Support NeoGAF

[Ozzie666]

Their aquisition strategy is great, it's actually fantastic. People can only dream about having that kind of money to grow. Most other companies would have succeeded.

It's the management of those anquisitions. It seems their hands on approach is to break what was working and provide no direction whatsoever, or inject agendas until the studio is producing subscription fodder. No passion for gaming or awareness of what a good game looks like.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

IMO, Microsoft tried to buy their way to success and it didn't work out in their favor, so it's throwing the hands up time.

They did this in other industries(iPod, phones, etc). Xbox simply made so many mistakes that it was insurmountable in the end also.

It's like beating a dead horse as I've mentioned in so many other threads, but I just firmly believe they never recovered from 2013.

I was on the front lines back then in gaming retail with GameStop and the backlash against Microsoft was *immense* post-E3, not just consumers but the retail industry.

GameStop was not interested in supporting them and back then, GameStop had a *lot* more power than they do now by a long shot.

I received my allocation email for my stores regarding pre-orders for the systems and it was, kid you not, most PS4 allocation per store was 90 on the low end to 125. Xbox was 10 on low end to 25 at max. Numbers may be off due to memory, but it was easily that subtantial.

I asked my regional "What gives? Why arent there any Xbox Ones available comparatively? No supply?"

He responded "No, there is. Xbox doesnt support GameStop business model and Playstation does. So we aren't ordering much at all as a company"

So again, I think they made too many mistakes and decided, for lack of a better comparison, throwing money out was the answer.

Their actions lately have been like Nicholsons Joker throwing money at the crowds and then turning on the Smilex Gas balloons.

I don't expect these PC hybrid handhelds and "consoles" to succeed and after that I do wonder if they'll just start to wind down their gaming operations as they did with the likes of Windows Phone.

What we saw this week was the complete opposite of trying to grow or maintain the size of their current Xbox business.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Another way to look at the acquisition is that Microsoft saw ABK as a potential threat.

Remember that when the acquisition process started cloud gaming was seen as the next big thing (remember Stadia) and hypothetically big publishers could stream games directly to customers without the need for platforms like Windows, Xbox and PlayStation.

Microsoft have a long history of buying out companies they deem to be threats only to mismanage or shut them down.

 

[Baemono]

Another way to look at the acquisition is that Microsoft saw ABK as a potential threat.

Remember that when the acquisition process started cloud gaming was seen as the next big thing (remember Stadia) and hypothetically big publishers could stream games directly to customers without the need for platforms like Windows, Xbox and PlayStation.

Microsoft have a long history of buying out companies they deem to be threats only to mismanage or shut them down.

Oh yeah I recall people saying « Microsoft next big competitor in gaming is not Sony nor Nitendo but Google, Apple and Amazon » like some visionnary stuff

 

[Burger King]

At least they have a lot of interesting IPs now

 

[Joel Was Right]

On the surface, I can understand why some would think that. However, let's remember that at the start of the acquisition talks, internal emails revealed that there was a difference of opinion as to whether or not these IPs should be exclusive to Xbox or remain third-party titles. Let's recall that one Microsoft executive wanted to quote spend PlayStation out of business while their accountants at the same time did the calculation as to what returns they could expect if they actually remained multi-platform.

Ultimately, the accountants won, arguing that these franchises should remain third-party, and in hindsight they were maybe right.

Phil Spencer and the Xbox leadership may have wanted to follow their exclusive strategy in the hopes of pushing more hardware but Microsoft's foresight was correct. They realised that hardware may not grow, but at the very minimum their return on investment will be guaranteed at some point down the line. Call of Duty will continue to be successful and so forth. And coincidentally, it ensured that Xbox in some shape or form will remain relevant in the future whether that may be a specific platform or just a service.

So ultimately, the acquisition was a success but not in the way that Xbox would have wanted it to be, but in a way that shareholders would have accepted.

Had that acquisition not gone through, it's very likely that we probably would not be seeing any Xbox in the next generation, and from that perspective, I think it's very hard for anyone to criticise the Activision deal.

We've heard a lot of criticism about the
Xbox' leadership, about the handling of the studios, but the alternative would have been even worse, arguably.

I think in a few years down the line, people will look at the last few years in hindsight in a more positive light than they do right now.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

At least they have a lot of interesting IPs now

Can they keep them that way though?

I lost hope of ever seeing another Crash Bandicoot after the acquisition

 

[Joel Was Right]

The fact that the quality of output from Bethesda and Activision has declined this generation is testament to this.

Whoever thought it would go any differently with Phil Spencer at the helm was fucking deluded.

The American gaming development scene seems such a mess right now.

Weird, because I see the same criticism lobbied at Sony studios, too.

 

[jm89]

You had guys thinking this was going to make Xbox more competitive against Sony.

 

[Kotaro]

They actually have great acquisitions, Minecraft, Bethesda and Activision. Their acquisitions give them first party IPs that are on par of Nintendo's

Game Pass is actually their biggest mistake

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Weird, because I see the same criticism lobbied at Sony studios, too.

Agreed

So far this gen my two favourite Sony games have been AstroBot and Gran Turismo 7

Both Japanese

 

[Badlucktroll]

i dont understand the point of these aquisitions or what good it did. they still have to put the shit on playstation

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

The fact that the quality of output from Bethesda and Activision has declined this generation is testament to this.

Whoever thought it would go any differently with Phil Spencer at the helm was fucking deluded.

The American gaming development scene seems such a mess right now.

Yea, it's a fucking joke. Everyone is trying to be GTA or Fortnite. It's killing the American AAA gaming scene.

My favorite games this gen have been either Asian or European. A few gems from American studios but mostly American AAA studios have been dropping the ball, either due to chasing woke political bullshit or chasing microtransactions and loot boxes. You can tell the passion for making good games here in the US is slowly eroding in the AAA space.

 

[Hookshot]

It made no sense to buy the companies but keep them multiplatform. They wanted more money quickly to cancel the cost of purchase when they should have taken reduced sales this gen to get more next. COD exclusive would have gained millions of players, and once they are tied to COD, then the Madden and FIFA etc. casual players would have gone where the COD crowd was for more player overlap with their games.

 

[Alan Wake]

For Xbox the ABK acquisition was basically the end. For Microsoft Gaming it's a solid base for the future. They'll make tons of money on other platforms.

Going multiplat is a wise business decision. They've failed to compete with Sony for two generations now. But it's not nice to do this mid gen. People like myself bought Xbox Series X to play the exclusive content Microsoft promised since the Xbox One generation. Moving away from that and changing strategy mid gen is a big FU to the loyal fans who have been invested in the Xbox ecosystem for years. The Bethesda acquisition was fine, it meant they acquired lots of studios and talent that could develop exciting games for Xbox. With every game launching day one on Game Pass, though, I never understood how they thought they would get their money back on this investment.

 

[Starhowl]

When I read that they'd spend $68.7 billion for acquiring Activision-Blizzard, I knew this would likely be the end of Xbox as we knew it.

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

For Xbox the ABK acquisition was basically the end. For Microsoft Gaming it's a solid base for the future. They'll make tons of money on other platforms.

Going multiplat is a wise business decision. They've failed to compete with Sony for two generations now. But it's not nice to do this mid gen. People like myself bought Xbox Series X to play the exclusive content Microsoft promised since the Xbox One generation. Moving away from that and changing strategy med gen is a big FU to the loyal fans investing in the Xbox ecosystem for years. The Bethesda acquisition was fine, it meant they acquired lots of studios and talent that could develop exciting games for Xbox. With every game launching day one on Game Pass, though, I never understood how they thought they would get their money back on this investment.

That's the thing, they probably never intended to make the money back through GamePass. I think somewhere along the line the plan shifted. I think the moment they sought to buy out ABK their real intention was to go full multiplatform. The math wasn't adding up and I and many others tried to warn people that there was no way they were going to make the acquisition money back through GP and the Xbox/PC ecosystem alone.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

When I read that they'd spend $68.7 billion for acquiring Activision-Blizzard, I knew this would likely be the end of Xbox as we knew it.

So what do you think the real plan is?

 

[Starhowl]

So what do you think the real plan is?

When a business isn't sustainable, it's about control.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

When a business isn't sustainable, it's about control.

What do they plan to control though?

My thought was gaming on Windows, so Inwonder what they ploy is with Steam on the Xbox PC app.

 

[chromatic9]

For Xbox and its employees yes. For the people at the top I think they gave Xbox enough rope and are just interested in ip control since Minecraft, it's a win win for them, like a shot to nothing if Xbox won or not.

 

[ProtoByte]

Increase GP subcriptions: OK. Number of gamepass subs we know it has grown from 24-25 million in 2022 to 35-36 million in Q2-Q3 2024. But that growth seems to be stagnating:

Really important point to clarify here OP:
This leap in "Gamepass" subscribers is fabricated. After 2022 they refused to give out numbers for GP until after they changed the name of Xbox Live Gold to Gamepass Core.

Based on their quarterly earnings for the quarter from Sep-Dec 2024, I calculate an actual decline in Gamepass subs. 2% software and services growth year-on-year despite the 16+% price increase on console Gamepass definitely indicates a massive churn. No matter how you slice it, right now Gamepass is probably significantly below its 34-35 million sub record. I see it only getting worse in the coming years.

 

[darrylgorn]

I mean, no one would have predicted that Sony would be reaching out to other platforms anyway, so yeah, it turned out to be completely unnecessary.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

We've heard a lot of criticism about the
Xbox' leadership, about the handling of the studios, but the alternative would have been even worse, arguably.

I think in a few years down the line, people will look at the last few years in hindsight in a more positive light than they do right now.

Depends. One could argue that Xbox dropping out gracefully might have been better for everyone, even Microsoft.
As it is MS is now getting all the Activision IP and not willing to develop them all. And even for the ones they want to develop, there is a high chance they will mess it up. Time would likely show that we lost more potential good games than we gained this way. And for what? To let some Xbox customers keep their old libraries for one more hardware generation?

 

[Knucklepux]

The real victim here is creativity and innovation

MS bought these studios for COD and King. That's it.

They are more interest in creating digital storefronts, not games.

You can argue that they've put out some smaller, single player games…but that's just a smoke screen to claim that they're supporting smaller projects. All of them are tanking due to gamepass smashing their sales - hence the multiplatform approach

Anyone with a brain knew the acquisition was horrible. But you had too many boneheads thinking it was going to result in a massive gamepass library that was going to remain insanely cheap…. I hope they all feel real dumb now

 

[Knucklepux]

I don't expect these PC hybrid handhelds and "consoles" to succeed and after that I do wonder if they'll just start to wind down their gaming operations as they did with the likes of Windows Phone.

What we saw this week was the complete opposite of trying to grow or maintain the size of their current Xbox business.

The handheld will for sure fail overall. Obviously they're not subsidizing it, so it'll still turn a profit. But not enough for a trillion dollar company

And as much as PlayStation rules the console space… Steam rules the PC space even more. So they had a dog in the fight in the console space if they abandoned Gamepass, abandoned the Series S and pushed their exclusives. But they legit are going to be slaughtered by Steam

Even when people talk about their strategy, they push excitement about accessing Steam storefronts. That doesn't benefit Xbox outside of the hardware sale

But still…if someone is in the market for a PC handheld - Steam Deck is the handheld equivalent to PlayStation console

So what happens??? Exactly what I've been saying for awhile. In the way that Steam or Epic has games exclusive to their launchers, Xbox is going to do the exact same thing.

You wanna play their IPs? Use their storefront. Despite people wanting to believe that exclusivity is done, it's not. Not even a little bit

Netflix, Hulu, Shudder, PlayStation, Steam, Epic, Battlenet, Disney+,etc… ALL have exclusive content. Just not in hardware

So as excited as you get about Steam being on their hardware, they will not let you buy their Xbox games from there. Especially since they want you to have to pay for gamepass

Short sighted consumers thinking any big corp is going to be altruistic