GamesIndustry.biz: Chris Dring "Xbox sales flatlining in Europe, majority of Xbox games coming to PS5 at some point, MS putting less focus on GamePass

[Danny]

Most users wouldn't bother going through the effort of switching the system OS (assuming that MS would launch a Windows/Xbox hybrid interface), as long as the price is right, even if it's targeted towards core users, and it can play the games that are popular, it will likely be fine IMO. Although here I'm assuming that Xbox just wants to still have a foot in the market, not commit the same mistake of the Windows Phone, even if it is a distant third place. However I'm also assuming that a potential Xbox Deck would drop fees for playing online, otherwise it really wouldn't have a chance to begin with.

I never liked the race the for high end graphics, so this is an all around win for me, and, IMO, would be a long-term win for the health of the industry, though I must admit that would cause a lot of short term pain, particularly to third party giants that relied on that market, specifically the ones with near decade long projects that have yet to be released.
Some PlayStation fans might not realize, but Xbox falling off the console market will become a huge problem for Sony too.

It would be a huge win for Nintendo though, now most third party studios just skip Nintendo to focus on PS, Xbox and PC. If Xbox is removed maybe Nintendo finally becomes attractive for a lot more studios and publishers. Some will just focus on PC and PS but a few will probably add Nintendo to the list, instead of Xbox as it has been the past few decades.

 

[Tokuiten]

Just checked something on the interwebz, and found that article from 2022 about a podcast where Michael Pachter predicted that Sony would cease to exist within 10 years because they'd be unable to compete with Microsoft's GamePass. I know, 20/20 in hindsight and all that, but it's pretty funny how often that analyst managed to predict the exact opposite of what actually ended up happening. He's like an anti-Nostradamus

https://www.vgchartz.com/article/452845/michael-pachter-playstation-is-doomed-and-i-think-theyre-going-to-cease-to-exist-as-we-know-them/

Give it 5-10 more years. Sony is in a similar, but different situation compared to MS. MS's hw sales suck, but they're now a giant sw-maker, trying to sell games. Sony sells a lot of hw, but their very own sw sales aren't that special. So both MS and Sony are in a situation where they need to raise the sales of their own sw. Both are gravitating towards PC. The day will come when Sony-games release day 1 on PC and then PS will be as obsolete as Xbox, technically speaking.

Ultimately, Valve will have been the true Nostradamus, except that their SteamMachines were 15 years too early. In the end, everything will be SteamMachines.

 

[Danny]

Just checked something on the interwebz, and found that article from 2022 about a podcast where Michael Pachter predicted that Sony would cease to exist within 10 years because they'd be unable to compete with Microsoft's GamePass. I know, 20/20 in hindsight and all that, but it's pretty funny how often that analyst managed to predict the exact opposite of what actually ended up happening. He's like an anti-Nostradamus

https://www.vgchartz.com/article/452845/michael-pachter-playstation-is-doomed-and-i-think-theyre-going-to-cease-to-exist-as-we-know-them/

Its pretty obvious that Microsoft themselves thought that gamepass would be a complete gamechanger for them and lead to huge market share gain from primarily Sony. The whole multiplatform strategy is probably just them in panic coming up with a plan B because they were probably pretty chocked that they lost market share to Sony ever since gamepass was started.

And that is why i understand all the speculation about them leaving the console market: Gamepass was their whole plan, and it failed. So what else can they do?

Post automatically merged: Mar 27, 2024

Give it 5-10 more years. Sony is in a similar, but different situation compared to MS. MS's hw sales suck, but they're now a giant sw-maker, trying to sell games. Sony sells a lot of hw, but their very own sw sales aren't that special. So both MS and Sony are in a situation where they need to raise the sales of their own sw. Both are gravitating towards PC. The day will come when Sony-games release day 1 on PC and then PS will be as obsolete as Xbox, technically speaking.

Ultimately, Valve will have been the true Nostradamus, except that their SteamMachines were 15 years too early. In the end, everything will be SteamMachines.

The only company that will go with the traditional console model as long as they can is Nintendo, both Sony and Microsoft will leave that market before Nintendo does.

Nintendo will only ever leave the console market if there is no longer a viable consumer base for consoles. And after that they will probably still don't put their games on Steam rather have a PC/mobile eshop storefront for their own games.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

I have always speculated that game pass wasn’t a eureka moment that they genuinely believed was the best route for Xbox, but something they had to try because they weren’t ever going to beat PS at their own game. They had to differentiate themselves somehow.

 

[Evilnemesis8]

I have always speculated that game pass wasn’t a eureka moment that they genuinely believed was the best route for Xbox, but something they had to try because they weren’t ever going to beat PS at their own game. They had to differentiate themselves somehow.

I remain baffled that Xbox, a subsidiary of Microsoft, is not able to deliver a software catalogue that would entice players to their consoles. Although when you look at other US tech companies and how they seemingly don't seem to understand the concept of "fun", maybe it shouldn't surprise me too much.

 

[MechaJackie]

I mean this is the same company just weeks ago are demanding FFXIV players to double sub to play which isnt even a thing even at Playstation

if you think most users wouldn’t bother to change their OS to steam one i guess nothing will change on their situation

Ehhh, the FFXIV situation is a decades long clusterfuck made more difficult the longer it took to happen, I wouldn't assume too much on the reasons around it (particularly when it comes to a multiplat crossplay game that ranged all the way from the PS3 days to today, and we know how draconian some of those contracts were), even then, that's like, ultimately MS's problem, XIV players weren't gonna jump ship to Xbox anyway, and most people on Xbox probably gave up playing on it nearly a decade ago, if it's MS's fault on this then they are the only ones getting fucked anyway.

It would be a huge win for Nintendo though, now most third party studios just skip Nintendo to focus on PS, Xbox and PC. If Xbox is removed maybe Nintendo finally becomes attractive for a lot more studios and publishers. Some will just focus on PC and PS but a few will probably add Nintendo to the list, instead of Xbox as it has been the past few decades.

Oh it would for sure, and I feel the support for a lower end machine will also ultimately cause huge issues to Sony that needs to advertise their machine as being ultra powerful, when most games in that situation will likely target the Switch primarily, with the nice side effect that they probably would expand their audience on PC by supporting lower end specs.

 

[CaptainCrunch]

Possible, depends on what their ASPs were. Nintendo sold over 92m 1st party games for FY23 (likely a bit more, that's just for the million sellers within the FY) and Switch overall sold 214m (excluding digital only games). That excludes 3DS and Wii U too, which still moved some minor software amounts (edit: 2.83m 3DS and 120k U excluding digital only software).

I have no idea what are you trying to count here.
I'm talking about data from yearly financial report.
No need to think that something is hidden or wasn't excluded.

 

[Kiria]

Ehhh, the FFXIV situation is a decades long clusterfuck made more difficult the longer it took to happen, I wouldn't assume too much on the reasons around it (particularly when it comes to a multiplat crossplay game that ranged all the way from the PS3 days to today, and we know how draconian some of those contracts were), even then, that's like, ultimately MS's problem, XIV players weren't gonna jump ship to Xbox anyway, and most people on Xbox probably gave up playing on it nearly a decade ago, if it's MS's fault on this then they are the only ones getting fucked anyway.

Oh it would for sure, and I feel the support for a lower end machine will also ultimately cause huge issues to Sony that needs to advertise their machine as being ultra powerful, when most games in that situation will likely target the Switch primarily, with the nice side effect that they probably would expand their audience on PC by supporting lower end specs.

No reason for square enix to request this to happen.. they dont benefit on double sub.. in fact it greatly reduce their chances to grab the xbox playerbase for ff xiv

they probably got paid alot for this port

 

[Mr Swine]

I remain baffled that Xbox, a subsidiary of Microsoft, is not able to deliver a software catalogue that would entice players to their consoles. Although when you look at other US tech companies and how they seemingly don't seem to understand the concept of "fun", maybe it shouldn't surprise me too much.

Their MO since the start has always been to get their box into people’s homes at whatever cost. (Well Sony and Nintendo too)

It’s just that they didn’t have the heart in the “right” place and have been doing weird stuff each generation. Like ignoring Europe and calling it a second place market while downsizing in Brazil and thinking that bundling in Kinect with Xbox One was a brilliant idea.

 

[MechaJackie]

No reason for square enix to request this to happen.. they dont benefit on double sub.. in fact it greatly reduce their chances to grab the xbox playerbase for ff xiv

they probably got paid alot for this port

Yeah but it is unlikely that Xbox is unaware that the alternative platform specific currency and weirdness around subs would create bad publicity for the game's release, and they are not in a position to afford such mistakes, I doubt that the decision to have this all happen is as straightforward "because MS wants it so".
As far as how much they got paid, who knows when it comes to Squeenix these days

 

[theprodigy]

I have no idea what are you trying to count here.
I'm talking about data from yearly financial report.
No need to think that something is hidden or wasn't excluded.

If Nintendo is only counting their cut of 3rd party revenue that's going to result in a massively deflated 3rd party number compared to reality.

 

[CaptainCrunch]

If Nintendo is only counting their cut of 3rd party revenue that's going to result in a massively deflated 3rd party number compared to reality.

I know? My message was about 1st party revenue only.

 

[MechaJackie]

I have always speculated that game pass wasn’t a eureka moment that they genuinely believed was the best route for Xbox, but something they had to try because they weren’t ever going to beat PS at their own game. They had to differentiate themselves somehow.

Game Pass makes sense if the idea was to really aggressively price the service for costumer acquisition and then slowly increase the price to the point that only the a few core costumers would still consider it worthwhile. I would say that their failure in supplying the Series X|S worldwide and the less than ideal AAA first party releases really killed their plan, besides a number of other issues.

 

[enpleinjour]

Possible, depends on what their ASPs were. Nintendo sold over 92m 1st party games for FY23 (likely a bit more, that's just for the million sellers within the FY) and Switch overall sold 214m (excluding digital only games). That excludes 3DS and Wii U too, which still moved some minor software amounts (edit: 2.83m 3DS and 120k U excluding digital only software).


That's not full revenue, it's just their cut. So 30% on digital (excluding partner deals, which likely go lower) and around 12-20% physical depending on card size and order volume.

For 3rd party revenue to be just $1-2B on Switch, the ASP would need to be only $8-17 on packaged games and $0 on digital only software and MTX. It's just not realistic, you're vastly undercounting.

Oh right, yeah Nintendo omits the total. $1.25B -> $4.2B+ total value so total would be $9B -> $13B+

Actually forgot physical revenue for both Nintendo and Sony is a small cut as well, so total console software revenue would be even higher.

Feel free to ignore -- did those estimates include margin estimates? I'd imagine they are much higher for Valve given very limited game dev, only recently (and at lower scale) hardware subsidies, etc.

The MSFT one did. Its pretty standard margin you see across the industry, 30% for 1P games and 40-50% for platform economics.

$1.3B Valve 1P -> $0.4B OI
$4.5B 3P marketplace on Steam -> $0.5 OI

Total OI from $5.8B rev = $0.9B

There is the current Wolfire v Steam court case which has the financials but is all redacted. Maybe I will make a thread if people want, hopefully there's another leak hahaa

But PS5 isn’t seeing enough growth to offset growing costs. It’s mostly flat from PS4.

You're talking about revenue and PS5 is hugely growing in revenue. PS5 is doing on par while being $100 and at this point in time $200 more expensive than PS4.

 

[JMECH2000]

Oh right, yeah Nintendo omits the total. $1.25B -> $4.2B+ total value so total would be $9B -> $13B+

Actually forgot physical revenue for both Nintendo and Sony is a small cut as well, so total console software revenue would be even higher.



The MSFT one did. Its pretty standard margin you see across the industry, 30% for 1P games and 40-50% for platform economics.

$1.3B Valve 1P -> $0.4B OI
$4.5B 3P marketplace on Steam -> $0.5 OI

Total OI from $5.8B rev = $0.9B

There is the current Wolfire v Steam court case which has the financials but is all redacted. Maybe I will make a thread if people want, hopefully there's another leak hahaa



You're talking about revenue and PS5 is hugely growing in revenue. PS5 is doing on par while being $100 and at this point in time $200 more expensive than PS4.

....are you not inflation adjusting revenue?

 

[RDragon]

Just checked something on the interwebz, and found that article from 2022 about a podcast where Michael Pachter predicted that Sony would cease to exist within 10 years because they'd be unable to compete with Microsoft's GamePass. I know, 20/20 in hindsight and all that, but it's pretty funny how often that analyst managed to predict the exact opposite of what actually ended up happening. He's like an anti-Nostradamus

https://www.vgchartz.com/article/452845/michael-pachter-playstation-is-doomed-and-i-think-theyre-going-to-cease-to-exist-as-we-know-them/

Why are people even still talking about Pachter? For everting he gets right, he’s most of the time with some pretty weird takes. I stopped listening to him during the Wii-era.

 

[RDragon]

I remain baffled that Xbox, a subsidiary of Microsoft, is not able to deliver a software catalogue that would entice players to their consoles. Although when you look at other US tech companies and how they seemingly don't seem to understand the concept of "fun", maybe it shouldn't surprise me too much.

I think Colin from Sacred Symbols got it mostly right. The problem with MS is they’re not a creative company, they a service company. They do their best when they’re putting their stuff everywhere like Window and Word or sharing technology like Cloud. You see this with the original Live which was all about service.

It’s simply not in their DNA to work in creativity. Which why they buy companies to fill that gap, but can’t seem to properly managed them or help when they fall into a slump. As several noted, no one would look at a game like Red Fall say it was okay. A creative company with any sense would have cancelled it or rebooted it. I would even say the same holds true with Starfield. Someone at MS needed to tell Todd to massively cut down the load times, make more seamless worlds to compliment the generated worlds so people could explore like Skyrim, and add city maps to name a few.

 

[Joseki]

I remain baffled that Xbox, a subsidiary of Microsoft, is not able to deliver a software catalogue that would entice players to their consoles. Although when you look at other US tech companies and how they seemingly don't seem to understand the concept of "fun", maybe it shouldn't surprise me too much.

Microsoft is historically not great at problem solving anything that can't be resolved by:
1. throwing money at it
2. create a monopoly by buying out the competition and creating an anti-competitive enviroment

 

[JMECH2000]

A key piece of context for Xbox 360 (late) and One struggles with 1P content is that they were unable to make acquisitions due to Microsofts consent order / antitrust items. So, a lot of the content they did put money behind like Mass Effect, etc. just went everywhere or sequels became hard to negotiate (Crysis 2, Quantum Break, etc.)



Peter Moore goes through this in a really interesting interview on The Iron Lords Podcast. So that's a large part of why Xbox went from 5 studios in early Xbox One to the monster they are now.

ETA: I meant Ryse 2. Woops

 

[derby_440]

Give it 5-10 more years. Sony is in a similar, but different situation compared to MS. MS's hw sales suck, but they're now a giant sw-maker, trying to sell games. Sony sells a lot of hw, but their very own sw sales aren't that special. So both MS and Sony are in a situation where they need to raise the sales of their own sw. Both are gravitating towards PC. The day will come when Sony-games release day 1 on PC and then PS will be as obsolete as Xbox, technically speaking.

Ultimately, Valve will have been the true Nostradamus, except that their SteamMachines were 15 years too early. In the end, everything will be SteamMachines.

PC catalogue game sales are strong but when it comes to paying full price for new AAA games it still sell worse then XB ports even now. Biggest game of the generation will skip PC next year.

Lets talk about console doom when PC ports start outselling XBS ports let alone PS5.

 

[fiendcode]

I have no idea what are you trying to count here.
I'm talking about data from yearly financial report.
No need to think that something is hidden or wasn't excluded.

That's the FY23 data, Nintendo doesn't separate out 1st party FGS so I'm not sure what number you're referring to. They do some ratios but you can't get an exact figure out those of those because of how they categorize it all.

 

[CaptainCrunch]

That's the FY23 data

And?

Nintendo doesn't separate out 1st party FGS so I'm not sure what number you're referring to. They do some ratios but you can't get an exact figure out those of those because of how they categorize it all.

Those "some ratios" are
1) proportion of hardware sales to total dedicated video game platform sales
2) proportion of first party sales to total dedicated video game platform software sales

We also have average USD exchange rate.

Unless i misunderstand what FGS means, we know exactly how much they earn from 1st party games.

 

[fiendcode]

And?

You can stuff the attitude.

Those "some ratios" are
1) proportion of hardware sales to total dedicated video game platform sales
2) proportion of first party sales to total dedicated video game platform software sales

We also have average USD exchange rate.

Unless i misunderstand what FGS means, we know exactly how much they earn from 1st party games.

Read the fine print, what Nintendo categorizes in each (amiibo, NSO, etc) muddies the waters. Also Nintendo revenue =/= platform revenue due to omitting retail cut as enpleinjour and I spoke about earlier. Packaged software is going to be 15-20% higher than what Nintendo reports for their own games even which is why I pointed to actual software data and said it would depend on ASP. And as Nintendo sells more physical software than any other publisher (and indeed Switch sells more physical software than any other gaming platform, potentially more than all others combined even) this missing cut will negatively impact them most when comparing true total market value.

The truth is everyone console side's numbers (Nintendo, PS, even Xbox) are going to be a bit higher due to this to varying degrees.

 

[Pancracio17]

I remain baffled that Xbox, a subsidiary of Microsoft, is not able to deliver a software catalogue that would entice players to their consoles. Although when you look at other US tech companies and how they seemingly don't seem to understand the concept of "fun", maybe it shouldn't surprise me too much.

The company behind Xbox being Microsoft is exactly why they struggle so much to make good games. That report Schreier did about their contractor policy was pretty bad.

Game companies say they use contractors to fill temporary jobs or to rotate people in and out of projects as needed. But at some studios, contractors wind up staying for years, strung along by the hope of full-time employment as they struggle to make a living wage.

At Microsoft, contractors can only work for 18 months max. (They can then come back after a six-month break.) Microsoft uses so many contractors that this limit leads to a lot of attrition — and for games that take 4+ years to make, like Halo Infinite, it has been disruptive

This alone is an Achilles Heel for all of their dev teams. Its only getting worse over time as game dev takes longer.

MS is a software company, not a game company. Games are software, but they arent made like traditional software.

 

[Godzilla]

The company behind Xbox being Microsoft is exactly why they struggle so much to make good games. That report Schreier did about their contractor policy was pretty bad.

This alone is an Achilles Heel for all of their dev teams. Its only getting worse over time as game dev takes longer.

MS is a software company, not a game company. Games are software, but they arent made like traditional software.

Unless there were some interesting changes after the 360 era for some unknown reason, it's puzzling why Microsoft has a strange track record regarding game development.

During the 360 era, they didn't have issues releasing games frequently. While this may have had some impact, I believe there's more than meets the eye in Microsoft.

 

[Jin+Jang]

Chris knew what he was talking about Gamepass

'The gold rush is over:' Slay the Spire and Darkest Dungeon devs say that big Game Pass and Epic exclusive deals have dried up for indie devs

It's not easy to get funding for a new game right now.

www.pcgamer.com

Slay the Spire launched to slow sales in Steam early access before eventually becoming a deckbuilding juggernaut. Darkest Dungeon was likewise a Steam early access success; both games are available on PC Game Pass, though DD director Chris Bourassa said that Microsoft's deals for getting games on Game Pass have "come down in scope" since the subscription service began.

"So has Epic," Bourassa said. "The Gold Rush is over. I come from the Northwest Territories. The town I'm from was built on gold, and then they found diamonds further north. Maybe another paradigm shift is waiting for us, but I definitely think the scale of the deals I'm hearing about is significantly dimishese from the big swinging days. Certainly we got our Epic [deal] at the right time."

 

[Pancracio17]

Unless there were some interesting changes after the 360 era for some unknown reason, it's puzzling why Microsoft has a strange track record regarding game development.

During the 360 era, they didn't have issues releasing games frequently. While this may have had some impact, I believe there's more than meets the eye in Microsoft.

Games take a lot longer now, so while the issue existed before, its now way more apparent. A studio can go through 3 rounds of contractors per game.

Maybe theres something else too, but in my eyes, this is kinda already bad enough.

 

[allan-bh]

Gamepass is considered to have failed to help the Xbox brand, but I suspect that hardware sales would be lower whitout it.

We will never know for sure, but my impression is that gamepass was positive for Xbox, just not at the level Microsoft needed or expected for compete against Playstation.

First party lineup was lackluster in almost every year since gamepass debut, that's why I think without the service people would be even less attracted for a Xbox.

Microsoft had a serious mistake with Xbox One and didn't delivered enough to regain consumers. Gamepass is great but Xbox as a hole needs better influx of appealing new games.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

For Gamepass to genuinely work, it ultimately needs a consistent release schedule of good first party content. Xbox is now finally in the position to deliver on that.

 

[Tokuiten]

I know it usually gets ignored, because it sounds like it cannot be true, but I stand by the same opinion I had 5 years ago: The #1 Xbox is still missing, and that negatively impacts GamePass, too, are likeable heroes.

"But character xyz is great", yeah, it's nice if you individually like some of Xbox' characters, but, and I'm excluding Nintendo for obvious reasons, Sony has characters like Nathan Drake, Alloy, Spider-Man, Kratos, Ratchet, Jak, Sly, and others I'm forgetting. These are all fun characters to varying degrees. Now what has MS? The stoic Master Chief. The "my head is fucked, help me"-Senua. The Gears-Dudebros. The only thing close to likeable characters is the Psychonaut-hero and even that has such a "special" artstyle that makes it harder to empathize with. And now they got Indiana Jones, but make it 1st-person and couldn't even get the full likeness of Harrison Ford for it. It's like they're sabotaging themselves when it comes to iconic characters that one associates with Xbox.

Likeable, relatable characters that are aesthetically pleasing; that is something MS hasn't been able to offer, yet, and it's doubtful ABK's franchises will change much about it.

 

[Astrogamer]

If we go by AO3, Ghost and Soap are very likeable characters. You are sort of right in that they don't have likeable characters but, it's more that the iterations in series with likeable characters are few and far between. Gears of War has been years since the last entry even counting the Tactic spinoffs. Similar timeline for Master Chief outside the TV show. Forza, Starfield, Grounded and Sea of Thieves are player driven experiences. Both Master Chief and Marcus Fenix fit in a narrowish archetype that fell out of favor in the late 2000s in favor of more quippy superhero. Kratos used to be in that type but, they evolved him with reboot. With Halo and Gears of War unable to get out of the shadow of their original trilogies, their big characters can't really evolve.
I don't think it's the biggest thing Xbox is missing but, it is a notable lack. The biggest thing I feel is the industry-defining game. Once they have that, it brightens the rest of their output as they would no longer have that metric around their neck.

 

[CaptainCrunch]

Great post!
I'd argue with one thing only.
They are missing memorable characters, stories and plot points not just likeable heroes.

Not a lot of people like Abby from TLOU2 but that scene? Holy shite, won't forget it for sure.

 

[Terrell]

To summarize the prior point: Xbox games have too many player surrogates with minimal memorable characterization.

 

[duvjones]

Chris knew what he was talking about Gamepass

'The gold rush is over:' Slay the Spire and Darkest Dungeon devs say that big Game Pass and Epic exclusive deals have dried up for indie devs

It's not easy to get funding for a new game right now.

www.pcgamer.com

I will be honest, the Gamepass push was something that I considered to ebb and flow... looks like things are going lean.
In all of that, Epic Game Store is more of a concern because of the attempt to punch to Valve's level and then aggressiveness of it. It begs the question of what does Epic do about it's store front at this point.

 

[rockets]

For Gamepass to genuinely work, it ultimately needs a consistent release schedule of good first party content. Xbox is now finally in the position to deliver on that.

I honestly think that yes, while this was an issue, the obstacles GP or similar services have to overcome (for broad market appeal) are bigger than just the content.

Being largely tied to one platform, lacking cloud/mobile capabilities, and maybe biggest of all is that there are not that many people who have time to sit down and play all these games when there's so many other non-interactive media competing for your attention.

MS is in it for the long haul so I think many issues facing these subs can be solved, but it's still undetermined and definitely no silver bullet.

 

[Danny]

I honestly think that yes, while this was an issue, the obstacles GP or similar services have to overcome (for broad market appeal) are bigger than just the content.

Being largely tied to one platform, lacking cloud/mobile capabilities, and maybe biggest of all is that there are not that many people who have time to sit down and play all these games when there's so many other non-interactive media competing for your attention.

MS is in it for the long haul so I think many issues facing these subs can be solved, but it's still undetermined and definitely no silver bullet.

Yeah i think gamepass being tied to Xbox makes growth almost impossible as long as Xbox sales are mediocre. Or if they find a way to finally make gamepass more appealing to PC gamers.

 

[Pancracio17]

They did get the likeness of Harrison Ford for Indiana Jones didnt they? Just not the voice because Harrison Ford is an old man now.

I dont think Xbox leaning into the player is that bad for them. Some of the most popular games of all time are like that. I dont think thats a factor to their failure. Skyrim lacks a main character like Mario and Nathan Drake but it is memorable. Its totally possible to be succesful with characters like these. The branding revolves more about the worlds in those cases, like Minecraft marketing. If they failed, they failed for other reasons.

But on that topic. Never reviving Banjo outside of Nuts and Bolts was such a huge miss. Leaks say theyre doing it now but its way too late.

 

[Tokuiten]

They did get the likeness of Harrison Ford for Indiana Jones didnt they? Just not the voice because Harrison Ford is an old man now.

I dont think Xbox leaning into the player is that bad for them. Some of the most popular games of all time are like that. I dont think thats a factor to their failure. Skyrim lacks a main character like Mario and Nathan Drake but it is memorable. Its totally possible to be succesful with characters like these. The branding revolves more about the worlds in those cases, like Minecraft marketing. If they failed, they failed for other reasons.

But on that topic. Never reviving Banjo outside of Nuts and Bolts was such a huge miss. Leaks say theyre doing it now but its way too late.

The problem isn't "some". It's ALL of them for Xbox.

 

[Pancracio17]

The problem isn't "some". It's ALL of them for Xbox.

I was about to argue that a good mascot isnt that important, but then I remembered im still a Sonic fan. Youre right. Their only faces being military coded and cars is (or was) a problem too.

 

[Phonicjoy]

I honestly think that yes, while this was an issue, the obstacles GP or similar services have to overcome (for broad market appeal) are bigger than just the content.

Being largely tied to one platform, lacking cloud/mobile capabilities, and maybe biggest of all is that there are not that many people who have time to sit down and play all these games when there's so many other non-interactive media competing for your attention.

MS is in it for the long haul so I think many issues facing these subs can be solved, but it's still undetermined and definitely no silver bullet.

I’ve yet to see an actual rundown of server costs for these services.

They must be relatively large. The blades are custom, and I would think there’s not much you can do in terms of optimization; the amount of Xbox equivalent processors you but in there is the amount concurrent sessions?

I know from other industries running software that would require similar hardware, that they charge a tenfold. And those companies don’t have the license expenses.

I think these services have a pretty defined upper limit of number of users on mobile. It’s not like premium stuff is doing great there. It’s probably going to be users that like the value add, but not that much more.

It has cloud capabilities though? You can stream on your Xbox and in the browser at least.