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[Flutta]

The overwhelming majority of people who play games don't do it on their PCs or consoles. They do it on their phones.
With 5G becoming more common place, I think MS think that more people will be willing to play their games on their phones vs a typical mobile phone type game.
MS is all in on the cloud.
MS is also going to release a streaming box. Some people with good internet might be happy to pay only $100 and get a GP sub as their way to play games.
I think MS is intending to change the industry.
People were saying the exact same thing about streaming movies on your phone and TV. Infact, when the Australian government planned the infrastructure for the NBN they widely underestimated the requirements for their fixed wireless part, which led to congestion on the entire network, all because they never thought Netflix etc would take off.

 

[trikster40]

All of them. Guarantee if Activision goes thru, it’s either Ubi, EA, or a major Japanese publisher next

 

[In Cold Blood]

nah not even remotely same thing
i mean
the streaming of 45 min show on netflix or crashing candies at bus stop
vs burying 80 hrs to starfield.

a casual gamer, who doesn't bother to buy a console or gaming pc, will never see the value of subbing to gamepass if they only have time to play 2 of those games in a year.
you are thinking from perspective of a gaming forum visitor

not to mention gamepass will have to compete with netflix for subscription budget and time/attention of those same people.

I'm not so sure. We are only talking about $15 a month, which is what, two Starbucks drinks? (I honestly don't know, I have never been to Starbucks).
The cost of entry is what puts alot of people off. Imagine the positive press they would get in the mainstream media about how the new age of video games ia here thanks to the power of MS Xcloud. $100 upfront, you get this tiny little box, and only $15 a month play all of MS,.Zenimax and ABK games.
The general public will flock to it.

 

[In Cold Blood]

All of them. Guarantee if Activision goes thru, it’s either Ubi, EA, or a major Japanese publisher next

I think outside of a Japanese publisher, they won't go for an EA, T2 or Ubi.
And I actually think they would be blocked by regulators, and quite possibly I might agree that it is starting to become a monopoly.

 

[In Cold Blood]

You made a bait thread, though.

I’m not sure how you’ll convince anyone you didn’t know how this thread would go.

On topic, your ‘55 games’ maths is significantly off. Several of the acquired studios are mobile only, and IP like Cal of Duty ties down multiple studios.

Dear God, if making a thread about Microsoft's strategy with Gamepass is considered a bait thread then this place is doomed.

If someone made a thread about Sony's strategy moving forward with PS Plus and a horde of known xbox trolls came in and just posted stupid retarded posts like " Sony can't do.it because they don't care about their customers" and "Jim Ryan would charge $30 a month for it" while adding nothing to the thread other than showing their arses, I somehow think the mods would step in.

 

[Gambit2483]

The overwhelming majority of people who play games don't do it on their PCs or consoles. They do it on their phones.
With 5G becoming more common place, I think MS think that more people will be willing to play their games on their phones vs a typical mobile phone type game.
MS is all in on the cloud.
MS is also going to release a streaming box. Some people with good internet might be happy to pay only $100 and get a GP sub as their way to play games.
I think MS is intending to change the industry.
People were saying the exact same thing about streaming movies on your phone and TV. Infact, when the Australian government planned the infrastructure for the NBN they widely underestimated the requirements for their fixed wireless part, which led to congestion on the entire network, all because they never thought Netflix etc would take off.

 

[In Cold Blood]

At some point, you're big enough that customers don't have a choice. I imagine that's what they want, but it remains to be seen whether regulators will allow them to buy three quarters of the industry. Then again it's MS, so not exactly their first rodeo.

This is actually what I think they are going to do. Make it so big that it becomes undeniable.
I also think that they are going to get as big as they before anyone else has the opportunity to do it.
If MS got say Capcom or Sega, and then maybe half a dozen smaller studios, who can really step in and counter it? If you have the companies with the money to do it like Apple, Disney or Amazon, it would become such a massive expensive operation that it would put them off. First they would have to spen maybe 100 billion to catch up with the amount of studios and content MS has, then a heap of R&D into how to stream it, and then billions more to make up the server racks to for people to use. Once all that hard work is done, they then have to launch a new sub service and try to get enough customers to pay for it.

If, and I mean if, MS do go balls out I think whoever did do it in opposition would have to partner up with Sony to get access to their player base.

 

[bluecowboys]

MS probably wants Ubisoft more than anything. Rainbow Six Siege, Assassin's creed, and Far cry are huge system sellers.

 

[adamsapple]

Everyone.gif should have been the first reply.

 

[In Cold Blood]

MS probably wants Ubisoft more than anything. Rainbow Six Siege, Assassin's creed, and Far cry are huge system sellers.

The problem is Ubisoft has so many employees for the amount of games they release.
They have more employees than all of Xbox Games Studios, Zenimax and ABK combined.
This is also the problem with Embracer Group as well. A shit ton of employees and over 131 studios is crazy. It's not a quality buy.

 

[Gambit2483]

Everyone.gif should have been the first reply.

3rd to first doesn't cut it...

 

[bender]

Everyone.gif should have been the first reply.

Followed by the EA meme.jpg

 

[In Cold Blood]

What don't you understand?
What I said was pretty simple.
1. The majority of people who play games do not play them via console or PC. The majority of money spent and time spent is done on mobile.
2. If people have two options, playing the crappy games found on mobile like angry birds or Candy Crush, or being able to play MS xbox games on their mobile, allt of people will play the MS games over the shitty ones found on mobile.
3. Mobile download speeds and ping times have improved massively with the introduction of 5G. This opens up more people to being able to stream games on their phone.
4. On top of mobile and smart TV apps, MS is also going to release a streaming box for about $100. There will be millions of people who will get one. The barrier of entry for gaming is high on the traditional model used historically by console makers, and still by Sony. Buy this $500 console, and then spend $70 each game you want to play.
Having the option of a $100 streaming box and a GP sub for $15 a month to play all of MS studios games including COD, is a massively attractive proposition to alot of people.
5. MS is going to disrupt the way the gaming Industry operates, just like Netflix distrusted the way people watched movies and TV shows. People doubted that streaming would ever be a thing because the internet was so slow compared to what was needed to stream high quality movies.

Now if this is still too hard to understand, let me know and I will do it again but try to use smaller syllable words for you.

 

[Gavon West]

They aren't the same market though and I think a big problem that console game developers/publisherd have is that they are thinking mobile gamers will move to GaaS.

It's a different market. It's like saying people who eat at high street pasty/chippy shops will all start patronising the new Michelin Star restaurant.

On topic, I think they've acquired what they need and now there needs to be delivery. There's no point over buying in the hope of striking it rich.

Microsoft is going for the "so big they can't fail" agenda. I don't know what that looks like for them though. With ABK they'll have a stellar stable of devs.

 

[Gavon West]

All of them. Guarantee if Activision goes thru, it’s either Ubi, EA, or a major Japanese publisher next

I'm thinking a Japanese dev. That's all their really missing.

Rumor has it Tango is working on a Jrpg. They need a couple more though.

 

[GymWolf]

 

[In Cold Blood]

Microsoft is going for the "so big they can't fail" agenda. I don't know what that looks like for them though. With ABK they'll have a stellar stable of devs.

That's what I think as well.
If they build Gamepass up to a point where they have say Xbox Game Studios, Zenimax, ABK, Capcom or Sega, and a half a dozen other studios like Asobo, IO, Certain Affinity, Edios, Crystal Dynamics and Avalanche for instance, and they are releasing a first party AAA game every month, including games like COD, Doom, Forza, Halo, Gears, etc etc, it will be at the point where you have no option but to get it.
The other side of the coin is if they do get it to a size like that, it makes it almost impossible for Sony to compete on a like for like basis for a subscription service.

If Sony can't compete, and the big guys like Amazon, Apple and Disney don't get into it, MS will be the only show in town.

 

[Topher]

If Sony can't compete, and the big guys like Amazon, Apple and Disney don't get into it, MS will be the only show in town.

That is an outcome that absolutely no one in the gaming community should want to see happen.

 

[MasterCornholio]

If Sony can't compete, and the big guys like Amazon, Apple and Disney don't get into it, MS will be the only show in town.

That's just wishful thinking. That would definitely be horrible for competition and many consumers.

 

[Godot25]

Microsoft wants to release 1 AAA first-party game per quarter and more smaller projects like Hi-Fi Rush/Minecraft Legends plus.

Considering that average AAA game take 4-5 years nowadays (and that's if all stars aligns) and you need 4 AAA game per year, 30 studios is minimum considering the fact that many studios are operating live service games and are not releasing new titles at usual cadence.

If they can manage a slate like this (consider ABK buyout completed)
2023 - Redfall, Starfield, Call of Duty, Diablo IV, Hellblade II, Forza Motorsport
2024 - Call of Duty, Avowed, Project Midnight (Compulsion), Contraband, Fable
2025 - Everwild, Perfect Dark, Call of Duty, Oddysey (Blizzard Survival game), Project Cobalt (inXile steampunk RPG), ZOS new game
2026 - Indiana Jones, Call of Duty, Gears 6, new id Software game, State of Decay 3, new game from Arkane Lyon (Deathloop devs)

etc, they can be happy chappies without more acquisitions. And I did not mentioned new project from Double Fine, Project Mara, new game from Mojang, Forza Horizon 6, more XGS games, The Outer Worlds 2, Age of Mythology, new Tango Gameworks games and potential games from Activision studios.
But I still think that there are strategic purchases they should make. Like Certain Affinity for example. Or studios like Crytek/IO Interactive/Avalanche/Asobo.

 

[Mozzarella]

Hopefully no more.

 

[SoloKingRobert]

At least 100 Game Studios minimum. Microsoft's aim is to release at least one Game per month.

 

[drganon]

That is an outcome that absolutely no one in the gaming community should want to see happen.

He would. He's probably jerking off just fantasizing about it.

 

[StueyDuck]

They want all of them so there isn't any competition

 

[Rayderism]

1 or 100 doesn't really matter if they aren't releasing any games.

 

[Gavon West]

Fact is, Microsoft has enough devs at this point to significantly change the game. After the ABK deal goes through, even moreso. That's not including the political spectrum of this deal which levels the playing field with Sony.

I'm all for the deal, ngl. But I hope they have a game plan on how to leverage all this new found advantage. Otherwise, what's the point of they muck it up?

 

[NahaNago]

I could see them continuing to buy studios for gamepass. I'm guessing more smaller studios though in order to pad out the year.

 

[Assaulty]

I'd much rather them restructuring the way they handle (some of ) their first party studios over just aquiring more and more of them. Playing legacy franchises that get worse and worse and/or stale (Gears, Halo and Forza are my three fav franchises, but 2 out of 3 fell from grace and the third is becoming stale fast to me) and them outputting mostly smaller AA style games is getting a big tiresome to me.

Soon tm is getting to me I guess.

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

Doesn't anyone see how awful all these acquisitions are for the industry? This isn't a good thing especially with how incompetent and inefficient MS has proven to be.

 

[odhiex]

The last purchases would be Sony and Nintendo then Valve.

 

[Corndog]

They have more studios than games released this generation.


Wtf happened to hellblade 2 and that other game that looked like silent hill 4 remade?

They are still making it.