Nothing at all, it’s fearmongering because people are extrapolating an instance of Xbox closure as if that spells the end of days… despite just about every publisher already laying off and closing studios for the last 18 months.
It’s the usual bullshit of the media/influencers trying to sound the death knell at every bad bit of news because they’re desperate to see a competitor die (and 20.000 people losing their jobs apparently).
Well, you could argue that having lots of developers means that you eventually end up with more software releases than your platform can support so those games need to go to other platforms to generate the return, which diminishes your platform’s appeal, which means you might sell less hardware, which means you start to shuffle towards 3rd party only.
more games - not enough audience to support them all - more platforms - sell less hardware - less service/software income - more lay-offs and closures - less games
Not really, the game developers would still be generating revenue for the publisher, but those working on the platform side of things would be vulnerable to being cut.
But everyone is selling less hardware compared to the peak of the console market in the early 2000s, which means they have less users. Playstation has yet to outdo their PS2 generation from 20 years ago. And we see PS5 is no longer on track to meet the PS4 sales. Nintendo is selling way less hardware than they were during the Wii and DS generation.
There is only so much you can monetize a stagnant or shrinking player base for dedicated gaming consoles. The writing has been on the wall for a long time where players have been shifting to, with people spending more time than ever on their phones and laptops/PCs, where there are a ton of companies vying for their time. Just look at how much money Apple, Google and Steam make because they’re in front of those users with good stores.
How do you look at the big picture trends as a game business, knowing the console market piqued in hardware sales over 15 years ago, and make a decision to use your resources to just keep at it?
There’s no going back to those days and the probability of a reversal of the decline in dedicated gaming hardware is zero. So what other options are there for growth other than to be everywhere peoplr are spending their time?
And I don’t think that precludes anyone from making hardware. It just means the utility of the hardware has to increase to stay relevant and still it’s only going to be one way to access the games in a consumer market that is spending the most time on their phone and laptop.
Plenty of Audience for most games. What got ported was GAAS games that need growth to be sustained, and niche titles that can never cast a wide enough net
I’m not sure why you’ve quoted me here?
Well this partially what MS has been saying. The market isn’t growing, games are fighting for the attention of same people, on the same platforms every year/generation now. The only way for your games to reach new people is to put them on other platforms, because one or a few games “exclusive” isn’t really going to expand your own market any significant amount. Look Sony is seemingly dropping a ton of cash for Final Fantasy exclusivity and it isn’t doing anything.
Dropping hardware doesn’t change this equation for MS. If all Xbox users split off to PC and PS5/6 it’s still the same market they are selling to, just without the 30% store cut and Live Game Pass revenue. They are banking on people staying where their game accounts are. They aren’t expecting a mass exodus due to the lack of exclusives because you can see that Sony’s exclusives aren’t really doing anything today.
Probably didn’t need to, just saw it as a jumping off point.
I suppose the bottom line is that navigating the market shift in preferences is not a problem unique to Xbox.
The argument I keep seeing about the value of games being on more platforms versus the impact on console sales seems like a moot point. For long-term viability it’s a necessary tradeoff for content/IP owners to navigate.
On that same note, if someone is a fan of dedicated gaming devices then the most productive input Xbox (or any gaming device vendor) could possibly get from them is what all would make it a great place to play games? They’re just going to ignore any cries about exclusivity because to them there’s no choice in the matter.
Yup, they most likely expect to keep that 30 million or so userbase while selling to new gamers elsewhere that won’t switch just to play those games. People have less time to put in gaming and less money than before and owning 2 pieces of plastic is kind of a hard sell right now and Nintendo is seen as that 2nd console you buy anyway, so there’s only 1 path to expanding your market and profitability, and that is going to other platforms.
It’s also why they have Play Anywhere and the best BC in the business; in order to have people entrenched in their ecosystem and not want to leave it as those are consumer friendly practices imo that make you think twice before leaving those behind.
Yes. So I don’t think they are moving away from hardware, they are just trying to use a different method of growing rather than “exclusives”. They are trying to make a compelling case with Play Anywhere and Game Pass to get you into their ecosystem. If you are buying Play Anywhere games on PC then you might buy an Xbox.
Also with Sony conceding and putting games on PC, eventually people are going to question paying to play online, for real this time not just the idle talk now. Once that domino falls you really need to be prepared to pivot to something else.
Fixed that for you.
I don’t think they’re building an of their services with the primary intention of selling more consoles.
I didn’t say they were, but I’m sure the idea is if you are a PC/Cloud/GP user and one day you need a console, to put in another room or to share with the kids, why not buy an Xbox over a different console?
You know what is infuriating, Microsoft finally had everything going for them.
For decades people wanted Xbox and Microsoft to bring out games and show they cared about other parts of the world, other than North America.
You finally have a Japanese company in Tango and close it down.
Let’s go back to the original Xbox, Microsoft had a game with Level 5, called True Fantasy Live Online, then canceled it and it took years to gain Japanese support again.
Next Xbox 360 came out and after years trying to get Japanese support, they got shoot em ups and visual novel developers to support them. Microsoft even helped set up Mistwalker, that gave us Blue Dragon and one of my favorite JRPGs Lost Odyssey, then after that Microsoft stops supporting them, so Mistwalker makes Nintendo games instead.
Next you have Microsoft wanting Japanese games again, this time for Xbox One, so they fund ReCore from Comcept and Scalebound from Platinum, now the future looks promising, then Scalebound is canceled, which leads to more Japanese going all in on PlayStation.
Then Microsoft is getting ready to bring out Xbox Series X/S, they need those Japanese games, that gamers want, they get Sega to support the system and Sega games become the most played games on Game Pass, now you have this truly unfortunate news.
Look I’ll be honest Hi-Fi Rush isn’t my kind of game. I prefer their other games more, but having your own Japanese developer was very important and yet they close them down.
Did Microsoft think what the ramifications will be for doing this, will it hurt the Xbox brand or have less Japanese developer support?
Look I understand Xbox has never been a household name in Japan, yet you need these kinds of games, to show you care about countries other than just America and Canada.
Now I know Microsoft has game developers in Europe, but because all the Xbox marketing is in North America for the most part only, must people think of Xbox as an American and Canadian brand, not a world brand.
So, this news doesn’t help Microsoft at all and when you finally own a Japanese developer you close them down and, in my opinion, it is disappointing, because I want to see Xbox succeed, yet this is just another blind eye on their image.
Looking at the closures, I think it would be smart for MS to focus on their big tentpole titles, rebuild consumer trust with their next gen console, and keep making deals with other devs for new titles and franchises.
Keep the deals with companies like Stoic, Avalanche, Asobo, IOI, PCF and the likes going, even the ones where you have support studios doing the work on maintaining GAAS like on Fallout 76, and keep your main studios on your core stuff.
If a title fails from a 3rd party financed MS game at least you don’t have to be doing the layoffs and you still get to keep the game in the end on your platform in the end.
Hoping we get to see more of those instead and reduce closures.
I think the game by game basis for exclusives is starting to feel like acquirement nowadays, especially looking at the ratio of pc users playing Helldivers more so than on playstation.
Now, am a advocate for exclusives, specific for flagships experiences( Which am certain will still be something to look out for). Not only for Xbox but for playstation and Nintendo as well.
The best bet platform holders should invest in is primarly by building their own PC hybrid hardware(Without having to buy parts to better improve the system as i feel like none would like that at all)or handheld consoles(This is far safer in my opinion), as i feel like the newer generations focus more on things on the go and its really something else. It makes me wonder if there’s gonna be a cycle of handheld console to stay at home consoles in the future.
Afterwards i think the best bet to draw in a audience for the ecosystem is not just going to be be based on hardware but yes in the games it delivers, especially if the focus lies only of the big buck franchises like Halo and Cod or God of War and Last of Us, as well as what kind of things each hardware produces to convice players to invest in buying games, like Cloud saves, forward compatibility and backward compatibility.
Do i think this could all help once the game crash occurs, which will happen sadly? I think it can so long as each holder knows what do to for their respective audience and respect that.
I really feel like MS will come through with the next Xbox in a Pc hybrid format like you said. I think they’ll figure a way to have their Xbox OS secure while integrating other game stores in Timorese to expand the availability of games all while keeping the Xbox store as the main experience.
Basically I think they need something like Apple TV, where you log in and get curated suggestions from the Xbox Store but also from other gaming services, all integrated into 1 seamless gaming experience.
By doing that they’d have the most games available, plus you might get more PC gamers to buy your hardware and accessories or even PS and Switch users looking to buy a PC and buying the Xbox hybrid due to price and ease of use.
I really hope all the hints MS have given is because this is really happening. I actually wonder, how much of a stretch would it be to revitalize current Series X/S sales by introducing this change right now. It’s basically just an AMD APU and I always thought Xbox OS was somewhat close to Windows. I wonder if the programming geniuses at MS could make it happen?
The vast majority of costs are in salaries for developers. Buildings, licenses and support staff make up another good chunk. In that sense, consolidating studios to save on buildings and other non dev costs is pretty much the only way to save money