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[mystech]

Change of strategy my ass! We knew this was what they wanted years ago. Microsoft’s ultimate vision is to turn Xbox into a service. If they have it their way, the next Xbox generation will be the last time they produce a dedicated home console. After that, I can see them shifting to a mini Apple TV like box that has enough storage to hold a few games but plays them via cloud computing… all part of the Gamepass subscription. From a business perspective it turns every Xbox owner into a guaranteed monthly customer.

There’s no way Sony is allowing Gamepass on PlayStation but Nintendo seems a little softer. I can see a small possibility of Nintendo allowing a gamepass app to be installed. Although I suppose it depends on what their next system is. Who knows, maybe this next generation will bring a more competitive Nintendo rather than a company happy enough to be a secondary console.

 

[kaizenkko]

What about just release some titles on PS5? I would like to play Gears of War on PS5.

 

[mckmas8808]

Pardon my ignorance, wouldn’t that devalue Xbox as a console?

YES!

I think we'll see them release a streaming device and they'll move to a cloud-only strategy for the Xbox platform and just try to upgrade things on the back end like GeforceNow.

But yeah, at this rate, I don't see another generation console.

They've already partnered with Samsung to have an Xbox app on their TVs, but Sony will never follow suit on their TVs. Next they'll have to work something out with LG and others, but putting out their own streaming device circumvents difficulties around making deals with companies like Sony or companies who will want a cut of GamePass revenue in exchange for the app being on their TVs.

And don't forget how they partnered with the ROG Ally too. MS is telling their customer base what they will be doing 5+ years from now. They just need to listen.

Even if COD sales cratered to only 50% of the numbers sold today, that's still 12 - 15 million copies of the game sold for each iteration. This doesn't even include the mobile aspect which has already nearly outgrown the console/PC games in terms of revenue.

I thought COD sold 15 million total per game. You sure it's 30 million per game?

 

[SlimySnake]

And I want to have sex with Kate Upton.

it's nice to want things.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Even if COD sales cratered to only 50% of the numbers sold today, that's still 12 - 15 million copies of the game sold for each iteration. This doesn't even include the mobile aspect which has already nearly outgrown the console/PC games in terms of revenue.

That would also mean revenue will drop significantly.
COD on mobile will also likely see quite a drop then, because people on Playstation will start to move on from the franchise.

That's what ultimately counts for MS.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

I thought COD sold 15 million total per game. You sure it's 30 million per game?

I was going off this article from 2021...

https://gamerant.com/highest-sellin...s/#call-of-duty-black-ops-ndash-30-72-million

 

[Heisenberg007]

They are trying to leave the console space and become the next Sega.

What if the leaker messed up, and the actual rumor was that "Xbox would buy become Sega on Wednesday."

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Even if COD sales cratered to only 50% of the numbers sold today, that's still 12 - 15 million copies of the game sold for each iteration. This doesn't even include the mobile aspect which has already nearly outgrown the console/PC games in terms of revenue.

CoD Mobile is literally a Tencent-developed (TiMi) and published title (in the same vein as Diablo Immortal is a NetEase property with fat loicense). So Activision is not getting all the revenue from it.

 

[Bernardougf]

Publish your games on Playstation Im all for it .. fuck off with this gamepass bullshit ...

 

[UniformDeliverance]

I could see it. Ubisoft plus is on PlayStation, proving that Sony can be convinced to allow subscription services that substitute full game sales on their marketplace.

There’s absolutely a world where Microsoft makes a tempting offer to Sony on this.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

That would also mean revenue will drop significantly.
COD on mobile will also likely see quite a drop then, because people on Playstation will start to move on from the franchise.

That's what ultimately counts for MS.

If COD as a brand diminishes, that would be very bad for Microsoft and Sony. Just look at how much Sony themselves value the COD franchise...

"In the letter, which was poorly redacted, it mentions how much Call of Duty was worth to PlayStation alone. Specifically, the widely-popular first-person shooter franchise "directly generated over $800 million" in the United States alone in 2021, according to the document."

"According to the CMA, it looks like Sony is so dependent on third-party releases that they can’t turn out a first-party game without them. Or, at the very least, Sony wouldn’t be able to deliver the same level of quality of first-party games without third-party game purchases."

 

[Mibu no ookami]

And don't forget how they partnered with the ROG Ally too. MS is telling their customer base what they will be doing 5+ years from now. They just need to listen.

People assume that every state that we experience will persist, but they ignore that change has always been historic.

This generation is clearly over, so it'll be interesting to see what Microsoft does next. Are they going to still come out with the redesigned XSX and XSS? Will they continue the XBS?

At some point, we're going to see a halt to the largely console-focused strategy.

I don't think we're at that point because eliminating the hardware today would end their brand but at the same time all the money they're putting into hardware losses is money they could simply put into more exclusives on gamepass.

Marketing that 100-150 dollar streaming device is going to be their focus to get GamePass numbers up. They can't pull CoD from PlayStation, but they can put CoD for free on GamePass, but so much of this plan will depend on xCloud being ready for prime time.

 

[Woopah]

Change of strategy my ass! We knew this was what they wanted years ago. Microsoft’s ultimate vision is to turn Xbox into a service. If they have it their way, the next Xbox generation will be the last time they produce a dedicated home console. After that, I can see them shifting to a mini Apple TV like box that has enough storage to hold a few games but plays them via cloud computing… all part of the Gamepass subscription. From a business perspective it turns every Xbox owner into a guaranteed monthly customer.

There’s no way Sony is allowing Gamepass on PlayStation but Nintendo seems a little softer. I can see a small possibility of Nintendo allowing a gamepass app to be installed. Although I suppose it depends on what their next system is. Who knows, maybe this next generation will bring a more competitive Nintendo rather than a company happy enough to be a secondary console.

Nintendo is happy treating MS as a third party, while at the same time treating Xbox and PlayStation (and to an extent PC) as their competitors.

I expect that competitiveness to continue with the Switch 2.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I could see it. Ubisoft plus is on PlayStation, proving that Sony can be convinced to allow subscription services that substitute full game sales on their marketplace.

There’s absolutely a world where Microsoft makes a tempting offer to Sony on this.

Ubisoft plus isn't the same on PS as it is on Xbox or Luna. It's a curated list of games you can play on PS+ extra or premium.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

If COD as a brand diminishes, that would be very bad for Microsoft and Sony. Just look at how much Sony themselves value the COD franchise...

"In the letter, which was poorly redacted, it mentions how much Call of Duty was worth to PlayStation alone. Specifically, the widely-popular first-person shooter franchise "directly generated over $800 million" in the United States alone in 2021, according to the document."

"According to the CMA, it looks like Sony is so dependent on third-party releases that they can’t turn out a first-party game without them. Or, at the very least, Sony wouldn’t be able to deliver the same level of quality of first-party games without third-party game purchases."

I wouldn't put too much weight on whatever was said for or against the deal.

What we do know, is:

DAU (by platform):
Mobile 35.7M
PC 17.5M
PS 11.2M
Xbox 5.6M

https://www.google.com/amp/s/icon-era.com/threads/call-of-duty-active-users-by-platform.4615/?amp=1

So let's just ignore mobile for sec.
Just looking at traditional gaming, Playstation is good for ~33%.

That's quite a large portion.
And mobile probably has a lot of overlap with the users, so that too will take a hit if COD will leave Playstation.

Losing COD will never lead to a mass exodus from Playstation. Playstation managed just fine before COD ever released on consoles and will continue to do so if MS decides to exclude Playstation in 10 years.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

If COD as a brand diminishes, that would be very bad for Microsoft and Sony. Just look at how much Sony themselves value the COD franchise...

"In the letter, which was poorly redacted, it mentions how much Call of Duty was worth to PlayStation alone. Specifically, the widely-popular first-person shooter franchise "directly generated over $800 million" in the United States alone in 2021, according to the document."

"According to the CMA, it looks like Sony is so dependent on third-party releases that they can’t turn out a first-party game without them. Or, at the very least, Sony wouldn’t be able to deliver the same level of quality of first-party games without third-party game purchases."

If Sony or another 3rd party supplants CoD, they won't care about CoD.

NBA Live used to be the go-to basketball game and it was supplanted by NBA 2K. Same thing with Triple Play Baseball being supplanted by MLB The Show.

Tomb Raider used to be massive, and Uncharted supplanted it.

Quake and Doom used to be the biggest names in FPS and then the market went to CoD.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

He didn’t say they want GamePass on other consoles, lol. Not that it matters anyway, the others would never go for it.

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

More and more Microsoft sounds like a third party publisher.

They can't sell consoles anymore, might as well go that route.

 

[FoxMcChief]

I want that too.

PlayStation will budge when MS makes it mandatory to subscribe to GamePass in order to be able to play COD titles in the future.

 

[nikolino840]

But xbox don't have games

 

[angrod14]

If you cant beat them, join them.

 

[demigod]

They approached Playstation right away about putting gamepass there but I have said that years ago here already

And i’m guessing that included the whole gamepass and not just their first party. Ain’t gunna work.

 

[DeepEnigma]

But xbox don't have games

Well, they're buying the lot of them up, so...

 

[Rayderism]

MS should just become a multi platform 3rd party publisher. Would ultimately be more profitable for them than a subscription service.

 

[deriks]

"we want money"
and they're right

MS should just become a multi platform 3rd party publisher. Would ultimately be more profitable for them than a subscription service.

They are since ever

 

[StealthGoblin]

Sony wouldn't allow it unless:

The service was a curated version of Gamepass with only Xbox Studios games on it.

Players would also have to have an active PS+ subscription.

Sony would take 30% of all sub fees.

Bethesda and ABK games were released on PlayStation like they used to be.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

This, basically

 

[Salty Popsicle]

If Sony or another 3rd party supplants CoD, they won't care about CoD.

NBA Live used to be the go-to basketball game and it was supplanted by NBA 2K. Same thing with Triple Play Baseball being supplanted by MLB The Show.

Tomb Raider used to be massive, and Uncharted supplanted it.

Quake and Doom used to be the biggest names in FPS and then the market went to CoD.

No franchise (that releases titles on yearly basis) has been able to supplant COD in the past two decades. Why would that change now?

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

And i’m guessing that included the whole gamepass and not just their first party. Ain’t gunna work.

I don't remember Ybarras exact wording on why Sony said no but from what I can remember off the top of my head Sony didn't flat say no but they didn't want PS players logging into an Xbox live account and inflating those numbers

Its been too long to recall exactly what was said

 

[Heisenberg007]

No franchise (that releases titles on yearly basis) has been able to supplant COD in the past two decades. Why would that change now?

It will change if they leave the biggest platform out and/or when that platform stops marketing it and instead starts propping up something else.

 

[DJ12]

Playstation will absolutely not allow that to happen. End of story.

When they ditch xbox hardware or move out of Sonys/Ninetndos home console game space with an xbox branded pc or something Sony won't have a problem with it.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

If Sony gets a 30% cut I don’t see why they would be opposed.

If MS wants to gamble away money on Subs with their first party games, that’s their prerogative

Likely the price will just get raised. $20/month, Sony gets $6/month or $80/year which is essentially the same as they get for a PS Plus sub

Free money for Sony. Why not?

Tell me I’m wrong

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Sony wouldn't allow it unless:

The service was a curated version of Gamepass with only Xbox Studios games on it.

Players would also have to have an active PS+ subscription.

Sony would take 30% of all sub fees.

Bethesda and ABK games were released on PlayStation like they used to be.

I don't even think MS can afford the bolded part if they were on Playstation as well.
They'd have to cover the loss in revenue (for the publishers) from Playstation, to have them on GamePass while GP would be on Playstation.

Edit:

Technically they probably could afford it, but it would be a moneysink.

 

[Heisenberg007]

MS should just become a multi platform 3rd party publisher. Would ultimately be more profitable for them than a subscription service.

Yeah. Ultimately, they will have to follow EA's business model.

No hardware. Become a third-party publisher and sell games on PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo. In addition, have a subscription service with a first-party-only tier (ala EA Play) that PlayStation and Nintendo will be happy to host in their ecosystems.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Rival game company wants subscription service that cuts into royalties from sales, on more successful platforms.

 

[Horseganador]

This seems like confirmation that Xbox wants to abandon hardware (or leave it as something secondary) to be a third-party publisher.

 

[jroc74]

Since it seems like some aren't really reading the OP:

"It's a bit of a change of strategy. Not announcing anything broadly here, but our mission is to bring our first-party experiences [and] our subscription services to every screen that can play games," Stuart said. "That means smart TVs, that means mobile devices, that means what we would have thought of as competitors in the past like PlayStation and Nintendo."

This seems a wee bit different vs what was said before....

 

[Heisenberg007]

If Sony gets a 30% cut I don’t see why they would be opposed.

If MS wants to gamble away money on Subs with their first party games, that’s their prerogative

Likely the price will just get raised. $20/month, Sony gets $6/month or $80/year which is essentially the same as they get for a PS Plus sub

Free money for Sony. Why not?

Tell me I’m wrong

Sony will accept it only on two conditions:

• Xbox closes down the console hardware business for good.
• The Game Pass only has an XGS-only tier. No third-party. Like EA Play.

If even a single one of these conditions isn't met, it wouldn't make business sense for Sony to give Xbox a platform of ~130 million users.

 

[mansoor1980]

If Sony gets a 30% cut I don’t see why they would be opposed.

If MS wants to gamble away money on Subs with their first party games, that’s their prerogative

Likely the price will just get raised. $20/month, Sony gets $6/month or $80/year which is essentially the same as they get for a PS Plus sub

Free money for Sony. Why not?

Tell me I’m wrong

you are wrong
this is a trap/BS pr talk by microsoft

 

[Killjoy-NL]

I don't remember Ybarras exact wording on why Sony said no but from what I can remember off the top of my head Sony didn't flat say no but they didn't want PS players logging into an Xbox live account and inflating those numbers

Its been too long to recall exactly what was said

Tbh, allowing GamePass on Playstation while MS/Xbox is your main competitor would be dumb, to say the least.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

He didn’t say they want GamePass on other consoles, lol. Not that it matters anyway, the others would never go for it.

Why wouldn’t some form of Gamepass be allowed on PS? Ubisoft+ and EA Play are allowed.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Since it seems like some aren't really reading the OP:

"It's a bit of a change of strategy. Not announcing anything broadly here, but our mission is to bring our first-party experiences [and] our subscription services to every screen that can play games," Stuart said. "That means smart TVs, that means mobile devices, that means what we would have thought of as competitors in the past like PlayStation and Nintendo."

This seems a wee bit different vs what was said before....

It definitely does, and these quotes leave no room for ambiguity here.

It seems like an announcement may even be closer than we thought. I think Microsoft is laying the groundwork for the inevitable announcement and testing the waters with interviews like these. It'll blow up the Internet when that happens, so they must want to treat carefully.

 

[Unknown?]

If Sony got a cut of the revenue, I bet they'd do it. Having it on their system wouldn't hurt their profit as much as it would hurt MS's gaming hardware.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Sony will accept it only on two conditions:

• Xbox closes down the console hardware business for good.
• The Game Pass only has an XGS-only tier. No third-party. Like EA Play.

If even a single one of these conditions isn't met, it wouldn't make business sense for Sony to give Xbox a platform of ~130 million users.

Neither condition really matters at the end of the day, Sony has already closed Xbox hardware at this point

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Before Starfield even came out I predicted that it would eventually get released on PS5 in 1-2 years. I feel much more confident of that prediction

 

[Trogdor1123]

Sure, how would the math make sense though? The cut to Sony and Nintendo would need to be huge for them to allow it and then it wouldn’t make sense for Ms to provide it. Either that or it would cost way more which would erode value. I do t get this.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

you are wrong
this is a trap/BS pr talk by microsoft

What trap?

 

[mansoor1980]

What trap?

greed

 

[Pop]

Well looks like thats that for Xbox consoles moving forward. Microsoft is looking to make Xbox division go third party

 

[JohnnyFootball]

It’s also possible MS could release their games at full price on PS and keep Gamepass exclusive to their ecosystem.

To me that makes the most sense.