[GI.Biz | Opinion] How long can Microsoft float on goodwill?

Punished Miku said:
I mean exactly what I said. From what I can tell Xbox gamers on average played a much wider variety of games than PS gamers. Two people in here claimed its a rampant problem that Xbox gamers don't play Hi Fi Rush but its just 1 dumb tweet. My observations were very very clearly the opposite. Some of the GOTY votes on here were embarrassing
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Are people actually playing the games or just trying them for a few minutes on gamepass? Because completion rates would surely tell a different story
 
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In my opinion they need better project management and a better, more concise and consistent release schedule. "but muh COVID" ain't cutting it anymore. Hopefully Starfield impresses, I'm really hopeful that it will be good.
 
remember_spinal said:
Are people actually playing the games or just trying them for a few minutes on gamepass? Because completion rates would surely tell a different story
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Even trying it is better than not having even heard of most games on the top 20 list. Saw a ton of that and they weren't Xbox gamers.
 
By some miracle they've still retained a... let's call it "loyal" fanbase even after the disastrous Xbox One period, and then even after Series X/S mediocre offering of first party titles and third party exclusives since launch. I think they'll be good for a while.
 
Thirty7ven said:
Pentiment GOTY, High on life GOTY, High Rush GOTY

They just keep pumping those gotys out it's incredible.
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While not so much GOTY candidates for myself I will admit I enjoyed them more than I thought I would

I know a lot of people want to replay GOW volume number 15 which I am fine with if thats what they enjoy but I haven't been able to finish GOW Ragnarok even though it won tons of awards
 
Punished Miku said:
Im talking about most GOTY lists for 2022. Most of them also played the PS games too.
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An "Xbox Only" gamer didn't have access to some of the bigger AAA titles because Microsoft didn't release any. So it's no surprise that an Xbox only gamer had a bunch of smaller and unknown titles. That doesn't mean they had more variety.

If Microsoft released Halo, Gears, Starfield, Fable in the same year what do you expect an Xbox gamer's list to be topped off with? Not a lot of smaller indie GamePass games
 
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remember_spinal said:
People aren't going to say Grounded is a contender for GOTY 2022 because its been out for 3 years
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Wasn't saying it was GOTY (although it should've won art style hands down) I was just saying it was ver successful and nobody really talked about it despite it literally always doing good ever since it came out in beta 3 years ago.

And I was one of those earlier players, year 1 to release are COMPLETELY different games.
 
Goodwill? It's Microsoft's infinite money that keeps xbox afloat, if xbox one didnt kill the brand, nothing will, for as long as Microsoft wants
 
Punished Miku said:
One stupid person. GOTY in 2022 from my experience was mostly Xbox players who had played way more variety of games that year and PS gamers who hadn't even heard of most of them. That's not a dig. Thats just what happened.

Many people trashing High on Life and Pentiment never touched it. More people have played PS exclusives and have a more informed opinion of them. The issue is often people who haven't tried Xbox but still criticizing
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Let me outline this because it's important for people to recognise. Games like High on Life, Pentiment and Hi Fi should be side dishes for the platform. Either that or games of that scope need to be released with greater frequency (at least 1-2 per month) for them to have any meaningful impact on the growth of the Xbox platform.

Last year Sony had games like Sifu, Stray and Kena release on their platform exclusively (console, I'm aware they are also on PC, as are all the aforementioned Xbox games). While different types of games, all of those are similar in scope to the games mentioned above and you didn't see anyone unironically saying things like "best new IP in a decade" or "GOTY" when we are in the first quarter of the year.

When you have people making statements like the above it points to a bigger problem and it is one which is embedded. There's a subset of people who are over compensating whenever games of this ilk are released and its possibly because they feel they have no choice. Xbox have put them in that position, nobody else. Xbox needs to get their house in order and either start releasing top quality AA games at a much higher frequency, or keep on doing what they are doing with the AA games and supplement that with some generation defining AAA games.

Nobody serious is saying stuff like Hi Fi Life or Pentiment are bad games, far from it, but with the current release frequency of those types of games people are not rushing out to buy console hardware or subscribe (and stay subscribed, this is actually more important) to gamepass in order to play them. I'm honestly starting to think that the most ardent Xbox fans don't realise that in defending the current state of Xbox they are only helping deepen their problems. If you want the platform to grow and thrive then something needs to change.
 
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Pejo said:
OcZAlP2.png


In my opinion they need better project management and a better, more concise and consistent release schedule. "but muh COVID" ain't cutting it anymore. Hopefully Starfield impresses, I'm really hopeful that it will be good.
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Gotta throw in Jim Ryan as well. Ryan's Antics.
 
James Sawyer Ford said:
An "Xbox Only" gamer didn't have access to some of the bigger AAA titles because Microsoft didn't release any. So it's no surprise that an Xbox only gamer had a bunch of smaller and unknown titles. That doesn't mean they had more variety.

If Microsoft released Halo, Gears, Starfield, Fable in the same year what do you expect an Xbox gamer's list to be topped off with? Not a lot of smaller indie GamePass games
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I never said they were Xbox ONLY gamers. Most Xbox gamers got it as a 2nd system.

This is just stupid. The tweet is stupid. Trying to assert that most MS gamers don't play the games and then overhype them to try and make it GOTY is a stupid argument. Most Xbox gamers on here weren't even hyped about Hi-Fi Rise until they tried it. I rated the show a 6/10 and had to increase the score after realizing the game was much better than I anticipated. It's incredibly obvious to anyone paying attention that Xbox gamers played a much wider variety of the GOTY games of 2022 last year, obvious in every discussion I've ever had on this site. The GOTY awards on here just demonstrated what everyone could see all year. Some of the side categories were embarrassing with how small and limited the scope of the votes were, and it was super obviously from a certain group.

And again, this wouldn't even be a discussion unless we saw multiple people trying to argue that Xbox gamers don't even play the games before trying to argue its GOTY. It's just a dumb argument; and particularly dumb when you know that Xbox gamers typically play a LOT of games and are well informed.
 
James Sawyer Ford said:
I'm not really interested in the tweet as much, just some of the claims you're making seem pretty out of touch with reality and seem to confuse "unknown" with "variety"
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The false narrative is that Playstation gamers don't like "real" games and only play AAA games, both from Sony and third parties. Meanwhile Xbox gamers are sophisticated, and would never waste their time on such trash. Oh wait... :

FmrgLCnaUAET6FM



Tea Time Eye Roll GIF


Such variety.
 
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GHG said:
The false narrative is that Playstation gamers don't like "real" games and only play AAA games, both from Sony and third parties. Meanwhile Xbox gamers are sophisticated, and would never waste their time on such trash. Oh wait... :

FmrgLCnaUAET6FM



Tea Time Eye Roll GIF


Such variety.
Click to expand...
Remember when Indies/AA were not "real games" ... now it's "AAA are not real games"

I wonder why the narrative shift? And it will shift back again soon, bet.
 
GHG said:
The false narrative is that Playstation gamers don't like "real" games and only play AAA games, both from Sony and third parties. Meanwhile Xbox gamers are sophisticated, and would never waste their time on such trash. Oh wait... :

FmrgLCnaUAET6FM



Tea Time Eye Roll GIF


Such variety.
Click to expand...
You can just quote what I said, because it wasn't that. You have to exaggerate it and make it seem more negative.

And again, just look at the GOTY categories here on GAF since you guys all like data so much. Real similar phenomenon at the Game Awards with Stray somehow beating out multiple superior games for a totally unknown reason.
 
What goodwill? They just had their worst holiday period in the US in 10 years. They are already being affected hugely and are in a bad spot.
 
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Punished Miku said:
Real similar phenomenon at the Game Awards with Stray somehow beating out multiple superior games for a totally unknown reason.
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What superior games would those be? It's just opinions, man. Stray is a well produced, unique game. I don't think it belongs in the GOTY awards, but I also don't think some of the games you'd probably list should be either.

Elden Ring has more "variety" than the vast majority of the forgettable indie lists that you confuse with variety.
 
Punished Miku said:
You can just quote what I said, because it wasn't that. You have to exaggerate it and make it seem more negative.

And again, just look at the GOTY categories here on GAF since you guys all like data so much. Real similar phenomenon at the Game Awards with Stray somehow beating out multiple superior games for a totally unknown reason.
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I'm not singling you out because it's not just you who has said words to that effect in recent months.

You've reacted positively to many of those posts when they've come from other people. That means you're in agreement does it not? Or is it just a case of you egging them on?
 
IMO Microsoft not being that great started around 2009 when the economy was down so instead of launching a new console they did the Kinect. I thought the Xbox One should have came out in 2010 - 2012.

Its been 14 years of them not being that great. I think they could last another 15 to 20. Now when you add a $70B Activision, I don't think Xbox will be given half of that.
 
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James Sawyer Ford said:
2023 doesn't look amazing for Xbox
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Maybe not for you, but for me it looks awesome. Adding Hi-Fi Rush to the releases, I am looking forward to Forza Motorsport 8, AoE 2 and AoE 4, Redfall, Starfield, Stalker 2 (but those guys need all the time and safety they can get), Planet of Lana, Minecraft Legends and Replaced.
 
Kvally said:
Maybe not for you, but for me it looks awesome. Adding Hi-Fi Rush to the releases, I am looking forward to Forza Motorsport 8, AoE 2 and AoE 4, Redfall, Starfield, Stalker 2 (but those guys need all the time and safety they can get), Planet of Lana, Minecraft Legends and Replaced.
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Minus Forza, they would have gotten all those games anyway via third party. Funny, that.
 
GHG said:
The false narrative is that Playstation gamers don't like "real" games and only play AAA games, both from Sony and third parties. Meanwhile Xbox gamers are sophisticated, and would never waste their time on such trash. Oh wait... :

FmrgLCnaUAET6FM



Tea Time Eye Roll GIF


Such variety.
Click to expand...
Your argument falls apart when you incorporate gamepass.

Why would I buy high on life? Why would I buy grounded?
 
Kvally said:
Maybe not for you, but for me it looks awesome. Adding Hi-Fi Rush to the releases, I am looking forward to Forza Motorsport 8, AoE 2 and AoE 4, Redfall, Starfield, Stalker 2 (but those guys need all the time and safety they can get), Planet of Lana, Minecraft Legends and Replaced.
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Don't get me wrong, I think 2023 looks GOOD for Xbox. It just doesn't look amazing. Good is certainly way better than downright awful which was 2022 for Xbox.

I am looking forward to trying out Hi Fi Rush, Redfall, and Starfield. But it's not shaping up to be a phenomenal year unless Starfield really takes me by surprise with its quality (I expect what I typically do of Bethesda games, it's probably gonna be solid but with disappointing gameplay mechanics).
 
jufonuk said:
So everyone who likes video games then ?
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If you've seen Microsoft's financial / quarterly reports and refer to their legally binding statements, that they need to spend 68 Billion just to compete with their competition, I'd say no. Apparently not.
 
James Sawyer Ford said:
Don't get me wrong, I think 2023 looks GOOD for Xbox. It just doesn't look amazing. Good is certainly way better than downright awful which was 2022 for Xbox.

I am looking forward to trying out Hi Fi Rush, Redfall, and Starfield. But it's not shaping up to be a phenomenal year unless Starfield really takes me by surprise with its quality (I expect what I typically do of Bethesda games, it's probably gonna be solid but with disappointing gameplay mechanics).
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Hi-Fi Rush already is a great start to the year, you can tell some of you are overlooking it and not even bothering to give it a chance.

It's getting lots of praise outside these forums, and neo isn't the only one claiming it's an early contender for GOTY.

Reviews will start rolling in and they're gonna be full of praise.
 
 
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