Don’t worry MP games aren’t going anywhere, they’re probably the best sort of games to have in GP monetary wise, they’re not going to just stop making them or having them as a focus. Feels like pretty much most of the Xbox exclusives do have some sort of co-op / MP. I think this is just Phil saying they also need some pure single player only games that can be “blockbusters” or GOTY type because if you’ve noticed it seems like SP games are the ones that mostly win big awards.
With all these new studios they have so many teams that can focus on a crap ton of different genre’s SP/MP/co-op and all the in-between. Let’s put it this way having all exlcusives just SP games won’t help GP at all they need a mixture of all types of games which is why they’ve been buying all types of studios big and small.
I hope that you’re wrong about this, because I want you to have you want even if it’s not what I want. I hardly ever play multiplayer or co-op, but if it can be added in and balanced without affecting a solo experience like you say it can, I’m all for more people getting what they want. More choice is good everyone!
For what it’s worth, what I took away from the interview is that Spencer and team are ravenous for new content of all stripes to make Game Pass as appealing and approachable as possible. I really don’t see them leaving an experience out in the cold, especially one that’s been pretty synonymous with their brand for such a long time. To be clear, are you worried about there not being enough first-party co-op content, or just in general? I would assume that they wouldn’t “force” in co-op modes where you wouldn’t expect them like in Elder Scrolls 6, but (and I’m hoping here) it seems like leadership is pretty dedicated to letting teams do what they do is best without arbitrary impositions. I guess in that situation, it would be up to the devs and the individual studio leadership to decide?
If you don’t mind a personal question, how do you feel about games like FO76 and ESO, where you can play co-op but in a different type of way?
Out of all of the comments Phil made during this interview the most reassuring and yet completely obvious statements was in regards to game pass and GAAS. I am so glad he finally said that game pass will result in less games as a service games and not more. I cant count the amount of times I have seen the same argument that games as a service game are the perfect games for game pass rather than traditional beginning-to-end-type games. GAAS is almost counter to what game pass is aiming for so I never understood why so many thought this service would only encourage it more.
Buying all these studios to only pivot all of them to work on GAAS would be counter to Xbox first party’s goal of having a steady stream of new games being added into gamepass Every studio would essentially be ‘stuck’ with supporting one or maybe two games for a very long time and that flow of new games would slow down
Gamepass is all about diversity in game genre and style and Xbox Game Studios should reflect that same goal.