A major well done licensed game that appeals to the masses will still sell copies outside of Gamepass to those unsubscribed.
What you have with Gamepass is a different beast. If 10m people sign upto gamepass and remain signed up for 12 months, Microsoft have made $1.8b in extra revenue, which is entirely feasible considering the lineup of titles in a few years.
I can’t think of any other genre of game outside of motor racing (Forza, Gran Turismo) that is contractually unable to be sold after a set period of time.
Like I said, I can believe this with third party games that are temporary stays in GP.
I do not believe that with first party games that users know will never leave the service.
Gears 5 selling more than Gears 4 is not proof of anything. The console instal base is higher later in a generation, and Gears 5 came to Steam.
Are you seriously suggesting that Gears 5 extra sales were all to Game Pass subscribers desperate to buy something they could play “for free” and they are always going to be able to play “for free” as long as they subscribe to GP?
Yeah I get the strategy of Game Pass. It is a game of scale. The subscriber base revenue will end up exceeding the cost of all AAA development handsomely. They aren’t there yet, but if they keep building a must-have library, it will.
My point was that if licencing a movie/comic property meant it couldn’t stay in GP forever, it’s a considerably less attractive proposition for MS.
It was an ‘if’ though – I don’t know this would be the case and it might not be. Just saying if it was, I could understand why MS did not think these sorts of deals were a fit to their strategy.
Look the answer is no. The thing is that there are relatively few ways to drive huge mainstream hype from a CGI or just a teaser trailer. To do that you either need longstanding and beloved gaming IP OR very popular non gaming IP.
Marvel is currently very popular non gaming IP. So without showing anything a Marvel game generates hype.
You can pick other non superhero IP and do the same if its current and popular. Contraband is a good example of new IP with little shown - there isn’t much hype because as yet nobody really knows what it is. But could well be a gem. But say ‘hey we’re making an X-men game’ everyone is excited (assuming they love X-men).
And I think that’s why just a superhero game isn’t really something to be worried about UNLESS you can pick or predict the next really hot thing or grab a slice of an existing hot thing. I’ve said elsewhere I doubt Superman really cuts through anymore. Yet if someone had timed it right and got in early a GoT action adventure game in the style of Assassins Creed would have done gangbusters (at the right time before the last series).
That’s why licensing IP is not just a slam dunk. You need the right timing, a good studio and a good game. And we’ve all explained why this is harder for Xbox as their cost of entry will be far higher, far far higher than Sonys.
The final word is exactly this - and I think both you and OBM are saying the same thing. Get a superhero game only if the dev wants a superhero game.
The addendum that I want to add that supports your cause is this - GET a dev who wants to do a superhero game and has the talent to do justice with it – like a Rocksteady.
Don’t need to needlessly pigeonhole the range of games too. If the portfolio is to be diversified due to a superhero game, so be it. But instead of forcing it, do it ‘organically’ like Jim Ryan. LOL
The lore with 50-70 years of comics deep enough for a superhero genre, obm.
Like your video said - there are two angles to it: 1. A dev who is motivated to do a licensed IP, and 2. who has the creative angle to bring it to everyone in the most unique way (like how Rocksteady and Insomniac did it)
It helps with the portfolio in general. Xbox does not need to do it as a response to Sony. They just need to do it from a portfolio completion perspective. Stickiness and longevity are orthogonal factors for the IP and can apply to any given IP - not just superhero games.
There is a third angle that is fairly understated though - the story cannot be run of the mill here as Avengers team is discovering. If you are doing any of these comic book IPs, there are less taken branches here that can be taken. Insomniac may be given a pass for following similar story lines that everyone is aware of – in Marvel, but not everyone is going to be that blessed. Rocksteady had to take a radical step to reinvent the genre.
Given the limelight that superheroes have been thrusted into since the Iron Man movie, the story has to be something that can linger beyond the gameplay, and have its own identity beyond the MCU and DCEU.
Need is a strong word, with all the games in development now including new IP i don’t know it it needs a superhero perse .
But that being said, would it be great and make Xbox even better and more promising than it already is? Hell yes. If they can find a good studio to hire or maybe in a few years a Xbox studio to take on a Marvel or DC hero, preferably Marvel, although Spawn could be fucking awesome too, but he’s not exactly Marvel nor DC, right? I didn’t know so I Googled it and no clear answer really.
But it has to make sense and Insomniac making Spidey after the games they made to me made sense, I get why they get to make Wolverine.
No, at some point this super hero fad will die down but right now and for the past decade it has over whelmed movies and every other piece of media.
I do not want an endless stream of super hero games taking away devs/resources from other types of games.
In short can’t wait for the world to move on and we get better variety in movies and TV instead of a constant barrage of super hero media.
Normally I do not care about media/genres I have no interest in but this super hero fad for the last 15 years has sucked out all the resources/directors/actors/writers from movies and TV and left a huge gap where we used to get a larger variety of media.
Super heros that have been a part of pop culture since their inception are a fad? We can debate the quality of the movies all we can and how the mcu is overrated cookie cutter movies but the genre isnt a fad lol. People love the characters, comics and stories.
Xbox has enough super heroes, no need for some Marvel trash. What Xbox needs are good games with heroes like John 117 or Terry Crews. At least we got one recently with Raz. Phil and Co. should continue on this path
I’d rather a game set in the Star Wars universe than a superhero game. They could literally make up the characters and storyline if they wanted and tie it into the Star Wars canon somehow.
After all it’s basically what they did with the Mandolorian TV show.
Picture Starfield, styled around a Western theme with fetch quests alongside the main plot line, ie good guys stop bad guys and you have something like The Mandolorian
The fact that starting in the mid 2000’s we have dozens of super hero movies a year and these franchises are pulling in resources from every aspect of media is the fad. Their have always been a trickle of super hero movies and media and that is fine but it has gotten out of hand since the mid 2000’s and I hope it eventually goes back to the way it was.
Yeah and how many superhero games have made a big splash? The problem is people are conflating superhero - with what is a super popular Marvel series right now. You could equally have said 6 years ago ‘wow you’ve got to make a big Game of Thrones game NOW because this thing is huge’. And it was. Or Harry Potter a while before that.
I wouldn’t call it a ‘fad’ but just picking a superhero game is not exactly a guarantee for anything. We saw that with Marvel’s Avengers.
The ones that have been made well like the Arkham Series and Spider-man and not the trash movie tie ins we got for a better part of a decade. Crazy concept that if you make a good game people will buy it. The superhero games of today ≠ of yesterday.
Helps that superheros are more popular than ever now.
Not sure I’d disagree. Good games sell well. But are those games selling well because of their characters or because they are good games?
I think its clear Marvel stuff IF good obviously is of the moment or at least was in 2018/19 and we know those games will do well if they are good.
But I think its also tempting to lay the egg without the chicken here. Average superhero games don’t move the needle anymore than an average game. So are we back to the point that good games that are made well are the key? Rather than the IP?
