So now that Xbox is going 3rd party, what will be the reactions of 3rd party publishers throughout the industry?

laynelane

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I was reading about this very topic on another forum recently.


This person has been fairly reliable for information too. What he's saying makes sense too. A short summary: if MS becomes a publisher more so than a platform holder, then that puts them in direct competition with other publishers. And considering third-party games have difficulty recouping their costs (much less making a profit barring the biggest games) on Xbox already and have increased costs with having to develop for two SKUs - third-party publishers may choose to start skipping Xbox entirely. This is a bare-bones interpretation of his comment, though, and it's probably best to just read it for yourself.
 
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ToTTenTranz

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My guess is less 3rd parties are going to launch games on Xbox and focus instead on Windows and PS5.

Which might actually be nice for the developers. With the PS5 Pro they're gaining one more platform to work and optimize on, but losing two with the Series X and S.

Hopefully, they'll dedicate more time to optimize for handheld PCs that run windows games instead, like the Steam Deck and Legion Go.
 

Gediminas

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21 Jun 2022
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I was reading about this very topic on another forum recently.


This person has been fairly reliable for information too. What he's saying makes sense too. A short summary: if MS becomes a publisher more so than a platform holder, then that puts them in direct competition with other publishers. And considering third-party games have difficulty recouping their costs (much less making a profit barring the biggest games) on Xbox already and have increased costs with having to develop for two SKUs - third-party publishers may choose to start skipping Xbox entirely. This is a bare-bones interpretation of his comment, though, and it's probably best to just read it for yourself.
according to him, some publishers already canceling porting games on xbox.
 

Zeroing

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All I predict is MS and EA ceasing their long friendship ( now they are competitors )

MS has the money but do they have the experience and passion to manage so many studios?

Anyway I think things will change! I doubt there will be another Xbox. What will they do with the inventory?
 

Sunrise Ninja

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I assume most developers will be happy, who would want to be working on a port of a game that a small percent of people are going to buy, it's just extra work.
 

Nano

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I think this is amplified, I expect some games (service and old games) that will be released on Playstation, but big games (AAA) won't be released on Playsatation.
 

daniel5043

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I'm curious to see how Aksys Games, NIS America, XSeed , Compile Heart (aka Iffys), Atlus (Sega) will react to this. These companies usually publish very, very niche JRPGs and visual novels. I remember them getting a lot of hate on Twitter/FB for not supporting Xbox, and these companies slowly started to do so around 2019. Guess what? Their storefronts are now holding on to several hundred, possibly thousands, of copies of unsold Xbox games...
Are they going to pivot backwards AGAIN? lol
Will xbox still fund the ports I'd the question
 

Yurinka

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They won't care because Mojang, Zenimax and Activision Blizzard already were 3rd party, and MGS games didn't sell enough in recent years for them to care about.

Several big 3rd party publishers saw as positive MS acquiring Zenimax and ABK because that meant less direct competitors in the publisher sales rankings and when negotiating with Sony or Nintendo.

MS will continue having their own "Xbox consoles", even if manufactured by 3rd parties as a PC handheld with Windows in it, as a Chromecast, etc.
 

flaccidsnake

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I was reading about this very topic on another forum recently.


This person has been fairly reliable for information too. What he's saying makes sense too. A short summary: if MS becomes a publisher more so than a platform holder, then that puts them in direct competition with other publishers. And considering third-party games have difficulty recouping their costs (much less making a profit barring the biggest games) on Xbox already and have increased costs with having to develop for two SKUs - third-party publishers may choose to start skipping Xbox entirely. This is a bare-bones interpretation of his comment, though, and it's probably best to just read it for yourself.
This person can't explain why publishers pay Playstation, Microsoft, Nintendo, Steam, Apple, Google and retailers 30%.

The cut is normal. These publishers are making out like bandits compared with selling physical games at Gamestop, but they're still willing to fuck players over for a bigger percent.
 

laynelane

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This person can't explain why publishers pay Playstation, Microsoft, Nintendo, Steam, Apple, Google and retailers 30%.

The cut is normal. These publishers are making out like bandits compared with selling physical games at Gamestop, but they're still willing to fuck players over for a bigger percent.

From what I could tell, it's not only about the 30% cut. It's also about developing for Xbox itself and whether that is financially viable for publishers - especially if MS begins to move towards being a publisher only and their hardware sales and user base continue to fall.
 

Yobo

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29 Jun 2022
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How are they dumbass devs? They got money from Microsoft to make games.
Their games will flop on consoles and they are stuck time exclusive or with marketing for a console that Microsoft are abandoning