Windows Central: Microsoft exploring bringing back catalog to Nintendo and PlayStation

StreetsofBeige said:
Yup.

It all comes down to if MS wants to clamp down on Xbox and gaming for efficiencies sake, but not survival. The narrative is Xbox makes bad money or has lost money for 20 years and has shrinking market share. Well, it's still here and the corporate coffer is actually bigger with Bethesda and Activision purchases. On the other hand, something like Windows phones and Zune disappeared.

Sony lost shit loads of money on their TV division 10 years ago. Billions for years. It was so bad the company lost money because the losses were so big it dragged down all other divisions. And they did a big round of firings. At that time to raise money they even sold off some non-essential product divisions to get some cash infusions.

Sony's TV division is still around.

PS3 was a money loser right from the beginning and basically gave back all the profits they made from PS1 and PS2 eras. They still stuck around for PS4 and the first few years barely made money. The big money came around when everyone amped up on direct e-store digital purchases and mtx around 2016.
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Microsoft is always late to the party when it comes to consumer products, it almost always a "me too" situation rather than being first, with Windows Mobile being an exception I guess, but they failed with that. They had some early pokes at PC gaming but failed there as well..

Xbox was also late, but they got lucky with the PS3 and the product stuck somehow..

It's hard to compare them to Sony because for them, PlayStation is extremely important and it carries a lot of weight. I guess one could argue that PlayStation is similar to what Azure or Office are to Microsoft in terms of importance, in the sense that if Azure wasn't doing well it will absolutely reflect on Microsoft's financials, and if PlayStation is struggling you will absolutely see it reflected on Sony's stock price.

There is A LOT of pride behind Sony's TV division, they will get rid of all else before having to let that one go...
 
jroc74 said:
It might say more about those thinking MS would collapse because of issues within Xbox.

I dont think it needs to be explained anymore.
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Right. It's very easy to imagine a Microsoft with no Xbox.

Not so easy for me to imagine Sony without a PlayStation (which is why they do a better job with it).
 
Unknown Soldier said:
Am actual shareholder: Can confirm

MS going third party and stop wasting more money on propping up their failed platform is music to our ears
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Pretty much and then there's the retailer concerns as well. Don't think many would stock it if it didn't make sense for them to. Its why in many places Xbox doesn't exist on shelves.

Going third party and stop making consoles could be a good option for them. Of course if they can somehow improve hardware sales a ton then they wouldn't need to take that option.

I'm not sure what they can do to almost double their sales though.
 
Mibu no ookami said:
Banjo Kazooie has never been as popular as Sonic. The first game sold 3.65 million units and the sequel sold 1.49 million units.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was a complete flop.

The platform userbase that existed on the N64 doesn't exist on the XBS and no one actually cares about Banjo Kazooie in 2024 and they barely did in 2000. It's never going to be the Xbox mascot.

Tekken, Mortal Kombat, and Street Fighter are all at peak popularity. KI hasn't been relevant well ever...

I didn't say Age of Empire wasn't popular. I said it's not a console game, and it isn't. No one is buying consoles to play AoE.

You're clearly a fanboy so I'm not sure why I'm trying to have a factual debate with you, but it's hilarious that you think any of these games have any sort of leverage for Xbox. They don't and they've proven that for decades.
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I'm not a fanboy. These are all games I'm referencing that would sell well in the aggregate across all platforms. Sony, Nintendo, Xbox, pc.

None of those games would sell well on a particular platform. Collectively though, yes. I believe they would do "well enough".

Microsoft has zero IP other than COD that can move 25+ million units on any one system or pc.

A HD Banjo remake across all platforms will probably sell 8+ million.
 
MasterCornholio said:
Actually you just proved that the performance of the Xbox division does matter. If it isn't living up to expectations then changes need to me made. Doesn't necessarily mean the death of Xbox but it could lead to a huge change in how they handle their business.

Don't think Microsoft wants the Xbox division to be a month sink. They will change it to achieve their goals. Which could lead to a very different gaming division as we know it.
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Of course not, but they have a lot of room to maneuver and change things around before they start thinking about shutting down the division. Xbox is not essential, so they can play around with it.. which is what they've been doing for decades. This Activision thing is interesting though, as if they are finally going to really try and do something lol
 
twilo99 said:
Microsoft is always late to the party when it comes to consumer products, it almost always a "me too" situation rather than being first, with Windows Mobile being an exception I guess, but they failed with that. They had some early pokes at PC gaming but failed there as well..

Xbox was also late, but they got lucky with the PS3 and the product stuck somehow..

It's hard to compare them to Sony because for them, PlayStation is extremely important and it carries a lot of weight. I guess one could argue that PlayStation is similar to what Azure or Office are to Microsoft in terms of importance, in the sense that if Azure wasn't doing well it will absolutely reflect on Microsoft's financials, and if PlayStation is struggling you will absolutely see it reflected on Sony's stock price.

There is A LOT of pride behind Sony's TV division, they will get rid of all else before having to let that one go...
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Late to the party and overconfident, to the point of arrogance, about their products.
Like the funeral they did for the iPhone when they released the Windows Phone.
 
twilo99 said:
Of course not, but they have a lot of room to maneuver and change things around before they start thinking about shutting down the division. Xbox is not essential, so they can play around with it.. which is what they've been doing for decades. This Activision thing is interesting though, as if they are finally going to really try and do something lol
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Well they can always get rid of Xbox and turn it into Microsoft Game Studios. That's not them leaving gaming BTW just them quitting hardware.
 
twilo99 said:
The hardware part would be easily subsidiezed anyway, I don't see a reason to get rid of that really
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Depends if retailers want to stock it. Also hardware does cost money to develop and support. It would be an easy cost for them to eliminate if they can't see themselves doing well with it.

Also remember there are limits to what they can do before it's considered an anti competitive practice.
 
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You guys think if they went 3rd party another big player will try to compete with Sony? Or does Sony have the market to themself essentially.
 
Jesb said:
You guys think if they went 3rd party another big player will try to compete with Sony? Or does Sony have the market to themself essentially.
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as i have speculated, i don't think this industry (console) can't sustain another competitor. (couldn't even sustain xbox in the first place).
 
Banjo64 said:
cut your nose of despite your face :messenger_tears_of_joy:
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Holy shit is that a grammatical blunder! 😆
will ferrell anchorman GIF
 
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Microsoft will only improve its hardware sales in a substantial manner (either this gen or the next one) if they can get several 90+ metacritic rated games released. Most would argue (rightfully so) that it simply is not possible for them to do this generation. That leaves only three options: 1) let the Series S and X continue to languish for 2 or 3 more years until they release a successor OR 2) go ahead and put all games on PS5 and Switch and keep Series S and X around for Gamepass only OR 3) discontinue support for S and X and announce that all games will go to PS5 and Switch 2 whereas gamepass will remain only on PC for now (at least on PC only until they can convince Sony or Nintendo to allow it on their platform). I am personally tired of seeing Microsoft say "wait a little longer, we will eventually give consumers what they want." They are not capable of doing so and I think lots of people like myself have simply lost patience with them. We are now 4 years in and we are still playing with clicks, crappy Xbox controllers with the same technology they had in 2013. They could have fixed that in 2021 EASILY by releasing an updated controller but chose not to. They could have also allowed us to use off-shelf SSD like PS5, but instead they want us to buy overpriced garbage drives instead. I think they need to bow out of the hardware business at this point because they simply do not seem motivated to at least try and compete.
 
GHG said:
This is getting ridiculous:




And hilariously he thinks they can change the licensing agreement with 3rd parties for people's libraries:




EULA's that are agreed upon at the point of purchase clearly state non-transferable, but he thinks they can be retroactively changed? Never going to happen. This is the standard black and white that he clearly never reads before clicking "agree" :
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Pretty bad to be schooled by Jez of all people.
 
Horseganador said:
GDsB3Xka4AE8Xoo


What Nate has been putting up with these days...pffffffffff.
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I wonder how far along these ports are. Could they be at the final stretch and have some imminent announcement for them (highly doubt it will be at the DD)? Or they might just started working on them last month and are still half a year away until they feel confident enough for a trailer
 
Once MS put their first party games on PlayStation and Switch (2), it'll be interesting to see their opinions on sales, etc.

I imagine we'll be seeing the expression "within expectations" being thrown about a bit, which will lead to more ports in 2025. There might be the occasional "above expectations", too, which would be fun.
 
Tsaki said:
I wonder how far along these ports are.
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They'll likely push out the games that were already being produced for Xbox and PlayStation before MS cancelled them.

What I'm really curious about is whether MS will release games for PS5 or just PS4. That would mean no DualSense features, or stuff like taking advantage of the SSD.
 
Tsaki said:
I wonder how far along these ports are. Could they be at the final stretch and have some imminent announcement for them (highly doubt it will be at the DD)? Or they might just started working on them last month and are still half a year away until they feel confident enough for a trailer
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I think they might be closer than we think. A few evidence would be:
  • These rumors popping up now
  • Stephen saying that Sea of Thieves is slated to release on PS5 early 2024
  • Tim Stuart's recent comments (~45 days ago) about having first-party games on PlayStation and Nintendo
  • Some of the defense narrative by the usual suspects / "journalists"
  • The fact that Microsoft hasn't denied anything. If it were very much far away, they could deny it right now and enough time would have passed by the team of release.
 
Duchess said:
They'll likely push out the games that were already being produced for Xbox and PlayStation before MS cancelled them.

What I'm really curious about is whether MS will release games for PS5 or just PS4. That would mean no DualSense features, or stuff like taking advantage of the SSD.
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That makes sense. Games by BGS would have most of the tools and engine compatibilities sorted out due to being 3rd party and still releasing content on PS, while a game like Sea of Thieves would have some extensive work to port it to Sony's API. Which also makes me think: Rare would have to ask Sony for PS5 devkits, right? So some publishing contract on PSN would have been signed some time ago; Sony wouldn't give them away just like that.

You think they might do what happened with Psychonauts 2? It would depend on the game I guess. HFR is not on XOne so I doubt it'll release on PS4 and SoT is a GAAS so it would be better to have the native app if they want to monetize it effectively.

Heisenberg007 said:
I think they might be closer than we think. A few evidence would be:
  • These rumors popping up now
  • Stephen saying that Sea of Thieves is slated to release on PS5 early 2024
  • Tim Stuart's recent comments (~45 days ago) about having first-party games on PlayStation and Nintendo
  • Some of the defense narrative by the usual suspects / "journalists"
  • The fact that Microsoft hasn't denied anything. If it were very much far away, they could deny it right now and enough time would have passed by the team of release.
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You raise valid points. We have Totillo, Grubb, Jez, Nate all coming out and saying the same thing while Warren and others doing some light "damage control", fermenting the idea that "hey it is all money for MS and GP, GP will still be the main exclusive, they already said games on every screen". So it has a sense that it's more controlled than just some employee leaking stuff to his pals.

Stuart's comments had the most weight since he was addressing investors and Spencer's "rebuttal" was just controlled marketing, denying GP on competitors but not having the interviewer call him out on not specifying 1st party games bought a la carte.

Your last point is also true. When the court leak happened, Spencer was quick to go on Twitter and do the PR: "it's such a shame, these are old plans, etc etc". Now no one says anything, not even a simple "we won't comment on rumours".
 
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Tsaki said:
I wonder how far along these ports are. Could they be at the final stretch and have some imminent announcement for them (highly doubt it will be at the DD)? Or they might just started working on them last month and are still half a year away until they feel confident enough for a trailer
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If people are speaking in definitive terms you'd hope an announcement is around the corner and that the ports are all but complete. Otherwise feels daft to nail your colours to the mast.
 
I think it's a good thing. I just hope they don't give up on hardware and let me buy decent xbox consoles that I can use in other rooms for my gamepass account.

If that stops, so will my subscription. Unless Sony allows it which I can't see.
 
Famipan said:
I really wish PS5 also gets the Ori 1 & 2 Collection.
I have long been asking for Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment before! HFR even has BUILT-IN PS-button support hidden in the game files lol!

Also, please release a Microsoft Motocross Madness and Monster Truck Madness collection on PS5. That would be so cool!
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Ori is a great game and so gorgeous on a proper HDR display
 
DenchDeckard said:
I don't want pcs in my bedrooms. I have my kick ass pc in my office and the kids have their school/gaming pcs but I like consoles in my bedrooms then I use my rog ally for other games that will run well on it.
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Then I don't see an issue. Gamepass is still available on PC. Plus if you want a console like experience you can do it with a controller and a TV.

Abandoning gamepass because Microsoft stops making hardware doesn't make sense to me unless consoles are the only way to game.

If you enjoy the service just stick with it. You don't need an Xbox for gamepass.
 
Heisenberg007 said:
I think they might be closer than we think. A few evidence would be:
  • These rumors popping up now
  • Stephen saying that Sea of Thieves is slated to release on PS5 early 2024
  • Tim Stuart's recent comments (~45 days ago) about having first-party games on PlayStation and Nintendo
  • Some of the defense narrative by the usual suspects / "journalists"
  • The fact that Microsoft hasn't denied anything. If it were very much far away, they could deny it right now and enough time would have passed by the team of release.
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DIdn't Phil Spencer say in response to Stuart's comment that there are no plans to put GAMEPASS on PS5 and Switch? He said nothing about plans to put first party GAMES on the competing platforms. Also, Stuart said something along the lines of "not announcing anything now" in connection with his quote. Stuart didn't just flub and make those statements, there was a reason he said them.
 
The shills are well and truly out in force to change the hearts and minds of the Xbox hopeful.

I'm listening to Parris's Twitter space about the 3rd party rumors, and the spin is fucking real over there.

Rn he's arguing with some Xbox fan about why he cares that Hifi Rush could be going to Playstation. And he's being completely obtuse to his natural concern about Xbox being 2nd in Microsoft's gaming ambitions.

I'm not even remotely an Xbox fan and even I'm annoyed as fuck at his deflection and spin.

The Xbox fan I'm listening to rn isn't articulating this well, but does this moron Parris understand that a future in which Xbox is 2nd in importance to Microsoft can easily lead to a future in which Microsoft turns off the Xbox servers?

How is that hard to understand?

EDIT: Now he's calling the Xbox fan disingenuous and seems like he's gonna take away the mic from him lol.
 
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twilo99 said:



Microsoft stock holders must simply not know about the imminent collapse of Xbox or they actually have no idea it exists.

Who in their right mind would buy Microsoft shares if they knew about Xbox?
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I have never seen a single post in which people claim Microsoft is in trouble. Xbox is a division of Microsoft and not the driving force of the company. Nobody denies that Microsoft could indefinitely pump money into Xbox. The question has always been will they continue if they do not see a return on their investment? I still think they want to save the Xbox brand regardless if that means PC, consoles or streaming through Game Pass.
 
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nick776 said:
DIdn't Phil Spencer say in response to Stuart's comment that there are no plans to put GAMEPASS on PS5 and Switch? He said nothing about plans to put first party GAMES on the competing platforms. Also, Stuart said something along the lines of "not announcing anything now" in connection with his quote. Stuart didn't just flub and make those statements, there was a reason he said them.
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Yep, exactly.

Moreover, Tim was talking to investors. Phil was putting fires on Twitter before the Holiday sales season. The two statements had very different weightage.
 
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