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[MacReady13]

Could someone tell me 1 thing- IF Microsoft don't have another Xbox console and only go 3rd party on places like Playstation and Nintendo with that fucking sub service, how will any of us be able to buy any of those game pass games? Especially considering the push towards an all digital future like PC's have on consoles... Does this mean that if, and it's a big IF, this does happen, this will be a sub service that the ONLY way you can play these games is to sub to a service without actually owning the game?

 

[Topher]

Could someone tell me 1 thing- IF Microsoft don't have another Xbox console and only go 3rd party on places like Playstation and Nintendo with that fucking sub service, how will any of us be able to buy any of those game pass games? Especially considering the push towards an all digital future like PC's have on consoles... Does this mean that if, and it's a big IF, this does happen, this will be a sub service that the ONLY way you can play these games is to sub to a service without actually owning the game?

I think this would work the same way the EA Play subscriptions works. Requires MS to port all games to PlayStation. Not sure I buy they will do that. As Crispy Gamer said, this is a bit of a confusing message.

 

[GHG]

I have to say, the reactions to these statements have been bloody hilarious.




That last comment coming through like Baghdad Bob.

 

[DeepEnigma]

I have to say, the reactions to these statements have been bloody hilarious.




That last comment coming through like Baghdad Bob.

This is why MS has heavily scaled back advertising on Xbox, they don't need to when you have twitterbots.

 

[Gambit2483]

Could someone tell me 1 thing- IF Microsoft don't have another Xbox console and only go 3rd party on places like Playstation and Nintendo with that fucking sub service, how will any of us be able to buy any of those game pass games? Especially considering the push towards an all digital future like PC's have on consoles... Does this mean that if, and it's a big IF, this does happen, this will be a sub service that the ONLY way you can play these games is to sub to a service without actually owning the game?

As a Publisher MS would always have the option to digitally and physically publish their games and Sony/Nintendo would have to license them. Same as they do now with Minecraft.

But yeah, if it's some kind of Gamepass exclusive (which limits its profitability) then it's stuck on a subscription service

 

[Saber]

It would need to be a lite version for PS and Nintendo. Perhaps a version of GP that just has access to Microsoft first party titles, meaning it'll cheaper than the current GP.

Could work.

PS Plus, in the same sense as the Nintendo network stuff, is a support for their ecosystems. Nintendo want people on their systems subscribing to their stuff in a similar way as Sony.
Just imagine Nintendo being "hey you got Nintendo games, but you can still have online features and other games like N64 in your system"(example of an email I receive from them) and people would be like "no thanks, I have GP".
One will interfere the other and I honestly don't see this working, as much harder as people say it could.

 

[GHG]

This is why MS has heavily scaled back advertising got Xbox, they don't need to when you have twitterbots.

They are reacting as if their whole life has been a lie.

What I don't get is the fact that PC has been the best place to play Xbox games since ~2016 when it was available day one on PC. Yet these people have been clinging on to their consoles for over half a decade despite the writing being on the wall.

If Sony or Nintendo announced they were going day one PC for all of their titles, I would hear the message loud and clear. I'd be 100% out of their console ecosystems at the first opportunity.

 

[DeepEnigma]

They are reacting as if their whole life has been a lie.

What I don't get is the fact that PC has been the best place to play Xbox games since ~2016 when it was available day one on PC. Yet these people have been clinging on to their consoles for over half a decade despite the writing being on the wall.

If Sony or Nintendo announced they were going day one PC for all of their titles, I would hear the message loud and clear. I'd be 100% out of their console ecosystems at the first opportunity.

I mean, their console sales are constantly down M^M and Y^Y in all regions. And not by a small margin.

 

[GHG]

I mean, their console sales are constantly down M^M and Y^Y in all regions. And not by a small margin.

But that's the thing, the trajectory isn't changing any time soon.

They could even reverse their decision to do day and date with PC and it would have little-no impact because the state of their current gaming output is nowhere near where it needs to be to entise people to buy a box to play their games. Literally the only thing the Xbox console has going for it at the moment is gamepass if someone doesn't have or want to get a PC. If you're not interested in subscribing to that service then what's it really offering?

Honestly until they learn a thing or two about quality control and portfolio management their whole division is in trouble in the long run regardless of what they do with their consoles.

If they think people on Playstation and Nintendo will be rushing out to buy shit like Redfall, Forza Motorsports and Starfield they are mistaken. The same goes for people on Sony/Nintendo subscribing long term to gamepass for titles like that, it's not going to happen. They would just be horribly exposing themselves, so before they even think about putting gamepass on other platforms they might want to have a long hard think about fixing their game development process before they also manage to ruin the ABK portfolio.

 

[semiconscious]

Like a degenerate gambler begging his wife for her paycheck cause there's no way the JETS lose this game. Come on honey. This is a sure thing.

oh, man! now, that's harsh!...

 

[3liteDragon]

I have to say, the reactions to these statements have been bloody hilarious.




That last comment coming through like Baghdad Bob.

You know shit's bad when the guy that spends his time making info-graphics for free for Xbox is pissed off.

 

[mckmas8808]

You know shit's bad when the guy that spends his time making info-graphics for free for Xbox is pissed off.

The cave is falling in and it's obvious even to the hardest console warriors that MS is waving the flag and is trying to find a seat at the gaming table that's to be respected.

 

[Marvel14]

More and more Microsoft sounds like a third party publisher.

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

You're both dead wrong. What they want is to have a network monopoly for videogame content- Like Amazon has for consumer goods, ticketmaster for concert tickets and Google has for search.

They want most gaming to happen on their cloud infrastructure so that they can make money from the very act of most consumers playing any game.

It's the ultimate way to make abnormal profits. Own the infrastructure for playing games and you own a piece of every game player's experience. And with no competitors in providing that network(if it gatekeeps all MS and third party games who could compete?) , and the costs of running the network falling as it matures...you're looking at a golden paycheck in perpetuity.

(assuming Nintendo and Sony fall for it of course, which they wont)

 

[GHG]

You're both dead wrong. What they want is to have a network monopoly for videogame content- Like Amazon has for consumer goods, ticketmaster for concert tickets and Google has for search.

They want most gaming to happen on their cloud infrastructure so that they can make money from the very act of most consumers playing any game.

It's the ultimate way to make abnormal profits. Own the infrastructure for playing games and you own a piece of every game player's experience. And with no competitors in providing that network, and the costs of running the network falling as it matures...you're looking at a golden paycheck in perpetuity.

Well the business best positioned to do that isn't them by a long shot, it's Nvidia.

 

[Kerotan]

How would Sony get 30%. How does that calculation work? The goal of Gamepass is that you can play any game in de sub anywhere, so you don’t sort of sub to Gamepass from the Sony story but from MS just as now, but can play on Sony devices in this example.

Nintendo and Sony would never allow this to happen as others say, unless the sub would mean it’s only tied to PlayStation exclusively for example, but in that case why would anyone sub when you already have ps plus?

Sony get 30% of all transactions through their store. So someone pays 100 for a game pass sub Sony keep 30 for themselves.

 

[Humdinger]

I wish they would bring GP to Playstation. It would save me from wondering if I need to buy an Xbox.

 

[Beechos]

Uhhh thats been the end game since day 1.

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

Reality is finally start to set in for some of the people heavily invested in team green. I've been saying it for a while that the poor sales of Xbox this gen have pretty much guaranteed MS will be going third party.


It makes no sense for them to keep struggling and losing money on the Xbox consoles. Buying Activision and Bethesda was part of their exit strategy. We won't be seeing any more traditional consoles from them going forward, it's a wrap.


People are just gonna have to accept it and move on. The "console war" has been over for years now but now it's pretty officially done now with this latest interview from the Xbox CFO.

MS exiting out of the console business is smart of them and will allow them to leverage their strengths as a software company and the biggest publisher out there. It's a win-win for both Microsoft as well as Sony and Nintendo.

 

[ReBurn]

More and more Microsoft sounds like a third party publisher.

They're a software company. Feels like ultimately getting out of hardware is something they would do. Who knows, Sony might allow game pass one day if the revenue split is good enough, but I imagine they'd frown upon the third party games if it cost them their store cut.

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

I don't see why Sony wouldn't allow a version of GamePass that was MS owned IP only. They allow Ubisoft and EA don't they?

I can definitely see Sony allowing some form of Gamepass on Playstation, kinda like they currently do with EA and Ubisoft.

 

[rapid32.5]

MS will pay millions to PS/Nintendo and devs each month, so I don’t have to buy Next Xbox sounds great.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Keep in mind that if they hold out for another gen, it would be millions of dollars spent designing and building the next console and a commitment of another half a decade. So if they want to get out, they can't wait any longer. Because at this point they have to already be blueprinting the nextbox and the bosses has to make up their minds whether to pay for the development or not, RIGHT NOW.

 

[Chronicle]

The focus is French screens apparently.

 

[KungFucius]

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

Epilogue: Which is shitty of them because it doesn't serve their customers best.

 

[Ansphn]

The future of Xbox is Gamepass and Xbox Controllers. They will release a catered Gamepass on PlayStation that only has 1st party games because otherwise PlayStation wont let them do it. They will do the same for Nintendo. Then the full Gamepass will be on PC, TVs, and Mobile through Xcloud.

 

[onnextflix5]

Not gonna happen unless they give a cut of revenue to Nintendo and Sony. If Sony dose allow it will be native only, no streaming, which ms will never approve.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Other people might say it's crazy to keep buying studios and then leaving huge revenue streams on the table to keep chasing the same dragon that eluded them for 20 years. Not very common for a company to spend 80 billion on transactions to then say they don't want to make too much money off the deal, which is kind of what they are doing right now.

On the hardware specifically though, I don't think they ever drop Xbox unless either cloud becomes mass market (their new console), or they sold Xbox to another large entity first. A single high end console manufacturer would be way too much risk to MS Gaming's ability to negotiate deals in its favor.

This mentality is flawed and ignores the loads of revenue Microsoft makes off of the Xbox ecosystem. What huge revenue stream are they missing out on?

Everything they move out of their own ecosystem, the margin they make on it drops significantly. For some titles the margin is either so small that they don’t care (like the Quake 2 remaster) and in other situations the pie is so large they can have it both ways (Minecraft, CoD).

Saying they “spent 80 billion” is another example of flawed thinking. They moved one asset of “80 billion” in value and replaced it with another asset worth “80 billion”. The way a business looks at it, is do they see a larger return on one asset sitting doing nothing, or the other asset generating boatloads of revenue?

They sell more than enough hardware to make the money coming in worth hanging on to. People talk as if they sell Virtual Boy numbers or something.

 

[Ozzie666]

Why can't they still do their thing on their own console, day 1 release. Then act a third party publisher and release the same games on other platforms 30 days later or something. Double dip o rtriple dip. Release a competive box at zero loss, get your subs on your box and pc store front. Starfield would have done well on PS5 and brought them a lot of profits, but it would have also been a selling piece for gamepass.

So why not both? then add the cloud and streaming maps across other platforms. Long as consoles remain PC's in disguise.

 

[Gojiira]

I mean if they wanted their content on Playstation they also wouldn't have dived in purchasing Bethesda just to ensure Xbox exclusivity and cancelling the PS5 version of Starfield…
£60 sale of game >>>> one off £10 subscription for a day one release…MS would have easily made more money even with Sonys cut, this ‘it has to be gamepass’ mentality of theirs is just pure stupidity, arrogance and just baffling. You want to publish on everything, yet you dont, so you keep buying up studios and ip and locking content to a dying platform…wtf just SMFH

 

[Dr. Samuel Hayden]

Really might as well just go 3rd party if they do that

 

[DaleinCalgary]

Eat a dick Microsoft

 

[nick776]

Sadly, comments like the ones made by this CFO are why Xbox struggles. Someone posted that it is difficult to invest in the Xbox ecosystem when there is fear that Xbox may one day go third party. I love Xbox, but I tend to agree that comments like "we want to be on every screen. . . .even playstation and Nintendo" are not exactly something which make it seem like Microsoft has confidence in its product. It is discouraging when Microsoft is sending messages that imply they do not care about Xbox and its fans. I think people like ole Phil should be on top of stuff like this, he should not let anyone who works under the MS umbrella utter words like these (unless, of course, what is really going on is that MS is prepping people for the inevitability that MS will soon be third party and abandon the console). Heck, MS hasn't even cared enough to update their damned controller since 2013, why do they think they are so far behind in the race I wonder?

 

[ProtoByte]

Will COD be that important 10 years from now?

Under Microsoft's jurisdiction, probably not.

 

[GreyHand23]

You're both dead wrong. What they want is to have a network monopoly for videogame content- Like Amazon has for consumer goods, ticketmaster for concert tickets and Google has for search.

They want most gaming to happen on their cloud infrastructure so that they can make money from the very act of most consumers playing any game.

It's the ultimate way to make abnormal profits. Own the infrastructure for playing games and you own a piece of every game player's experience. And with no competitors in providing that network(if it gatekeeps all MS and third party games who could compete?) , and the costs of running the network falling as it matures...you're looking at a golden paycheck in perpetuity.

(assuming Nintendo and Sony fall for it of course, which they wont)

PlayStation already uses Azure. In a sense this is already happening, Microsoft just wants a bigger part of the infrastructure pie.

 

[Sanepar]

Really might as well just go 3rd party if they do that

They can retain 40 million users on their platform and go 3rd party. Xbox fanboys are not going anywhere and they can milk money from them on their hardware. They will unite the best from both worlds and will make a ton of money from ps and switch 2.

 

[DaleinCalgary]

They can retain 40 million users on their platform and go 3rd party. Xbox fanboys are not going anywhere and they can milk money from them on their hardware. They will unite the best from both worlds and will make a ton of money from ps and switch 2.

They don't make money

 

[Azelover]

This could benefit Nintendo immensely. Especially if Sony doesn't bend, which they probably won't.

 

[Lillie]

Wish there was a way to move my digital xbox library to PC in hindsight

 

[Fess]

Could someone tell me 1 thing- IF Microsoft don't have another Xbox console and only go 3rd party on places like Playstation and Nintendo with that fucking sub service, how will any of us be able to buy any of those game pass games? Especially considering the push towards an all digital future like PC's have on consoles... Does this mean that if, and it's a big IF, this does happen, this will be a sub service that the ONLY way you can play these games is to sub to a service without actually owning the game?

At first they’ll let you buy the games through Microsoft Store but as with Steam they’ll eventually let you buy them on Playstation Store.

Look at what they’re doing outside of the console bubble and you’ll understand their future, there you can play their games on desktop PCs, Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Geforce Now, XCloud. Play the games on whatever hardware or streaming service that gets you the best experience for the money you’re willing to spend.

But right now I do think they need to clarify the message so people understand if there is even a need for a Xbox.
When are they taking this step?
It’s Christmas time. People are buying gaming boxes now. Would it be better to just buy a PS and get Xbox and PS games on one device or do we still need 2 boxes for another couple years?

 

[Alan Wake]

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.

Yup, this is where we're heading. As an Xbox gamer since the day the very first Xbox launched it sucks to think about Xbox turning into an app, but when that happens Microsoft will already have ditched physical media (probably starting this generation with the Series X refresh). I don't even know if there will be another Xbox console at this point. Things are moving fast now.

 

[N30RYU]

Ok. So MS noticed they aren't selling Series S|X consoles and the subs have reached the top...

This isn't gonna work for them unless they stop making consoles.

 

[systemr123]

Sony get 30% of all transactions through their store. So someone pays 100 for a game pass sub Sony keep 30 for themselves.

Yes but as I said, why would anyone use the Sony store to get an Xbox Gamepass sub? It doesn’t make sense, please read my comment carefully again.

 

[ahtlas7]

I do not doubt this. Their aim is to be the video game Netflix. More subs = more revenue. Doesn’t matter the system. Poor xbox fans.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

If Microsoft really goes through with this and place their exclusives or party games on Nintendo and Sony consoles through Gamepass, the XBOX console is DEAD. There will literally be zero reasons to invest into their console. They are already getting outsold significantly, so what do they think this will do to XBOX console sales in the future where it’s gotten so bad, they have to hide their numbers?

 

[TasManXT]

 

[GHG]

Wish there was a way to move my digital xbox library to PC in hindsight

If you're already on PC the solution is simple - stop buying 3rd party games on console. There's really no need to unless there are chronic performance issues on PC and you want to play the game before either the developer or community fix them.

 

[Withnail]

Why can't they still do their thing on their own console, day 1 release. Then act a third party publisher and release the same games on other platforms 30 days later or something. Double dip o rtriple dip. Release a competive box at zero loss, get your subs on your box and pc store front. Starfield would have done well on PS5 and brought them a lot of profits, but it would have also been a selling piece for gamepass.

So why not both? then add the cloud and streaming maps across other platforms. Long as consoles remain PC's in disguise.

Yeah this. There will be more Xbox hardware but MS is already now a major third party publisher and there’s a clear direction of travel even if some fans haven’t accepted it yet. We know COD is coming to PS and Switch and I expect most if not all of the ActiBlizz games will multi-plat.

 

[MrTired]

PlayStation already uses Azure. In a sense this is already happening, Microsoft just wants a bigger part of the infrastructure pie.

There are not, there still using AWS.

 

[bad guy]

My baby monitor has a screen.

 

[Mahavastu]

Sony get 30% of all transactions through their store. So someone pays 100 for a game pass sub Sony keep 30 for themselves.

It is not that easy with subscription services. What if the payment for Gamepass goes via Windows or XBox store, where does Sony get the money from?
Like you might use the Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney+ or whatever app on Playstation, but you as a subscriber never pay Playstation, the money to pay Playstation has to come from those companies to make Playstation to allow the app.

The EA subscription service is on Playstation, so it is possible under the right condition. Not sure what these conditions are, but allowing the app to a direct console competitor is questionable...