Woah. Seems i’ve been sleeping on gaming news lately. Just reading about Starfield etc coming to PS5. I’ve long switched from Xbox to PC gaming full time so doesn’t really bother me. But the Xbox Series X that my kids play Minecraft on will probably get traded in for a Playstation sooner rather then later.
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Me too.
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Think about it. Microsoft just made it really easy to convert all those people who still play on Xbox One into future PlayStation customers.
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You’re right; and sorry but I’m not spending another $ on Xbox. I’m out of here. I’ll keep my Game Pass subscription, but buy the games on the other platforms. The end might come sooner than later. Who believes for a second that their revenue will grow from now? It will crumble and 12 months from now they’ll give up on 3rd party support and devalue Game Pass.
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Miicrosoft can give all the assurances they want. We know the clock is ticking on the hardware. When the software sales hit their apex and they’re no longer seeing significant growth; they’re going to makes cuts again and there will be nothing left to cut except for the very expensive and slowly dwindling hardware.
When the hardware is gone and the profit margin stagnates, they’re going to cut jobs again. This cycle will repeat itself until Microsoft Gaming is as close to pure profit as it can possibly be.
I’d love to see the pie the sky AI projections they’re making about how advanced AI will become and how much of their job force can be cut to improve profit margins.
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No gamers will want to be at their mercy for a very long time. They won’t wait 2026 for Microsoft to finally pull the rug under them. They’ll leave Xbox as soon as they can afford a PC or PS5. And if they have one already, they will invest in these platforms as early as tomorrow.
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So the universe we are in is the one where Game pass on Xbox is a charity and MS has to make money by selling these games on PlayStation? I personally dislike this model then.
*make more money by selling on PlayStation.
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I know, rephrase here: make enough money to sustain the model
So they are going to kill consoles and XCloud to continue to grow as a publisher. It’s sad for the industry but it doesn’t surprise me. I think the GP will probably disappear or be significantly modified. This is the latest generation of consoles for Xbox. There will only be Playstation and Nintendo. It’s terrible for the competition, but Xbox will probably do better as a third-party publisher. You have to see the positive side. The console wars are over. There will be no more exclusivity. Xbox and PS players will play on the same console or PC. The games will reach a wider audience. Developers will be able to continue developing the games they love. Xbox will continue to grow as a third-party publisher with more games and studios. The only terrible thing about this story is that Playstation will no longer have any competition, but honestly, Xbox would never have been able to really compete with them. Xbox died with Xbox One. They had no chance after that. Now we just have to wait and see. I understand the disappointment of those who bought an Xbox console, but let’s be optimistic for the future and hope that Xbox still produces great games as a third party. The next few months are going to be difficult. Courage to the entire community.
From what we know, Game Pass makes money and is sustainable, but it has missed the internal growth targets for a while now. Microsoft and their shareholders will be aware that there are big markets to make even more money, and that’s likely the big driver behind this.
It’s a shame this news leaked, as it really puts the pressure on Xbox to come out and explain things in a clear and concise manner. Which, as we’ve seen in the past, is a problem for them.
Whilst plans can change, they at least need to come out and set a consistent expectation, of when a title will release on other platforms. Live service MP games should probably be the quickest, within 0-6 months. Titles like Blade & Indy, 12 months or more.
Personally, as someone who games primarily on Xbox and has done since the OG, I’m going to stick with the hardware that lets me play XGS games first. I’m subbed to Game Pass until 2026 and will continue as long as they keep their games releasing day one on it. It’s just the best value in gaming for me and out of the platform holders, XGS games are the ones that I want to play at release most.
Microsoft will become Sega at best, Embracer at worst. Nintendo and Sony will raise their prices and fight the war alone. That’s all. There’s nothing in this for us gamers.
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I think the business model Microsoft is hoping for is:
- Release games multiplatform on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo and PC
- The revenue from these titles will fund Game Pass
- Game Pass and timed exclusivity becomes the key incentive to own Xbox hardware (console/handheld)
- The Xbox hardware (even at 30-40 million units) brings in additional revenue from third party (30% on MTX and games), peripherals, services, etc…
In the end, Microsoft must feel that revenue from multiplats and the Xbox ecosystem, will be greater than the Xbox ecosystem + COD. Are they right? I’m not sure.
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Like I said earlier, if this is their thinking (i.e. adding the money made from the sales of their games on PS5 & Nintendo on top of their current Xbox division revenues), it doesn’t take into account the behavior of current Xbox owners & GP subscribers on console.
i.e. people will no longer have a real incentive to play on Xbox hardware & will go & buy a PlayStation instead. Even this current speculation is completely out of hand & can affect the here & now of people’s purchasing decisions. Business is a fluid situation, i.e. it’s not set in stone. There’s no world where Xbox maintains 30 million (or thereabouts) console owners if all their stuff goes to PlayStation.
The value proposition of “PlayStation exclusives + Xbox exclusives” on one console will win out versus “Xbox console with timed Xbox exclusives via Gamepass”. I’m pretty sure of that, i.e. because despite what I may personally want or hope for, it’s not like Gamepass on console has moved the needle much for Xbox hardware anyway even with its exclusives.
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After waking up to 800+ comments and having weeks to prepare for this, i’m so done.
My Xbox library isn’t much as GP meant i didn’t need to buy. Xbox can do whatever strategy it want’s this has destroyed the fan base that cheered them on for years. I wont suddenly sell my Xbox but i won’t be buying anything for it.
Steam, PS and Nintendo it is. I look forward to the PS6 and a $800 consoles with $100 games.
I think we are going to get alot more Red Dragons / Dreamcast Guys overnight, lord knowns i’ve about had enough of this platform.
Also not sure if posted but this is what TIm Dog has said on a postcast: https://twitter.com/IdleSloth84_/status/1754361009215541532
- Tim has heard that Call of Duty may not be coming to game pass.
- Hardware sales have not met the projected sales and the CFO got spooked.
- In the last three months of last year, they had consoles for $350 and no one cared.
- Xbox One was more wanted than Series consoles.
- They said the hardware is dead, and they are seeing declines in hardware year over year.
- Game pass is unsustainable; the market they have is not enough to offset the cost.
- Tim heard from someone at Microsoft that you may not like Xbox when they get Activision. They want ROI.
- He heard that Xbox has an insane showcase with tons of games, but everyone is going to be saying asterisks.
- The leaks happened because a Microsoft employee who didn’t want this to happen leaked it, so there would be a public outcry.
- Microsoft now has no problem buying more companies in the future if all games go to all platforms.
- Tim thinks they will go all-digital, with ads on game pass (pre-roll or at the end of a chapter e.g. Like a Dragon) and AI community managers.
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People are really freaking out about that huh? I’ll just take it as it comes. Worst case I’ll migrate to pc. Gamepass is there as well.
Will it work out for them? Probably 50/50. Exclusives aren’t that big of a draw for the masses. Remember, even phil said so.
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In fact there is a very simple solution to get the 30% of third-party games without Xbox: Buy Steam, and make PC their main platform.
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Anything new? Woke up and saw 400+ comments.
I’ve tried to stay out of this topic but the news drives me nuts. more so about Starfield and now with talk of Halo and Hellblade 2 jumping ship.
If all this turns out to be true can people please stop saying SONY is behind the curve and consoles aren’t the way forward? When Microsoft feels the need to bring their games to the PlayStation 5 to try and make money What happened to the Cloud and PC as the way forward?
And can people stop making out that having your console game on PC is multi-platform when it’s not? Ask PlayStation fans to name their top 10 PSX exclusives you can bet MGS, Tomb Raider 2 and FF 7 will be in there, despite all being on the PC too
I keep hearing about money and nothing about brand identity or loyalty, which counts for an awful lot… What a way to kill brand loyalty Microsoft. For all those Xbox fans who invested their time and money into the Xbox brand…
Microsoft isn’t ahead of the curve at all. They’re just doing a SEGA from bringing their console exclusives to PC and pulling out of the console hardware after losing to SONY.
There again it was always said SEGA were ahead of the curve 
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