I agree, I think starting with Hellblade 2 they will have that cadence.
I also think for the future, particularly if the 2026 next gen Xbox console rumor is true, I would:
Hold back Elder Scrolls VI, Blade, maybe Perfect Dark, etc. for next gen only
Transition COD from PS4/XBO to PS5/Series + new Xbox in 2026.
This way you force COD players to make a tough decision: Do you buy a PS5 knowing that Sony will release a new console in a year or two, or do you enter the true next gen now with the new Xbox.
It depends on what their goals are⌠If they want to become third party and fade into the background as just another publisher, well then continue what they do now.
If they want to claw back some marketshare though I would suggest a few things:
Marketing. (Yes, the forbidden word.) If you are not seen at all, itâs kinda hard to sell things. It doesnât have to be crazy, but there is almost zero presence in many places so anything would help. There are great things to push, but isnât, such as Game Pass, All-access, Play Anywhere etc.
Decide on wtf it is that they want to do. Iâm a huge fan, and I couldnât tell you what Xbox is focusing on now, or six months from now and itâs been like that for a long time.
Localization. (Both in games and in communication.) Language support in games should be a no brainer. Hire people who knows the countries you operate in, âAIâ translated tweets, web pages and apps is not the way⌠Itâs even worse than not trying, pisses people off.
Continue with the great games, getting to that more steady release schedule without dry periods. This I think they will reach soon.
I genuinely donât think they care so much any more, outside of the UK in Europe.
Look at how Starfield launched with no Italian dub, the first BGS to do so and strange coincidence it happened under MSâs ownership. All these little things will piss people off and completely turn them off the brand.
Iâve no doubt thereâs plenty of europeans playing xbox games, but on PC and Iâd assume MS is perfectly happy with that and not wanting to spend millions on improving marketing and localisation.
No thereâs no forcing anyone, the majority of COD players who are still on PS4 will just default to PS5 with the expectation they will upgrade to PS6 later on. For them there is no âtrue next gen nowâ opportunity because anyone still on PS4 obviously donât care about having the latest tech.
Itâs a seperate topic but I think a next gen Xbox 2 years before PS6 will be a fatal mistake.
Apparently PC is how they plan to, but I donât even consider the their PC app to be competition to GOG and EGS (leaving Steam out of the picture). Itâs too neglected. Also it doesnât help that the localization is still bad.
It is with this and multiplat strategy that I definitely believe they internally think they can no longer achieve what their goal of GP subs was even with CoD on GP
That is one of my worries if it is true about them going early next generation.
While Iâm really hoping it might be a 360-type situation where they steal a march on PlayStation, there is a high risk factor too unless they absolutely pull all the stops out with first-party and third-party software doing things this generation canât do and really showing the difference.
Otherwise we might get PS5 Pro being the âmost powerful consoleâ for 2 years before Xboxâs next gen, then only 2 years of the new Xbox which if no games really take advantage might not be a âmust haveâ before the PS6 comes along with a generation newer CPU and GPU plus their usual âextrasâ (like the DualSense was this time).
We then risk getting into a situation once the cross-generation games stop that the Xbox starts to get ditched for ports in the same way the Switch does as itâs not powerful enough - and unlike the Switch the Xbox wouldnât have the install base to make the effortâŚ
This is why releasing a steady cadence of quality, must have titles is important. Did people ditch the PS4 in favor of the superior One X? No, because the PS4 was hitting with GOW, Horizon and Spider-Man.
Whatever is their current plan, Xbox hw is screwed and I think it will dent hard in the revenue somewhere along the course, no way that selling games on other platforms > owning their own platform (not with Surface numbers obviously), otherwise ABK and EA should have toppled everyone decades ago. Itâll became another cautionary tale for the industry. Nothing they are saying since the ABK ordeal started ever convinced me, itâs clear they changed plans because their previous ones underperformed because they thought to sell console without ads, localisations and compelling mainstream games, oh boy.
As mentioned above in response to someone else fearing if Xbox go early (which Iâve been on board with in the hope like you that they do a 360-like grab of early adopters from PlayStation), there is a risk that it wonât be âfutureproofâ.
If Xbox uses RDNA5 (for example) and PS6 comes two years later on RDNA6, it becomes a risk that the Xbox gets left behind more than normal by third parties once cross-generation is over - as PS6 may be the default dev environment and the cost of porting and optimisation for a weaker machine might be considered more prohibitive than normal (given we already get devs moaning about the Series S which I find nuts as they optimise for many PC specs)
The thing about the app is that it feels like âit just works.â Nothing more or less. And then of course MS built up a bad name for it that will stick forever because it didnât even work (well) from like 2015 (when it was the MS store) to around 2022 or so. I remember a lot of people got the app/store to play PSO2 when that released exclusively on there and were having issues with the game not being able to be deleted and the only way to get your storage space back was to format the PC.
I think the Xbox app is fine certainly better than Gog in my opinion. The functionality can be improved but I think games are its biggest problems. I think itâs just also suffering from marketing.
Itâs still not great, at least as recently as last year it would have downloads that would get stuck, and cloud saves for Play Anywhere titles sometimes wouldnât sync properly.
Think theyâve made major improvements over the years but itâs been a long slog, and youâre right it needed to be exceptional from the start to have a chance of winning over the Steam crowd
Thereâs certainly some risks, however I feel you alleviate that somewhat when you own some of the largest IPs in gaming. I just donât see a world where the PS6 is so powerful it forces major third parties like EA, Take-Two or Ubisoft abandon the platform.
I know some will mention the Switch. However, the Switch released at a spec that was considerably lower in comparison to the PS4 and Xbox One. The belief is that a new Xbox would be releasing as the most power console at the time of release.
Why would you have to forego COD in 26 and 27? Because they wonât be on PS4 you mean? Thereâs no stop gap with casual COD gamers, theyâll just upgrade to whatever they have now.
The way I see it, is who will buy the machine? I can imagine that only current XSX owners will be that interested, but a proportion may feel itâs too soon and stay on XSX so I think weâll record low sales for any next gen Xbox from 2026. I donât think third parties would stop with ports throughout that generation, but if the sales are so bad there may be no additional generation viable for Xbox.
That was my point. I suggested that in 2026 MS could cutoff support on PS4/XBO, in turn forcing those who want to continue playing COD 2026 and beyond to buy a new console or do without until a PS6 drops.
While Iâm not saying that MS would do that, you have to think that the COD franchise will move on from last gen hardware at some point. Also, if you are doing that, why not wait until your shiny new console is released?
I have asked this question a couple of years ago on here, what was Xboxâs marketing strategy, itâs plainly obvious in Europe there is none and scattergun at best.
I started that marketing topic with a link to this article
This is what Xbox has severely lacked since the 360 days to tap in to the zeitgeist and build out from there.
Now I understand times have changed but a few ads on YouTube in my opinion isnât enough
With regards to the OPâs post regarding sports. I posted my thoughts previously and I agree with a lot that he said
PlayStation has the champions league locked down and has for years.
Xbox needs to either sponsor a team like they did with Seattle sounders and have Xbox Game pass front and centre on advertising boards and shirts to a world wide audience on a weekly basis
Or they need to become one of the premier leagues coverage main sponsors. Sky & TNT have all the games sponsor them. Just as the Likes of FORD used to do. Adults and kids need to see this 3.4.5 times a week before games get it into peopleâs consciousness. It works on kids.
Xbox has become official team partners for a few national teams like England and France. This is great but they need to fill the breaks with adverts in build up to games etc to capture the audience. This is where these adverts explain game pass etc let the viewing audience learn what game pass is. Hit them with COD for free etc.
Now this might be very far fetched but humour me.
Buy some of the premier leagueâs broadcast rights Amazon did it for 2 rounds of games. The end of November and in between Xmas and new year why. It gets you subscribers and then once they are in the start buying using prime.
Do the same with game pass sell it using the streaming for cloud etc
Iâm sure they will get there but yes, it does always seem like ânext yearâ. They should start getting into the habit of filling any lulls with 2nd/3rd party exclusives like Sony.
I also totally agree with you on the All Access marketing .
TBF were sonly just starting to see the impact of Zenimax let alone ABK.
Itâs a good idea however they have almost become entrenched in that situation now, it will be very difficult to get out of again. If they were to move to a primary PC model like you suggested they might have more success moving away from that model.
Yes this would be very tricky indeed, Iâm not sure if they would want to upset the status quo.
My understanding is that if T4B work on a ABK IP such as Crash/Spyro the cloud streaming rights would still go to Ubisoft. I donât think Xbox are that bothered about the cloud gaming rights at this point in time.
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