Microsoft Releasing Exclusive Games on PC Is Great for Xbox Owners

Priorities changed significantly under the new (two years now) CEO though. Under Ballmer there were a bunch of individual businesses that were doing things on their own.

Nadella threw all of that out. He restructured the entire company so that every product supports 3 pillar products: Windows, Azure, and Office. He specifically said that Xbox first-party offerings and Xbox Live would be used to drive consumer preferences of Windows 10.

In other words, the priorities of the Xbox team are to help increase Windows adoption, usage, and revenue. Royalties from third-party sales are less important than the primary goals the CEO laid out for them.

I see if the emphasis is to push windows then the xbox one becomes no longer needed but instead all 1st party games and possible exclusives should be pushed to the windows store to help push windows 10. I can see phil somehow spinning that they are gonna be for the xbox one owners while twisting a knife in their back by moving all development to xbox and pc and then to pc only to support the windows pillar. MWAHAHAHAHA. why am i even discussing this subject so thoroughly when i don't even own an xb1.
 
You didn't read correctly. It's only a DIGITAL pre-order bonus. Incentive for digital buyers



Yes as it is going to ONLY be available through the Windows 10 Store.



Nope, only digital pre-orders or if you buy the console or LE version...all of which I believe are digital copies.

You're right, I posted that when I woke up and as I was showering I said that makes no sense that has to be digital only. Still its a great incentive to buy the XB1 version.
 
if we put aside the insecure fanboys crying that their exclusives won't be exclusive to their toaster of choice for a moment, if i had bought an xb1 at launch and witnessed the price cuts, removal of kinect and the availability of more and more titles on PC, i'd probably be feeling buyer's remorse too.

its understandable
 
Anyone who thinks it has become pointless to own an X1, sell it and get the MS games you want on PC. What's stopping you? How does this impact you negatively? If anything you should be happy that you can exchange the system for extra money to buy new games knowing you won't be missing out on anything. And you'll also get the best versions of those games if your PC is good enough. AND you won't need to pay for online play.

Or you can keep your console along with the OMG MY LIFE IS RUINS NOW!!!!! discourse if you want. Either way is fine with me.
 
Console gamers will still buy the console if they have interest in it. And this is most of the people who would buy an Xbox One anyway. This will not make them go build a PC. I think the effect will be minimal at best.
True, but i was thinking more about people who already have a PC that can run these games, and wanted to play the exclusive games. But heah, it probably wont be that much of a problem overall.
 
Great news. Bigger audience means more sales means bigger & better sequels. Not even mentioning Remedy getting more money to expand. Can imagine devs being happy about this.
 
Just wait for the final phase of the plan.

1. Quantum Break sells a trillion copies.

2. Quantum Break 2 available lifetime exclusively for Xbox One only.

"So, JonnyVP if we understand it correctly your plan includes releasing the game for PC which should be a major driver of the gazillions sales you project and then ask us to green light a sequel that skips the platform that generated a huge chunks of those sales?"

--JJJ laughter

;).
 
Anyone who thinks it has become pointless to own an X1, sell it and get the MS games you want on PC. What's stopping you? How does this impact you negatively? If anything you should be happy that you can exchange the system for extra money to buy new games knowing you won't be missing out on anything. And you'll also get the best versions of those games if your PC is good enough. AND you won't need to pay for online play.

Or you can keep your console along with the OMG MY LIFE IS RUINS NOW!!!!! discourse if you want. Either way is fine with me.

Exactly.

The only reason why I can see people seeing this as a negative is because they have an unhealthy attachment to an inanimate object. cough cough CrapGamer cough cough.

I mean fuck if Nintendo and Sony wanted to toss up their exclusives on PC today, I'd go pawn my Wii U and PS4 right away. Why the hell would I not want to be able to get all my games consolidated in one place, with better performance, and allowing the devs to have more avenues to sell their game and obtain wild success??

And for people who: 1) can't afford to build a PC or 2) simply don't want a PC? Keep buying on the consoles and more power to ya!

Well actually I'm particular to physical, so I'd want them to release some limited editions on PC in physical form at least just so I can vainly display the boxes on my shelf. But even if not I could probably eventually get over it.
 
It's 100% the right move and is definitely a good thing for both Microsoft and Remedy.

It is a tad frustrating to have fewer and fewer reasons to use my Xbox One, but in the grand scheme of things, those of us who have both the console and a PC capable of playing AAA games make up a very small percentage of the market.

If Microsoft keeps sticking to their guns on the "no, really, we care about Windows as a gaming platform" thing this time around, I might sell my 'Bone and put it towards upgrading a piece of hardware in my PC, especially if they keep improving the W10 Xbox app.
 
It's moot because how is it "bad for xbox owners"? Look at the final conclusion of that posters comment.

Why would an Xbox owner care if there's one less reason for others to get an Xbox (which I argue is merely perceived and not reality). If this hypothetical person really believes they don't need an Xbox anymore and sell it, wouldn't that only be a benefit to them as they now have some more cash for more games or other things? And I'm assuming they will then pick up the game on a PC they either already own or will own in the near future, because or else why would they get rid of the Xbox.

If we are discussing benefit to MS (which is not what the poster was arguing. In fact he actually said it was "good" for MS), obviously they feel it's a benefit even if a small number of people may pass on the Xbox because of the additional sales of software they'll get on PC.

Again you need to go read the commenter's post more carefully. You are arguing for something he actually disagrees with you on.

Then yes - this isn't bad for xbox owners in any way (this was also my position as I posted a few posts up). My comments were more on the value the system has for the gamer. If the gamer feels - "my console isn't elite anymore and it's games can be played by everyone" they may not care to to stay in the Windows ecosystem at all. Some of the links to twitter/reddit seem to share this sentiment and those are the hardcore/early adopters that are usually first to buy the system who now feel like they are getting thrown to the curb.
 
I see if the emphasis is to push windows then the xbox one becomes no longer needed but instead all 1st party games and possible exclusives should be pushed to the windows store to help push windows 10. I can see phil somehow spinning that they are gonna be for the xbox one owners while twisting a knife in their back by moving all development to xbox and pc and then to pc only to support the windows pillar. MWAHAHAHAHA. why am i even discussing this subject so thoroughly when i don't even own an xb1.

But Windows 10 is a platform for many screens and Nadella wants Windows 10 users to be able to take their experiences across those screens.

Nadella said he expects there to be many screens in the future and they'll continue making hardware anytime they can show an innovative usage of Windows 10. If you take a step back and look at their current hardware lineup they're making more hardware than ever before.

I get that it's fun for some people to think this spells the end of Xbox, but all signs point to it getting bigger. I guess trolls gonna troll though.
 
Yeah, all this means I'll be less likely to buy MS consoles in the future. Maybe this move is to prepare for when boxes are no longer a thing.
 
I don't really see it as a bad thing, but it definitely makes me less likely to buy any future console from MS. And it's pretty shitty that they're going to keep charging a subscription from console owners when PC owners are getting the same experience with most of the same games for free.

I wonder if PC will be getting dedicated servers? Also, free games on GWG - Rayman and Child of Light alone made it worth the ~£20 it costs. Plenty other games chucked at me too. I almost never buy games for Xbox now.
 
It's good for MS maybe, but i don't think it's good for players. I'm a huge Remedy fan and I've bought an X1 about only for Quantum Break, if I knowed first that they are going to relase it on pc too, I would never bought X1 over PS4.
 
Translation: We don't sell enough exclusives to make good profit out of it and/or we want to sell many OSs and we care 0 shit about a "lost cause" like the XB1

I don't buy the PR bullshit.

Great news overall for gamers, and you don't need an expensive PC to run games much better than the XB1 does
 
Perhaps I misinterpreted what you wrote, but it seemed like you were of the impression that Xbox is going to PC because that's what is good for Xbox. I was trying to say Nadella put Xbox on Windows because he's interested in seeing Windows succeed and he recognized gaming is a significant source of OS usage and revenue.

Everything the Xbox team does going forward will be because it has the aim to help Windows on the gaming front. That's the Xbox team's role now.



Because the Xbox Store revenue rolls up into the Windows Store on paper. No matter what Windows 10 device they use, if they purchase an Xbox game then Microsoft gets that money and it's tied to a Xbox Live gamertag.

Right - but this is an assumption that the gamer has these Windows 10 devices (tablets, mobiles, etc.). Also (and I don't have any numbers to back this up) but i'd image that the majority of PC gamers are playing on monitors on a desk while the console is geared to the TV in the living room. Those sales (at least for rentals) can go another route and the main point would be that Windows is not the "living room" experience MSFT wants it to be (it's still on the desk in another room).
 
Then yes - this isn't bad for xbox owners in any way (this was also my position as I posted a few posts up). My comments were more on the value the system has for the gamer. If the gamer feels - "my console isn't elite anymore and it's games can be played by everyone" they may not care to to stay in the Windows ecosystem at all. Some of the links to twitter/reddit seem to share this sentiment and those are the hardcore/early adopters that are usually first to buy the system who now feel like they are getting thrown to the curb.

No doubt there are people who feel this way. But is a selfish position like that any kind of position to take? My argument is that sure these people can feel that way, but it doesn't make it valid at all.

And let's be honest what are these people going to do? My console isn't "elite" now so I'm going to pass up on all these games I genuinely wanted to play? Let's face it, the only people who talk like this are people who absolutely detest all other consoles (read: Console Cheftains because they've long been promoted from warriors), so what are they gonna do quit gaming altogether? Talk about cutting off your nose, ears, lips, and gouging your eyeballs out to spite your face.
 
I'll give you the game part is speculation largely built around Alan Wake but there is a game that, had the PC port been at launch, could have gotten a sequel. As it stands the game eventually did do well enough, I'm sure thanks to said port, to get a sequel but it was too late after release and Remedy had moved on.

If games like Alan Wake sell more, which is what will happen if they are available to more people, they will be more successful.

And that's not counting the benefit of crossplay either. I have a hard time believing that getting to play Sea of Thieves with my friends on PC is anything but a positive.

It's assumption to think that Alan Wake would have done enough to warrant a sequel if it had launched simultaneously on PC. And it's an assumption that I don't believe in, as much as I like the game. And this is one of the places where Steamspy and Steam # of sales really doesn't tell any kind of a picture. I bought the title for 3$. Even though I own it I certainly didn't do anything real to help Remedy's bottom line.

And Crossplay is both a benefit and a curse, it really depends on the game type. An Xbox Controller has no chance to compete with a mouse/keyboard set up unless they provide so much controller assist it's hideous or it's a game like Rocket League where controller is probably better anyway.
 
Why would someone have buyers remorse if they already own the console and have gotten enjoyment out of it? Even then it was your choice. MS did not lie at all they just expanded their plan and gave us something better than we had and MS did not force you to buy it.

Also if you didn't have either a PC or and X1 before I feel there is no difference here. X1 is still $500 in a 1TB bundle. To buy a PC to play a game like QB you would need to spend about $1500 from scratch to at least get it working better than the X1 version. Even if you had an ok PC, unless you are selling you X1 for $500 you wouldn't be able to upgrade just the video card to that level you need. And FFS don;t complain about money you spent on the console months ago.
 
Right - but this is an assumption that the gamer has these Windows 10 devices (tablets, mobiles, etc.). Also (and I don't have any numbers to back this up) but i'd image that the majority of PC gamers are playing on monitors on a desk while the console is geared to the TV in the living room. Those sales (at least for rentals) can go another route and the main point would be that Windows is not the "living room" experience MSFT wants it to be (it's still on the desk in another room).

The Windows team is making Xbox cross-device for Windows 10 as a feature to attract more users.

Nadella nor the Windows team have used the word "living room experience" to my knowledge since Nadella took over. Nadella's whole aim has been mobile first and cloud first, so he wants to enable you to be anywhere on any screen, able to take the experience with you.

Phil explained his vision for the Xbox and the Windows ecosystem about a year ago...

Phil Spencer said:
Our goal in gaming at Microsoft is to allow people to play games wherever they are and we understand people love to play games on television. And console with its capability around instant on, its robustness as a consumer electronics device, and the role it plays in the household with the big 60" plasma on the wall allowing to play hi-fidelity games with a ton of people in the room is pretty important to millions and millions of people and I think this generation of consoles is showing that.

At the same time we know that there are billions of people that play games across all devices and today the worlds are segmented. You don't have linkage really between the different places where your customers are playing their games, so as we've made this evolution with Windows and as we've thought about our vision for gaming the thing you should keep in your head is I think about our customers as customers on Xbox Live. And I think about those customers moving from screen to screen to screen and what we want to bring to those people is an understanding that the games you own are the games you own and you're able to play those games on any device that you want to play them. You're able to bring your social network of friends together. You want to use the input that you want to use to play the game you want to play. If you want to play on your laptop, if you want to play on your desktop, or if you want to play on your television, if you want to play on your phone, it's a world we want to enable across all Windows 10 devices, including the Xbox.

From his "The Future of Gaming Across the Microsoft Ecosystem" session at GDC in March this year. Link

Just like Windows 10 saved Windows Phone.

huh? explain
 
No doubt there are people who feel this way. But is a selfish position like that any kind of position to take? My argument is that sure these people can feel that way, but it doesn't make it valid at all.

Brand loyalty makes it valid and these people preach the Xbox brand. I mean lets be real - some of the twitter posters sit in front of Best Buy watching people walk in assuming they're buying Xbox consoles (not kidding) for NPDs. People switching brands is definitely a thing and a cause for concern. There are alot of different places to spend time and money getting entertained.

And let's be honest what are these people going to do? My console isn't "elite" now so I'm going to pass up on all these games I genuinely wanted to play? Let's face it, the only people who talk like this are people who absolutely detest all other consoles (read: Console Cheftains because they've long been promoted from warriors) Talk about cutting off your nose, ears, lips, and gouging your eyeballs out to spite your face.

Get a PS4
=P
 
Then yes - this isn't bad for xbox owners in any way (this was also my position as I posted a few posts up). My comments were more on the value the system has for the gamer. If the gamer feels - "my console isn't elite anymore and it's games can be played by everyone" they may not care to to stay in the Windows ecosystem at all. Some of the links to twitter/reddit seem to share this sentiment and those are the hardcore/early adopters that are usually first to buy the system who now feel like they are getting thrown to the curb.

So there's people who are upset about the game being available on more Windows devices, so they're going to abandon said ecosystem entirely and forego any chance of playing those games, despite the fact they have more options to do so? Is that what you're saying? Who are these people?!
 
But Windows 10 is a platform for many screens and Nadella wants Windows 10 users to be able to take their experiences across those screens.

Nadella said he expects there to be many screens in the future and they'll continue making hardware anytime they can show an innovative usage of Windows 10. If you take a step back and look at their current hardware lineup they're making more hardware than ever before.

I get that it's fun for some people to think this spells the end of Xbox, but all signs point to it getting bigger. I guess trolls gonna troll though.

Its simply to easy see this as doom and gloom for the xbox. xbox hardware and window screens are 2 different things and nadella is making it sound more like the plan is to have you play your first party games on tablets , pc, and cellphones rather than on your xbox one if the goal is to push windows.
 
So there's people who are upset about the game being available on more Windows devices, so they're going to abandon said ecosystem entirely and forego any chance of playing those games, despite the fact they have more options to do so? Is that what you're saying? Who are these people?!

I hope you have time because you can click through the 21 pages of thread and.....voila.....
 
Short term, I don't think there are any real downsides for Microsoft releasing their games in their storefront on PCs. The XBox One has momentum, and even if this strategy does translate to (marginally) lower console sales, they are already well entrenched in the market, and will continue to make money. Plus, the increase in audience will definitely mean more copies sold, which should help them further develop their properties.

The problem, as I see it, is what happens in three or four years, when the next generation roles around. Microsoft will (barring an enormous, and seemingly impossible shift) be coming in well behind Sony in mindshare after the results of this generation. At that point, why would someone on the fence buy the next XBox when they can play the same "exclusives" releasing on PC without the need for an additional standalone hardware investment? Sure, they'll sell more copies of the games thanks to the bigger audience, but I'm skeptical that that would offset the decrease in revenue from third-party game sales, accessories, LIVE subscriptions, etc.

I'm fairly certain the Microsoft doesn't want their video game division to follow in Sega's footprints, so they'll have a tight line to walk for this to not have repercussions going forward. Of course, they could always back off from this approach, and annoy PC gamers yet again. Or maybe more tightly linking all of their ecosystems together will result in them actually taking over the living room like they always wanted. It'll be interesting to see what direction they go in.
 
How is this a moot point? That user can sell his xbox on the 2nd hand market which equals no money for MSFT on a new system sale. He/she then cancels out the Gold membership. With no more xbox store in this persons home (no more console) there aren't any secondary transactions (movie rentals, dlc purchases, etc) that MSFT makes money from.

So one MAU gets replaced by another MAU and the business (from a single MAU) is at a standstill as it hasn't grown.

Wouldn't the new xbox owner buy a gold membership and use xbox store ?
 
Consider this, Gold will get reformed as a free service. very much like the early PSN.

I think if they did that much earlier when they were getting killed by PS4 it would have made a difference to X1 sales. I know I would have kept the Xbox One I had. It's just a bit much to ask for $100+ a year for two console services.
 
Its simply to easy see this as doom and gloom for the xbox. xbox hardware and window screens are 2 different things and nadella is making it sound more like the plan is to have you play your first party games on tablets , pc, and cellphones rather than on your xbox one if the goal is to push windows.

Well, he and Phil have both mentioned console as part of the integrated play, so I think the plan for now is to continue supporting it as part of the Windows 10 platform.

Satya Nadella said:
Finally, we will build the best instantiation of this vision through our Windows device platform and our devices, which will serve to delight our customers, increase distribution of our services, drive gross margin, enable fundamentally new product categories, and generate opportunity for the Windows ecosystem more broadly. We will pursue our gaming ambition as part of this broader vision for Windows and increase its appeal to consumers. We will bring together Xbox Live and our first-party gaming efforts across PC, console, mobile and new categories like HoloLens into one integrated play. - Link

Phil Spencer said:
Our goal in gaming at Microsoft is to allow people to play games wherever they are and we understand people love to play games on television. And console with its capability around instant on, its robustness as a consumer electronics device, and the role it plays in the household with the big 60" plasma on the wall allowing to play hi-fidelity games with a ton of people in the room is pretty important to millions and millions of people and I think this generation of consoles is showing that.

At the same time we know that there are billions of people that play games across all devices and today the worlds are segmented. You don't have linkage really between the different places where your customers are playing their games, so as we've made this evolution with Windows and as we've thought about our vision for gaming the thing you should keep in your head is I think about our customers as customers on Xbox Live. And I think about those customers moving from screen to screen to screen and what we want to bring to those people is an understanding that the games you own are the games you own and you're able to play those games on any device that you want to play them. You're able to bring your social network of friends together. You want to use the input that you want to use to play the game you want to play. If you want to play on your laptop, if you want to play on your desktop, or if you want to play on your television, if you want to play on your phone, it's a world we want to enable across all Windows 10 devices, including the Xbox. - Link
 
Brand loyalty makes it valid and these people preach the Xbox brand. I mean lets be real - some of the twitter posters sit in front of Best Buy watching people walk in assuming they're buying Xbox consoles (not kidding) for NPDs. People switching brands is definitely a thing and a cause for concern. There are alot of different places to spend time and money getting entertained.



Get a PS4
=P

Haha then those people never really cared about all those awesome exclusive games, they just bought the console because of the corporation's name that was printed on it. These are by definition crazy people and honestly, who cares what they think. They surely don't make up any sort of percentage of the userbase that MS will miss.

I hope you have time because you can click through the 21 pages of thread and.....voila.....

Nah GAF is pretty reasonable all things considered. Take a look at even the most well known Xbox fans here and they pretty much all unanimously lauded this as a great initiative. Because if you truly love Xbox and its games, then you want to share that with people, the more the better. This initiative does exactly that.

People spouting nonsense have been junior members that just popped out of nowhere. I'm guessing probably some are from that crazy Reddit thread or the people harassing poor Mr. Spencer.
 
But... Ben said...


kuchctl8x.jpg
 
Wouldn't the new xbox owner buy a gold membership and use xbox store ?

That's right. 1 MAU replaces another MAU - by that definition the business doesn't grow. Also a MAU doesn't necessarily need to be a Gold member. The new gamer can be a Silver member and avoid getting the sub.
 
The Windows team is making Xbox cross-device for Windows 10 as a feature to attract more users.

Nadella nor the Windows team have used the word "living room experience" to my knowledge since Nadella took over. Nadella's whole aim has been mobile first and cloud first, so he wants to enable you to be anywhere on any screen, able to take the experience with you.

Phil explained his vision for the Xbox and the Windows ecosystem about a year ago...



From his "The Future of Gaming Across the Microsoft Ecosystem" session at GDC in March this year. Link



huh? explain

You're trying to make too much sense to people who don't want to hear it ;). This is what MS wanted years ago (and in which they should have had with Windows 8). Seeing it finally happen is just awesome. I believe the next Xbox will be back compat and since all of my games are digital, they will follow me. The games that are cross-buy, I'll keep those too as I upgrade my PC. It's the future.


Funny, Apple has games that are cross-buy with iPhone and iPad and everyone is happy because they own the game regardless of the device. Microsoft does it with Xbox One and Windows Store and everyone loses their minds. SMH.
 
Simply this is more to do with the fact that the X1 install base is small and that sales of many exclusives have been poor.

They need the additional revenue from PC sales.

It's good for PC gamers, but its a reflection of the Xbox business and its not necessarily good.
 
Simply this is more to do with the fact that the X1 install base is small and that sales of many exclusives have been poor.

They need the additional revenue from PC sales.

It's good for PC gamers, but its a reflection of the Xbox business and its not necessarily good.

Yup it's exactly this. Not that other remedy games cane to pc and started as pc games or that Ms said they wanted to do this kind of thing a year ago
 
Something that the OP missed and that I think every time stuff like this happens. All the games that are Microsoft exclusive on console run on Microsoft windows. This means that they make money from PC gamers, Xbox gamers, and can get people to use their OS more. Microsoft doesn't lose exclusives they just release them on Windows. It is typically good for all people involved. Devs and Microsoft make more money on extra sales, Microsoft can tout their gaming user base, and Players can get it on their prefered platform.Plus with Killer Instinct and Fable Legends they are putting in cross-play between Win 10 and XBone. People can say it is all woe for Microsoft, but really they are doing good for themselves with things like this.
 
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