Support NeoGAF

[PauloRoberto]

You can say MS bought influence with ABK and Bethesda, but factually those are influential publishers that MS now own. So saying "MS influence on market today is almost 0%" is factually false, as I said. However, even before those acquisitions, the Xbox platform was influential even as weak as it was. We had games that were timed exclusives to Game Pass. That's influence.

And it really doesn't make sense to keep saying "agree to disagree" when you keep adding more arguments at the same time.

You just proved my point, thank you., Current MS situation is proof that money cannot fully buy influence.

And of course an argument can continue, as long as no curse word is told and the discussion is health.. :-S

 

[PauloRoberto]

I would agree with that for the most part, but ABK is Xbox now, so the semantics make no difference.

I'd say Acti swallowed MS :-D

 

[Mayar]

Let's agree to disagree. MS influence on market today is almost 0%.

If someone thinks that one of the richest companies in the world with a billion-dollar turnover has no impact on the market, I recommend you read an economics textbook. There is a very big difference between impact on the market and bad/strange decisions on the part of management. Of course, I understand that there are many who want to bury MS, but with their turnover and opportunities, you can forget about it right away, they are not going anywhere and will not disappear for a very, very long time.

 

[Topher]

You just proved my point, thank you., Current MS situation is proof that money cannot fully buy influence.

That's just an all around absurd post.

 

[PauloRoberto]

That's just an all around absurd post.

Ok, let's agree to use the ignore list.

 

[XXL]

I'd say Acti swallowed MS :-D

Again, I agree with that for the most part, but Xbox not MS.

I was one of the first ones on here saying that this would happen after the acquisition.

But in the end they are Xbox now and that gives them influence.

 

[XXL]

Ok, let's agree to use the ignore list.

If you're going to ignore Topher you've lost all hope. He's one of the more reasonable people on here. Lol.

 

[Mayar]

If you're going to ignore Topher you've lost all hope. He's one of the more reasonable people on here. Lol.

How about XXL ? Or is there something wrong with him?

 

[PauloRoberto]

If someone thinks that one of the richest companies in the world with a billion-dollar turnover has no impact on the market, I recommend you read an economics textbook. There is a very big difference between impact on the market and bad/strange decisions on the part of management. Of course, I understand that there are many who want to bury MS, but with their turnover and opportunities, you can forget about it right away, they are not going anywhere and will not disappear for a very, very long time.

Sorry, but Windows Phone and Zune are physical proofs that MS can totally abandon a market... and current MS is totally service/cloud oriented.

 

[XXL]

How about XXL ? Or is there something wrong with him?

Fuck that guy XXL Ignore him for sure.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Definitely think 2024 turned out to be a much better year than expected.

who is saying this?

 

[Topher]

who is saying this?

Me

 

[Mayar]

Sorry, but Windows Phone and Zune are physical proofs that MS can totally abandon a market... and current MS is totally service/cloud oriented.

Sooooo how did this reduce their influence on the market? Competitors stopped watching and monitoring their decisions and what they do on the market? Maybe this had an effect on the fact that they closed the company and left the business? Or did it somehow affect the fact that it is still one of the richest companies in the world, which, in principle, if given the opportunity, can buy any competitor if it relaxes? The list can go on for a very long time, all companies have had unsuccessful decisions during their life, both Nintendo and Sony. I more than assure you that the people who are at the helm of Sony and Nintendo very closely monitor all the movements of Microsoft.

 

[Topher]

Fuck that guy XXL Ignore him for sure.

 

[PauloRoberto]

Sooooo how did this reduce their influence on the market? Competitors stopped watching and monitoring their decisions and what they do on the market? Maybe this had an effect on the fact that they closed the company and left the business? Or did it somehow affect the fact that it is still one of the richest companies in the world, which, in principle, if given the opportunity, can buy any competitor if it relaxes? The list can go on for a very long time, all companies have had unsuccessful decisions during their life, both Nintendo and Sony. I more than assure you that the people who are at the helm of Sony and Nintendo very closely monitor all the movements of Microsoft.

Of course competitors keep watching one another... but do you really think that, given the CURRENT state of the market, Sony and Nintendo really needs to take a defensive action against MS? That last time MS really showed something really new at the market and everyone was behind them (which is the definition of influence), as far as I remember... was Xbox Live! I keep saying that MS has 0% influence at the market today because there is absolutely no clear strategy for game market.

 

[Topher]

Of course competitors keep watching one another... but do you really think that, given the CURRENT state of the market, Sony and Nintendo really needs to take a defensive action against MS? That last time MS really showed something really new at the market and everyone was behind them (which is the definition of influence), as far as I remember... was Xbox Live! I keep saying that MS has 0% influence at the market today because there is absolutely no clear strategy for game market.

But that isn't the definition of "influence". Simply having an effect on the market is influence. Buying Bethesda and ABK were massively influential on the market. Making the decision to pull Starfield from PlayStation. Making the decision to include Call of Duty on Switch. Making the decision to keep Doom multiplatform. Publishing games on PlayStation. Millions of gamers on multiple platforms were affected by these decisions. That's influence.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Of course competitors keep watching one another... but do you really think that, given the CURRENT state of the market, Sony and Nintendo really needs to take a defensive action against MS? That last time MS really showed something really new at the market and everyone was behind them (which is the definition of influence), as far as I remember... was Xbox Live! I keep saying that MS has 0% influence at the market today because there is absolutely no clear strategy for game market.

I understand where you are coming from, and I agree. However, I would frame it as "leadership" in the industry. For example, Game Pass definitely influenced Sony’s counterpart.

 

[PauloRoberto]

I understand where you are coming from, and I agree. However, I would frame it as "leadership" in the industry. For example, Game Pass definitely influenced Sony’s counterpart.

Are you talking about PS Plus different tiers? That's the only think I really remember Sony did - and the fact that it could raise the tier prices, showed IMHO that it could do that regardless of GP.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Are you talking about PS Plus different tiers? That's the only think I really remember Sony did - and the fact that it could raise the tier prices, showed IMHO that it could do that regardless of GP.

This is why "influence" is not really the best word for Xbox/MS´s situation. However, "Leadership" reflects that MS/Xbox is trying different things from a place of desperation. For example this quote from Zelnick regarding a sub-service like Game Pass:

However, he added that this move by Microsoft doesn't change how Take-Two views the subscription opportunity. "No, it won't affect our decisions," Zelnick says. "Because our decisions are rational."

Technically, he is saying that MS's decisions are not influencing Take-Two's. But why? Well, he tells us afterward: MS´s decisions are not coming from a place of leadership. If Xbox were is such position, Sony would feel more "influenced" to be aggressive with prices and incentives for consumers or and sway the whole industry to embrace Game Pass for example.

 

[adamsapple]

2024 was the year of Microsoft​

Fuck that guy XXL Ignore him for sure.

Already on the permanent ignore list, fam.

 

[XXL]

Already on the permanent ignore list, fam.

 

[Taur007]

I have no idea how anyone could think this year has been good for Xbox.

• They closed award winning studios like Arkane and Tango Gameworks, while complaining that they need more games like the games those developers made.
• The exclusive they were hyping throughout Q1 - Hellblade 2 - appears to have been a complete sales flop.
• They restricted the day 1 games to GamePass Ultimate, and raised it's price to $20 a month.
• They brought some of their previously exclusive games to PlayStation, signaling to potential buyers that the Xbox hardware won't have exclusives going forward.
• Sales of their console have continued to lag well behind their previous generation and they've been lapped by PlayStation.
• Their big exclusive for the holidays - Indiana Jones had a poor launch on Steam, showing people have very little interest in it.
• PlayStation launched a Pro console, while Xbox launched another Series X without a disc drive.

They are now trying to convince people that the Xbox brand has value on other hardware, but they can't mention the PlayStation or Nintendo consoles. Instead, they want to hype players playing their Xbox games via streaming on tablets and phones. As if this is somehow going to help Xbox be more successful as a business so they can afford to invest more in exclusives. Oh wait...

Saying they're "pivoting" seems like serious copium.

Guess its safe to say you can remove this one cause it sold well xbox

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Guess its safe to say you can remove this one cause it sold well xbox

nah it didn't

 

[Woopah]

Yeah, that's interesting. I don't think I read the tea leaves as well as others in that regard. I wasn't paying close attention to all the acquisition talk back then. I was bored with it, actually. Somewhat cynically, I just saw it as MS's attempt to buy what they couldn't create themselves (good exclusives), try to outspend Sony, and prop up GP. I didn't tune in to the ramifications.

It definitely pushed them to become a third-party publisher. What I'm still unsure of is how much of that was planned and how much was a necessary adaptation to unanticipated failures or problems in their plan. I suppose the answer is "both." It was part of the plan, but the speed of the movement has been accelerated by the failures/problems along the way.

Yes I'd agree with that. The poor Xbox hardware sales in the last two years has persuaded them to go more multiplatform than they otherwise would have done.

You just proved my point, thank you., Current MS situation is proof that money cannot fully buy influence.

And of course an argument can continue, as long as no curse word is told and the discussion is health.. :-S

They did buy influence though. COD always has an impact on the market when it releases. I think that's the type of influence the article means.