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[Bgamer90]

Scorpio sounds a lot like a device targeting US and UK market and a narrow segment of gamers (but I suspect a very lucrative one) to me while also placing them to gain any VR console customers should VR truly prove popular.

Their move on PC allows access to broader global market than they've ever reached via console, the PC VR market and more general gamers (to be blunt if bet MS would rather sell popular mobile game numbers via W10 store on laptops and PC's than 5million console units sales with huge development budget).

We'll see but I believe MS is about to officially change their play in the market and the demographic they're going to focus on.

I definitely feel they still are going to go for the same core gaming demographic but it's definitely obvious as to what they want to do to make Xbox franchises more popular worldwide (at least in my opinion).

I agree with you when it comes to the userbase that the Scorpio is targeting because people outside of North America and the U.K. pretty much haven't had huge interest in the Xbox brand since it started more than 15 years ago. It would be a waste of time/effort in trying to get them via another console so brining games to a platform that many of them already have (PC) should help.

NPD stats show that the majority of current gen console gamers couldn't care less about games being available to play on PC so I don't think the PC push is going to cause any notable bad impacts to the Xbox brand in North America. As long as shooters and sports are on the Scorpio then the Scorpio should get pretty solid sales/response in North America.

 

[LukasTaves]

A budget PC where you pay more for the same games, have to pay to have access to online games, doesn't have all the functionality of a PC, etc? Sweet deal.

There is no way any device sharing the same library with PC (worse actually, since PC exclusive games will still exist) can be more attractive in general unless they give the hardware away for free.

If Nintendo or Sony consoles had the same library as PC has I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole.

As its shaping up, MS is going the way of Steam Machines.

On the first point: It's a two way road, Xbox is receiving mouse/keyboard support and apps. It will have some of the functionality (which obviously will increase with uwp support)

On the Second point, It's not just a shared library with Pc, it's the platform spamming many devices. One of them just happens to be more plug and play and have a great perf/cost ratio, and there's plenty of market for them.

On the third point, there's some major differences between Xbox and Steam machines. Steam machines are overpriced, have a system not very suited for controller, and even compatibility issues with some games, and worse it runs on a completely different system that requires developers to port their games.

Xbox is much better positioned price wise, it supports a controller at a system and application level, and Ms has developed a tool that allow developers to port their existing games to it without even requiring a code change in many cases, so while it's also a new platform they could garner support much faster.

 

[gtj1092]

I think it's being taken for granted that MS is going to convince 3rd party to not only release all their games for UWP/winstore but also make them crossbuy with x1. Why are ubisoft and EA going to give up on their own store fronts to bolster microsoft's?

 

[icespide]

I think it's being taken for granted that MS is going to convince 3rd party to not only release all their games for UWP/winstore but also make them crossbuy with x1. Why are ubisoft and EA going to give up on their own store fronts to bolster microsoft's?

they probably won't unless the windows store really becomes a huge success. UWP and cross buy will likely be limited to first party games for a long time

 

[Bgamer90]

A budget PC where you pay more for the same games, have to pay to have access to online games, doesn't have all the functionality of a PC, etc? Sweet deal.

There is no way any device sharing the same library with PC (worse actually, since PC exclusive games will still exist) can be more attractive in general unless they give the hardware away for free.

This completely goes against why Xbox and PlayStation has done better than Nintendo in the home console market this gen though. They are doing better than Nintendo because of the fact that both systems have popular multiplats (most of which are also available on PC).

 

[potatohead]

That is a very interesting question, the UWP/Xbone cross buy.

So far we're seeing it mainly for Xbox titles. Those alone should be a strong incentive.

We'll see how successful it can be going forward I agree.

Knowing Microsoft though, they can easily abandon certain strategies if they are not immediate successes and generally I think this is a mistake/not long-term thinking enough.

I hope they bolster this store properly and take the proper investment to make it worthwhile.

 

[LukasTaves]

I think it's being taken for granted that MS is going to convince 3rd party to not only release all their games for UWP/winstore but also make them crossbuy with x1. Why are ubisoft and EA going to give up on their own store fronts to bolster microsoft's?

I can think of a few points:

- Most EA and Ubisoft games are still selling more on consoles than Pcs;
- And on consoles most of the sales are still on retail
- Offering crossbuy would skew the balance towards digital sales
- The higher margins of digital (compared to retail) would more than make up for the lost Origin/Uplay sales
- Specially if Ms is willing to lower the cut for 3rd parties who release cross buy games (And it would be in their interest too, because it would mean more sales compared to Playstation)

 

[Bgamer90]

I think it's being taken for granted that MS is going to convince 3rd party to not only release all their games for UWP/winstore but also make them crossbuy with x1. Why are ubisoft and EA going to give up on their own store fronts to bolster microsoft's?

Agree. Far too soon to say what will happen for Xbox games outside of the exclusive titles.

I definitely think it can grow to that but I don't think it will happen instantly.

 

[LukasTaves]

Agree. Far too soon to say what will happen for Xbox games outside of the exclusive titles.

I definitely think it can grow to that but I don't think it will happen instantly.

Imo, it depends on how seriously Ms and Phil are taking this.

If I were Phil I would personally visit* every single publisher/developer in the world offering a deal for them to support cross buy for lower royalties rates.

And while I was at that I also would talk to every developer that has made a game that didn't launched to Xbone on giving support so the game can be ported and localized everywhere as well.

They are the ones most interested and making it happening, and really it wouldn't even be an investment, pulling off getting publishers on board would be a sure way to get that money back.


*Not necessarily visit, but get in touch personally.

 

[icespide]

I don't think Windows cross buy would make a dent in the retail vs digital thing

 

[...Scatter...]

What CPUs does AMD have between Jaguar and Zen?

Puma?

If Scorpio went to Puma instead of Zen, would you be upset? It's about a 50% increase over Jaguar in performance per watt.

 

[nekkid]

I think it's being taken for granted that MS is going to convince 3rd party to not only release all their games for UWP/winstore but also make them crossbuy with x1. Why are ubisoft and EA going to give up on their own store fronts to bolster microsoft's?

You're right, they probably won't. But it's still worth using UWP to simplify concurrent XB1 and Scorpio development.

 

[EGM1966]

I definitely feel they still are going to go for the same core gaming demographic but it's definitely obvious as to what they want to do to make Xbox franchises more popular worldwide (at least in my opinion).

I agree with you when it comes to the userbase that the Scorpio is targeting because people outside of North America and the U.K. pretty much haven't had huge interest in the Xbox brand since it started more than 15 years ago. It would be a waste of time/effort in trying to get them via another console so brining games to a platform that many of them already have (PC) should help.

NPD stats show that the majority of current gen console gamers couldn't care less about games being available to play on PC so I don't think the PC push is going to cause any notable bad impacts to the Xbox brand in North America. As long as shooters and sports are on the Scorpio then the Scorpio should get pretty solid sales/response in North America.

Yah.

TBH I suppose in simple terms what I think MS is going to target is something like this:

US/UK - console for majority "core" and PC for minority and PC for general non console casual gaming purchase (smaller games in many cases)
ROW - PC for "core" and casual with minority play for console.

Essentially a double play with the focus switching by region.

No idea if they can pull it off but I agree with you. History shows their overall gains via purely console focus outside US/UK (and Mexico!) have been minimal. Simply having a higher spec console isn't going to change that. Whether Sony has had a weaker or a stronger console those markets tend to go Spny either way.

US/UK and maybe a handful of other territories are where having a new console could make an impact.

In short it's not a coincidence they've suddenly been releasing games like QB on PC and look set to push almost every major AAA title to PC too.

 

[crab rangoon]

Sony will have BC for the PS4 in the PS4 Neo.
MS will have BC for Xbox 360 in Xbox One, and Xbox Scorpio.

I don't really trust Sony with BC in digital games only because of how they treated gamers this generation with previous gen digital games, but that's my opinion.

And you can be sure that Sony is worried about UWP (as is Steam).

On X1 MS currently does BC by checking the disc ID and then downloading the corresponding game to then run via emulation, correct? I wonder if that same sort of scenario could work to enhance older 360 titles for lay on X1 by using the PC version of those last gen games instead of the 360 version. For instance, you pop in a 360 disc of Far Cry 2. The X1 recognizes it, then downloads the PC version of the game. It converts the game to a UWA (all indications are that this literally takes minutes) and voila, you have BC+.

MS seems to have been building these various pillars up for a few years (Cloud now has GPU's, UWA/UWP are finally ready, every box a dev kit, unifying marketplaces). Folks should be careful not to downplay/dismiss/ignore what the full picture offering might be like because it *could* be pretty damn compelling and tough for others to compete with.

 

[VincentMatts]

I think it's being taken for granted that MS is going to convince 3rd party to not only release all their games for UWP/winstore but also make them crossbuy with x1. Why are ubisoft and EA going to give up on their own store fronts to bolster microsoft's?

I don't think they'll have a choice considering once one version is built, it will be compatible with Windows and Xbox. That's the idea. If development stayed the same as now and 2 different versions were needed then they're doing it wrong

If I was ms I'd make it so easy for devs that they wouldn't have the choice

 

[DieH@rd]

A thing to note, even if upcoming consoles get the Zen, it won't be the full desktop Zen that uses ~100W. It will be laptop/netbook variants that use way less power.

 

[icespide]

I don't think they'll have a choice considering once one version is built, it will be compatible with Windows and Xbox. That's the idea. If development stayed the same as now and 2 different versions were needed then they're doing it wrong

If I was ms I'd make it so easy for devs that they wouldn't have the choice

devs will be able to publish on Xbox and not Windows Store. they'll have a choice haha

 

[...Scatter...]

A thing to note, even if upcoming consoles get the Zen, it won't be the full desktop Zen that uses ~100W. It will be laptop/netbook variants that use way less power.

They can go Puma, not increase the TDP and get a sizeable increase too. Though they may decide to wait for Zen if the benchmarks site it's worth the extra draw.

 

[VincentMatts]

devs will be able to publish on Xbox and not Windows Store. they'll have a choice haha

Yes but if you make it so easy that if one game is built and that's all you need to put it on both stores, why wouldn't they

 

[nekkid]

devs will be able to publish on Xbox and not Windows Store. they'll have a choice haha

I think their point is that you'd be in a situation where it would be more effort to make it win32 for PC, and therefore not worth it.

 

[icespide]

Yes but if you make it so easy that if one game is built and that's all you need to put it on both stores, why wouldn't they

why would they give Microsoft a cut if they have their own store? (EA, Ubisoft, etc)

 

[VincentMatts]

why would they give Microsoft a cut if they have their own store? (EA, Ubisoft, etc)

Because they want their game to be available to be purchased on any and all platform? Which is bigger than just yours?

Edit: the more platforms you are on the more money you make, which is why I say if Microsoft make it stupid easy for Developers where if the Xbox version is built then so is the windows one automatically, they would practically have no choice.

They did this for Xbox Live on 360, they made it so easy for them that all the developers just supported Xbox Live because Microsoft did everything

 

[crab rangoon]

I think it's being taken for granted that MS is going to convince 3rd party to not only release all their games for UWP/winstore but also make them crossbuy with x1. Why are ubisoft and EA going to give up on their own store fronts to bolster microsoft's?

Because otherwise they lose the entire Xbox marketplace. Once the marketplaces are unified they can't just sit out on one of them by having a X1 digital version and then make the Windows 10 version exclusive to Origin or whatnot. MS will likely force them to either embrace both or they embrace neither.

It will be difficult for EA to resist that pressure given they already have inked marketing deals with MS for BF1 and various other games where the marketplace ads all have a 'press A to pre-order now' banner on them. If that leads them to a sign up page for Origin that would really hurt pre-orders/sales.

 

[ps3ud0]

While I dont think this question is the purview of this thread we seem to be touching on it.

What stops me purchasing an Xbox title and just playing it on the PC natively? Since Xbox is becoming a software platform and future Xbox games are going to be UWAs why isnt that a logical endpoint?

And if so, doesnt that just make cross-buy a redundant notion?

ps3ud0 8)

 

[icespide]

Because otherwise they lose the entire Xbox marketplace. Once the marketplaces are unified they can't just sit out on one of them by having a X1 digital version and then make the Windows 10 version exclusive to Origin or whatnot. MS will likely force them to either embrace both or they embrace neither.

It will be difficult for EA to resist that pressure given they already have inked marketing deals with MS for BF1 and various other games where the marketplace ads all have a 'press A to pre-order now' banner on them. If that leads them to a sign up page for Origin that would really hurt pre-orders/sales.

I really doubt MS would do this.

 

[Asd202]

Imo, it depends on how seriously Ms and Phil are taking this.

If I were Phil I would personally visit* every single publisher/developer in the world offering a deal for them to support cross buy for lower royalties rates.

And while I was at that I also would talk to every developer that has made a game that didn't launched to Xbone on giving support so the game can be ported and localized everywhere as well.

They are the ones most interested and making it happening, and really it wouldn't even be an investment, pulling off getting publishers on board would be a sure way to get that money back.

*Not necessarily visit, but get in touch personally.

This is not happening. If EA or Ubisoft wanted to introduce cross buy they would already have done it through their own platforms it would also happened if it made business sense but it doesn't. Lowering royalties would do jack shit when selling games through their own platform they have none already. Win10 store is not some hot shit far from it even.

Also lowering royalties from MS is a huge gamble that may not pan out in the end because it won't really make people buy more games.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

A thing to note, even if upcoming consoles get the Zen, it won't be the full desktop Zen that uses ~100W. It will be laptop/netbook variants that use way less power.

This article sometimes makes me think Scorpio, if released in 2017, could have Zen.

"Moving over to the APU and server side of the Zen equation. APUs and enterprise products based on the new Zen microarchitecture are planned for release sometime in 2017. We’ve also learned of a particularly exciting piece of information about AMD’s next generation APUs and that they will boast graphics performance figures that are comparable to the Playstation 4 and XBOX ONE, even inside frugal notebook chips.
One other exciting tidbit is that AMD is working on a Zen based APU with on-package stacked high bandwidth memory that’s planned for release in 2017. However, whether all Zen based APUs & future iterations will feature HBM is not something that were able to confirm.


Read more: http://wccftech.com/amd-zen-launch-q4-2016/#ixzz4Aj6vb0w0"

Could you imagine if that ended up being Scorpio in some fashion? Zen, HBM and a potentially new, close to 6teraflop, GPU?

 

[LukasTaves]

This is not happening. If EA or Ubisoft wanted to introduce cross buy they would already have done it through their own platforms it would also happened if it made business sense but it doesn't. Lowering royalties would do jack shit when selling games through their own platform they have none already. Win10 store is not some hot shit far from it even.

They have no royalties on their platforms, but their platforms are only a tiny fraction of their sales. And they already pay (and higher taxes than digital for other platforms than their own) for retail which is where most of their sales are. Which is also why they don't do with their stores, why would they offer a version for free in a purchase where they receive the least of all?

Edit: About your edit, it won't drive people to buy more games, but would drive people to buy on the universal platform other than retail or competing stores.

 

[crab rangoon]

I really doubt MS would do this.

Why? They control the platform(s) head to toe. If it is a single marketplace and a single version is on sale (the UWA version, if you will) how does EA parse that in order to make sure its deployment on a PC requires a purchase via Origin and deployment on a console doesn't? At some point MS will require devs to package their software as UWA's. What does EA do under such a scenario if they want to force PC users to buy from them? Extra DRM that checks the marketplace the game was purchased from and redirects PC users to an Origin sign up page?

Btw, for folks discussing crossbuy...remember, there would be a SINGLE version here that deploys on multiple Windows 10 platforms (PC, Xbox, etc). It'd all be one big Windows 10 "Xbox" branded gaming platform across devices from MS's perspective. Crossbuy will eventually not be a thing.

 

[Dee Dah Dave]

Uhm.. yes?

Just taking a single slice of the PC market: Steam (estimated to be about 20% of the entire PC market) we have 160 + million active users. According to the Steam hardware survey over 50% have PC's that right about match or surpass the PS4 in terms of gaming performance.

That's over 80 million gamers.

Those numbers are disengenuous at best. Steam surveys require participation, and the people most likely to take part are the ones with better hardware. This heavily skews the numbers.

So no, I'm not clueless, nice edit though.

Besides, the original argument was that "there's zero point now in anyone buying an Xbox ever again". Which is frankly ridiculous.

Now let's move on.

 

[icespide]

Why? They control the platform(s) head to toe. If it is a single marketplace and a single version is on sale (the UWA version, if you will) how does EA parse that in order to make sure its deployment on a PC requires a purchase via Origin and deployment on a console doesn't? At some point MS will require devs to package their software as UWA's. What does EA do under such a scenario if they want to force PC users to buy from them? Extra DRM that checks the marketplace the game was purchased from and redirects PC users to an Origin sign up page?

Remember, there would be a SINGLE version here that deploys on multiple Windows 10 platforms (PC, Xbox, etc).

so MS just sells EAs games in the windows store weither EA wants to or not?

 

[etta]

It would be interesting if Microsoft makes some deals with Ubisoft and EA to have their games on the Windows Store but NOT charge them the 30% since they are already paying once for selling on Xbox.

 

[michaelius]

Not the case, people just ended up going a different way. That's really all there is to it. I think a lot of folks read way, way too much into things sometimes, ultimately seeing things that truly aren't there. The Xbox brand isn't dead or on life support by any stroke of the imagination in a lot of those places that you think. All they ever needed to do was come back to consumers with something new and exciting, and then people would make an evaluation as to whether or not it was something they need/want. There's such a thing as people buying something and saying to themselves, "alright, this is good, I need nothing else in this range of product for quite some time."

They made that decision and many of them chose PS4. That's all there is to it. It doesn't mean those same people will never look at or consider another xbox system ever. The mindset that you describe largely only exists on forums such as GAF, but the broader mainstream of games specific consumers aren't so hardcore or committed to hating or not supporting a particular company or brand. On GAF and other similar forums people hold lasting grudges. Outside of that bubble, not so much.

There's also possibility that for most people in the world console=Playstation and people won't be looking for alternatives unless the one they wanted is seriously hard pill to swallow.

So far Sony managed to win 3 out of 4 generations and still managed to salvage one where they started from trainwreck position.

 

[...Scatter...]

There's also possibility that for most people in the world console=Playstation and people won't be looking for alternatives unless the one they wanted is seriously hard pill to swallow.

So far Sony managed to win 3 out of 4 generations and still managed to salvage one where they started from trainwreck position.

Go PlayStation. I'm good as long as MS produces a great strong product and it does well in the Americas and the UK. I can't play sales. But I do want the console to be successful enough to always be mainstream and to have all the third party support.

 

[crab rangoon]

so MS just sells EAs games in the windows store weither EA wants to or not?

No, I don't mean 'force' in the sense of doing it behind their back. I mean that MS can make sure that the alternatives to EA supporting a single UWP version for that storefront (which again, deploys on Xbox and PC) are far less favorable to EA. What if MS says 'sorry but we aren't going to make an exception just for you...either you support UWP with a single version that runs on all Windows 10 gaming systems or you don't, take it or leave it.'...? Turning that down means EA leaves the Xbox brand entirely. They aren't going to do that. They are much more likely to just artificially stagger digital releases so that a standard Win32 version comes out a week earlier on Origin compared to the UWP version. That and other incentives are much more likely than EA abandoning Xbox as a whole.

 

[BleedOrange]

It would be interesting if Microsoft makes some deals with Ubisoft and EA to have their games on the Windows Store but NOT charge them the 30% since they are already paying once for selling on Xbox.

It's worth noting that UWP games and apps will have open distribution come the anniversary update. EA, Ubisoft, whoever will be able to distribute them via their own platforms. Only sales via the Windows Store will incur the royalty fee. Cross-buy, cross-save, cross-play are all supported via the UWP api's so devs/publishers can choose to incorporate them while choosing their preferred distribution platform.

 

[etta]

No, I don't mean 'force' in the sense of doing it behind their back. I mean that MS can make sure that the alternatives to EA supporting a single UWP version for that storefront (which again, deploys on Xbox and PC) are far less favorable to EA. What if MS says 'sorry but we aren't going to make an exception just for you...either you support UWP with a single version that runs on all Windows 10 gaming systems or you don't, take it or leave it.'...? Turning that down means EA leaves the Xbox brand entirely. They aren't going to do that. They are much more likely to just artificially stagger digital releases so that a standard Win32 version comes out a week earlier on Origin compared to the UWP version. That and other incentives are much more likely than EA abandoning Xbox as a whole.

EA and Xbox are on very good terms, neither side will put up any ultimatums and damage their relationship. Xbox were working hand in hand with EA when they were designing the original DRM model, and even before that with Peter Moore being ex-Xbox head.

 

[Bgamer90]

Yah.

TBH I suppose in simple terms what I think MS is going to target is something like this:

US/UK - console for majority "core" and PC for minority and PC for general non console casual gaming purchase (smaller games in many cases)
ROW - PC for "core" and casual with minority play for console.

Essentially a double play with the focus switching by region.


No idea if they can pull it off but I agree with you. History shows their overall gains via purely console focus outside US/UK (and Mexico!) have been minimal. Simply having a higher spec console isn't going to change that. Whether Sony has had a weaker or a stronger console those markets tend to go Somy either way.

US/UK and maybe a handful of other territories are where having a new console could make an impact.

In short it's not a coincidence they've suddenly been releasing games like QB on PC and look set to push almost every major AAA title to PC too.

Yeah, completely agree with everything you've stated.

 

[Zedox]

On X1 MS currently does BC by checking the disc ID and then downloading the corresponding game to then run via emulation, correct? I wonder if that same sort of scenario could work to enhance older 360 titles for lay on X1 by using the PC version of those last gen games instead of the 360 version. For instance, you pop in a 360 disc of Far Cry 2. The X1 recognizes it, then downloads the PC version of the game. It converts the game to a UWA (all indications are that this literally takes minutes) and voila, you have BC+.

MS seems to have been building these various pillars up for a few years (Cloud now has GPU's, UWA/UWP are finally ready, every box a dev kit, unifying marketplaces). Folks should be careful not to downplay/dismiss/ignore what the full picture offering might be like because it *could* be pretty damn compelling and tough for others to compete with.

The UWP converter tool isn't perfect like that.

While I dont think this question is the purview of this thread we seem to be touching on it.

What stops me purchasing an Xbox title and just playing it on the PC natively? Since Xbox is becoming a software platform and future Xbox games are going to be UWAs why isnt that a logical endpoint?

And if so, doesnt that just make cross-buy a redundant notion?

ps3ud0 8)

What stops you? The developer. The developer choose how to sell their software. They can have cross-buy among phone and Xbox but not PC. It is flexible that way.

 

[StrongBlackVine]

Because they want their game to be available to be purchased on any and all platform? Which is bigger than just yours?

Edit: the more platforms you are on the more money you make, which is why I say if Microsoft make it stupid easy for Developers where if the Xbox version is built then so is the windows one automatically, they would practically have no choice.

They did this for Xbox Live on 360, they made it so easy for them that all the developers just supported Xbox Live because Microsoft did everything

Most EA games are not on Steam so why they be on Windows Store?

 

[LukasTaves]

No, I don't mean 'force' in the sense of doing it behind their back. I mean that MS can make sure that the alternatives to EA supporting a single UWP version for that storefront (which again, deploys on Xbox and PC) are far less favorable to EA. What if MS says 'sorry but we aren't going to make an exception just for you...either you support UWP with a single version that runs on all Windows 10 gaming systems or you don't, take it or leave it.'...? Turning that down means EA leaves the Xbox brand entirely. They aren't going to do that. They are much more likely to just artificially stagger digital releases so that a standard Win32 version comes out a week earlier on Origin compared to the UWP version. That and other incentives are much more likely than EA abandoning Xbox as a whole.

The don't need to do that. Again EA already pays more than 30% for games at retail where most of their sales are. They would gladly put their games on a console digital store that outsells the retail games because that means more money to them.

 

[iavi]

What CPUs does AMD have between Jaguar and Zen?

Puma?

If Scorpio went to Puma instead of Zen, would you be upset? It's about a 50% increase over Jaguar in performance per watt.

Bulldozer, which is on its last release before Zen.

 

[potatohead]

Yah.

TBH I suppose in simple terms what I think MS is going to target is something like this:

US/UK - console for majority "core" and PC for minority and PC for general non console casual gaming purchase (smaller games in many cases)
ROW - PC for "core" and casual with minority play for console.

Essentially a double play with the focus switching by region.

No idea if they can pull it off but I agree with you. History shows their overall gains via purely console focus outside US/UK (and Mexico!) have been minimal. Simply having a higher spec console isn't going to change that. Whether Sony has had a weaker or a stronger console those markets tend to go Spny either way.

US/UK and maybe a handful of other territories are where having a new console could make an impact.

In short it's not a coincidence they've suddenly been releasing games like QB on PC and look set to push almost every major AAA title to PC too.

Excellent post.

 

[LukasTaves]

Most EA games are not on Steam so why they be on Windows Store?

Because they are on retail, which costs EA more than 30% steam takes.

If you were an EA exec, would you rather have 60+% of your sales on retail, or on a digital store, even if not your own?

It's in their best interest to have console makers to have enticing digital stores that get their userbase to buy more games digitally than retail. And Ms offering cross buy does just that.

 

[...Scatter...]

Because they are on retail, which costs EA more than 30% steam takes.

If you were an EA exec, would you rather have 60+% of your sales on retail, or on a digital store, even if not your own?

It's in their best interest to have console makers to have enticing digital stores that get their userbase to buy more games digitally than retail. And Ms offering cross buy does just that.

Solid point about physical. Does EA sell Plants vs. Zombies on the MS store? Is it just AAA that's origin?

 

[StrongBlackVine]

Because they are on retail, which costs EA more than 30% steam takes.

If you were an EA exec, would you rather have 60+% of your sales on retail, or on a digital store, even if not your own?

It's in their best interest to have console makers to have enticing digital stores that get their userbase to buy more games digitally than retail. And Ms offering cross buy does just that.

I'm still not seeing a compelling reason to put their games on Windows Store. They potentially pass up a lot of revenue by skipping Steam. I don't see the Windows Store being more lucrative than that. Hold up maybe I'm confused, but do you expect Microsoft to significantly charge less than Steam to put game on their PC digital store? i don't see how cross-buy would beneficial to EA or Ubisoft. They would rather sell multiple copies. Microsoft is the only company with any real incentive to offer console-PC cross-buy.

 

[icespide]

I'm still not seeing a compelling reason to put their games on Windows Store. They potentially pass up a lot of revenue by skipping Steam. I don't see the Windows Store being more lucrative than that. Hold up maybe I'm confused, but do you expect Microsoft to significantly charge less than Steam to put game on their PC digital store? i don't see how cross-buy would beneficial to EA or Ubisoft. They would rather sell multiple copies. Microsoft is the only company with any real incentive to offer console-PC cross-buy.

he thinks cross buy is compelling enough to convince retail buyers to buy digital instead. I don't buy it

 

[etta]

Yah.

TBH I suppose in simple terms what I think MS is going to target is something like this:

US/UK - console for majority "core" and PC for minority and PC for general non console casual gaming purchase (smaller games in many cases)
ROW - PC for "core" and casual with minority play for console.

Essentially a double play with the focus switching by region.

No idea if they can pull it off but I agree with you. History shows their overall gains via purely console focus outside US/UK (and Mexico!) have been minimal. Simply having a higher spec console isn't going to change that. Whether Sony has had a weaker or a stronger console those markets tend to go Spny either way.

US/UK and maybe a handful of other territories are where having a new console could make an impact.

In short it's not a coincidence they've suddenly been releasing games like QB on PC and look set to push almost every major AAA title to PC too.

I agree, I've mentioned a few times that I could see them targetting the Americas and UK plus major European countries like Germany/France/Spain for the Xbox, and just export to the rest of the world at exchange rates and free shipping.

 

[Chobel]

LOL no I'm not. There's currently ~60 million consoles sold, and ever increasing.

You really think there's anywhere close the same amount of PC gamers who own at least a medium spec gaming PC that's capable of running these games?

Come on, I mean this stuff is obvious. The majority of core gamers play on console, period. If they didn't all consoles would be in trouble.

Anyway this is all silly and way off topic.

What the hell that has to do with the number of core gamers? Not every console gamer is core gamers. The majority of console gamers are casuals who happened to have a decent hardware. In PC space anyone with decent hardware is most likely care gamer.

"Stuff is obvious" my ass. I mean how the hell did you even come up with this "The majority of core gamers play on console, period. If they didn't all consoles would be in trouble."... What the fuck does it even mean?

Because they are on retail, which costs EA more than 30% steam takes.

If you were an EA exec, would you rather have 60+% of your sales on retail, or on a digital store, even if not your own?

It's in their best interest to have console makers to have enticing digital stores that get their userbase to buy more games digitally than retail. And Ms offering cross buy does just that.

I have no freaking idea how is that even remotely related to EA games not being on Steam.

 

[jeff_rigby]

What CPUs does AMD have between Jaguar and Zen?

Puma?

If Scorpio went to Puma instead of Zen, would you be upset? It's about a 50% increase over Jaguar in performance per watt.

Carrizio is their latest APU and they have two versions; Carrizio desktop using Excavator and Carrizio-L (low power) using Puma+. Sony and Microsoft could use either, 4 package pairs of Excavator or 8 Puma+ CPUs. Zen is SMT (each CPU has it's own accelerators) vs Excavator which is CMT where a pair of CPUs shares accelerators. Accelerators being packages like a FPU shared between two cores.

The latest Excavator is supposed to have a IPC 150% greater than the earlier version with Zen 40% better than Excavator.