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Microsoft Business Update Podcast | OT | SEGABOX |

midnightAI

Member
He absolutely eased all the fears you could have for the future. Blatantly sat there and said if you are invested in Xbox you will be looked after and it's on micorosoft to ensure they do right by their customers.
I was talking about future releases going to rival platforms, he was even vague about releasing Starfield and Indiana Jones on rival platforms, do you think that XBox fans like seeing first party games going to rival platforms? if so then what were all the XBox fans meltdowns about the past week or so?

Unfortunately the XBox is floundering, sales are tapering off, fast, and Gamepass subs has stalled, it's only going to get worse the next 1-2 years until they can bring out their next console, more games will go to rival platforms because of this not because of any 'we want everyone to play everywhere' spiel, but they have to out of necessity. Sony is in a similar situation (although not nearly as bad and due to different reasons), that's why you'll see more PC releases.
 

Topher

Gold Member
Kobe Bryant Yes GIF

I must have missed it
 
Donald Trump Republicans GIF by Election 2016

This is wild.
This!!!! Is a perfect example of this whole thing. I’m not going to get into politics because I know I’ll get hit with a warning…but perfect example of what we witnessed today. Stop blindly following Microsoft people, it’s terrible for the industry and gamers as a whole.
 
They have the metrics already for AAA titles. COD and D4 they know exactly how much money they would leave on the table for exclusives. They might test the waters for niche titles and genres but to think they haven't already built a strategy around AAA titles would make them a bit amateur don't you think? Just because they didn't announce it explicitly today doesn't mean it isn't already in place. In fact they literally opened the door to it in no uncertain terms. So the only question that remains is the perceived value they place on exclusives for GP growth.

So basically I think they have already made the decision for the first round of AAA titles. They might reassess after they release ofc and its not to say its Day 1 or anything, could be timed etc but I don't think the decision would hinge on the first 4 'announced' titles.

Based on Phils body language I don't think he is a particularly happy man, I don't think he believes in multiplat. So from that my belief is more will be multiplat than you think and its because Phil lost autonomy on the issue.

I think he believes in multiplat in terms of Xbox's only viable strategy to dig out of the Xbone sized hole they are in right now, and I'd agree - yeah, that's their only choice to make Xbox games relevant in the public eye. I just don't see this being enough to save their first party hardware brand long-term. The only way this can end is a slow bleed of players leaving Xbox consoles for greener pastures. How can Microsoft get away with leaving so much money on the table due to a small userbase? It does not make business sense, and this was a business update.

If this strategy is successful, it pushes people away from Xbox consoles. Let's say it does expand their audience and now many people play XGS games on their PS5 and Switch 2. I still don't see how this helps Xbox consoles due to digital game libraries. It might work for new players and young ones who are starting fresh, but it won't sway the old guard. But for the sake of argument let's say Microsoft is successful in a turn around of interest in their games. The choice would then to be 1) use their power to reinvest in Xbox console exclusive ecosystem, or 2) shift to the services model. Pretty obvious choice for them. I only see one way this ends.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
They announced it years early to promote the game thats barely in development. If it is exclusive you flash it at the end of the trailer as a huge selling point to sell consoles. They not only didnt do that but avoided direct questions about it twice and didnt mention it today either. You have to use your brain eventually and assume they arent telling people the whole truth when they've declined multiple opportunities to clarify.
I would say yes that's typically how things are done.

Emphasis on the word "typically". This is not a typical game for Xbox. This is a licensed product from Disney Marvel. I think it's too early for them to decide. I'm trying to remember, but did they say Indiana Jones is exclusive at developer direct? I'll have to rewatch it, but it would lend credence to what you're saying if they did say it was exclusive. I don't believe they did though. I'll get back to you on that.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
That sounds great on the surface…but let’s break down the simplicity of them putting any, literally ANY exclusives on another console. Testing waters is fine…but they aren’t testing anything other than Xbox fans patience with those 4 supposed games. This is clearly a slow trickle to the inevitable, and only people who turn a blind eye to business see it as any different.

Their exclusives have been on pc for years. There's no difference.

If you are a playstation only gamer and you simply refuse to buy an Xbox...you will never buy one...might as well sell that playstation user a game instead.

And like they said, it will probably be 12 months later and will still be on gamepass day one. Even if they launch day and date they will stay committed to gamepass to try and secure console sales or pc platform users. They keep pushing play anywhere too.
I was talking about future releases going to rival platforms, he was even vague about releasing Starfield and Indiana Jones on rival platforms, do you think that XBox fans like seeing first party games going to rival platforms? if so then what were all the XBox fans meltdowns about the past week or so?

Unfortunately the XBox is floundering, sales are tapering off, fast, and Gamepass subs has stalled, it's only going to get worse the next 1-2 years until they can bring out their next console, more games will go to rival platforms because of this not because of any 'we want everyone to play everywhere' spiel, but they have to out of necessity. Sony is in a similar situation (although not nearly as bad and due to different reasons), that's why you'll see more PC releases.

I would rather have good games and a stable gaming industry than exclusives and people losing their jobs, studios shutting down and shittier and shittier practices to monetize games.

Sony will absolutely follow suite here. Mark my words.
 
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DrFigs

Member
If you are a playstation only gamer and you simply refuse to buy an Xbox...you will never buy one...might as well sell that playstation user a game instead.
This is basically not ever true. I'm a playstation gamer, but i bought a switch to play Zelda. I was tempted to buy a series s when Halo infinite came out - i ended up returning it because the game wasn't for me, but I was considering buying one for starfield, until I saw the reviews for the game. There are tons of people on this board, irl, whereever that own multiple consoles. It's just xbox giving up, when MS has basically done nothing to entice people to buy into the system. They hardly tried. they paid 90 billion dollars for all these studios and rather than trying to have a string of exclusives to win people over, they're calling it quits basically.
 
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PaintTinJr

Member
I think they are not as close to death as many had hoped
I guess it depends where people stop the clock. Are they pronounced dead - as a platform - when they lose consciousness? or when doctors stop CPR?

The whole podcast for all the fast talk, things like Indiana jones not coming as 1 of 4 in the next 12months, even though it has a 2025 release date, and any Feb 29th 2025 launch is over a year, was IMO just one huge admission that they don't have enough customers to sustain the business required to keep their vast numbers of employees in work, which is the death, like it was for Sega.

Others will rightfully have a different view from their investment in the platform but the whole 1900 ATVI staff creating new waves with courts via the FTC tells me that accountants and HR at Microsoft are laser focused on cost for Microsoft Game Studios(Xbox as the subset) and Phil and Sarah have little latitude to avoid following Sega.

Even the comment from Sarah about a biggest improvement of hardware shows a real lack of technical knowledge about linear improvements in memory which maker her comment BS, suggesting it was pie-in-the-sky never to be a reality or tested. PS4 to PS5 is 5 : 1 in FLOPs, or 2 or 3 : 1 in IOPS and despite Spiderman 2 looking awesome on PS5, Spiderman 1 on PS4 looks marginally good enough like radio to mp3. So they'd A) need to do more than 72TF/s and 4:1 IOPS to even make such a claim true on technical grounds, but in a podcast which is inherently about not making developer unemployed, she should know the biggest issue for a game to improve is dev time/production level - spidey2's credits run for about 15mins before you still have to manually skip to see if there's another Easter egg.
 
Their exclusives have been on pc for years. There's no difference.

If you are a playstation only gamer and you simply refuse to buy an Xbox...you will never buy one...might as well sell that playstation user a game instead.

And like they said, it will probably be 12 months later and will still be on gamepass day one. Even if they launch day and date they will stay committed to gamepass to try and secure console sales or pc platform users. They keep pushing play anywhere too.


I would rather have good games and a stable gaming industry than exclusives and people losing their jobs, studios shutting down and shittier and shittier practices to monetize games.

Sony will absolutely follow suite here. Mark my words.
Definitely marking your words and keeping receipts, please don’t doubt that 😂

Also, as I’ve stated in the past. I am on PS and Steam..and own several Microsoft games on Steam. How is that good for convincing me to buy an Xbox? If your point is, it makes Microsoft money, that’s exactly my point as well, and exactly why Xbox games with be fully multiplat by the end of next year…thank you for solidifying my point 🙏
 
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GHG

Member
I really enjoyed grounded as well but also enjoy those kind of games

Is Grounded confirmed?

If so I've also enjoyed that one, although now that palworld exists I don't think I can go back to the old style of survival-craft games, particularly not solo anyway.
 
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midnightAI

Member
I would rather have good games and a stable gaming industry than exclusives and people losing their jobs, studios shutting down and shittier and shittier practices to monetize games.

Sony will absolutely follow suite here. Mark my words.
For MS, thats good, but again, for some owners of the platform, if you want MS games to be exclusive then the future doesn't look great and as I said, meltdowns prove that (even if overboard, but what about next time they announce more games on rival platforms?). First party exclusives to a platform is still a huge draw when it comes to which console you buy.

As for Sony, the situation is different, they dont really have a sales issue (currently), the issue they have is that for 'some' studios AAA costs are spiraling out of control, they need to reel that in. Weirdly, people keep bringing up Spider Man 2 as an example of this but it has easily made back its budget and then some, but for the long term that isn't sustainable, what if it didn't get 7million sales for example? That's an easy fix though (in theory), smaller, less expensive games like Ratchet and Clank, Astrobot, Returnal etc. prove that those games can be made cheaply enough and sell relatively well, they have a lot of franchises they can lean on to create spin off's/smaller experiences also. But yes, more games will come to PC, but they have been doing that for a while so nothing new there (although we may start to see some being released sooner, although I personally don't think day and date, but 6 months rather than 12 months delay is more likely).
 

King Dazzar

Member
I thought the last reported number for Game Pass was 25 million.
When I glanced at the figure, deducting Gold, I thought that would mean GP had not only not grown, but reduced. But I didnt pay overly much attention to figures and cant recall exactly where we were with Gold.
Yeah finally getting some good games this year now ;)
Not for me unfortunately. Been there done them. Hopefully others to follow in the future though, that might be better.
 
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HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
Is Grounded confirmed?

If so I've also enjoyed that one, although now that palworld exists I don't think I can go back to the old style of survival-craft games, particularly not solo anyway.
No it hasn't just see it being mentioned a lot

Really enjoyed playing that and was a marvel what it did with the controller even if I shut off most of those features to actually play games
 
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Reactions: GHG

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
How he wakes up every day now:

Sassy Mean Girls GIF by Married At First Sight Australia
Just when you think he is done

dy8npRX.png


Helldivers 2
FF7R
Rise of Ronin
Stellar Blade
AstroBot

Team Blue feasting decently well this year :messenger_sunglasses:
Not interested
Not interested
Played it in Ghost of Tsushima and looked much nicer than anything they have showed so far
Not interested
Very interested

Personally my PS5 will still only be used for Hell Let Loose and COD
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Anakin Skywalker GIF by Star Wars

+ #sonytoo
Everything's OK man. Don't worry.
This is basically not ever true. I'm a playstation gamer, but i bought a switch to play Zelda. I was tempted to buy a series s when Halo infinite came out - i ended up returning it because the game wasn't for me, but I was considering buying one for starfield, until I saw the reviews for the game. There are tons of people on this board, irl, whereever that own multiple consoles. It's just xbox giving up, when MS has basically done nothing to entice people to buy into the system. They hardly tried. they paid 90 billion dollars for all these studios and rather than trying to have a string of exclusives to win people over, they're calling it quits basically.

Well I have good news for you. Microsoft will be experimenting with exclusivity for a good few years. They announced that games will probably be exclusive to xbox for atleast a year (similar to current sony and pc) and be on gamepass day one. So maybe you will want to buy an Xbox in the future. If you can wait a year, or want to buy on pc. You aren't going to buy a console and they get a sale from you.
 

Ashamam

Member
Coming back to testing the waters.

My take is they sat down at the end of June 2023 with the financial year complete and basically planned out their strategy right through to and including the start of the next generation. This includes revised GP projects, review of titles, multi plat split on those, and exlusive titles for branding and next gen release purposes. If they hold back some big titles for exclusives it will be to help launch the next generation. They will not make the same mistake of not having titles ready to go with the hardware, they will likely hold back titles as insurance as the time approaches if there is any doubt about what is planned now.

I believe they already have the multiplat titles ranked and will work down the list in priority depending on resources available.

So essentially all we saw today was a very small part of their new multi year strategy. I absolutely believe it had to be greenlit by Satya and it had to very realistically hit certain revenue targets that are now informed by spending a massive amount on acquisitions.

ps. all the bullshit back and forth on this forum thread about he said she said is asinine. Work the problem, analyse the conditions. Give informed opinions. Otherwise its just console wars.
 

ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
People were thinking that Xbox is yanking from gaming? Of course it will not, and even if the future consoles will be soimething like 3rd party PCs, MS will still be around making tons of money as a publisher. MS was always a low-key game company even before Xbox. It's just people forgot about crazy DirectX PR stunts and games like Midtown Madness.

That being said, it is clear that Xbox is on it's way of becoming a hardware-agnostic brand way more than a traditional platform. And it's a logical thing to do, in all honesty. You just can't sustain current XGS headcount with a shrinking traditional console platform and (as we discovered sligthly after the podcast) shrinking subs numbers.

And yeah, those 4 games is just the beginning. Of course they won't release anything aobut their future 3rd party plans in a day. It will be a long and interesting year for fanboys tho.

In all honesty it went exactly in-line with my expectations, though I hate Phil's car salesman doublespeak so much.
 

Robb

Gold Member
Didn’t manage to watch it as it went up, it seems like there was a lot of noise over nothing though.. As expected. Was fun while it lasted.

I’m just happy they clarified their Day 1 GamePass strategy and that they’ll continue with it. That’s all I care about.
 

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
SoT clear.

Boom Attack GIF by Sea of Thieves


Tell me you’ve never played a Hurdy Gurdy whilst drunk with a ship that’s on fire being attacked by a kraken.
Early on learning SoT with friends while doing a little drinking is honestly some of the most I have laughed while playing a game possibly ever

The novelty wore off pretty quickly for me though
 

splattered

Member
Four previous Xbox exclusive games are going to PlayStation and Switch. Not Starfield and not Indiana Jones. Spencer didn't say what apps. Speculation is that they are Grounded, Hi Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves and Pentiment

My take on it: This isn't as impactful as some thought it would be if say a big game such as Starfield were going multiplatform. It isn't a nothing burger as some are pretending either.

Phil Spencer would not comment on any more games in the future. I think this is just the beginning though. I said a couple of days ago that Microsoft very well may be easing folks into this.

Yeah i wasnt sure how i felt about all of this last week but the more i've been thinking about it the more i realize i really DON'T care where the games go, as long as they are made and continue to sell well enough to make more of them. This probably isn't a bad strategy for them in the end... only console warriors are going to freak out over this and that will eventually pass. The four games mentioned are probably some of the best recent Xbox games even though they are smaller so cool that other console players get to experience them. I've been actively gaming since the days of atari/nes and have owned nearly every system along the way. I survived Sega and continue to enjoy their games, i will do the same with Microsoft.
 

AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
Really what I take from this is that the rumor mill went way out of bounds wild.

And Diablo 4 soon
 
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