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Bloomberg: Xbox’s ‘Exclusive’ Video Game Strategy Leaves Everyone Confused

bitbydeath

Gold Member
It’s not that confusing, Indiana jones devs can’t get the port out in time because the decision was made late

See DOOM as an example of their strategy moving forward
GIF by MOODMAN
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
I am not sure what so confusing for him, Starfiled - new IP, Indiana jones - Disney deal, Doom - Spencer said where there is community for existing games these games will still be released on that platform after acquiring zenimax.
So why did Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment came to PlayStation, as they were also new IPs just like Starfield?
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Whole article:


Jason Schreier:

''The problem with Xbox's new vision isn't that the company is moving away from console exclusives. The problem is that their release strategy is messy, confusing, and inconsistent. Just pick a lane!''


Sounds exactly like Sony to PC strategy

GAAS = day one
Many of their games lately = timed exclusive
Many of their other games = not coming out

And unless it's GAAS, they dont tell if a new game comes to PC or not until a year or two later and then in a random tweet or PS Blog article says a PC port is coming in 3 months.
 

Sanepar

Member
Sure, but the point still stands. If you get PS5 you’ll be able to play all 3rd party games, (not all, but a lot of) both Xbox first party games and Ps5 first party games.

There’s just more on offer in the opposite camp any way you slice it.
MS bet is to transform industry into a subscription model. Gamepass and cloud are their focus.

Netflix needed 13 years to a success. Gamepass has 7 years and they will keep trying.
 

XXL

Gold Member
I'm not sure what's confusing here?

Their priority is now developing for PS5 and PC, they're just too afraid to come out and say it.

Apparently they now have some of their internal studios focusing on PS5 dev kits over Xbox dev kits.

This is all going to come to a resolution sooner than later.

What they did with Indiana Jones says alot.
Morgan Freeman Good Luck GIF
 

Robb

Gold Member
MS bet is to transform industry into a subscription model. Gamepass and cloud are their focus.

Netflix needed 13 years to a success. Gamepass has 7 years and they will keep trying.
I agree. I’m just saying that this is very likely the last time I purchase their hardware considering I’ll get more software/value elsewhere. Assuming they’ll continue like this.
 
MS bet is to transform industry into a subscription model. Gamepass and cloud are their focus.

Netflix needed 13 years to a success. Gamepass has 7 years and they will keep trying.

I know we like to compare Netflix and Gamepass because they seem similar but they are just very different.

First off TV has a much larger audience base than gaming does. Pretty much everyone who watches TV pays for it some way shape or form. On top of that Xbox has to compete with the GAAS games that have capture everyone's time and even worse than that almost all of them are completely free.
 

Fess

Member
Hasn't there almost always been the exclusivity period been written in trailers before the game releases?
Never for first party games. Nobody knows. We just have that Nvidia leak many years ago hinting that everything will arrive, some day. But the number of years vary between games. I’m still waiting on Demon’s Souls from 2020.
 
I'm not sure what's confusing here?

Their priority is now developing for PS5 and PC, they're just too afraid to come out and say it.

Apparently they now have some of their internal studios focusing on PS5 dev kits over Xbox dev kits.

This is all going to come to a resolution sooner than later.

What they did with Indiana Jones says alot.
Morgan Freeman Good Luck GIF

Where did you hear this?
 

violence

Member
Bethesda might’ve bloated to the point of being mediocre. A PlayStation release would’ve only hurt the product (Starfield) most likely. I mean they had a hard enough time making the product they made. Imagine adding PlayStation to that.

Id is a studio that hires wizards. They’re going to put that game on every platform.
 
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Gambit2483

Member
I'm not in the industry outside of gaming as a hobby, but certainly from my point of view it seems like they would've waited to announce the PS5 version of Indy until early 2025, so the Xbox/PC version would've had it's holiday season in the sun. I'm sure the calculus the Xbox management is using is way above my head, but wouldn't announcing the PS5 version now as only being 3-6 months later than the Xbox version negatively impact sales of the Xbox version? So then the question is, why doesn't Xbox care about increasing the sales of a game on their own platform? As a Series X owner, of course if I decide to play it, I would play it on my Xbox or not at all. But clearly they no longer seem to be trying at all to capture new users for their own platform.
This game was never going to be a "system-seller" or push software sales, that's why.
 
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XXL

Gold Member
A PlayStation release would’ve only hurt the product (Starfield) most likely. I mean they had a hard enough time making the product they made. Imagine adding PlayStation to that.
The ironic part of your statement is that if they would have released it only on PlayStation (and Steam) it would have done much better than it did for Xbox.

I think they're starting to realize this fact.

PlayStation is becoming more and more of a priority for them.

I mean, they just announced Indiana Jones (previously exclusive) for PS5, months before the Xbox version even came out.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
When Starfield came out MS still had a different strategy in mind. Perhaps they could release a PS5 version now, maybe they will announce one when this game has its anniversary soon.

Then project latitude happened. Doom was announced multiplatform day one. And Indy is a Disney IP, there might've been some sort of different contract behind it. I don't know. But this game was likely originally planned as an exclusive like Starfield, unlike Doom.

And Spencer can't be taken seriously. He admitted they lost the most important generation with the Xbox One, the one with full day one digital ecosystems. So his earlier words hold no value anyway.
 
The hardcore base should be the only ones who care about this. Putting the games on the rival console would be terrible if you had a close race, but they are in a death spiral so it doesn't matter as much if you accelerate that.

As far as whether they are day one or a year later or never.... I don't see anything wrong with that in itself. You don't know when ps games are going to pc for awhile after launch. Unless they are the day one gaas of course.
then here is no point getting an xbox and decreases the confidence in consumers for their future hardware.
 

havoc00

Member
The last few months have def been rough no clear vision no clear communication, delays etc… even with the launch of the revised systems is baffling. Oh and now the 30fps fiasco. Like what the fuck is going on over there?

I think to myself if they would have been in a better or worst spot if the activision deal didn’t go though?
 
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SkylineRKR

Member
The last few months have def been rough no clear vision no clear communication, delays etc… even with the launch of the revised systems is baffling. Oh and now the 30fps fiasco. Like what the fuck is going on over there?

I think to myself if they would have been in a better or worst spot if the activision deal didn’t go though?

Depends how you would look at it. For fans, probably better. They would still get the same games, and MS didn't need to recuperate huge investments with a more aggressive multiplatform approach. On the other hand, Xbox would be tanking either way so they would have to do something.

But MS does get all revenues from the next ABK and Bethesda games now.
 

nick776

Member
Exclusives are important- its how you set your console apart from others. Don't let failing entity's tell you otherwise.
They need to recoup money. In many cases so does Sony - but consoles are their bread and butter. PC releases come much later and without any assurance.

Nintendo however is doing it 100% correctly.

Xbox has no vision, lie through their teeth, and have been power leveling themselves since day one. I've owned every one of their consoles BECAUSE of their handful of exclusives. Those days are dead moving forward.
Exactly—that is why I sold my Series X a few weeks back.
 

Astray

Member
This is a messaging issue whether its intentional or not is another question.

Could also be solved quite easily, Microsoft owns ALOT of studios now.. simply divide them up under two different banners:

Microsoft Game Studios
Games developed by these studios (pick what ever ones) under this banner are multi-platform releases (Xbox, PS, Switch, PC)

Xbox Game Studios
Games Developed by these studios (again what ever ones) under this banner are Xbox console exclusives


They could have the interesting position of being both a 3rd party and still support their console business..
Easier said than done, if I'm a talent that's getting recruited by studios, why would I want to be part of the studios that are beholden to the weakest console platform for sales, where my bonus conditions most likely won't be met because sales targets won't be met?

Also they have already released more XGS stuff on PS5 than they did Bethesda stuff.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
Never for first party games. Nobody knows. We just have that Nvidia leak many years ago hinting that everything will arrive, some day. But the number of years vary between games. I’m still waiting on Demon’s Souls from 2020.
Oh I thought you meant 3rd party deals since MS doesn't reveal either.
 

pasterpl

Member
Right so what about those new ips hifi rush, grounded, pentiment and sea of thieves? Because the statement your referencing came before those releases.

hifirush is part of the multi platform project/test MS is running, testing waters (probably ps5 version was being developed long before Xbox acquired zenimax), wasn’t grounded initially a kickstarter project where they promised multi platform, Sea of Thieves is very successful GaaS so this shouldn’t be a surprise. Same as Sony releasing their GaaS games day 1 on PC. None of the games where released day 1 on PlayStation. MS might stick to timed exclusivity for their titles.
 
I'm not a top notch journalist like Jason, however I think it's how corporations exit the scene.

As a public company, especially one as prolific as Microsoft, you can't just pull out as a major player of a lucrative industry like video games. Shareholders will have a fit and actually file lawsuits against the company. So, they need to fail and it needs to not look like it was obviously self inflicted. Since the ATVI deal, it's clear Microsoft wants to return to being a publisher and get out of the console/hardware business. They want to grow a fanbase that will pay for and become addicted to their games, and then Microsoft being Microsoft, they will tighten their stranglehold and start extorting their fanbase to extract profit while creating as little value as possible - just like how they operate the rest of their business.
 

clarky

Gold Member
hifirush is part of the multi platform project/test MS is running, testing waters (probably ps5 version was being developed long before Xbox acquired zenimax), wasn’t grounded initially a kickstarter project where they promised multi platform, Sea of Thieves is very successful GaaS so this shouldn’t be a surprise. Same as Sony releasing their GaaS games day 1 on PC. None of the games where released day 1 on PlayStation. MS might stick to timed exclusivity for their titles.
Ok but you said:
I am not sure what so confusing for him, Starfiled - new IP, Indiana jones - Disney deal, Doom - Spencer said where there is community for existing games these games will still be released on that platform after acquiring zenimax.
He said that before he released those 4 titles on other platforms. There was no existing community for those games. He also said those acquisitions were about building titles for xbox customers. All backtracked on and bullshit.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
I said the same earlier in the thread. The statement he's referring to came before those titles so makes little sense.
The problem is that people keep trying to defend and justify Phil's statement by marrying his current actions with previous statements. They don't want to accept, for some odd reason, that Phil's previous statements are no longer valid.

He might have meant what he said earlier, but the Xbox strategy has changed.

The only issue is that they haven't publicly announced that strategy clearly. Although they have implied that all Xbox games will come to PlayStation sooner or later.

The arguments "Oh, it's because it's a legacy IP" or "because that's a GaaS game" etc. do not work anymore.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
MS bet is to transform industry into a subscription model. Gamepass and cloud are their focus.

Netflix needed 13 years to a success. Gamepass has 7 years and they will keep trying.
No, they have already given up. Remember when Satya Nadella removed Game Pass from his CEO bonus criteria?

He replaced that with "Content & Revenue" and then starting to put Xbox exclusive games on PlayStation. This is increasing the Revenue of Xbox (e.g., Sea of Thieves generated an additional $28 million of revenue) and, therefore, giving Satya more money in executive bonuses.

Game Pass is no longer an important thing for Microsoft or Xbox.
 
Could be more about a change of plan and also release dates and history and owners of the ip. Referencing Bethesda does not provide context, like also ignoring the dates.

Jason has referenced Starfield (2023) in his 3 game list, a game from last year. It's clear Starfield was a big play for pushing an exclusive console game and gamepass planned a long time ago but it didn't move the needle. It's a large scope game that requires a ton of fixes and perhaps picking a time to relaunch if in the works now, they aren't going to scramble out a PS5 port in this instance. Note by exclusive I mean console space, I know it's on PC, like Fallout and Skyrim.

Indy (2024 on Xbox) may have been full exclusive but have been able to shift due to change of plan and possibly pressure from Disney, a bit like MLB. Maybe the timed deal reflects the port progress or some compromise

Doom (2025 on everything) I can see from the outset it was one title, the most multiplatform title in history they weren't going to mess with it, the bits of info we've had about it being the one allowed to be planned to be PS5 I think are true . If not true they've had time to pivot fully and get it out on time

The failure of previous titles like Starfield will have only cemented the change of plan and backup plan all along from Satya. MS have been about buying ip, the Series consoles and tempting/buying the player over to gamepass play failed.
 
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Fess

Member
Oh I thought you meant 3rd party deals since MS doesn't reveal either.
They do reveal the length of the timed exclusivity with Indiana Jones.
But anyway the new strategy for first party seems to come in two variations:

1. Play it day 1 on Xbox, or wait
2. Play it day 1 with Gamepass, or pay $60

If it’s not 1, like with DOOM, then it’s 2.

Personally I don’t think it’ll help them. I’m an enthusiast and I still don’t go away from my preferred platform for timed exclusivity. Can’t see the mainstream or casuals act differently, most stay on one platform no matter what.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
They do reveal the length of the timed exclusivity with Indiana Jones.
But anyway the new strategy for first party seems to come in two variations:

1. Play it day 1 on Xbox, or wait
2. Play it day 1 with Gamepass, or pay $60

If it’s not 1, like with DOOM, then it’s 2.

Personally I don’t think it’ll help them. I’m an enthusiast and I still don’t go away from my preferred platform for timed exclusivity. Can’t see the mainstream or casuals act differently, most stay on one platform no matter what.
Well they do now and only for 3rd party.
 

draliko

Member
Something clearly changed in the last years about their strategy, I don't think they're leaving console space they're simply rebranding the series consoles as everyday gaming focused PCs at various price points and formats, as in if you like gamepass concept and console get a series, otherwise game on pc with gamepass, if you like console gaming but not gamepass game on PS5 but pay full price for every IP we own. More than moving gamers with exclusivity they're trying to entice them with the all you can eat model, like now that you've played our games think that they're included in the gamepass service. Anyway market is really in a changing state, curious to see where it goes, but glad to have moved back to pc gaming. As a gamer I don't like ms current course, but at least my kids have always stuff to play
 

Fess

Member
Well they do now and only for 3rd party.
Indiana Jones is 1st party but yeah it’s a new move, the rest are like how Sony does it, games might come soon or in several years nobody knows. Imo it’s annoying. They think people will buy new hardware to play early but I just don’t see it working.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
Indiana Jones is 1st party but yeah it’s a new move, the rest are like how Sony does it, games might come soon or in several years nobody knows. Imo it’s annoying. They think people will buy new hardware to play early but I just don’t see it working.
I don't think that they even know when they'll come out.They feel like this
Panic Omg GIF
 
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