, a lot of games to play, with a small price every month. I don't understand why you're so negative about the sub model.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of 'Control' On Xbox Game Pass?
Well, it's a great game that will boost gamepass content, which is already great. XBOX needs to bring more third party story driven titles like Control. It would be a nice idea to aqcuire Remedy Entertaiment, which is a very talented studio that creates quality story driven games. We need more "cinematic games" to compete against Sony.