Continuing the discussion from The Big ol' Xbox 3rd Party Releases Discussion Thread (HiFi, SoT, Pentiment, Grounded) (Part 1) - #10134 by Carpenter.
Previous discussions:
Cod, Minecraft, Fortnite, Roblox. “Why do I need to buy an Xbox when these games are on Switch 2, PS5/6, iPhone, android phones, iPad, PC?”
The idea that Xbox can be a choice that people will continue to make without any exclusive experiences is one that surely is at best unlikely.
Is there a secret thread with all the good news in? Please share the link.
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That’s all true now, and they bought an Xbox console. For the last time, the vast majority of people do not buy consoles for exclusives.
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How many people is Microsoft expecting to just stick around to continue buying Xbox consoles? After they go all multiplatform?
What would Microsoft consider a good number that ensures they continue making hardware into the future?
Yes it is true now, but Xbox purchasers were expecting exclusives to be available for their console - just like in every generation that preceded it.
The only difference is that the exclusives this time around either weren’t well received or didn’t have the mainstream appeal of exclusives in previous generations.
If Microsoft’s exclusives this generation up to now had been better, they’d have sold more consoles. There’s nothing controversial there.
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Good question. I personally find it difficult to see Xbox hardware sales as being as terrible as is frequently presented when they essentially sell to a limited number of core markets, but if the numbers are falling, then the whole thing must surely reach a tipping point.
R&D for hardware gets more expensive in terms of the cost being spread across each sale - if you spend $25m in development then sell 25m consoles, each one has a $1 development cost contained within it. Sell 12.5m and it’s $2, etc. Run a marketing campaign to sell those consoles and each customer ends up costing you more to reach, etc.
Microsoft cheerfully told everyone that the Xbox One Controller cost $100m to develop a decade ago (seems impossible to imagine, but that’s what they said), so the numbers aren’t necessarily trivial.
I’ve no idea how many consoles you have to sell to get a decent presence in stores and the public consciousness in general - at some point you or I might say that 10m consoles sold is a good number, but that would mean that your local electronics store can expect to sell 2 a week (or whatever) and that’s not enough volume to be worth the shelf space when they could put another product on the shelf that’ll sell 5 per week (illustrative fictional numbers, obviously).
WiiU sold about 13m consoles and was considered a disaster. So more than that would be desirable, presumably.
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I think all this will be cleared up during the period of the June showcase. Phil Spencer will be interviewed and asked all this questions and he will make it clear. Then those who want to jump ship can do so and this frustrating debate can be over.
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They were more likely to leave hardware continuing down the money sink that is subsidised consoles.
Xbox has said it takes 100 to 200 to subsidize each console and they spent about 5 to 6 billion on the current console per the FTC court case. They are loosing big on consoles and that is hard to get through to Microsoft that sells everything else at profit. They are definitely looking for a way to bring in more manufacturers to share in the space and who knows maybe when Samsung and others come in with their versions people might just be willing to rush in. If others come in the industry will expand and Sony and Nintendo could be relegated way behind.
It’s honestly kind of crazy when you consider that consoles are sold at such losses. Is there any other industry that does this?
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Non. Looking at it Nextgen is doubtful for tech. I don’t know how anyone will be able to build a true next-generation console for less than a thousand dollars. Sony has said they will move on with PSN. So it’s doubtful if there will even be a PS6 when half of playstation owners are still on PS4.
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They’re lucky if they even reach half the numbers they’re currently doing with their next hardware.
No retailers in all those second and third tier countries/regions (which includes mainland Europe) are going to sell that thing.
For Microsoft this would not be an issue because they clearly don’t intend to sell hardware at loss, which means that the next Xbox is going to be much more expensive.
For publishers it would be an issue, so you’re going to see third party support disappear more and more.
With that more and more players are going to jump ship.
So when others try to convince doubters that the Xbox platform is going to be there in the future, they haven’t presented any convincing arguments how this would be achieved.
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Just before bed last night there were 60 new posts, this morning another 90.
I kept thinking there must be some major news, but having scanned through it still seems to just be Doom remaining multi-platform - which sticks with the promise that Phil made during the Bethesda takeover that franchises with a long history on other platforms would not become exclusive.
This bit of news doesn’t change the discussions in any way as it’s an established franchise of the specific type we knew would likely remain on other platforms - so it’s just a re-hash of all the arguments for the last few months…
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Except you won’t, because it plays PC games. They could sell 5 consoles and still have a better selection of games than any Xbox has ever had.
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that’s a bold claim. a big ass “WILL”. i expect the usual vague “we just announce the brand new doom as the next multiplat game and nothing more yada yadaa” from the next interview with Ryan.
could care less for his answer regarding the closure of Tango.
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The thing is everyone will be asking him questions along this path and they’ll be prepared for the PR nonsense. The only way out would be simply to do no interviews and to talk to no one. There will.be fans there also. Doom and IPs like this were always going to be multiplatform in my opinion. I expect the next Wolfenstein and Fallout to be multiplatform as well. New IPs like Starfield I expect are what can and should ne exclusive.
Starfield eventually will go to. They were rumored to be considered, Indy as well. We should be prepared to anything probably could be fair game now.
Nope. They will make existing Xbox IP and new IP multiplatform. Phil will rationalise it with guilt tripping. “Who wants fewer people to play their favorite games? Which customers are served by gate keeping games?”
Nintendo and Sony ones Phil.
Sad thing is they will 100% port Starfield to a console where RPGs dont sell. If they do that, they’ll do anything.
If they’re seriously considering a Windows console and allowing other stores on their hardware, they no longer see an inate need to sell hardware with exclusives, and so wont.
The good news is a Windows Xbox will have more games than ever and probably a decent Nintendo emulator. The bad news is Spencer played Xbox fans like a fiddle.
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I have to give the content creators credit, they KNOW how to play people like puppets, on both sides. At some point you have to stop being angry and just laugh at the situation this causes for people.
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