TheGameThrifter

@Gamer_X
Phil Spencer said buying Zenimax was about giving people exclusive games wherever Game Pass exists.
So far, what exclusive games have Xbox owners gotten from this deal? They even took away Hi-Fi Rush, I'm guessing Starfield is next.
Anyone who thinks the next Elder Scrolls, Fallout or Outer Worlds will be exclusive are crazy too. They've owned Obsidian for years now as well, and still 0 exclusives from them as well.

Xbox was a nice console once.....
Pretty much no point to it if they put all their games on PlayStation.

Microsoft NEVER gives any actual info on anything. Growth this and growth that. But with something as seldom used as cloud gaming, any amount would pretty much mean growth...lol

@BacklogBrad How would Microsoft make any money off PC stores on an Xbox?
New 3rd party Steam games are $50 compared to Xbox Store's $70. And Microsoft gets $0 from those sales.

Also, Microsoft makes people pay to play online, but if you bought games through Steam, obviously you're not paying to play that online, so people would skip out of paying Microsoft yet again.
There's no money for Microsoft in allowing these things. They only make money off 3rd party microtransaction, sales ECT off their own stores. Hardware is sold at a loss because they recoup that by subsidizing it to us and make it up in sales on software, subscriptions and microtransaction.

@HonestHick I seriously doubt a casual will spend $200 a year to subscribe to a service to game. Casuals don't even spend $1 on mobile games.
I also double-doubt any casuals will pay $70 or more for a game to stream. Kinda insane if you ask me.

Phil Spencer has killed Xbox, and when I say Xbox I'm talking about the console.
He constantly talks about growing the industry and what's good for the industry, well ya know what's good for the industry? Having 3 consoles selling well.
Developers allowed to make their own visions and not have to work on Call Of Duty nonstop. Rewarding great games like Hi-Fi Rush.
Not having every developer worried that they didn't meet some weird metric none of us knows about!

Why on earth would they go the handheld route? Nintendo has that absolutely locked down with Switch and upcoming Switch 2.

Steam Deck has only sold around 3 million units in the years on the market. Asus Rog has only sold 500k units. So why leave the console space to chase a space even more dominated?

If it's not a traditional console I'll have to pass. And would be the first time I've ever not bought an Xbox.

@NEStalgia PlayStation doesn't confuse their gamers. If they randomly started putting their exclusives on Xbox and Nintendo I'm sure you'd start seeing the massive drop that Xbox has recently.

My point was Microsoft's plan makes zero sense. They own so many multiplatform games as it is, why did these other games have to go elsewhere to keep the lights on?
COD
Warzone
COD mobile
Minecraft
WOW
Candy Crush
Fallout 76
Elder Scrolls Online
Overwatch

It's a slap in the face as far as I'm concerned. Xbox needs reasons to stay relevant so people will buy one. Even if profits are up, obviously profits on console hardware is not up. How long will they take a loss? And then how long with our digital libraries be available? Guessing not long.

@TheLastHarbinger
4 old niche games?
Hi-Fi Rush released a year ago.
The entire Xbox first party lineup of 2022 is on PlayStation.
As Dusk Falls
Pentiment
Grounded
That's not doom and gloom, it's factually disappointing.
These games are running better on PS5. Sea Of Thieves has PS5 exclusive in game content (Which Phil Spencer supposedly said he'd never do?)
If people think they can wait and play Xbox games on PlayStation, where's that leave Xbox?

I mean in July of 2023 we saw Xbox Series consoles at 21 million combined, so figure around 23-24 million currently. That's not great. People act like Microsoft will take losses forever on those things.

@NEStalgia The game industry always has up's and down's but currently is bigger than movie, TV and music industry combined. PlayStation brand is also making more money than Xbox, and I'm the farthest thing from a fan of PS.
Microsoft is losing Game Pass subs and sales of Xbox consoles are at rock bottom. Gamers are confused because they're not sure what's staying on Xbox and what's not.
The 2 consoles with firm exclusives (Switch and PS5) don't have these perception problems. We know God Of War isn't coming to Xbox and we know Zelda isn't coming to Xbox. While there's not a single Xbox game that I'd bet money on staying exclusive at this point.

@NEStalgia Steam Deck is at 3.2 million sold in the years it has been on the market. Rog has 500k sold.
This whole ecosystem thing is a sham because Xbox is selling poorly. Phil Spencer spent 100 billion on becoming a 3rd party platform. It's only going to get worse because people will assume every game is going to PlayStation.

We already see Xbox "games" playing best on PS5. They are hurting the perception of Xbox itself. Xbox will never be a game on PlayStation imo

@BAMozzy Listen, if Game Pass were so great people would be buying Xbox's and buying Game Pass.
Game Pass was at 25 million and Xbox Live Gold was at 12 million. They switched it to Core and added it to Game Pass which should have been 37 million, but it's only 34 million. Which means they've lost millions of subscribers.

I don't think the avg person cares about playing Xbox on a phone or app, which is why they gave away rights to stream their games in the EU to Ubisoft.
Anyone could have spent 100 billion dollars and turned 3rd party to make profit.

@NEStalgia Their brand "Xbox" doesn't mean console to them anymore.
It's an app and anywhere someone is playing an "Xbox" game. To me, that's not Xbox. I would have rather seen Microsoft compete and push the console. Having 3 healthy consoles selling well in the industry could do wonders.
Xbox is confusing to even casuals because no one knows if or when an Xbox game is going to PlayStation.

Next gen would be a real wash for them if they port anymore games to PS. I can see a situation where Xbox sells worse than a Wii U.

@TheLastHarbinger Look into what they did before closing up shop on Windows Phone. Spent billions on Nokia, then laid off workers, then started putting all the exclusive Windows Phone games and apps on iOS and Android. "Xbox" to Microsoft isn't a console, it's someone playing a first party game on PlayStation or Nintendo.
Phil Spencer in 10 years has spent 100 billion dollars and taken Xbox from 3rd place to 3rd place and from 3rd place to 3rd party.
To me, Xbox is a console. How long will they take losses on hardware? Wii U numbers? We're closing in on those already.....
I'm sure Zune, Mixer, Groove Music and Windows Phone all were in a good spot at some point.

100% he's making the same mistakes. He's not a consumer first person. He doesn't "get" gaming and certainly doesn't get hardware.

The moves Microsoft is making with Xbox are exactly the same they made with Windows Phone before they shut it down.
They spent BILLIONS on Nokia. Then laid off a ton of workers, then started putting all the apps and features that were exclusives to Windows Phones on iPhone and Android, and then shut it down.

@xxk7xx Microsoft is worth over 3 trillion dollars, why publish it anywhere but where Game Pass exists?
Sony earns 30% on all Xbox game sales on PlayStation and they use that profit to buy 3rd party exclusives and content to keep off Xbox. So basically every game MS puts on PlayStation helps fund a game we don't get.

Phil Spencer hates the Xbox console. The way he talks about it with such distain makes it obvious.
I have no desire to play on a PC, if I wanted to play on a PC I would do so. I do not want to navigate 4 stores and mess with sliders and so on. I also don't want less people on the console version than are already there. PC is full of cheaters and hackers and I turn off cross-play first thing on every game.
Hate to say it, but if they try to Trojan Horse the next Xbox as a PC, I'm out.

People aren't selfish to not want Xbox exclusives on PlayStation. Sony earns 30% on every Xbox sale on PlayStation and uses that money to keep exclusives like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Silent Hill, Stellar Blade off Xbox. So basically Microsoft would be HELPING Sony keep games off Xbox.

Less people would buy Xbox, and then 3 party devs wouldn't bother putting their games on Xbox due to low install base.
Next gen they probably will release another Xbox, but if you had the choice to buy a PS6 that played all Xbox and PS games or an Xbox that only plays Xbox, which is getting bought?

At that point Microsoft probably kills the Xbox hardware and goes publisher, and our digital games who's licenses are locked to the console end up useless.

@BacklogBrad That's like saying it was 1% that complained about the Xbox One DRM, Kinect and TV focus.

If Microsoft goes third party and puts exclusives on PlayStation it means less people will buy Xbox. If less people buy Xbox, less 3rd party devs will put games on it. And let's say next gen starts and you can buy a PS6 that plays all Xbox and PS games or an Xbox that only plays Xbox games...which is most likely going to sell more?

And eventually that will lead Microsoft out of hardware altogether, and all digital games are locked to Xbox. Digital saves as well. So when they leave hardware, most likely will lose our libraries.

@Banjo- PC is not a console. And they port their games to PC years later because day and date would devalue the console itself.
Sony will never put their exclusives on Xbox and neither will Nintendo.