Incoming announcement on Xbox titles future exclusivity and publishing

[laynelane]

Similar to accelerating a PC porting strategy of shorter windows for big marquee non-GaaS 1P AAA games, or doing them Day 1 (or potentially even sticking with the 2-year window several ports have established), timed exclusivity of same games to then get ported to Xbox would destroy a huge chunk of the appeal and value proposition of PlayStation consoles to a sizable chunk of hardcore and core enthusiasts customers.

It's an inherently bad idea that gains nothing for PlayStation and gains a lot for Xbox, and just actively damages what selling appeal PlayStation systems would have to a good portion of typically highest ARPU spenders in their own ecosystem. Costs for AAA game production can be resolved through other means, such as (sensible) use of AI technologies in various parts of the development process, avoiding expensive licenses, less use of Hollywood actors/actresses and writers, etc. Which are things all devs & pubs can take on at amounts that work best for their targets.

If any platform holder is in a position where they would seriously need to consider a strategy of timed exclusives for eventual ports of all games to other platforms both PC & console, or Day 1 even for most of their 1P across the same, it's Microsoft. Sony will still have the MLBs and one-off things like a Destiny or Marathon show up on Xbox hardware, but that's about it. And Nintendo? Well, don't expect anything. Those two have shown they can grow their console businesses while still centralizing as much control within a stack they have proprietary ownership over as possible; Microsoft have failed to demonstrate the same for Xbox.

I've seen a lot of Sonytoo rumblings with regards to this. It's weird how Sony gets dragged into every bit of MS' bad news. Agreed with all your points, as well. We already know Sony refused Game Pass, a multiplayer game(s?) which would have required a XBL sign-in, and there's probably still more we don't know about. The sense I get is Sony are cautiously testing branching out with their own IPs, but only where it would make financial sense (PC, service games) while minimizing or eliminating the impact on their own ecosystem. Porting games to a rival platform with a small base (which does not spend as much on software due to Game Pass) would not make financial sense.

 

[Box]

 

[Infinity]

Damn idle sloth said the guy was a fake and took down his tweet.

 

[Infinity]

That deli guy was a fraud. Fake news.

 

[laynelane]

I bet the zenimax staff were all pissed af when they heard Activision blizzard would have multiplat games especially since Devs can get bonus's when their game is a hit & sells lots

Yep, already happened.

Internal Email Reveals Bethesda’s Pete Hines Questioned Xbox Over Their Titles’ Exclusivity Differing From Activision’s Call of Duty - EssentiallySports

Microsoft's decision of keeping COD on PlayStation 5 has sparked controversy as Besthesda questions Microsoft on titles' exclusivity.

www.essentiallysports.com

 

[ethomaz]

Xbox announcement: Here's how we fuck up even more than we did last generation. Enjoy!!! SMFH.

I don’t think they are fuck up more…

They are not making money with Xbox since well ever… so why not change?

Is really that bad to Xbox to become a publisher? I mean Xbox brand as consoles is basically dead for a decade already… consoles don’t sell, games don’t sell… what could they do?

Xbox didn’t work with Xbox One and it is in a worst state with Series… Xbox fans needs a bit of wake up because MS is showing in their financials every quarter that this generations is one of the worst Xbox ever had… Series didn’t track any good will to the brand… the opposite the X is losing ground in what it was market (the strongest console ever created) and S is suck a failure since announce that I wonder who had this ideia internally at MS

I think they are being smart to find their place and options to make Xbox profitable and grow from there.

If Nadella continues to allow Xbox to bleed I should call him incompetent because Uncle Phil is already one in my book since 360.

 

[AshHunter216]

Xbox are usually hilariously quick to respond to things being said about them and to them on social media. The fact that they're taking so long to respond to this situation in particular says so much.

A small part of me does wonder if all of this is just a ploy to seem super charitable and gracious so that regulators will let them get away with gobbling up more publishers in the future.

 

[Cool hand luke]

This most satisfying part of all of this for me, is that Xbox discussion on forums since 2018 has been largely about who MS should acquire and how it’ll significantly help Xbox next to PlayStation in terms of exclusive games. “the gap will close”.


They’ve acquired well over 20+ studios and the fanboys have been waiting for the time the tides turn, like starfield (flop). Now that they have gobbled enough software to supposedly take down PlayStation, MS then says never mind and becomes a 3rd party publisher. They’ve gotta feel so betrayed, I mean you have losers like Klobrille who made his whole name hyping this acquisition war up

I’m gonna be enjoying tears for months this year it seems

Seconded. The other satisfaction I'll get is that all of them - every last one - who participated in console warring on the Xbox side has now lost their investment. Thousands of dollars (or just dollars if you started in the age of gamepass), two decades, and an entire exclusive library down the drain. No hardware = no platform = no third party support AND they have nowhere to play their Xbox games once their current hardware dies. Glorious.

 

[Nimrota]

Well let's see how this plays out tho. But it's smart of them to bring over games like Sea of Thieves and smaller games that really are just fillers on Game Pass.

Less than 4 million people played HiFI through Game Pass is there's nothing to lose putting stuff like this everywhere

Every game on GP is filler. They don't have anything on there worth paying full price for.

 

[GachaMadeMeBroke]

Xbox are usually hilariously quick to respond to things being said about them and to them on social media. The fact that they're taking so long to respond to this situation in particular says so much.

A small part of me does wonder if all of this is just a ploy to seem super charitable and gracious so that regulators will let them get away with gobbling up more publishers in the future.

Probably part of the reason but it’s still true that console sales are dire and GP sub growth has plateaued. Cloud gaming is non-existent. Trying to maximize revenue by dipping their toes into multiplatform releases seems like the next step.

 

[Box]

Xbox are usually hilariously quick to respond to things being said about them and to them on social media. The fact that they're taking so long to respond to this situation in particular says so much.

A small part of me does wonder if all of this is just a ploy to seem super charitable and gracious so that regulators will let them get away with gobbling up more publishers in the future.

This is what's driving the fans mad, Phil Spencer has been silent for weeks now. The lay-offs and the leaks have not helped at all.

There's rumours that Microsoft has even worse News to announce

 

[FatKaz]

I wish they would just announce it already so we can put this saga to rest

The longer the uncertainty is there, the longer bots stay in meltdown mode.

It's beautiful.

 

[Aidendelaney95]

What did Shinobi say to piss TimDog that much? Dear God

 

[Infinity]

Why did agent deli lie about being a zenimax employee? Also the guy is apparently a Sony centric account on Twitter? Lol. These console warriors are insane. Dude locked down his acocunt because of his frauding.

 

[SLB1904]

Blud pulled the mentally ill card

 

[FatKaz]

Why did agent deli lie about being a zenimax employee? Also the guy is apparently a Sony centric account on Twitter? Lol. These console warriors are insane. Dude locked down his acocunt because of his frauding.

 

[fod]

I don’t think they are fuck up more…

They are not making money with Xbox since well ever… so why not change?

Is really that bad to Xbox to become a publisher? I mean Xbox brand as consoles is basically dead for a decade already… consoles don’t sell, games don’t sell… what could they do?

Xbox didn’t work with Xbox One and it is in a worst state with Series… Xbox fans needs a bit of wake up because MS is showing in their financials every quarter that this generations is one of the worst Xbox ever had… Series didn’t track any good will to the brand… the opposite the X is losing ground in what it was market (the strongest console ever created) and S is suck a failure since announce that I wonder who had this ideia internally at MS

I think they are being smart to find their place and options to make Xbox profitable and grow from there.

If Nadella continues to allow Xbox to bleed I should call him incompetent because Uncle Phil is already one in my book since 360.

The 360 was the point at which Microsoft never kicked on from. It was a fantastic console with great games. They just haven't lived up to that success since. You had great games on Xbox and PS3 that gen. The next gen I couldn't wait for and Microsoft just fell off. I was really hopeful of the this gen being a continuation of the 360 era.

 

[ultimateFF]

I just saw couple members of eksbotz cult, referring this announcement as sarah bond addressing the nation. The fuck is nation they're talking about? Man this crazy eksbotz cult sometimes .

 

[ToTTenTranz]

I'm guessing leaving the console market is what they're getting ready to announce. And if/when Microsoft announces that, expect the following reaction:

 

[ultimateFF]

Also some eksbotz idiot in era saying, that they hope no one is actually cheering for eksbotz to abandon the hardware market and go 3rd party. Meanwhile it's okay to cheer when m$ buy publisher like abk. The double standard lol .