MS really have to. The “good guy” thing can’t last forever, certainly not with a company as aggressive as Sony. For Sony it’s all or nothing, I believe the PS division is their only division that is truly profitable and that’s why they go all out for it. Let’s say it’s true what Iram, Matt etc have been saying about big deals by Sony with publishers and that MS just wasn’t willing to shell out the kind of cash they asked…i hope they will try to get some of these big games day one on Game Pass, those that haven’t been money hatted yet, that is.
When both companies give it their all it’s us, the gamers who will really benefit from it. I want these two rivals going for each other’s throats. Kind of. Lol.
Same. I really hope they don’t money-hat a bunch of 3rd party timed exclusives.
I can live with FF16 being an exclusive for a year or two since my backlog is massive but I just don’t want them to lock up a bunch of games with exclusive deals.
Even IF Phil and Xbox want to do those deals, do Microsoft as a wider company have the appetite? Because their mission is no longer to ‘stop Sony gaining living room control’. It is to offer up good hardware and a strong gaming platform and service. Bit like Surface. I’m not convinced that Microsoft the wider company even cares one bit if Sony dominates hardware sales because they will just either pull out of the hardware console business or just keep putting out their hardware and hope the market reacts. But I’m unconvinced that Nadella and MS as a whole have any desire to fight a console hardware war and I think we see that sort of decision reflected in what Xbox does and can do. Sony are very much wanting to pitch this as a competition with PS advantage and all that nonsense. I honestly think whether Xbox cares or not that MS and ultimately those that provide Xbox its budget do not care one bit.
You could completely right about that, but I hope you aren’t. Let’s take a worst case scenario here and say Sony moneyhats a few very big multiplatform games and for a year. MS is just gonna continue on and not do anything about it for their customers? The casual gamers are fine, they don’t mind it as much, but us enthusiasts?
I’m still curious what it is that MS is spending a lot of money on right now. Hopefully something like ACV day one on game pass or WDL. If they’d make such a move that would at least show they do care. Actually, they’ve shown with acquisitions like Ninja Theory, Obsidian, InXile, Playground Games that they really do care. Promising, big stuff will come from those. But that’s all for GP. You could be right that they just won’t really try to rival Sony that much any longer.
Final Fantasy XVI being timed exclusive is so odd to me.
I mean, Square Enix and Microsoft both have a good relationship at the moment. Kingdom Hearts making its debut on Xbox, with every game being available on Game Pass; Dragon Quest also making its Xbox debut straight into Game Pass.
I wonder if it will affect last year’s announcement of every Final Fantasy title ever coming to Game Pass. It is taking a suspiciously long time for them to put the remaining titles on the catalogue.
The current Microsoft has definitely a very different strategy regarding Xbox than the Microsoft during the Peter Moore era (I still remember Xbox trolling Sony at the PS3 launch in Paris with that boat “X360 <3 you” )
I would say that the current Xbox division is definitely more hungry than during the 2014-2017 years (there were rumors of the division being sold iirc… dark times…) but not as agressive as Peter Moore during the first years of the X360. Those GTA IV, Ace Combat 6, etc… deals certainly cost a lot.
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