Anything is a rumour, if you start it yourself.
Could we see ABK games added today? Sure. Will we see ABK games added today? Probably not.
If I was MS, I’d do the regular Game Pass drop today and save ABK as a bonus for another day.
You can read whatever you want into the “over the coming months” statement. Over the coming months is starting now and continuing for several months. Personally, I think some games will be added soon, but the big ones probably not until 2024 due to contracts, etc.
They need to put Crash Rumble ASAP on gamepass
Sega acquisition would be around the Bethesda level and since it’s always based on the cost/price of the acquisition, I don’t think it would take more than 6 months for it to be approved. Microsoft is also non-existent in Japan so acquiring a Japanese publisher who’s popular in Japan would be very helpful.
Game exclusivity wise, in all honesty, I don’t believe that any single IP outside of Grand Theft Auto would be considered big enough to remain multi-platform. Sega’s biggest IP is probably Persona but when you get a single game every 5+ years, it’s not going to be considered big enough to keep multi-platform.
At best/most, I can see maybe a Guitar Hero be multi-platform because I think it’s going to be some lind of live service game where they add to it over time and need the player base. Plus, I don’t think it would be a graphically demanding game so could probably run natively on Switch 2.
The meeting people elsewhere is via what’s already there or set to be there like COD for the next decade or for possible remasters and stuff. I just don’t see Microsoft spending all this money on acquisitions and with their business model being all about Game Pass that they just decide to spend more money developing versions for Sony and Nintendo. I just don’t see it. At most, a remaster or a lone exception like Guitar Hero I could see being multi-platform but the next Spyro or Crash or Diablo V in a decade from now. Nah.
The sales potential doesn’t matter to Microsoft anymore like it used to. It’s why they went in a subscription based business model. They want and prefer the consumer to be subscribed as opposed to buying the games outright which they get on PC via Steam and Epic Game Store anyway for those who don’t want to use the Windows Store.
We’ll see what happens but going exclusive is the best bet, more likely scenario and while there will be people who bitch about it, that’s all they’ve done anyway for the last 3+ years and it’s not going to change so no reason for Microsoft to be worried or concerned about them. And making games multi-platform would cause far bigger issues because look at it now, with Bethesda, it’s still, will this game be exclusive or not? Imagine having a few multi-platform AB games. These questions would never end and granted, they probably wouldn’t end anyway since the gaming industry and gaming media is so heavily favored towards Sony and PlayStation but it’s not about any of them.
It’s about the Xbox fan base and consumers. It’s about the Xbox platform and eco-system. And most of all, it’s about Game Pass. I’m not expecting any of those older COD games to go on PlayStation at all and they don’t have PS3 BC anyway so it’s an easy decision. Like Bethesda, Microsoft won’t remove or break contracts but anything new, I see being fully exclusive excluding maybe something like Guitar Hero.
Blizzard’s survival game which will most do great on PC more than both Xbox and PlayStation combined will be exclusive and that COD RPG or whatever it is from Infinity Ward will be exclusive. No reason to give Sony anything when they’ve never ever given Microsoft anything and continue to take games away from Xbox which is far worse than acquiring a development studio or publisher because they don’t own any of what they take away, they barely fund any of them and yet, the reap the benefits and rewards while getting praised for it all. It’s time for Microsoft like with Bethesda to stop being “the nice guy” because like the saying goes, nice guys finish last which is 100% true.
Ill repeat this for the 50th time
Lets get a 60fps patch for crash team racing please.
Need to fix the game first.
Too much seems to be changing before their eyes and adjusting is a pain. It really is just the pangs of change. IGN for example seems to have been on a tirade probably I think for fear of losing business from Xbox as there hasn’t been any IGN first or anything like that from Xbox and even the bobby Kotick thing went to Jez. What some of these sites feared might have just happened. Their relevance is now at stake especially if Xbox begins to focus their messaging through different new sites like the Verge or windows central.
True, though I think this discovery was much needed as it revealed to us some of these regulatory agencies need some form of restructure before they can be capable of regulating. It’s good to hear the UK may be increasing the appeal powers which I think encourage more open dialogue that is benefitting.
Hoeg in todays podcast said it would make more sense to MS to integrate ABK to their teams as soon as possible in order to make the FTC as harder as possible. Once ABK is integrated, divesture becomes more difficult to succed but obviously with how big ABK is that wouldnt be easy. Lets see what MS do.
Didn’t Phil in court promise they would be held separate?
The same as Bethesda yes, dont quite remember exactly Hoeg’s words but he said something along the lines of my post.
The structure of Microsoft Gaming - notice that Phil signed as Microsoft Gaming CEO last week - as defined 18 months ago implies that ABK stays separate.
divesture forced by the FTC is not a realistic threat to this acquisition regardless of MS releasing ABK games on gamepass or not.
Don’t see a big integration of ABK’s studios into Xbox with or without the FTC pursuing the case against the acquisition. Microsoft seem to have been letting the companies they’ve aquired under satya nadella stay fairly seperate with the main focus being in growing the businesses and giving them access to Microsoft’s help in things like AI and the cloud. They’ve done that with Mojang, github, LinkedIn and even zenimax.
Microsoft wants to grow PC Game Pass so making that segment feel like a first class customer will hold things up. That’s a ton of games that need Windows Store versions.
Theres a rumor going around that some ABK games will drop on GamePass on Tuesday. Any merit to this ?
No one knows. Genuinely. I would expect nothing, so you can be surprised. It depends on what they had planned to drop this week already.
It seems unlikely.
My guess is they will want to put ABK games in, in batches and maybe want more fanfare than the standard Tuesday release.
They also have only had two working days together and added to that their wording suggested we’d have to wait a while as did Phil’s comments pre acquisition.
Possible I guess that one or two go in today or in the next week just as a starter…,a sort of tempter…
Once they start adding older CoD I will be checking out those zombie maps.
I’ve skipped so many CoDs over the years. BO1 and MW2 were the last ones for 360 I bought and Advanced Warfare and MW2 last year the only ones for One/XSX.
I missed a lot of zombies.
Excellent piece. Yes, it’s basically just a bunch of prognostication, speculation, and sometimes hand-wringing by people with various ties to the industry, but I found it a compelling and sometimes insightful read.
Thanks for posting.