Is it really only, though? I wonder.
Square most likely still weigh the Sony cheque vs Xbox sales. I don’t think Sony has some control, Square imo still has the ultimate decision but Sony’s money might still be a bit too good for now, specifically for 7R.
Switch 2 could be the first time Nintendo is consistent with their main home console lol
Ye i’m not just refering to the piece of hardware but the whole strategy.
I’d say MS started with Xbox being a console version of a PC, with games that were very West-oriented and some of them had never been on consoles before.
Then with Peter Moore they went for a Sony-like strategy taking very big 3rd party projects as exclusive and being agressive on marketing. Once he left MS went for some Wii clone strategy aiming for casual players or god knows what.
With XOne they went for some perma online strategy mixed with Kinect, focusing again on getting some third party exclusive support for a couple years, until they gave up on consoles and almost left the console industry
Years after Xbox Game Pass was introduced and it seemed like their main focus, then they went for smaller studios to try to grow them, then they moved into publishers and now it seems they are looking to slowly expand to PS and maybe Switch too.
During all this time i’d say Nintendo focused on getting people to buy their “expensive” consoles thanks to their first party stuff, which is only available on their ecosystem, releasing games that review very well and sell a lot.
As for Sony, it’s been quite similar too, focus on big first party blockbusters and third party moneyhats that bring people to Playstation, and then get free money from the third party sales, very similar to Peter Moore’s strategy.
Guess that’s one of the reasons there are so many more rumours about MS than the others, anything is possible with MS, while everybody knows what Sony and Nintendo are doing and will do in the next years.
I really hope when/if this happens it’s sooner rather than later, this discourse is just dominating everything xbox right now and it’s beyond boring at this point
One thing to consider is the Sony side. Will Sony work to see an Xbox game succeed on their platform? Will they market it? I assume any game Xbox brings to other platforms will still be marketed by them which would have the opposite effect. games like Minecraft legends, Cuphead and Ori haven’t exactly blown up outside Xbox. I would think Sony would not market any Xbox game. Marketing is very important to sales and could be a major key to financial performance. A look at Hogwarts legacy and the COD games performance on PlayStation due to marketing has been huge. In a sense releasing some of this Xbox games could be seen as undermining PlayStation.
I’m not completely against select games being ported to PS5, but my biggest fear is this will lead to further lower console sales, resulting in less third-party support and the Xbox Series X and S are already struggling to sell well…
I think this is the common fear from people over pure console/list war type stuff
It will be how they handle it and what games are actually coming, if it’s just a few old ports here and there especially for GaaS type stuff I don’t think it’s going to matter as much as people think
People need to remember that Series has sold approximately 30m consoles, that’s still significant amount of customers to sell to, even if console sales completely stalled and stayed where they are for the rest of gen
There’s also the 30m+ console Game Pass subs to consider, lets say SoT, HFR or something else gets ported to PS, are those GP subs going to unsubscribe and sell their Xbox? Maybe some will but an extremely insignificant amount, especially when they have things like Indiana Jones and CoD coming to GP soon
I get the fear, it what worried me when these rumors started coming out but I think people need to relax a bit
That’s the major issue because create less incentives to own console will make situation worse. Third party Games will start to skip Xbox or release at a later time. Maybe I’m wrong there but I don’t think it’s a path you want to head into
There’s possibility that Microsoft want to get ahead to the future where everyone is multiplatform… Like a lot of other stuff, they get ahead, catch the backlash and criticism, and then everyone follows suit lol
I really do think this is what will happen in the future whether it’s because of budgets or because of console stores being opened up like mobile, Sony will just be slower to the curve than Xbox
Obviously the industry is changing, as we have seen it’s not gamepass that is unsustainable it’s the AAA 350 million $ budget games that are killing things and also next to no margin on hardware.
It is VERY clear physical discs may be gone by next gen, and also platform holders are going to go different directions to keep afloat. Nintendo did this long ago when they pivoted from cutting edge hardware.
Sony is trying to dig their heels in and squeeze out what they can out of their broken business model while trying to prepare their nut job fanbase that their 1st party games are going to be on more platforms. Something MS has been doing for years.
MS and Xbox are easily the most prepared for what is coming in the future but it will come with changes.
Are you comfortable in this gaming hobby without physically owning a disc? It’s been this way on PC for decades now.
Are you comfortable with eventually either streaming your games or playing them on a dongle device?
Physical discs are dead that is happening right now, eventually local hardware will be obsolete, it may be 10-15 years before gaming console hardware is just retro consoles and some homebrew stuff while everyone has moved to non local devices for their gaming.
Sorry but this is where the industry is heading, you have to ask yourself if you are ok with this or not. If you are not ok with it you probably really need to find a new hobby. You cannot stop this progress no matter how much you complain on the internet about it.
At one time Bluray/DVD players were huge sellers and a mainstay in everyone’s home. While hardware players are still being made it is pretty much a Boomer device. Young kids already look at consoles as boomer gaming and that is just going to continue on that pace until local hardware is either gone or a niche.
So do you like games or are you hung up on a branded piece of plastic under your TV? If you are the next 10-15 years in gaming are going to be difficult for you.
I’ve been a gamer since 1977, seen it all done it all lived through the gaming collapse of 83. The industry is changing you just have to ask if you still like the hobby or not?
I would think both Xbox and PlayStation would have to become a digital platform like Steam for that to happen where you can have a single format hardware like Blu-ray, DVD and so on.
If anyone thought something like this would be dropped at a freaking state of play, nothing they say is worth reporting on lmao.
Why wouldn’t they announce at an event that would have a lot of eyes ?
Because it’d be a terrible way to relay negative news to their existing custoner base.
Why would they play second fiddle for news like that??? That’s admitting defeat. You frame the news like you’re rocking the world
They announced Minecraft games and ori on Nintendo direct, so it’s not much different here . I think if their goal is revenue and reaching new audiences then it would be a mistake not to have it at a Nintendo direct or state of play . They can control announcing it first in a press release or tweet but def show these games at a direct or Sony event because their goal is reach new audiences and maximize revenue
Minecraft was already fully 3rd party, and ori wasn’t developed by an internal studio. It’s a prrttt sizable difference