Xbox's Current Strategy of Rumored Multiplatform Support and Next Gen Hardware
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Pretty sure those were controlled leaks, to somehow soften the blow once the announcements are actually made officially.
So yeah, the most hardcore fans and console warriors probably already exhausted themselves so now they will be calmer once things are official.
so do you think they will stop making consoles, delete the day1 first party offer from GamePass and develop all their games also for PlayStation5?
No, that wouldnt make any sense . But having the worstcase scenarios floating around, will make what is actually happening probably have less of a blowback than what some people were pushing.
All Phil needs to say is that Xbox hardware isnt going anywhere, while announcing the multiplattform approach for certain software.
You can't be in the console platform business unless you are fully commited to it because the hardware side is typically losing money (unless you are Nintendo) and you are competing with established players who are fully commited.
Announcing that some of your first-party games will be available to competing platforms send the worryingly message to the consumer base that other games in the future might be available outside your platform which will inevitably weaken the console hardware side.
The other side effect of employing strategies that choke your hardware business is that you create uncertainity over the future existence of your platform(s) which would make consumers think twice before investing into your console when there is a risk that your purchases won't be carried forward.
Why spend money on Xbox which is casting doubts over its (hardware) future when there are available safer options from Nintendo and PlayStation?
Microsoft might announce future hardware plan to counter the negative perception but I bet people won't be reassured about the long term sustainability of the hardware initiative when your actions suggest you are fine with strangling your hardware sales/mindshare.
In the year when production capacity was restored in full (2023), thus the year for which expectations were that the previously unsatisfied demand would be finally met prompting big YoY gains, Xbox Series hardware sales experienced a double digits decline YoY in US.
The same happened in UK.
Without Microsoft subsiding fierce holidays deals for Xbox the situation would have been even worse.
Announcing that some of your first-party games will be available to competing platforms send the worryingly message to the consumer base that other games in the future might be available outside your platform which will inevitably weaken the console hardware side.
The other side effect of employing strategies that choke your hardware business is that you create uncertainity over the future existence of your platform(s) which would make consumers think twice before investing into your console when there is a risk that your purchases won't be carried forward.
Why spend money on Xbox which is casting doubts over its (hardware) future when there are available safer options from Nintendo and PlayStation?
Microsoft might announce future hardware plan to counter the negative perception but I bet people won't be reassured about the long term sustainability of the hardware initiative when your actions suggest you are fine with strangling your hardware sales/mindshare.
In the year when production capacity was restored in full (2023), thus the year for which expectations were that the previously unsatisfied demand would be finally met prompting big YoY gains, Xbox Series hardware sales experienced a double digits decline YoY in US.
The same happened in UK.
Without Microsoft subsiding fierce holidays deals for Xbox the situation would have been even worse.
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I think a key difference between Sega and Microsoft is the former followed a 1st party driven hardware model while the latter follows a 3rd party model. There's a different degree of impact there in terms of what actually sells your system.
Although I've felt with all the acquisitions, Microsoft's been progressively pushing towards a 1st party model and the rational there was the move from hardware (Xbox) to services (GamePass). The streaming wars have taught us content is king and the only sustainable route there is actually owning and producing the big draws yourself so it made sense to me seeing Microsoft pivot that way. And I still think this move opening up more to other consoles could be trojan horse to expanding GP as well.
Although I've felt with all the acquisitions, Microsoft's been progressively pushing towards a 1st party model and the rational there was the move from hardware (Xbox) to services (GamePass). The streaming wars have taught us content is king and the only sustainable route there is actually owning and producing the big draws yourself so it made sense to me seeing Microsoft pivot that way. And I still think this move opening up more to other consoles could be trojan horse to expanding GP as well.
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That's understandable and all but
You literally showed that it does not work for Xbox anymore. The quarter Starfield was released, Xbox was down YoY. Down in comparison to a year where they had like what? Pentiment? And they expect to sell like what? 1m consoles the next quarter? For Xbox something has to change because it is pretty clear that they are unable to move hardware despite even selling them with a huge loss. Like there were deals like 150$ for Xbox Series S and 300+ for Series X and they were able to achieve only +4% YoY. I would not be surprised if profit-wise, ABK alone is more profitable than the whole Xbox division due to low margins in console hardware.
All while the game development is not becoming cheaper, and competition over time and money is increasing across all the board as even TV series, movies, game streaming are competing with gaming. People spend a lot of time - for example - reading books on their devices which is also a competition to games they can play on the same device. And I can do that for free - like now I am reading a korean novel and don't spend my time playing some game at the same very moment. 15 years ago, I would have been playing WoW and spending my money there, as I would not have had access to translated Korean novels, as they were not translated at the time (no publicly available websites etc.)
And that's without the huge amount of games we have right now where it is relatively easy to start making them with all the engines being free or relatively cheap. Small teams can produce huge hits that decimate CCUs of much more expensive and bigger games, while also selling several times more and cheaper. I would not be surprised if we can find some indie game that sold more, cost less than the Prince of Persia from Ubisoft (which highly likely cost more than any indie game).
I read that article (earlier) and it was fascinating, however the fall of Sega can be contributed to multiple factors and finances was one of those. Plus they lost the support of EA, causing to invest in 2k franchise.
The thing is that the modern gaming market is completely different from whatever was happening in Dreamcast era. We literally have people playing the same games for years not even transitioning to new platforms anyway. We have a full new generation of gamers that has been playing nothing but F2P games. And all while you can't just studios to stop making games and game devs takes like 5+ years now. How many years did Suicide Squad take to be released only to flop badly?
The fundamental issue is that Xbox is unable to move the consoles and the brand Xbox does not look cool for the modern gamers (not "chick" enough). I have no idea how they can address that - especially with mobile phones gradually becoming capable of playing console level games (tons of people are playing Fortnite, Minecraft, COD Mobile, Warzone Mobile, Genshin Impact) there.
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We have seen the answer to this time and again. The PS3 was getting outsold in NPD when the last of us released, the wiiu was getting outsold when it had mario kart, smash, etc.
As shown by the PS4 and Switch you need to focus on the transition to the next console by building up a good reputation and then executing on content in a consistent fashion.
Will that take time? Yes. It's not easy but it's pretty much the only reliable method
Cuphead could probably fall in there too, iirc the devs said MS could've blocked the other console ports and didn't.
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Outside of Minecraft (which was multiplatform forever), these games were all small outsourced titles and did not come to Playstation.
If Microsoft starts putting games from their major studios on PS5 (which is the rumor for Sea of Thieves), it's a pretty major change.
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Except PS3 was selling pretty good worldwide at that time. USA market was a special case though. And Wii U is not a good example...What these examples demonstrate is that it is not exclusive that sell consoles - otherwise Wii U would not flop.
PS4's success was basically due to being cheap and more powerful (also no DRM). It was basically Xbox 360 of that time without launching 1 year only and having all the multiplats. Xbox One line up was better though.
The significant lack of compelling exclusives and the lack of a consistent release schedule of those exclusives were among the biggest reasons the Wii U flopped. Similarly the 3DS performed poorly out of the gate in big part because of a barren first year line up. The higher price might have been more acceptable for more people had there been more games.
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The PS3 sold half of what the PS2 sold and to get their it needed to slash its price and of course start putting out compelling software.
As the other poster mentioned the Wii U had good exclusives but there were notoriously long droughts and much like Starfield one good exclusive every once in a while is not going to do it.
That's why with the switch it had a compelling title practically once a month launch year with Zelda/Splatoon/Mario/Xenoblade all coming in the very first year.
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Personally I wonder if there were games still being released on DS when 3DS launched
pokemon was a big one
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You can't be in the console platform business unless you are fully commited to it because the hardware side is typically losing money (unless you are Nintendo) and you are competing with established players who are fully commited.
Announcing that some of your first-party games will be available to competing platforms send the worryingly message to the consumer base that other games in the future might be available outside your platform which will inevitably weaken the console hardware side.
The other side effect of employing strategies that choke your hardware business is that you create uncertainity over the future existence of your platform(s) which would make consumers think twice before investing into your console when there is a risk that your purchases won't be carried forward.
Why spend money on Xbox which is casting doubts over its (hardware) future when there are available safer options from Nintendo and PlayStation?
Microsoft might announce future hardware plan to counter the negative perception but I bet people won't be reassured about the long term sustainability of the hardware initiative when your actions suggest you are fine with strangling your hardware sales/mindshare.
In the year when production capacity was restored in full (2023), thus the year for which expectations were that the previously unsatisfied demand would be finally met prompting big YoY gains, Xbox Series hardware sales experienced a double digits decline YoY in US.
The same happened in UK.
Without Microsoft subsiding fierce holidays deals for Xbox the situation would have been even worse.
Wow, reading this and time is truly a flat circle. The conversations on rumours, trying to find crumbs of recent statement changes to show porting to other consoles, the different strategies being discussed (some games, timed exclusives, SEGA everywhere), its all really similar to the current MSFT narrative.
Agree with this 100 percent and is exactly how I suspect it will go.
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The thing is that I wonder if 3DS performance was essentially the case of transitioning from DS to 3DS.
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I wanted some press conference or something. I guess it will big amount of nothing and then meltdowns on Twitter
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The fact it's just a podcast suggests that the last week or so has been spent fighting and making last minute decisions on what their official direction is going to be. It's not like this is a big conference or well produced presentation that would have taken time.
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Oh maybe it is big amount of nothing and podcast usually drops on Thursday anyway.
Saw funny comment on Era
The official Xbox Podcasts are with cam, so if u wanna see them, u can:
news.xbox.com
Podcasts Archive - Xbox Wire
news.xbox.com
It will be a very in-authentic casual podcast with very trained corporate answers
Some people say it's probably nothing since it's in a podcast and not a cooperate setting. I think something big is happening since you don't get the three biggest names in Xbox in one podcast only to announce Hi-Fi and Sea of Thieves are now multiplat. It also makes little sense to wait this long if we're talking about a minor sea change when Xbox already does multiplat with Minecraft, COD, Quake 2 Remaster, and Ori going to the Switch.
Pentiment and HFR at the Direct on Wednesday, then on Thursday Phil, Sarah and Booty can talk about it.
Nate the Hate thinks Hi-Fi isn't coming to the Switch now, just to note.
MS will want their overall business to stay successful, so they don't want to make any news that relates to a strategy change that is severe, but not "giving up" too visible for the general public. A podcast is perfect to adress the issue towards enthusiast gamers while not directly impacting the mainstream conscience. Mind you, gaming websites will blow it up either way.
Long form podcasts are the ideal format for PR messaging. Allows you to gently drop bad news through vague messaging.
Interesting way to promote a podcast. Marketing department going wild.
(/s, obviously)
(/s, obviously)
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This is supposed to be a really low-key Direct other than Penny's Big Breakaway releasing immediately after the end of the Direct.
If Penny's Big Breakaway can get like a 93 on Metacritic and suck up some attention on the day, Microsoft will probably be extremely thankful though.
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Microsoft prepares to take Xbox everywhere
Some Xbox games are coming to PS5 and Switch.
www.theverge.com
First two titles are Hi Fi Rush and Pentiment
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Lots of gesturing at a Microsoft Steam Deck competitor.
I really don't know how well this would go as Microsoft's games are often badly optimized for PC.
I really don't know how well this would go as Microsoft's games are often badly optimized for PC.
Microsoft prepares to take Xbox everywhere
Some Xbox games are coming to PS5 and Switch.
First two titles are Hi Fi Rush and Pentiment
"Launching Xbox games on PlayStation or Nintendo Switch is a seismic shift in strategy"
And yet I already have 6 MS games on my Switch
I think some of these outlets are underselling how many games will actually be going multiplatform
Just to be clear, I am not trying to diminish the possible breath of this new strategy, but I see many outlets out-raging, screaming, scandalized and yet when you ready...the details aren't that different from what is already happening since the beginning of the gen
If we will see Pentiment and Higi Rush on Switch and Sea of Thieves (a pure GaaS game) on PS5
We will see..
If they are planning to release games on other platform, they need to go all in. A halfway effort might even be worse.
Regarding their hardcore fanbase: Announcing those 2 games and just leaving the door open for future titles without clearly outlaying the strategy, that might be a low blow to their trust and would actually make things worst with them.
They have to be clear, if it is Hi Fi Rush, Pentiment and SOT, then tell them that no other games would be ported or get ready for a PR nightmare from now on.
Regarding their hardcore fanbase: Announcing those 2 games and just leaving the door open for future titles without clearly outlaying the strategy, that might be a low blow to their trust and would actually make things worst with them.
They have to be clear, if it is Hi Fi Rush, Pentiment and SOT, then tell them that no other games would be ported or get ready for a PR nightmare from now on.
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Expanding the breadth of Microsoft games on other platforms immediately after a catastrophic Fall season for Xbox sends a very negative signal about the platform's future is in the issue.
In the last few months
-Starfield disappointed critically, received bad user reviews, and only slightly boosted Xbox hardware
-Forza Motorsport was a massive financial failure
-Xbox's November sales were so bad that they had to cut the price by $150 in December.
-Some retailers are beginning to not stock Xbox games or hardware
Then there was the Developer Direct that suggested Microsoft would have no significant games before Fall 2024 other than Hellblade 2... Which was a budget title that would receive no physical release.
So the hardware side was looking catastrophic and then they start expanding their third-party efforts? It's a pretty bad sign.
In the last few months
-Starfield disappointed critically, received bad user reviews, and only slightly boosted Xbox hardware
-Forza Motorsport was a massive financial failure
-Xbox's November sales were so bad that they had to cut the price by $150 in December.
-Some retailers are beginning to not stock Xbox games or hardware
Then there was the Developer Direct that suggested Microsoft would have no significant games before Fall 2024 other than Hellblade 2... Which was a budget title that would receive no physical release.
So the hardware side was looking catastrophic and then they start expanding their third-party efforts? It's a pretty bad sign.
Lower profile releases so won't change much in terms of bottom line.Microsoft prepares to take Xbox everywhere
Some Xbox games are coming to PS5 and Switch.
First two titles are Hi Fi Rush and Pentiment
SoT could be more significant, coming this year, but it is still a game past its prime.
And yet I still dont get it
Is people not aware of what MS is doing since the beginning of the gen?
This is a new level of "nintendo games dont count" lol
I know they are calligrafia the podcast themselves "new strategy" but or they are bringing Senua 2 day on PS5 or..
On PC SOT have still more player than halo infinite or even Forza Horizon 5.