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Xbox expected Starfield to sell 10 million copies on PS5 but decided it's worth more as an exclusive

The Alien

Banned
Sony exclusives = Yay Sony. For the gamers.

XBox Exclusive = Bad for gamers. Dissects cost/revenue streams to 'prove' bad move.

People on here thinking 10M copies not on pS gonna make Starfield a failure. That's PS thinking.

Meanwhile forgetting MS just paid about $80 BILLION for Bethesda and ABK. They paid that much to put games on different consoles? (COD being an anamoly). 🤣🧂 MS is worth almost $3 trillion. I think they can manage thru few less sales on Starfield. Hahaha
 

Unknown?

Member
Play it on the PC then.

It's only what PS fans used to tell Xbox fans last-gen and buy a PS console or go without.
I remember needing to buy a SNES to play SF2.

Get over it

I
Dumb analogy. Last-gen Xbox fans were complaining about games that never come to Xbox in the first place.

This is a game genre that not only is frequent on PlayStation, it was going to be released. Not even close to the same.

Sony exclusives = Yay Sony. For the gamers.

XBox Exclusive = Bad for gamers. Dissects cost/revenue streams to 'prove' bad move.

People on here thinking 10M copies not on pS gonna make Starfield a failure. That's PS thinking.

Meanwhile forgetting MS just paid about $80 BILLION for Bethesda and ABK. They paid that much to put games on different consoles? (COD being an anamoly). 🤣🧂 MS is worth almost $3 trillion. I think they can manage thru few less sales on Starfield. Hahaha
Sony exclusives are in house or timed. They don't buy big multiplatform publishers and refuse to release big franchises already being worked on for other platforms.
 
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sigrad

Member
Starfield is on the back burner. Not (only) because of Xbox exclusivity but rather because of a) unproven IP, b) lackluster reception last 10 years and c) competition from certain other AAA western rpgs.
From Old Scholl Gamers:
In the last 12 months, the PlayStation 5 has outsold Xbox Series X|S by 1.29 million units. The PlayStation 5 is currently ahead by 2.42 million units. The PlayStation 5 has sold 12.38 million units in the US in 27 months, while the Xbox Series X|S sold 9.97 million units.

Lackluster reception last 10 yeas?

Skyrim has sold 60 million copys. I'd haardly call that lackluster
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I just found out I can stream this on XBO. Now I need to get a month of GamePass. I did this with Gears 5 and Halo Infinite. This will cost me a handful of dollars. Versus purchasing it outright. I don’t see how they’re making their money if a large majority of people do this. I’d imagine the superior looking version sells for obvious reasons.
 

Unknown?

Member
From Old Scholl Gamers:
In the last 12 months, the PlayStation 5 has outsold Xbox Series X|S by 1.29 million units. The PlayStation 5 is currently ahead by 2.42 million units. The PlayStation 5 has sold 12.38 million units in the US in 27 months, while the Xbox Series X|S sold 9.97 million units.

Lackluster reception last 10 yeas?

Skyrim has sold 60 million copys. I'd haardly call that lackluster
Skyrim released more than ten years ago.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
I’d imagine they will make their money back on MTXs and non GPU subscribers.


Look….. if you want to play it, just buy it on PC seeing it’s probably gonna give you a heart attack to play it on an Xbox. 🤷🏾‍♂️

Nah, honestly, it's not my type of game. Friend forced me to buy Fallout 4 and nearly suffocated from boredom. Would I say it's gonna be a bad game? No, but it's just not my type of game.
 

DryvBy

Member
Sony exclusives = Yay Sony. For the gamers.

XBox Exclusive = Bad for gamers. Dissects cost/revenue streams to 'prove' bad move.

People on here thinking 10M copies not on pS gonna make Starfield a failure. That's PS thinking.

Meanwhile forgetting MS just paid about $80 BILLION for Bethesda and ABK. They paid that much to put games on different consoles? (COD being an anamoly). 🤣🧂 MS is worth almost $3 trillion. I think they can manage thru few less sales on Starfield. Hahaha
The fact you don't see what's bad for gamers on this is astonishing. Do you floss your teeth or brain?
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
The man said OUCH, Miku. :messenger_tears_of_joy:
Just speaking sincerely for a sec, it is just crazy some of the discourse I see at times. I've been gaming since the NES. In my day, gamers would get excited about seeing a discount and often rewarded the company lowering prices. I think this was true all the way up until this generation. PS4 massacred Xbone, and 1 of many reasons why was the $100 price difference (I skipped Xbone entirely). I started on Xbox 360 because it was so much cheaper than the PS3, but then later switched back to Sony because they had free online and started PS+ free games (no one at the time argued that PS+ free games were tanking sales or had any concern about this kind of thing). Only this gen, out of all my time gaming, do I consistently see discussion shift in this backwards way where a good deal for consumers is argued to be a bad thing for the boardroom execs. It's just absolutely bizarre. I feel like I've remained the same all this time and just try and honestly acknowledge a good deal, while almost all discourse around me has gone nuts.

Off topic, but this cult like resistance to price lowering is one of the reasons I was in favor of recent acquisitions. Because people are not responding to traditional market forces anymore like they always have in the past. They're just religiously devoted to one brand.
 
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Chukhopops

Member
I just found out I can stream this on XBO. Now I need to get a month of GamePass. I did this with Gears 5 and Halo Infinite. This will cost me a handful of dollars. Versus purchasing it outright. I don’t see how they’re making their money if a large majority of people do this. I’d imagine the superior looking version sells for obvious reasons.
I don't think the Cloud version will support mods, and Cloud + 30 FPS is gonna give really visible input lag based on my experience.

Most likely it will be some kind of demo version before people invest in a console or PC if they like it.
 
Can't this be said about any exculsive? GOW Ragnorak would probably sell an aditional 5+ million on Xbox or PC but Sony deems it more important to gate it to their hardware instead for console stickyness. Exclusives are bad for consumers but to companies they do have brand power value.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I don't think the Cloud version will support mods, and Cloud + 30 FPS is gonna give really visible input lag based on my experience.

Most likely it will be some kind of demo version before people invest in a console or PC if they like it.
I’m thinking it’ll get me from the intro to the credits. Halo Infinite didn’t look bad on XBO and neither did Gears. You are probably right. The larger it sounds makes me think there’s some optical illusion going on.
 

Kenneth Haight

Gold Member
Nah, honestly, it's not my type of game. Friend forced me to buy Fallout 4 and nearly suffocated from boredom. Would I say it's gonna be a bad game? No, but it's just not my type of game.
53lTS6h.jpg
 

Gorgon

Member
They dont need PS5 audience for this game. Everyone will buy this on PC anyway.

Skyrim, Witcher 3, Diablo, Starfield and Cyberpunk are basically PC franchises that tend to sell well on consoles. If they dont release on consoles, people will just buy PCs or Xbox. Elden Ring/souls games have turned into PC franchises too. I believe half of the sales came on PC.

MS will make up at least 50% of those 10 million lost sales on xbox and PC. The few people who wont upgrade to PC or buy an xbox were likely never going to buy this at full price anyway.

1) No, "everyone" won't buy it on PC. Most Xbox owners don't play on a PC, let alone most PS5 owners.

2) People won't "just buy" a PC or Xbox. Many will (like I did an XSX), but not all or even most.

3) The sales of Elden Ring were 41% on PlayStation, 29% on Xbox, and 30% on PC. That's 70% on consoles all together, with PS alone selling more than PC, and Xbox sales being the same as PC. As for the Witcher and Skyrim, they sold better on PC (50%) with consoles (PS and Xbox) making up the other 50%. None of this is surprising, but quite simply put you can't ignore the console market even when it comes to WRPGs, especially the PS install base, and publishers know that. It's no surprise the console and PC markets for AA and AAA titles have become more and more the same starting in the PS3/360 gen.

4) I think you're right, the game will sell very well on PC and to some extent Xbox, but it would have sold quite a lot on PS too. Like it or not, it's millions of copies lost.


With all that said, MS has every right to make it a console exclusive, just like Sony does. If that's "good" or "bad" for gamers is irrelevant from a business perspective, since this is about increasing the market share of a company by (attempting) to make more sales of their hardware and services. It certainly isn't about altruistically bringing games to more people.
 

jumpship

Member
I'm very happy. I'm not looking to start threads on how Starfield should be on the PS.
Just happy to point out, what goes around, comes around.

I love karma, makes one very happy.


BTW, If you 'must' know what happened with me and the PS, I just played TR2 on my brother's PS. Not perfect, but that was the way it was. I would have rathered played TR 2 on my old Saturn mind.

Its funny reading stuff like this. Karma you say.

Lets play a tiny violin out for the trillion dollar enterprise software company with a poorly managed gaming division struggling to stay competitive against actual gaming companies must now play takeaway. And In no small part because they themselves deliberately weakened their own standing in the market chasing a value destructive subscription dream. On top of already massively messing up at the start of last gen. From a business point of view third-party see xbox with the lowest hardware sales, lowest software sales and a continued trend of its customers not buying games. No wonder Sony find it easier to make exclusivity deals.

Xbox put themselves in this position.

Now to everyone elses detriment MS are using this self-created position in the market to carve out huge chunks of the industry as 'Karma' and take away games already due to release on the platform. They add literally nothing to this industry.

Violin Player GIF
 

Rykan

Member
They dont need PS5 audience for this game. Everyone will buy this on PC anyway.

Skyrim, Witcher 3, Diablo, Starfield and Cyberpunk are basically PC franchises that tend to sell well on consoles. If they dont release on consoles, people will just buy PCs or Xbox. Elden Ring/souls games have turned into PC franchises too. I believe half of the sales came on PC.

MS will make up at least 50% of those 10 million lost sales on xbox and PC. The few people who wont upgrade to PC or buy an xbox were likely never going to buy this at full price anyway.
Rarely has such a collection of misunderstandings about the game industry ever been gathered in one post.

Starfield will require a high a fairly high specced PC to run it comfortably. There nothing indicating that enough people are going to run out and buy a PC or Xbox just to play Starfield to even come close to the lost sales of PS5.
 
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I expect Starfield will sell better on PC, simply because of the reputation of Bethesda's previous games (well, except for Fallout '76) and the popularity of modding.

I am sure it will also sell just fine on Xbox as well and do great numbers on Gamepass. If it is a classic, Starfield will help Microsoft sell more consoles and will be the start of building up (hopefully) a reputation for releasing quality first-part games, something that they have become complacent at over the last decade in my opinion. I own an Xbox Series X but it doesn't get anywhere near as much use as my PS5. I am looking forward to playing Starfield on my Xbox Series X though and sharing the save with the PC version, which will likely be the platform I spend the most time playing the game on for sure, just as it was for all the other Bethesda games.
 
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Considering the motto is "bringing more games to more players everywhere", why should anyone have to buy an Xbox?

Skyrim was played by 60 million people.

Their aim is Starfield will be played by more people than that. It will be brought to masses in accessible manner, along with a plethora of games.

Wheather you play on Xbox or PlayStation, that's a meaningless detail to them.

Ultimately, they are confident even after making it exclusive, more people will have access to it.
 

DownTheRabbitHole

Neo Member
1) No, "everyone" won't buy it on PC. Most Xbox owners don't play on a PC, let alone most PS5 owners.

2) People won't "just buy" a PC or Xbox. Many will (like I did an XSX), but not all or even most.

3) The sales of Elden Ring were 41% on PlayStation, 29% on Xbox, and 30% on PC. That's 70% on consoles all together, with PS alone selling more than PC, and Xbox sales being the same as PC. As for the Witcher and Skyrim, they sold better on PC (50%) with consoles (PS and Xbox) making up the other 50%. None of this is surprising, but quite simply put you can't ignore the console market even when it comes to WRPGs, especially the PS install base, and publishers know that. It's no surprise the console and PC markets for AA and AAA titles have become more and more the same starting in the PS3/360 gen.

4) I think you're right, the game will sell very well on PC and to some extent Xbox, but it would have sold quite a lot on PS too. Like it or not, it's millions of copies lost.


With all that said, MS has every right to make it a console exclusive, just like Sony does. If that's "good" or "bad" for gamers is irrelevant from a business perspective, since this is about increasing the market share of a company by (attempting) to make more sales of their hardware and services. It certainly isn't about altruistically bringing games to more people.

This was 3 years ago, i doubt any games sell 50/50 on PS and xbox

  • PC: ~12 million
  • PS4: ~ 10.8 million
  • Xbox One: ~ 4.3 million
  • Nintendo Switch: ~ 700,000
  • Total: ~28.3 million
3652673-screen%20shot%202020-04-09%20at%209.40.45%20am.png
 
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Bogroll

Likes moldy games
Totally agree. I've have to buy a Ps5 or PC to play Playstation games and vice versa. So what's good for the Goose is good for the Gander.
 

GHG

Member
Skyrim was played by 60 million people.

Their aim is Starfield will be played by more people than that. It will be brought to masses in accessible manner, along with a plethora of games.

Wheather you play on Xbox or PlayStation, that's a meaningless detail to them.

Ultimately, they are confident even after making it exclusive, more people will have access to it.

Skyrim was played by that number of people across all platforms. Starfield is releasing on less platforms than Skyrim did.

Well telling people they have to buy an extra piece of hardware in order to play the game flies in the face of their mission statement.
 

cireza

Member
Considering the motto is "bringing more games to more players everywhere", why should anyone have to buy an Xbox?
Why would anyone have to buy a PS5 to play Starfield ? With the game releasing on Xbox, someone who loves this space theme can access to the game for the price of a Series S and 1 month of Gamepass. Surely this is less expensive than having to buy a PS5 and the game.
 
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Gorgon

Member
This was 3 years ago, i doubt any games sell 50/50 on PS and xbox

  • PC: ~12 million
  • PS4: ~ 10.8 million
  • Xbox One: ~ 4.3 million
  • Nintendo Switch: ~ 700,000
  • Total: ~28.3 million
3652673-screen%20shot%202020-04-09%20at%209.40.45%20am.png

You misinterpreted what I said. The examples I gave are about 50% of the sales being on PS and Xbox together, not that 25% was on PS and 25% on Xbox.
 

GHG

Member
Why would anyone have to buy a PS5 to play Starfield ? With the game releasing on Xbox, someone who loves this space theme can access to the game for the price of a Series S and 1 month of Gamepass. Surely this is less expensive than having to buy a PS5 and the game.

What are you talking about?

I'm responding to somebody who is talking to people who already own a PS5, telling them they need to purchase an Xbox. The purchase of additional hardware does not make access to the game cheaper for those people, especially considering the fact that Starfield was due to arrive on the hardware they already own minus the acquisition.

How does necessitating the purchase of additional hardware fit with the mission statement I quoted?

So instead of twisting yourself in knots, why not see the statements for what they are - bullshit.
 
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cireza

Member
What are you talking about?

I'm responding to somebody who is talking to people who already own a PS5, telling them they need to purchase an Xbox. The purchase of additional hardware does not make access to the game cheaper for those people, especially considering the fact that Starfield was due to arrive on the hardware they already own minus the acquisition.

So instead of twisting yourself in knots, why not see the statements for what they are - bullshit.
But why would I have to buy a PS5 to play Spider-Man ? Answer : because the game is exclusive. Same situation then.
 

GHG

Member
But why would I have to buy a PS5 to play Spider-Man ? Answer : because the game is exclusive. Same situation then.

Sony are pretty brazen in telling people that if they want to play their games then they need to purchase their hardware, unashamedly so.

Here is Phil Spencer on the matter:

he hopes for an industry that encourages people to feel safe and included "regardless of what device" they play on.

Meanwhile there's a bunch of you saying "buy an Xbox". Do you not respect your king?

If Sony were in the press saying similar things then you'd have a point, but they aren't, they are proud of their exclusives and they are direct in their instructions for whats necessary to play the games they publish.
 
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Just speaking sincerely for a sec, it is just crazy some of the discourse I see at times. I've been gaming since the NES. In my day, gamers would get excited about seeing a discount and often rewarded the company lowering prices. I think this was true all the way up until this generation. PS4 massacred Xbone, and 1 of many reasons why was the $100 price difference (I skipped Xbone entirely). I started on Xbox 360 because it was so much cheaper than the PS3, but then later switched back to Sony because they had free online and started PS+ free games (no one at the time argued that PS+ free games were tanking sales or had any concern about this kind of thing). Only this gen, out of all my time gaming, do I consistently see discussion shift in this backwards way where a good deal for consumers is argued to be a bad thing for the boardroom execs. It's just absolutely bizarre. I feel like I've remained the same all this time and just try and honestly acknowledge a good deal, while almost all discourse around me has gone nuts.

Off topic, but this cult like resistance to price lowering is one of the reasons I was in favor of recent acquisitions. Because people are not responding to traditional market forces anymore like they always have in the past. They're just religiously devoted to one brand.

It’s console worriers, worried that if they don’t give publishers all the money in their wallets, gaming will die. I must have missed the news that the industry is dying.

And as you say, they’re typically devoted to one company, and it’s usually the company by and large in first place, yet that’s still not good enough for them. It’s like that yearbook quote meme that went something like “it’s not enough that I should succeed, others should fail”. That’s the mentality. Which, if you’re an employee at said company, ok I guess. But just a consumer in the industry you pretend to want to protect, it’s bizarre.
 

Gamerguy84

Member
GamePass all but guarantees this.

The true metric for XBox, as it has been for almost a decade, is subscriber count. If it moves the needle for GamePass subs than it did its job.

For a month? Most new subs are going to be for a month and you can be sure MS will be screaming about all their new subs from a mountaintop, just like all the hardcore fanboys fighting a console war here on gaf.

Xbox GP is free dude. You can get a month free over 100 different ways.

This thread it's the same names over and over circling like a rabid dog pack looking for anyone to pounce on.
 

cireza

Member
Sony are pretty brazen in telling people that if they want to play their games then they need to purchase their hardware, unashamedly so.

Here is Phil Spencer on the matter:

he hopes for an industry that encourages people to feel safe and included "regardless of what device" they play on.

Meanwhile there's a bunch of you saying "buy an Xbox". Do you not respect your king?

If Sony were in the press saying similar things then you'd have a point, but they aren't, they are proud of their exclusives and they are direct in their instructions for whats necessary to play the games they publish.
This is simply a matter of Sony accepting XCloud on their consoles :)

Personally I don't need instructions telling me that exclusive games are only available on the consoles they are exclusive for.

Sony certainly were cristal clear when they announced FF XVI as a console exclusive without mention of the timed aspect of it ;)
 
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Ozriel

M$FT
Doesn't seem like the smartest decision. How does the developer earn their keep or remain safe? How does the developer justify the results and loss of expected return on investment. Or is MS just so carefree with money, they will take the blood bath. Meanwhile in Hollywood, losses like this tank studios and franchises. Certainty the budget for this game far exceeds that of an expected gamepass title. Hopefully the game does well on PC with the mod community carrying it. Maybe it's a tax write off.

This cannot be a serious post.

Only an absolute catastrophe will keep this from being one of the best selling games on Steam this year.
 
People aren't going to buy an Xbox for this. Especially being 30 fps. Smart Bethesda fans already know to play this on PC.

I bought an XsX just for Flight Simulator 2020 so there will definitely be people aching for Starfield. First thing people need to stop assuming is that everyone has a PC already or that it can run games at highest settings. If not, a $500 console will get the job done. If you are on PC but playing 1080p, low shadows, medium details and AA turned off, you have no right to voice your opinion lol.
 
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