[Stilton Disco]

So I've been thinking what I'd do if, presumably through some Willy Wonka like golden ticket and child endangerment, I ended up being handed the reigns to the Xbox division by MS, and was able to fix the many, MANY problems the struggling console and it's studios have been facing.

But Xbox isn't the only lot with problems in gaming currently, so what console, studio, publisher or even IP that is, in your eyes at least, not doing so hot right now, do you think you have a winning strategy to turn rings around for, and how?

For me, I'd ditch the whole acquiring ABK for 70 billion nonsense, and use a chunk of that pile of purchasing money to start 10 new studios, poaching veteran talent from across the industry.

I'd fire all current managers that haven't released a successful game in the last decade, and offer the directors and leaders of the top 50 highest rated/selling games of the last decade a blank cheque to take their places, pairing Indie geniuses up with industry old timers where needed.

For the new Xbox studios, I'd insist every one needed to present 3 ideas for new games by the end of the year, with a rough concept demo for each, and get a radom selection of NDA'd hardcore Xbox players to help decide what gets made, and what doesn't. Any studios that don't cut the mustard get culled and new blood brought in.

I'd also ask every studio to put together a proposal for a new Halo, then also give ChatGPT all the scripts and novels from Halo to use as a basis, and get that to write the final script, because it couldn't be any worse. Hell, I'd play it up as a worlds first, and paint it as rhe first Halo written by Cortana's great Grandmother, or such like.

I'd also insist Cortana and any other in game AI feqtured in this new Halo go back to being hot, stacked and nude.

The whole releasing day one on PC thing would end immediately. Anything already announced will get a PC release a year after Xbox, sold as the Console release being the Beta test, while more time can be given to the PC ports to ensure they run perfectly, and we don't get another Redfall.

All future games will be Xbox only for at least 5 years. No more releasing MS games on other consoles at all.

One acquisition I would make though, would be Sega. Sonic instantly becomes the new Xbox mascot, until Master Chief can maybe be salvaged, and we'd start straight off by announcing Sonic Mania 2 and a 'Mario Odyssey quality' Sonic Adventure X. A host of other Sega classics will be greenlit.

This also means Atlus games become Xbox only, and will be leveraged to heavily target the Asian Market.

Which brings me to Hardware.

The XSS will be discontinued.

The XSX will be shrunk down and reduced in price with a Slim, diskless variant, and released in a host of cheerful and 'cute' colours.

The XSY will be announced, as the new 'Pro' mid gen upgrade system, going all out on power and being a luxury high end gaming device, coming with an elite controller, premium black aluminium case, Silent fans and optional RGB lighting. These will be made in low numbers and sold at a profit, and be flat out the best gaming console ever made. I don't give a shit if we only sell 3, it would be worth it just to curbstomp every single digital foundry comparison for the rest of the generation.

Finally, and to really sell to Asia, I'd create the XSZ, a Asus Rog Ally/Steam Deck/Switch like handheld, with as close to XSX a CPU and RAM as we can get, an OLED screen, optional dock, aiming at 720p, with a RRP of $500, but with the option to get it for $350 with a 12 month subscription to Gamepass Ultimate, or $200 with a 24 month subscription.

So yeah, TLDR: new management, new studios, return to console exclusives, buy Sega/Atlus instead of ABK, put the fear of God into game development teams to deliver or find a new job, ditch the XSS and go for both the high and low end of the market with 2 new consoles.

So, what would you do, and for whom?

 

[Hinedorf]

The fix is really easy and they were on the direct path to do so. Microsoft needs to buy companies that make the best games. Make Fromsoft and Blizzard exclusives and you'd win the war, it's that fucking simple.

Sony is NOT winning right now, they're just not losing and in a holding pattern. Microsoft at least made some roads to buying activision which making them exclusives would most certainly change the tides for consumers but even that is being fucked up.

No company in the world has more clout than Blizzard and From soft. Fucking make them exclusive.

 

[LtGoose]

I'd sell Sony's gaming division to Microsoft, merge Nintendo with Microsoft and fire everyone besides Phil Spencer.

Spoiler: Actual Answer

Personally fire every single person at 343 Studios and Livestream their office being burned to the ground. Announce every single Xbox studio will be directed to provide support on remaking Halo 3. No other games will be released until that project is complete

 

[Franky Family]

The fix would not be easy at all. But the answer is getting one's hands dirty and doing everything possible to get studios on board and better developers to start creating some enjoyable games

Xbox has published Psychonauts 2, Halo Infinite, and what, a racing game in the past 13 years? They couldn't pay me enough to take on a position that fully involved turning their gaming division into something worthwhile again for the first time in well over a decade. That company is doomed for another 10 tbh

 

[Stilton Disco]

The fix is really easy and they were on the direct path to do so. Microsoft needs to buy companies that make the best games. Make Fromsoft and Blizzard exclusives and you'd win the war, it's that fucking simple.

Sony is NOT winning right now, they're just not losing and in a holding pattern. Microsoft at least made some roads to buying activision which making them exclusives would most certainly change the tides for consumers but even that is being fucked up.

No company in the world has more clout than Blizzard and From soft. Fucking make them exclusive.

They are massively paying over the odds for ABK.

ABK made an average of 2billion in profit a year over the last 4 years, so that 70 billion being paid for them is going to take 35 years to make back, assuming those lockdown and gambling driven sales continue, which is a big assumption. It's a bad deal quite honestly, so even if I was actively trying to fuck everyone else in gaming over for mynown gain, it'd be a bad way to go about it.

From Soft is a great gamer favourite, and would be a great feather in Xbox's poachers cap, but lacks IP's and studios.

No, if ai had the cash I'd go for Sega. Huge library of IP's, aatlus gives you an instant in to the Asian Market, and you can get some Nintendo like 'member berries out of the west, all for way less than ABK.

 

[Neil Young]

Good suggestions from everyone. For Xbox, I would also aquire Sega, make every current studio watch how they are able to crank out games and try to emulate them.

The problem is, I really do think MS is fully on board with the ESG shit. I think diversity plays a more important role than quality. Crunch time has been replaced with safe spaces. I could be wrong but there has to be some reasons for what the hell is going on. So yeah, Id also gut it and have Office Space meetings with current employees.

 

[HE1NZ]

I'd buy EA instead of Activision.

 

[Grinchy]

If I did it for Nintendo, I'd just let our company take a little hit on hardware and make a damn near current gen tech console that could get ports of all the 3rd party games.

But it's really just a greedy desire to have better looking Nintendo games. What they are able to do visually with art to overcome their hardware shortcomings is impressive, so if they didn't have those shortcomings...

 

[gameragodzilla]

All I'd do is just do a full audit of every game company under the Xbox division right now, find out what they're working on, cancel anything like Redfall, and also change management policies to stop relying so heavily on contractors and live service. Just make single, complete games from the start and release them when they're finished. This would be something all games companies should do.

Thing is, whether I could do that with shareholders breathing down my neck all wanting that sweet GaaS money, I'm not sure. There's only so much one person can do.

 

[Nintex]

I'd fire Phil Spencer. Get a creative team at Xbox with an actual vision and focus on pumping out projects that can be made within 2 or 3 years of development time (Banjo, Wolfenstein III, DOOM sequel, PGR etc.).
(so that if you buy an Xbox Series X for games, you actually get some actual video games). I'd also fund games that no one wants to touch and used to be part of the 'cool' Xbox brand in the past like Dead or Alive or Ninja Gaiden. Hell, throw in a Need for Speed Underground 2 remaster.

Xbox isn't a place where 'everyone can play' because if you appeal to everyone you appeal to no one (as is happening now). , Xbox is the place where the cool kids play.

 

[LtGoose]

I'd fire Phil Spencer.

 

[Kadayi]

Definitely abandon the A/B Acquisition. That is an absolute waste of money given how little Kotick has leveraged the entirety of Activision IP and how few irons he has active in the fire. EA or Ubisoft would make more sense if they were looking for a big brand, or just buy a bunch of IP & Studios up from Embracer who would be happy to sell.

 

[teezzy]

Id bring back Blinx

 

[Nintex]

The worst part about this whole debacle at Xbox is the bait and switch. They sold us this $499 gaming box because it would have real good hardcore games this time, (pinky swear) and it would be the most powerful console on the market again. And they dropped logo's and trailers for Perfect Dark, Fable and more and hyped this return to form for HALO as they bought all these studios to develop new core games. To 'reward' gamers they gave them GamePass, so next to the AAAA+ games you buy, there would be 'free' B-tier games and a back catalog of games to play.

A couple years in they completely abandon the bc program for no good reason, despite the fact that it was awesome. They abandon the idea to bring back old classics like Perfect Dark, Banjo etc. in favor of new projects and then they tell us that shit will take 5 or 6 years to develop (in other words, most of these projects won't be released until Xbox is either sold or dead and buried as an app on your TV). Also, they just stop doing quality control because they dump their shit on GamePass anyway. As the cherry on top, they now also drop what they were able to consistently deliver in the past (Forza Horizon, Gears of War, HALO). Even something like Avowed that was unveiled as a gritty almost souls-like first person dungeon crawler gets 'rebranded' into 'something for everyone'.

If they told us from the get go this was the plan, most of us on the Xbox/Nintendo combo would've probably picked up the PS5 instead but now we're in too deep and the resell value of Xbox in Europe is zilch.
So you kind of have to keep buying the inferior versions of Capcom games while missing out on Square Enix games listening to Phil Spencer yapping about making games for everyone, how they actually 'lost' already because of the Xbox One and that the Xbox performance being underwhelming is not the feedback he hears from the market. So instead they drop an Xbox Series S with more storage for $349, even though these things don't sell at $199. I think a lot of Xbox fans currently in denial will finally wake up once they realize that there is no Xbox equivalent of the PS5 Pro.

 

[Yawnson]

343 Industries

Official site for 343 Industries, guardians of the Halo franchise.

www.343industries.com

Amy P. - Royal Leamington Spa, England, United Kingdom | Professional Profile | LinkedIn

Experience: The Coalition Studio · Education: Purdue University · Location: Royal Leamington Spa · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. View Amy P.’s profile on LinkedIn, a professional community of 1 billion members.

ca.linkedin.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsey-mcqueeney-7868977/

Stop hiring people who look and sound like the marketing manager for bud light

 

[DonDonDonPata]

the purpose of first party studios is to set the quality standard for the system and to sell the system's features

Microsoft needs to stick with a strategy — cloud powah, seasonal subscription content, whatever — and pump out first party games that best demonstrate that direction. Halo with more frequent seasons that Fortnite. Minecraft 2 MMO. Gears of War with 100 player horde mode. Really juice the features that your brand is known for.

Microsoft's problem is they keep assuming the die hard fans will stick around while focusing on them less and less.

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

Scorched earth.

 

[Erdrick]

Close their console business and fuck off. I prefer competition, not just buying studios wholesale because that was your longterm goal to begin with.

Christ, I miss Sega in the console market.

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

The fix is really easy and they were on the direct path to do so. Microsoft needs to buy companies that make the best games. Make Fromsoft and Blizzard exclusives and you'd win the war, it's that fucking simple.

Sony is NOT winning right now, they're just not losing and in a holding pattern. Microsoft at least made some roads to buying activision which making them exclusives would most certainly change the tides for consumers but even that is being fucked up.

No company in the world has more clout than Blizzard and From soft. Fucking make them exclusive.

Is this satire

 

[Mickmrly]

I think that Microsoft should go third party like Sega to be honest. They have no clear direction, they can't release games at a reasonable quality within a reasonable time and there are just not enough reasons to own an Xbox console at the moment.

Once they go third party, they should start trying to push ports of their games onto the Switch/it's successor as there isn't as much distaste of Microsoft from Nintendo fans as there is from Sony fans. They have both Xbox games and some PC games they can try and push to new systems, if Age of Empires 2 can work on a PS2 it can work on the Switch.
Then to help them find some direction, they should focus on being as competent at porting games as they possibly can be. They could either buy panic button or try to emulate them as much as possible.
Finally they can continue selling their controllers on other systems like PC or the Switch, or even the PS5 if fans want it. While the buttons will be different, I do like the bigger designs of the Xbox controllers.

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

The worst part about this whole debacle at Xbox is the bait and switch. They sold us this $499 gaming box because it would have real good hardcore games this time, (pinky swear) and it would be the most powerful console on the market again. And they dropped logo's and trailers for Perfect Dark, Fable and more and hyped this return to form for HALO as they bought all these studios to develop new core games. To 'reward' gamers they gave them GamePass, so next to the AAAA+ games you buy, there would be 'free' B-tier games and a back catalog of games to play.

A couple years in they completely abandon the bc program for no good reason, despite the fact that it was awesome. They abandon the idea to bring back old classics like Perfect Dark, Banjo etc. in favor of new projects and then they tell us that shit will take 5 or 6 years to develop (in other words, most of these projects won't be released until Xbox is either sold or dead and buried as an app on your TV). Also, they just stop doing quality control because they dump their shit on GamePass anyway. As the cherry on top, they now also drop what they were able to consistently deliver in the past (Forza Horizon, Gears of War, HALO). Even something like Avowed that was unveiled as a gritty almost souls-like first person dungeon crawler gets 'rebranded' into 'something for everyone'.

If they told us from the get go this was the plan, most of us on the Xbox/Nintendo combo would've probably picked up the PS5 instead but now we're in too deep and the resell value of Xbox in Europe is zilch.
So you kind of have to keep buying the inferior versions of Capcom games while missing out on Square Enix games listening to Phil Spencer yapping about making games for everyone, how they actually 'lost' already because of the Xbox One and that the Xbox performance being underwhelming is not the feedback he hears from the market. So instead they drop an Xbox Series S with more storage for $349, even though these things don't sell at $199. I think a lot of Xbox fans currently in denial will finally wake up once they realize that there is no Xbox equivalent of the PS5 Pro.

Four posts in and this dude crushes it. This essentially sums up everything I feel about Microsoft these days and it's unfortunate, but the reality is...they're a complete shitshow. I especially agree with the backwards compatibility thing, what a fuckin bone headed move man. Gamepass used to be quite decent, it's now a husk of its former self. A dumping ground for nonsense. Subscription ran out last fall and I didn't renew and well, I don't feel as if I'm missing anything.

But whatever, make your stupid decisions, fuck over your fans or whatever, who cares, I have a ps5, a switch or pc to keep me busy if I so desire. The one thing that kinda really irritates me though is the buying up of all those companies over the years. For fucks sake man, they bought up ID, Rare, Bethesda and on and on and they're just squandering it. They're hoarding these companies that traditionally would've released most of their games multiplatform and instead you've got to invest in their shithole ecosystem in order to play. Wack.

At this point the Xbox comes off as a rich kids vanity project that daddy keeps pumping shitloads of money into cause hey, he has endless funds! Hard work, perseverance, excellent management and listening to fans in order to grow and expand the brand means nothing when daddy Microsoft can just vomit blank checks all over the place to just buy everything up.

I think I'm done with Microsoft tbh, as I get older I have less and less time to be rocking videogames so you better be doing something well to keep my attention and take my money. Microsoft is a shitshow and I've got other things to do then waste time and money on this nonsense.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

ITT: Reasons why none of you are CEOs.

Xbox is on the right path. They have a long-term vision and it's slowly but surely coming together. They will be market leaders by the end of this decade, mark my words

 

[zebraStraw]

MS could have used that 70 billion to make COD exclusive for a decade instead.

I really wish MS would focus on fixing their operating system more than anything tbh. Both Sony and MS have boring exclusives anyway IMO. I'm hoping PD doesn't turn out to be a Hitman clone, but other than that, there isn't anything coming to xbox that I am excited about.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

ITT: Reasons why none of you are CEOs.

Xbox is on the right path. They have a long-term vision and it's slowly but surely coming together. They will be market leaders by the end of this decade, mark my words

Market leaders because we all like what they're offering, or market leaders because they bought out or squeezed out the competition?

 

[Yawnson]

MS could have used that 70 billion to make COD exclusive for a decade instead.

I really wish MS would focus on fixing their operating system more than anything tbh. Both Sony and MS have boring exclusives anyway IMO. I'm hoping PD doesn't turn out to be a Hitman clone, but other than that, there isn't anything coming to xbox that I am excited about.

Agreed on this, Sonys cinematic exclusives get kinda boring since they're so safe, would love a return to the days of stuff like Siren, Twisted Metal, and Crash along with the cinematic games.

Xbox just needs to fix Halo and Gears they got so far on the quality of those exclusives during the 360 era.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

I don't have any idea, to be honest. I feel like I have been out of the gaming loop since 2012, which has been the last great year of gaming to me. After that it felt like it was only sequels of consoles and games to me.

That said, what Sony is doing feels equally bad to me. It's just that their crap seems to be more attractive to a lot of people.

(anecdotal thing here I have to add: I have a friend is still a good bit into gaming, who owns a PS5 and a XSS, and he said he liked the Xbox games show a whole lot more than the PS one. No idea, I felt both of them boring to be honest. lol)

 

[Franky Family]

ITT: Reasons why none of you are CEOs.

Xbox is on the right path. They have a long-term vision and it's slowly but surely coming together. They will be market leaders by the end of this decade, mark my words

We haven't had a Banjo-Kazooie game in like 15 years bro

 

[Stilton Disco]

While most in here are making great points (or are fucking hilarious like @Bernd Lauert), I didn't intend this to be a dog piling of Xbox, so here's jow I'd fix Playstation...

First, feed Jim Ryan feet first into a wood chipper.

Now in many ways I feel leaving it there would be enough, but let's not take any chances.

First of all, PSVR2 needs a price cut and a change of direction. Whatever the slimmest margin we could get on it, then taking it lower by offering bundles with 12 and 24 month PS+ subscriptions.

Next, announce and fast track a new Playstation Home for PSVR. Get Media Molecule involved to incorporate Dreamz content creation, and announce that all Sony Pictures movies from now on will be available to view for free, day one, in a virtual Cinema in Home VR, for all riders of PS+ subscribers. Alongside this, Sony music artists will be creating Virtually Live shows within Home VR, with exclusive sets and even debuting new songs before anywhere else through the title.

After that, every first person game coming to Playstation will be offered financial assistance to bring their game to PSVR, with a 1 year platform exclusivity deal. Keep first party studios making smaller games for it, and open a new studio to make 'AAA' titles for it.

I still think VR is going to never take off, but that's the best idea I can think of to keep it healthy and sustainable.

Next, cancel that Q gamepad abomination and apologise for it. Announce PS5 Portable, a proper handheld that will be playing everything the PS5 can, at up to 720p 60fps. Make an optional Dock to charge with HDMI out and an SSD slot. Heavily market in Asia alongside a host of Japanese exclusive colour variants, make marketting deals with Japanese Studios to ensure that market is properly catered to again.

For first party studios, set all big cinematic games to be planned as trilogies from the get go, so there's a definite end point for them. Get some different generosity catered to, return to weird experimental B tier games, open more studios, and basically return to the late PS3/PS4 status quo.

Other than that, knock the PC ports on the head, concentrate on quality and catering to as wider set of tastes as possible, and keep going as is otherwise.

But mostly Jim Ryan buried in the foundations of a building somewhere.

 

[teezzy]

Close their console business and fuck off. I prefer competition, not just buying studios wholesale because that was your longterm goal to begin with.

Christ, I miss Sega in the console market.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Market leaders because we all like what they're offering, or market leaders because they bought out or squeezed out the competition?

A little bit of both. A lot of people genuinely like Gamepass and even streaming. The latter crowd will grow over the years, especially when unlimited 5G becomes ubiquitous. Games are also happening, 23 + X studios will have good output.

Buying up studios and publishers will more directly let them grow their market share, of course. ABK alone would push them very close to Playstation in terms of revenue. Is this basically cheating? Yeah. Do I care? Not really.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

A little bit of both. A lot of people genuinely like Gamepass and even streaming. The latter crowd will grow over the years, especially when unlimited 5G becomes ubiquitous. Games are also happening, 23 + X studios will have good output.

Buying up studios and publishers will more directly let them grow their market share, of course. ABK alone would push them very close to Playstation in terms of revenue. Is this basically cheating? Yeah. Do I care? Not really.

why don't you care if a company gains customers by simply buying the things they were already buying? Generally I'd like a videogame company to add to the hobby, not just apply different Business Models and Revenue Streams to the same stuff I was already playing.

What Microsoft is doing isn't unique to videogaming. Lots of tech companies are vacuuming up smaller companies to eat up their innovative products. It doesn't magically lead to more innovation, it's a defense measure that is usually done when there's a complete lack of innovation.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

why don't you care if a company gains customers by simply buying the things they were already buying? Generally I'd like a videogame company to add to the hobby, not just apply different Business Models and Revenue Streams to the same stuff I was already playing.

What Microsoft is doing isn't unique to videogaming. Lots of tech companies are vacuuming up smaller companies to eat up their innovative products. It doesn't magically lead to more innovation, it's a defense measure that is usually done when there's a complete lack of innovation.

It's good for me as an Xbox consoomer (and frankly, all consoomers, judging by the deals Microsoft is doing with all these companies) and I don't think it's bad for the industry. ABK will keep operating as a mostly seperate entity, so nothing changes in that regard.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

It's good for me as an Xbox consoomer (and frankly, all consoomers, judging by the deals Microsoft is doing with all these companies) and I don't think it's bad for the industry. ABK will keep operating as a mostly seperate entity, so nothing changes in that regard.

I won't expound on why I think subscriptions are bad for the quality of a given entertainment medium, I'll just point to MMOs, to free-to-play, and to Netflix subscription nosedives as my evidence.

 

[Stilton Disco]

It's good for me as an Xbox consoomer (and frankly, all consoomers, judging by the deals Microsoft is doing with all these companies) and I don't think it's bad for the industry. ABK will keep operating as a mostly seperate entity, so nothing changes in that regard.

The fact rhat you're describing yourself as a 'consumer' instead of a customer speaks volumes about your mindset.

And as a customer, you infact gain nothing, because you were already getting all of these multiplatform games anyway.

The only difference will be that you get more games on Gamepass, while most people in our hobby who play these games on consoles will lose access to them.

And to get those games on Gamepass, Xbox would have paid massively over the odds for ABK, which will inevitably mean that A) Gamepass will have to go up in price, as all streaming services do over time anyway as the costs don't remain static, so this will exacerbate that, that games will be under greater pressure to recoup costs, have mainstream, safe design for as wide of an appeal as possible, and more aggressively exploit whales with microtransactions, season passes and iterative designs to keep overheads low, and B) there will be far more pressure on both the Xbox studios and Division as a whole to see success by the wider MS management, leading to lower approval for risk taking and far greater potential for the entire division to be shut down, if there's not a significant reversal of fortunes.

All this is also betting heavily on Subscriptions and Cloud Gaming taking off in a way that only works on paper and has not been in any way embraced by the majority of games. Cloud gaming in particular just physically cannot work due to the laws of physics, and is widely met with contempt by the majority of players, bit subscription services across the board are struggling as the global economy starts to free fall, due to wider issues beyond gaming that aren't going to be fixed for decades to come.

I appreciate you're just an enthusiastic fan, that you genuinely think this will be great for Xbox, and thus great for you but, and I'm trying not to be rude here, I really am, it just comes across as naive at best, and kind of sad and pathetic at worst.

I read your posts and cant help but see that you've allowed yourself to identify with a corporate brand, to base your opinions and place genuine emotional investment on a product, and see anything that the makers of that product does as good for you, because it has to succeed to justify your purchase and thus your also justify your own worth.

I'm hoping you're just a kid, and that this is the same kind of dumb shit we all, myself included, did when we were young and still working out our own identities, but the arguments and cringey fanboyism you're posing don't just fail to convince others, they actively undermine your own argument, because they're so brazenly biased and irrational.

 

[regawdless]

Xbox?

I can fix her.

 

[Nintex]

ITT: Reasons why none of you are CEOs.

Xbox is on the right path. They have a long-term vision and it's slowly but surely coming together. They will be market leaders by the end of this decade, mark my words

This could actually work if they didn't change direction every 2 or 3 years to chase trends. They'll probably drop whatever they've announced at this Xbox Showcase next year and replace it with Xbox AI stuff or whatever else Microsofts corporate masters want to push. Remember they went from Dead or Alive 4 to Gears of War to Star Wars Kinect to literal pedo game to Killer Instinct to Quantum Break to Minecraft to HALO Infinite to Starfield to soyface mcFable.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

I won't expound on why I think subscriptions are bad for the quality of a given entertainment medium, I'll just point to MMOs, to free-to-play, and to Netflix subscription nosedives as my evidence.

While there certainly is incentive to build games around the business model, ultimately Microsoft has to offer something to everyone if they want to reach 100m subscribers (rumored internal long term goal). If they only do GaaS, they lose. And I think they know that.

The fact rhat you're describing yourself as a 'consumer' instead of a customer speaks volumes about your mindset.

Yeah, I don't particularly care about how I become an end user. The means are not really important.

And as a customer, you infact gain nothing, because you were already getting all of these multiplatform games anyway.

The only difference will be that you get more games on Gamepass

That's a huge difference imo.

while most people in our hobby who play these games on consoles will lose access to them.

Depends on the games. The most popular games will stay multiplatform. Also, console-only core gamers usually praise exclusivity, so how can that be a negative?

And to get those games on Gamepass, Xbox would have paid massively over the odds for ABK

This is not true, the premium on the stock price was pretty standard.

which will inevitably mean that A) Gamepass will have to go up in price, as all streaming services do over time anyway as the costs don't remain static

Yeah, inflation is a thing. Gamepass can't stay 10 bucks a month for the rest of the century.

that games will be under greater pressure to recoup costs

Doubtful. There's more pressure when your only income avenue is selling copies for 70 dollars a piece, imo.

have mainstream, safe design for as wide of an appeal as possible

And this is somehow not the case with selling copies? Just look at Playstation, most of their games are cookie cutter to the extreme. Meanwhile, I played a lot of obscure stuff on Gamepass. I assume I'll be able to keep doing that in the future.

and more aggressively exploit whales with microtransactions, season passes and iterative designs to keep overheads low

All of this has been already happening for the past decade. Not sure how Gamepass is the culprit here.

and B) there will be far more pressure on both the Xbox studios and Division as a whole to see success by the wider MS management, leading to lower approval for risk taking and far greater potential for the entire division to be shut down, if there's not a significant reversal of fortunes.

True, Satya will want to see a return on all that investment at some point. But he's not shutting down anything unless Xbox is a total disaster, and Xbox is currently doing well with the potential to do much better.

All this is also betting heavily on Subscriptions and Cloud Gaming taking off in a way that only works on paper and has not been in any way embraced by the majority of games.

Yes, that's the differentiation factor. Gamepass seems to be doing fine, cloud is still a bit of a wild card though.

Cloud gaming in particular just physically cannot work due to the laws of physics

This is strictly false. Cloud latency is generally lower than local console latency. I bet you didn't know that, which means you never even noticed the latency on your console. Bodes well for cloud latency.

and is widely met with contempt by the majority of players

Only when it doesn't work well. Technology will likely sufficiently evolve to provide a good service in the near future.

bit subscription services across the board are struggling as the global economy starts to free fall, due to wider issues beyond gaming that aren't going to be fixed for decades to come.

How are subscription services struggling in this scenario, but selling games for 70 bucks a pop is not?

I appreciate you're just an enthusiastic fan, that you genuinely think this will be great for Xbox, and thus great for you but, and I'm trying not to be rude here, I really am, it just comes across as naive at best, and kind of sad and pathetic at worst.

I'm not even a mid-tier fan. I just like the vision and think it will work.

I read your posts and cant help but see that you've allowed yourself to identify with a corporate brand

This is false.

to base your opinions and place genuine emotional investment on a product

I have very little emotional investment in Xbox. If it doesn't work out, I'll go back to PC.

and see anything that the makers of that product does as good for you

That's false. If they pivot to some nonsense business model, I'm gone.

because it has to succeed to justify your purchase and thus your also justify your own worth.

I got plenty of my money's worth already. It was a thoroughly successful purchase on my side.

I'm hoping you're just a kid, and that this is the same kind of dumb shit we all, myself included, did when we were young and still working out our own identities, but the arguments and cringey fanboyism you're posing don't just fail to convince others, they actively undermine your own argument, because they're so brazenly biased and irrational.

Feel free to refute my arguments if you can. So far it's mostly been "old man yells at cloud". I'm not trying to convince anyone by the way. You don't have to like Xbox' vision, it's not for everyone.

This could actually work if they didn't change direction every 2 or 3 years to chase trends. They'll probably drop whatever they've announced at this Xbox Showcase next year and replace it with Xbox AI stuff or whatever else Microsofts corporate masters want to push. Remember they went from Dead or Alive 4 to Gears of War to Star Wars Kinect to literal pedo game to Killer Instinct to Quantum Break to Minecraft to HALO Infinite to Starfield to soyface mcFable.

I think Satya and Phil are laser-focused on the vision. They'll only pivot if it thoroughly fails, and I don't see that happening anytime soon. Xbox might've been aimless in the past, I don't know much about that because I've only been a fan since 2020.

 

[Chozofication]

I would do a lot. I would stop putting all games on PC, drastically reduce team size and stop buying everything in sight just because I can. I'd seek out a lot of old talent and try to form less bloated, smaller teams and try to make breakout hits that aren't just chasing trends. I don't know shit about making games, but I know teams are way over bloated based on, duh, but also what devs themselves have said.

Oh and probably not let trans deer people make Fable, but w/e.

 

[Stilton Disco]

While there certainly is incentive to build games around the business model, ultimately Microsoft has to offer something to everyone if they want to reach 100m subscribers (rumored internal long term goal). If they only do GaaS, they lose. And I think they know that.

Yeah, I don't particularly care about how I become an end user. The means are not really important.

That's a huge difference imo.

Depends on the games. The most popular games will stay multiplatform. Also, console-only core gamers usually praise exclusivity, so how can that be a negative?

This is not true, the premium on the stock price was pretty standard.

Yeah, inflation is a thing. Gamepass can't stay 10 bucks a month for the rest of the century.

Doubtful. There's more pressure when your only income avenue is selling copies for 70 dollars a piece, imo.

And this is somehow not the case with selling copies? Just look at Playstation, most of their games are cookie cutter to the extreme. Meanwhile, I played a lot of obscure stuff on Gamepass. I assume I'll be able to keep doing that in the future.

All of this has been already happening for the past decade. Not sure how Gamepass is the culprit here.

True, Satya will want to see a return on all that investment at some point. But he's not shutting down anything unless Xbox is a total disaster, and Xbox is currently doing well with the potential to do much better.

Yes, that's the differentiation factor. Gamepass seems to be doing fine, cloud is still a bit of a wild card though.

This is strictly false. Cloud latency is generally lower than local console latency. I bet you didn't know that, which means you never even noticed the latency on your console. Bodes well for cloud latency.

Only when it doesn't work well. Technology will likely sufficiently evolve to provide a good service in the near future.

How are subscription services struggling in this scenario, but selling games for 70 bucks a pop is not?

I'm not even a mid-tier fan. I just like the vision and think it will work.

This is false.

I have very little emotional investment in Xbox. If it doesn't work out, I'll go back to PC.

That's false. If they pivot to some nonsense business model, I'm gone.

I got plenty of my money's worth already. It was a thoroughly successful purchase on my side.

Feel free to refute my arguments if you can. So far it's mostly been "old man yells at cloud". I'm not trying to convince anyone by the way. You don't have to like Xbox' vision, it's not for everyone.

I think Satya and Phil are laser-focused on the vision. They'll only pivot if it thoroughly fails, and I don't see that happening anytime soon. Xbox might've been aimless in the past, I don't know much about that because I've only been a fan since 2020.

OK.

 

[teezzy]

My man @Bernd Lauert fighting the good fight

Bless you