Point is that there's millions if not tens of millions of consumers that are doing the same thing as me - playing the game(s) via Game Pass.
Only problem with what you're saying is that you're taking what Microsoft said about it sucking to be in last place or that they need ABK to compete way too literal. Every company would say the same things because they want the acquisition to pass through. In regards to ABK, Microsoft acquired them first and foremost for King and mobile gaming which makes way more freaking money than consoles will ever make.
I get that but not every game is a big game and for Microsoft especially, they'll have less big games because they don't do just AAA blockbusters and that's it. A game like Towerborne won't be big at all sales wise but man, it reminds me of Guardian Heroes on Saturn and I welcome all the different types of games that Microsoft will be releasing, big and small. If anything, with a subscription, having a big game here and there is important but I believe the diversity and variety is far more vital to their subscription service because if all you get is a big game here and there but that's it, not as many people are going to care plus big blockbusters take forever to make even when reusing assets so to get these smaller AA games and lesser AAA games is great.
I will say again that we're not arguing personal preference. How you or I personally feel about a game or genre doesn't matter in this particular discussion. We're talking about cold hard sales, which MS currently lacks and Phil is on record saying that they need more big games like Sony to push not only Gamepass but also consoles. Their words. Also, even in the diversity department, Gamepass doesn't cater that well to people who like Japanese games outside of big titles from Capcom and Sega. Which is why MS really wants a JP developer. This especially noticeable if you liked JPRGs.
Halo Infinite core is excellent.
It has a good gameplay core, but the GAAS and even the multiplayer aspects are undercooked, which is why Halo Infinite was in such a dire situation until recently. Even now, Halo Infinite cost 344 a lot of jobs, they gutted their story department, and the GAAS aspect is still seen as not being that good. In short, it would be hard press to call Halo Infinite a success outside of them keeping it from being a complete bomb. Maybe in a year or two it will pull a NMS or FF14 turnaround, but it isn't there yet. Right now, it's more Fall Guys. Even the campaign that people liked was severely scale down from what was promised in trailers with bios outright missing and sections of the map where there is nothing there. What makes Halo Infinite really painful, however, was that it was supposed to be a return to form after Halo 5 and it arguably factored the fandom even more.
Of course, Microsoft wants sales but they don't need 10M or 20M sales for a game in order for it to be hugely successful and more importantly, massively profitable for them.
I have to disagree since that isn't what they told the courts. They do need those 10 to 20 million sellers to push Gamepass since most casuals aren't going to buy Gamepass for games like Grounded. They do it for games like Starfield.
This is where the divide is. People believe that they need to sell 20M copies of a game to be successful and profitable when in reality they don't. Microsoft is blowing away all their numbers and records including from the Xbox 360 generation which im sure everyone would agree in regards to it being Microsoft's best and most successful generation but yet, by the time this generation ends, that will be nothing more than an afterthought.
In terms of sales, they're doing overall worst than the 360 era. It was only this last quarter that they did very well. So far, the Series is only on par with the Xbox One. A system that MS called a total flop. Also keep in mind, the 360 did extremely well for MS in Japan thanks to pushing games like DOA, Blue Dragon, and having some time-exclusives like Tales of Vesperia. The Series has none of that.
Yeah, except that ABK was more for King and mobile than anything Activision or Blizzard related because the mobile gaming division for Microsoft will make more revenue and profit than the rest combined. Game Pass will explode once COD 2024 goes in it day one. It will see growth in 2024 when they add the older COD games and Blizzard games and if they ever add WOW to it, oh man, forget about it.
Not what they told the courts. While they said they wanted to get into the mobile space with King, they were very upfront saying that they needed ABK to compete in the console space because Sony and Nintendo were beating them badly. Hence all the pie charts showing Sony being a monopoly in the 'high-end console' space. And you don't say stuff like that if you don't care about having 'big games'. Also if they didn't care, why even make Beth games exclusive.
As for what they said during the ABK acquisition, BOTH Microsoft and Sony were spewing bullshit in order to accomplish what they wanted to achieve. Microsoft doesn't need to own COD to compete just like Sony losing COD wouldn't affect them all that much either. Especially when both will have the same version of the game with no extra advantages.
You can call it BS, but those are MS' words on the matter and they got the deal done because they were losing in the console space by a large amount. No one, not even Sony, argued that MS didn't need big games because of Gamepass.
Selling more Xbox consoles this generation isn't going to be based on just big games, it's going to based on the value proposition that you can get out of buying the console and in turn Game Pass. This includes yes, the big games but not only the big games but the different genres and variety of games as well. When you're giving me the AAA blockbusters but also the smaller AA games like Hi Fi Rush or Towerborne, im way more likely to invest more money into your platform and eco-system. This is how most people are going to look at it as years go by plus a lot of their big games are still to come. Are games like Hellblade 2, Fable and others as big as say a Starfield? No but then again, they're not meant to be.
Can't agree and not even MS agrees with this stance. We are currently three years into this generation and MS is losing even to the aging Switch because it lacks big games to get people to invest into their ecosystem. Despite all this about Gamepass, the Series is only marginally doing better than the Xbox One, again a system Xbox outright called a flop. What's worst, Xbox had the chance to take the lead or at least put Sony on its heels after they had a great 2021 with releasing big games like Halo Infinite and FH5 on top of several great smaller titles. They blew it all in 2022 by not releasing any AAA games until Redfall and only had smaller titles. In short, Hi-Fi Rush maybe great, but it's simply not a system or Gamepass seller nor more than people buying a PS5 for Astro Boy Playroom or a Switch for Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
To further this point, the months the Xbox beat the Switch in NPD was because of Starfield.
Only problem with what you're saying is that you're taking what Microsoft said about it sucking to be in last place or that they need ABK to compete way too literal.
I am taking MS' words along with how they placed in the market currently to show that yes, they both want and need big games. Trying to argue otherwise comes off a form of cope. If MS wants to succeed, they need more games like Starfield. Game like Hi-Fi Rush are nice crowdpleaser, but they don't move the market. It is no different than how Nintendo has Zelda, Pikmin 4 going by the JP charts, and Mario this year as their big titles couple with smaller titles like Engage, Warioware, Return to Dreamland.
I agree, sales wise
But I also think Xbox needs a stable stream of first party, exclusive Gamepass games for its long term strategy
Having those games out every quarter plus 2 big ones a year would paint a way different picture imho
Not everything can or need to be AAA
People keep saying this, but that really isn't the argument being made. The reason why MS fall so far behind is because their first AAA game after Halo Infinite was Redfall. They released a lot of good smaller title, but those didn't move the needle for them in terms of console sales nor people getting Gamepass.
In short, MS needs more games like Starfield. Games like Hellblade, Avowed, and MSFS are not going to move the ship. It's no different if Nintendo released nothing for over a year and a half outside of titles no bigger than FE. At the same time, you need those smaller titles otherwise you end up like the N64. Extremely top heavy with large droughts.
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