Multiple insiders talk about Xbox exclusives going multiplatform - Phil Spencer to address

[the-pi-guy]

This is still pretty wild.

This has to be a pretty new decision, like the past few months.

Even during the Activision acquisition, it was pretty clear that MS still had plans for exclusivity.

[Legend]

Combination of factors.

If they didn't make xbox one x and instead launched a full next gen system 1 year early, they could have replicated a lot of those factors. Pandemic would have really given them an artificial boost but I wonder how they would have done otherwise.

This is still pretty wild.

This has to be a pretty new decision, like the past few months.

Even during the Activision acquisition, it was pretty clear that MS still had plans for exclusivity.

Yeah it feels like Forza and Starfield underperformed and spooked them.

[kitler53]

Will any company like Apple or Meta try to push in because of this? Both of those are big on vr and they might be willing to pay for vr ports.

I bought a whole bunch of gamepass because it was really cheap a few years ago. My subscription ends this summer, nice.

Crazy that people were worried MS would lose interest in xbox and dump them, but it was actually the opposite that happened. MS investing so much money feels like a death sentence in retrospect.

Crazy that MS struggled so much post xbox 360. First xbox built a strong fanbase and 360 easily won America. What made it so hard for them to go back to that winning formula?
itshalohappening.gif

imo, apple makes the most sense.  appleTV is basically already a home console.   it just needs beefier specs to attract better games.   otherwise they pretty much already have everything in place.   even if they only "half dog it" it could it being "good enough" for many gamers that only buy 1 game a year anyways.   all apple really needs is CoD and Fifa and they'd be nipping at sony's heels a bit.  now that MS is 3rd party I assume they'd be willing to port CoD.


Nice!


Agreed.  tbh i'm watching MS and all i can think of is embracer.   MS is big enough to not have to do mass closures but i still feel like this pivot is mostly out of getting too big too fast and not being able to support all these M&As. 


A lack of a steady vision.  I read though the era comments and I have to agree that MS's down fall started with kinect.    they chased a fad and when that didn't work they ended up in a long series of pivots about what the xbox identity really was.   i guess i can't fault them for changing course when something didn't work out but it didn't feel like any of their visions were particularly well thought out.   like who the fuk though HDMI in and TV! TV! TV! was going to be a winning pitch for a games console??   How could you not forsee that putting ALL games on a subscription service day-1 wouldn't be financially viable??   How could you be in the game business for 3 generations and only figure out ~1 year prior to the 4th gen that maybe you should have a few 1st party studios?!?!?

[the-pi-guy]

How could you be in the game business for 3 generations and only figure out ~1 year prior to the 4th gen that maybe you should have a few 1st party studios?!?!?

The weird thing is at one point they had like 25 internal studios. A bunch of them got folded in together, and most of the rest got closed until they only had 6 left.

How could you not forsee that putting ALL games on a subscription service day-1 wouldn't be financially viable??

They definitely expected more growth. They expected to be Netflix, while very clearly not providing the service that would make them into that (assuming that service is even possible.)

like who the fuk though HDMI in and TV! TV! TV! was going to be a winning pitch for a games console??

It was a strange time.

Sony and MS thought consoles were getting replaced by mobile apps.

MS went hey your Xbox could be a companion device like an Alexa for your TV!
Sony went like hey we're still making the games, but we're going to make companion apps so you can play on a train!

MS's ideas were dumb. Sony was wrong, but they were close enough, they could quietly pivot and no one would remember a year later what happened to all the companion apps.

[kitler53]

The weird thing is at one point they had like 25 internal studios. A bunch of them got folded in together, and most of the rest got closed until they only had 6 left. They definitely expected more growth. They expected to be Netflix, while very clearly not providing the service that would make them into that (assuming that service is even possible.)

It was a strange time.

Sony and MS thought consoles were getting replaced by mobile apps.

MS went hey your Xbox could be a companion device like an Alexa for your TV!
Sony went like hey we're still making the games, but we're going to make companion apps so you can play on a train!

MS's ideas were dumb. Sony was wrong, but they were close enough, they could quietly pivot and no one would remember a year later what happened to all the companion apps.

I'll be honest,.. i still think the ipad integration isn't a bad idea.  

I should be able to screencast to my console.  They should have a generic app that turns ipads into controllers to support party games.  

Also,.. i think they should go after more apps.  Not everything that goes to apple's app store makes sense but some do.    Music services.  Fitness apps.  ..its more than just netflix. 

[Dr. Pezus]

Holy shame, Sony will be partying for weeks lmao. They killed MS

[Legend]

HDMI in was such a trash idea, and they didn't even implement it well. Really needed to act like passive passthrough so people wouldn't be inconvenienced every time they want to watch tv.

[kitler53]

Well now that we cannot predict when MS replies should we predict what MS says in their business update?

[Legend]

Well now that we cannot predict when MS replies should we predict what MS says in their business update?

We want you to know that these last 20 years have meant a lot to all of us at Microsoft, and we remain as committed to Xbox as ever. However, sometimes things must change, and we must grow. As part of our commitment to change and growth, we've made the difficult decision to terminate you the fans.

[the-pi-guy]

When the Activision acquisition was announced, some PlayStation fans were convinced it was the end of PlayStation as we know it.

Now that we are a few months into the Activision acquisition, a lot of Xbox fans are convinced it is the end of Xbox, as we know it.

[Legend]

When the Activision acquisition was announced, some PlayStation fans were convinced it was the end of PlayStation as we know it.

Now that we are a few months into the Activision acquisition, a lot of Xbox fans are convinced it is the end of Xbox, as we know it.

Even playstation execs were worried. They took a fair amount of bad pr trying to stop the Activision deal.

[Legend]

I feel the need to plug in my xbox mini fridge and go full gamer this week. Celebrate all the fun years with xbox and say goodbye.


(I think I'm the only one here that plays primarily on xbox, so it's my duty to post the cringe takes)

[kitler53]

When the Activision acquisition was announced, some PlayStation fans were convinced it was the end of PlayStation as we know it.

Now that we are a few months into the Activision acquisition, a lot of Xbox fans are convinced it is the end of Xbox, as we know it.

it would have been if MS just had the balls to weld there new found power.   but instead they flinched. 

...like what was the point in 80 billion in acquisitions if they weren't going to loss lead Sony out of the race??    

[BananaKing]

This is all crazy. I have a lot of thoughts on this

First of all, I am gonna say I told you so. (well me and kitler) have been saying since forever that a day 1 game pass model just doesn't work. And it's been clear as day why, with so many reasons.

Another thing, I really don't understand how Phill still has his job. This guy has been one cluster fudge after another, a bunch of empty promises, and has not, after almost 100 billion in support, managed to create a steady output of first party IP or created a well managed profile of studios

All signs to me point to this guy just not being the right man for the job. He was the head of first party when Don matrick was there, he then took charge if Xbox, and for 10 years... Only promises of greatness to come. Am I the only one baffled as to why this guy is taking no blame?

[Legend]

Another thing, I really don't understand how Phill still has his job. This guy has been one cluster fudge after another, a bunch of empty promises, and has not, after almost 100 billion in support, managed to create a steady output of first party IP or created a well managed profile of studios

All signs to me point to this guy just not being the right man for the job. He was the head of first party when Don matrick was there, he then took charge if Xbox, and for 10 years... Only promises of greatness to come. Am I the only one baffled as to why this guy is taking no blame?

Firing Don Mattrick might have been necessary, but I'm pretty sure Microsoft made a lot of money off xbox during his reign. The same absolutely cannot be said about Spencer. Probably wouldn't be true even if you ignored the money spent on Activision.


Maybe Satya Nadella is actually at fault, maybe it's a bunch of people screwing up in small ways, but it's surprising that fanboys don't blame at least someone. Fanboys hated Bonnie Ross for what happened to Halo but I don't know of other people at other MS studios getting blamed like that.