TheGameThrifter

@Ricky-Spanish Gears and Halo will be a novelty at first, but people will quickly move on back to things like Fortnite, COD and Apex. Gears plays so old now, and I love the franchise, but it's super slow and the multiplayer is really hard to master.
Halo's best days are far behind it, the original Halo games didn't even have a sprint button or aim down sights. People aren't going to stick with that stuff.

We know Indy and Doom sold like trash on PlayStation. Indy was SUPPOSED to be Xbox exclusive as Microsoft amended the contract to make it exclusive. Then, they announced it on PS at a huge event.

Microsoft only has a couple of decent franchises that could even do well multiplat. No on is going to flock to Hellblade 2, Avowed, South Of Midnight, Perfect Dark, Fable ECT

@nomither6 So why ruin your brand over them?

Ninja Theory is at risk.
Compulsion Games is at risk.

Really, almost every studio is at risk with Microsoft at the helm currently.
It wouldn't surprise me if they shuttered Machine Games because Indiana Jones was an expensive IP and it sold terribly.

@Kaloudz Sea Of Thieves sold only 1.4 million on PlayStation. It did over 15 million on Xbox and Steam.

All combined, the games Xbox put on PlayStation did around 4 million, with huge games like Indiana Jones and Doom: The Dark Ages completely flopping on PlayStation.

Microsoft killed their brand for 4 million in software sales.

@Millionski NOTHING is going to stay exclusive and we all know it. The few things currently exclusive were likely in production for years and they wanted to get them out. Avowed, Fable, Gears, Halo and everything in-between will be on PS.

I own 1900 digital Xbox games currently installed on my Series X. I own a further 350 physical games. I can't get anything for my digital library if I sell my Xbox.

Hence why my hope that they stay competitive instead of letting Sony run everything in the high end console space.

Microsoft is a 3 trillion dollar company, you're telling me keeping some exclusives is going to bankrupt them? I don't think so.

Most of us thought they'd use Activision as a multiplatform publisher to help FUND the Xbox exclusives for the rest of us. Now, there's absolutely no reason to own an Xbox.

@Millionski I own a PS5, I always own all the consoles. My point is that I wouldn't have bought a Series X this gen if they were up front about no exclusives and treating PlayStation owners better than Xbox owners.
I'm sure Microsoft is fine losing fans like me who buy all their hardware and thousands of games.

Why do Xbox owners have to wait until PlayStation gets the game to get upgrades on Xbox games? I feel very much like a beta tester.

Microsoft- We're going to keep making consoles and they're going to be awesome! Don't worry about us leaving the console space!

Also Microsoft- We're pulling out of everywhere but the US and UK...

Why would developers support a console that has no reach outside of 2 areas? Microsoft seems to have literally given up.

@Kaloudz Microsoft is posting record profits and laying off 30,000 employees over the last 2 years. PLEASE show me where PlayStation and Nintendo have done that.

@Kaloudz No other console maker is laying off THOUSANDS of people like Microsoft is.

Let's give Phil and Sarah another multi-million dollar bonus though.....

@Millionski It's still nothing new. It's a launcher that launches other launchers lol

@Fiendish-Beaver It's not new at all, it's actually BLOAT added to the OS. It's a launcher for a launcher because Microsoft heard people love launchers!

@Cakefish Backwards compatibility to Microsoft could mean cloud streaming for all we know. That's not backwards compatibility to me. Open platform is just a PC, if it's an open platform then they've given up completely on console, which is a shame.

@Cakefish Rog can't run console games, only PC games. How can a device run both console and PC games? PC is an open device and console is closed.

@Millionski Kojima and Sony are very tight though, and the game is built with a PlayStation proprietary engine. Sony gave the IP back to Kojima, but I doubt there's a rush to get an Xbox version out.

@Cakefish I think people aren't realizing that this is something other PC stores already do?
It's a launcher that launches other launchers...
Unless Microsoft is releasing a full on PC next generation, they won't be adding 3rd party stores IMO

Didn't it take 5 years to get the first one? I can't imagine Xbox is a priority for any 3rd party developer right now.

The funniest thing is that they pushed this exact message almost a decade ago. I said it then and I'm saying it now, most people are only playing console games on a console or PC. I am not playing anything via cloud or on a ipad or whatever. Microsoft is so busy trying to me the master of everything that they are really becoming quite mediocre at a lot of things. Focusing on the wrong things.

@BAMozzy PlayStation still earns around 10 billion more a year than Xbox, despite Microsoft going multiplatform and buying Activision and Zenimax.

If they want out of hardware they should just do it. Realistically they are giving long time fans false hope. A PC isn't a console, slapping Xbox on a VR headset or a PC handheld doesn't make those things an Xbox.

Outside of Forza Horizon 5 selling 2 million and Sea of Thieves selling 1.5 million on PlayStation, what has sold well? Hi-Fi Rush flopped, Pentiment flopped, Indiana Jones flopped, Doom The Dark Ages flopped, Grounded flopped, Age Of Empires flopped.

Realistically the only thing Microsoft did was kill their own brand by doing this. Maybe a short term gain on the books now, but long term without more consoles sold, they will lose out on people paying subscriptions, microtransactions, buying software ECT

They make 1+ billion a year on Fortnite Microtransactions alone. Most of their Game Pass subs are from console. If you sell more consoles you can sell more games, subs and microtransactions.

@Kaloudz I don't see how? PC gamers like to tinker and upgrade. Steam Machines failed, Steam Decks failed. Console gamers want plug and play. Trying to side load things or confuse people isn't going to turn heads, it's going to turn traditional console owners to PlayStation.

Not at all. There's no way this strategy works without exclusive games. I have 0 interest in a PC or playing while I poop on a phone.

@FuzzieGinge88 ZERO HOPE. Racing games get de-listed due to licenses and they expire after 4-5 years. Also, music licenses ECT

@InterceptorAlpha I don't see that happening at all. This story has actually been debunked already unfortunately.

It's interesting to see what Microsoft is doing, but in my opinion their idea is just an Xbox branded PC, console, cloud device and handheld PC. I think their next console will be hardware backwards compatible with everything we have now, but we won't be getting any new BC games.

@InterceptorAlpha So they wouldn't offer any of these games in the store? I mean a lot of the Xbox 360 and Xbox stuff was never digital, and it's highly unlikely Microsoft has a disc drive....

Fable 2 already had enhancements. I find this dubious for the simple fact that if they emulate they need new permissions and licenses from publishers and studios, which was what stopped the backwards compatibility program in the first place. Many of these games have studios or publishers that are now defunct.

I don't think they're talking about anything hybrid. I think they're just talking about options. You'll be able to play PC stuff like with Asus ROG, or you'll be able to play console stuff with their console, or with the Cloud.

There's no such thing as a hybrid because consoles are closed boxes and PC are open. Consoles can't play PC versions of games and vice versa. If they're going hardware backwards compatibility that means traditional console because software emulation requires licenses from every game and or publisher.

This isn't going to be a huge success like Microsoft believes. It has extremely dated and slow paced gameplay. I can't see this franchise doing well longterm because there's just not enough people to play it when you consider how many are on Warzone, Fortnite, Apex, COD..... This game plays ancient in comparison.

How long will we keep getting these articles? Microsoft is a full on 3rd party developer with little to no interest in hardware. They own a lot of IP and studios, of course they are going to be on some pre-order and best selling lists. Just like EA, Ubisoft and others do.

Not sure why this is news?

@Sol4ris We've never seen a strategy where they actually had great exclusive games multiple years in a row. Not since the Xbox 360 days.
As soon as they got exclusives they pivoted to 3rd party. Steam Machines failed, ROG has only sold 500k units to date, even Steak Deck has only done 3.5 million in over 3 years.

Microsoft pivoting is not going to help them in any way outside of the short term gains from porting some old games. Let's face it, MS owns very few IP that sells big. COD, Forza, Fallout, Diablo and Elder Scrolls. Halo is dead, Gears is dead. Putting stuff like Avowed, Hellblade 2, Indiana Jones or even Doom on PlayStation didn't do anything. They killed their brand for a few quick bucks.

@bjs5667 Why would any developers bother with such a limited install base for a console? That's the big problem.

@Kaelliellie Most gamers don't care about Play Anywhere, that has been around since 2016 and isn't widely used. Most people are either console or PC, not both.
Microsoft panicked and changed strategies again and again and again and now people don't trust them

There probably wont even be a next Xbox made by Microsoft, they seem to be going all in on software and services, Sony has an easy victory no matter what and that is Microsoft's own doing

It's always "wait for next year" with Microsoft......

They cater to the PlayStation crowd with physical versions but not their own console user base.
Shows you where their mind is really.

Microsoft charges $600 for a 5 year old Xbox Series X and people think newer tech that is shrunk down is going to be the same as that?
$1000 for the higher end one and probably $750-$800 for the other model.

Exclusive Xbox games.

@Kaloudz Xbox is a console, despite what Microsoft tries to push. And that has factually never been weaker. What point is there to them even doing another console if all their games are on PS?

I don't trust businessmen to have a gamers thoughts in their mind, otherwise the Xbox One wouldn't have happened. Microsoft will make short term gains with this strategy, but long term they are losing a lot of market share in the console space.

@Lup People need to look at the high point to this generation. 2021 saw Xbox sales breaking records and they actually won NPD. I understand certain factors like Pandemic were in play, but it's no mistake that holiday 2021 which saw releases of Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5 and Flight Simulator back to back to back caused such an increase.

2022 Microsoft release 0 AAA first party exclusives.

They have been so sporadic with releases of first party exclusives that we never got a chance to see what could happen if they had multiple years of solid exclusive game releases.

Microsoft believe everything is like COD, but we've seen how most of the games they put on PS didn't do well. Doom didn't do well on PS, Indiana Jones didn't do well on PS, Pentiment, Grounded, Hi-Fi Rush all flopped on PS.

All they did was hurt their own brand.

@Lup If you're an Xbox console owner, it has hurt you. Developers aren't going to keep supporting a console with a low install base. They aren't going to optimize properly for it even if they do.
PlayStation gets Xbox games and PS games and more 3rd party games.
Nintendo gets Nintendo games and Xbox games.
Xbox gets Xbox games and less 3rd party games.

That's how it hurts Xbox owners.

Why would Microsoft keep funding a loss leader with hardware? It continually drops quarter after quarter and they have basically pulled out of most territories already....

@Kaloudz What's the point of Xbox if it has NOTHING to make it worthwhile and all the Xbox games are on PS and Nintendo platforms which also have their own respective exclusive and console exclusive games?

I think people aren't realizing the importance of competition in the console space. If Microsoft continues to give up in the console space, Sony can do whatever they want, can charge whatever they want. Sony is already getting away with their worst generation ever. They don't even need to show anything first party because MS helps Sony fund more exclusive games that Xbox owners don't get.

@Rog-X You realize the entire reason that Xbox sales have flatlined is lack of exclusive titles and belief that Xbox is the next Dreamcast?

Also, the reason there's no live audience for the Xbox showcase is because every game is going to have a PlayStation Logo and launch day one on PS5? They knew people would boo and be ticked off, so they cut the live audience out of the equation.

If PlayStation gets all PS exclusives and all the Xbox games, why buy an Xbox? I understand some people love the rental service Game Pass, but that's not enough to spend $600 or more on the next console when you're getting less content.

If Microsoft wants to further kill their console brand and go full 3rd party they should definitely support the Switch 2. If they actually want to sell their own console and future handheld it doesn't make sense to do so.

@Kaloudz Microsoft is a 3 trillion dollar company and yet they lay off THOUSANDS of employees at a time with rumors of more coming from the Xbox side of things.
Having Xbox games on PlayStation and Switch has only hurt Xbox console owners because it's a one way street. PS and Switch have exclusives and get Xbox games, while Xbox owners get none of those games.

Making money didn't stop Microsoft from closing Tango or Arkane....or from cancelling games.

If it made 100 million. Then you minus 30% for Sony's cut.
You have to minus any advertising costs.
You have to minus the cost of the port studio.

Microsoft probably made 20-25 million. At the cost of their identity as a platform holder.

No!

This is a PC handheld, PC isn't an Xbox and this won't support our console Xbox libraries.
Microsoft trying to get everything to be the Xbox is like that girl trying to get the word "fetch" to catch on. It's not happening.

Streaming IS NOT backwards compatibility and it's NOT GAME PRESERVATION.

You can't buy those games and you can't play them offline. And the sad part is, I tried Pitfall for the Atari through streaming and the input lag makes it impossible to play. You need precise jumping.

Sony has been doing PS3 game streaming forever and people hate it, everyone has been begging for native backwards compatibility for years now.

@Millionski To be honest, that sounds terrible. I'm a console gamer through and through. I buy console for plug and play and to avoid playing with PC gamers in multiplayer. I actually PAY to play online to have that option.

I have zero interest in a $800 PC with an Xbox logo, but that's just me. If Sony does a standard subsidized console at $500-$600, they have my business. Any Xbox games I like would be available on PS6 day one and optimized fully anyway.

Funny part is, everyone is freaking out about this being Xbox exclusive and dropping day 1 in Game Pass, yet some folks want to believe exclusives couldn't lead to more Xbox consoles being sold.
So ridiculous.

You can't buy them or download them. Cool idea, but streaming only is very limited. I hope that is not Microsoft's idea of game preservation....