Sarah Bond "Every First Party Xbox Game Will Launch Day One on Game Pass". |UP| Wall Street Journal says COD as well.

[Gamernyc78]

Sarah Bond Talks About The Future of Xbox

Sarah Bond, President of Xbox, talks about the future of Xbox such as hardware, game pass, cloud, and AI utilization

xboxera.com

And the last piece is about game pass. We know our core users love game pass, game pass is a gaming subscription, you get a whole portfolio of games, but importantly you get every single one of the games we build day one in game pass. and the quality and the breadth of those games has only been going up over time. And you’re going to see some more really big games going into Game Pass later this year.”

Dina: “From Activision’s portfolio or?”

Sarah: “Across the whole slate, across the whole slate, you’re going to see some really amazing things. And keeping that as something that is really special for Xbox players is central to us
Also studio closures...


Matt Booty on closures as well..

​

In an email to staff sent by Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft blamed the cuts on a “reprioritization of titles and resources.” In the email, first reported by IGN, Booty said: “we are making these tough decisions to create capacity to increase investment in other parts of our portfolio and focus on our priority games.”

Microsoft has faced widespread criticism from the development community and Xbox fans following the move, with many pointing out that Hi-Fi Rush was a critically acclaimed and, according to one Xbox executive, hugely successful release.

Source

Also...

• Microsoft Plans to Put Latest Call of Duty Game on Subscription Service, Sources Say -- WSJ
• Microsoft Move May Help Bolster Game Pass Subscription Service -- WSJ
• Microsoft's Call Of Duty Decision Marks Change From Previous Releases of Franchise -- WSJ

May 17 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab plans to release the coming installment of "Call of Duty" videogame to its subscription service instead of the longtime approach of only selling it à la carte, the Wall Street Journal reported, opens new tab on Friday.The plans are expected to be announced at the company's annual Xbox showcase next month, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.Microsoft did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.The company had completed its $69-billion acquisition for Activision Blizzard in December 2023.

 

[Gamernyc78]

There you have it, the final needle in the coffin. COD is a monster and I'm sure it'll sell well due to PlayStation but damn it's still going to affect it negatively.

 

[Gediminas]

day one on gamepass, but we will make gamepass gold and it will cost 40$, but it is still gamepass

 

[Gamernyc78]

Also studio closure responses...

Also studio closures...

 

[Gamernyc78]

day one on gamepass, but we will make gamepass gold and it will cost 40$, but it is still gamepass

It's going to fuck up COD even more, prepare to play COD special AA edition

 

[Nhomnhom]

"Day one" but you can pay more to play early.

Gamepass is already way too expensive for what it is a CoD will only make it worse and I doubt it will change the trajectory of the service in a significant way.

 

[Systemshock2023]

Yeah, gameoass will have a hefty price increase then. But COD doesn't seem a game it for gamepass. Of you play it a lot, isn't it better to buy the game?

Also warzone is F2P so...

 

[Gamernyc78]

Yeah, gameoass will have a hefty price increase then. But COD doesn't seem a game it for gamepass. Of you play it a lot, isn't it better to buy the game?

Also warzone is F2P so...

Warzone is what I play nowadays, I don't buy COD anymore.

 

[xollowsob]

Yeah, gameoass will have a hefty price increase then. But COD doesn't seem a game it for gamepass. Of you play it a lot, isn't it better to buy the game?

Also warzone is F2P so...

That's why COD is going on gamepass, because it'll be free to play. They lose no revenue that way.
If all first party gsmes becomes GaaS FTP then gamepass becomes a massive money maker for Microsoft. You'll be paying for free games, then gamers will get reemed on DLC and MTX. Pay to win will be introduced everywhere.

Gotta milk dem whales.

 

[Thirty7ven]

So they are going to increase gamepass prices to make it work.

 

[Gamernyc78]

So they are going to increase gamepass prices to make it work.

We bet they are smh.

 

[Plextorage]

Yeah, gameoass will have a hefty price increase then. But COD doesn't seem a game it for gamepass. Of you play it a lot, isn't it better to buy the game?

It is better, but Xbots are too stupid to realize that

 

[Yurinka]

MS lied so many times with their populism and PR bullshit, and changed their strategy so frequently that now is very hard to believe anything they say.

Having said that, I think Sarah Bond and the MS PR team of Bloomberg did a good job with the complete interview:

Industry state & studio closures

• The industry (revenue) was flat last year or so even with several great game releases
• It's very difficult to reach new players and the AAA costs keep rising
• Considers it's a moment of transition were hard decisions are made (shutting down teams and firing people) to ensure the business is healthy for the long term
• Still they are commited to have their own studios, hardware and services and working with 1st and 3rd games and partners that are large and small
• They are to see Fallout tv show bumping the sales of the game IP and look forward to games like Indiana Jones (didn't mention Hellblade 2)
• Why did they shut down Tango? Games are a creative art form, and what success is changes for each game, there are many factors involved (meaning, the Bloomberg MS PR assistant said Hi-Fi Rush won "a ton" of awards and had great engament on GP, and Sarah didn't say it but obviously as business this doesn't mean anything if it doesn't transform into enough revenue and profit)

Mobile strategy:

• A big part of the ABK acquisition was about growing in mobile (adding Candy Crush or CoD Mobile to their lineup of mobile games like Minecraft)
• Out of the 3B games, 2B play on mobile and half of that share mobile and other gaming platforms but there isn't a gaming focused crossplatform mobile platform/store experience
• They will release a web based mobile store this July
  • Will start with 1st party stuff like Candy Crush or Minecraft
  • Will include 3rd games later in the road
• Will feature crossplatform user, library, progress, multiplayer, rewards, etc.
• Xbox cloud gaming part of it

Gamepass:

• Their customers are very happy with it
• Will continue including "their whole slate" day one there (he never mentions specifically CoD)
• The PR from Bloomberg says cloud isn't growing but Sarah says cloud gaming is growing for them and they have more demand than supply (I assume this is a lie, some metric may grrow but we know GP is stagnant)

Releasing games on rival consoles:

• Still on early days to analyze the first releases on rival consoles
• No data to share but really encouraged by the reception
• Isn't something new, Xbox has been releasing games on rival consoles for a while (Minecraft, Bethesda, Activision Blizzard, etc.)
• A decision they are making on a game by game basis as they move forward

Reply to their worried hardcore fans, the next gen Xbox hardware (he didn't say console):

• Very powerful hardware coming, the biggest next gen leap
• Big focus on BC (let's hope it means it supports more/all games from the oldest generations)
• Big focus on bringing your library everywhere (cross-play, cross-save, I assume shared account/library between console, mobile and PC hopefully also with cross-buy)
• Big focus on Gamepass

AI:

• Their focus is keeping devs and players in the center
• Using it to offer tools to devs to shorten development times
• Helping to improve game discoveravility for players matching them with players they may like (a big issue to solve for devs)
• Improving engagement, delight, improving the game experience itself inside the games themselves

 

[Shadow2027]

If xbox gives a healthy gamepass price hike to accommodate cod being in it, subscriber count will plummet as it will be above what most will pay monthly especially if they don’t have much of what they want to play that month anyway. They are also losing money on cod on xbox for any user already in gamepass whk will then stop buying cod annually with exisiting revenue already present

 

[Gamernyc78]

If xbox gives a healthy gamepass price hike to accommodate cod being in it, subscriber count will plummet as it will be above what most will pay monthly especially if they don’t have much of what they want to play that month anyway. They are also losing money on cod on xbox for any user already in gamepass whk will then stop buying cod annually with exisiting revenue already present

This is what's going to happen thy have to recoup those massive lost sales somewhere. They are already restricting budgets.

 

[mibu no ookami]

If xbox gives a healthy gamepass price hike to accommodate cod being in it, subscriber count will plummet as it will be above what most will pay monthly especially if they don’t have much of what they want to play that month anyway. They are also losing money on cod on xbox for any user already in gamepass whk will then stop buying cod annually with exisiting revenue already present

I see three options assuming that Microsoft keeps their word here

Option A) GamePass gets CoD and no changes, and GamePass cripples ABK
Option B) GamePass gets CoD and a big price rise to account for CoD when only a percentage of players play it, and many people rebel even some who play CoD who don't want to pay a higher subscription price (maybe they don't buy CoD annually)
Option C) GamePass creates a new CoD tier separate from the rest. A lot of people who wanted ABK games to come to GamePass, including CoD probably unsubscribe because they think it is unfair.

Option C is probably the least damaging.

 

[John Elden Ring]

​

In an email to staff sent by Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft blamed the cuts on a “reprioritization of titles and resources.” In the email, first reported by IGN, Booty said: “we are making these tough decisions to create capacity to increase investment in other parts of our portfolio and focus on our priority games.”

Microsoft has faced widespread criticism from the development community and Xbox fans following the move, with many pointing out that Hi-Fi Rush was a critically acclaimed and, according to one Xbox executive, hugely successful release.

Source

 

[John Elden Ring]

I think this comments was meant towards Activi Blizz Games. They will make sure COD is released Day One on Xbox/

 

[mibu no ookami]

It didn't sell well and it didn't push subscriptions... the commercial real estate alone for this office was probably not worth it.

That's just the reality of it.

The cuts to Bethesda are probably only a precursor to cuts at XGS.

We're probably looking at cuts/closures at

Turn10
Doublefine
Ninja Theory (depending on the results of Hellblade 2)
The Initiative

The only thing giving the pause is probably the bad headlines and they're thinking about whether to take the lumps now or to wait until later. They'll at least wait until Hellblade 2 is out probably so that it doesn't become a further distraction from that games release.

Forza Motorsport probably sold less than 250K copies... Redmond, Washington is expensive. Doublefine haven't really done much and they're in San Fransisco. Maybe they divest from this studio rather than close it simply because of the furor.

The initiative hasn't made anything in 6 years and they're in Santa Monica... they posted a new job listing two days ago, so who knows. It seems like joke pay for the area.

Ninja Theory, we just know so much rides on Hellblade 2. I wouldn't expect they would be closed for at least 3-6 months post release though to at least do patches. I guess it comes down to whether or not it is a success or not.

 

[Systemshock2023]

No way they stop making Forza motorsport games. Specially when the horizon series is a spin off of what turn 10 does.

They should cut gamepass instead of studios. That's it,it's done. If gamepass had 200M subscribers it would be worth it. Otherwise it just destroys sales.