Yes outside of everything that isn’t already publicly committed to another platform
Some will, some won’t. Will continue to be case by case for foreseeable future.
No Bethesda will continue to support other platforms regularly
0voters
In order to free up other threads, let’s move all Bethesda exclusivity talk here.
Admittedly I’m one who doesn’t care one way or another whether games get ported as long as they’re Day 1 on Game Pass. For that reason and because Microsoft’s execs were (understandably) vague in their statements up until now, I’ve continued to entertain all the reasons some games could be multiplat. With little time to go before we know one way or another, let’s make our final predictions before moving on to bigger and better topics!
I’ve come to the conclusion every Bethesda game not fulfilling a commitment or already on another platform will be exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem. While there’s a lot of moving parts, there are two factors that are not fuzzy or grey:
Nadella has Game Pass sub growth as part of his compensation this year - They’ve moved beyond the table setting stage. Investors are highlighting Game Pass results now.
Nadella has told investors the reason they needed to purchase studios was specifically for Game Pass growth. Not gaming revenue. Game…Pass…growth.
There are three big opportunities to make this happen short term:
Continue to convert Gold users to Game Pass (and their most recent strategy to do this was met with backlash)
Bring more people into the Xbox ecosystem through a new console generation
Improve the PC store and/or get Game Pass on Steam (where PC users are still reluctant to leave regardless of value propositions)
The Xbox console is now included in a subscription. This Fall, $25 or $35 a month is all it takes for new people to enter the ecosystem that includes the entire Game Pass Ultimate library. In order for Bethesda to have it’s maximum lift this fiscal year, they need to have very direct messaging and set honest expectations with consumers. While I contend that exclusives to consoles have less impact on the mainstream than most gamers think, early generation adopters are generally the most informed and most important in creating momentum. Game Pass combined with console exclusives could be a tipping point for many gaming enthusiasts where as the value of Game Pass alone was not enough.
I believe in a few weeks the uncertainty will be eliminated. If you’re a fan of consoles and Bethesda, you need a Xbox. What say you?
@OneBadMutha Thank you for creating this thread. Much needed. Well done, mate.
You are missing a voting option, IMHO:
‘MMOs will be multiplatform, but single player games will be exclusive’ Or do you think ‘some will, some won’t’ option is sufficiently vague to cover this?
This could be either the acquisition that starts to turn the tide and turns Xbox in the biggest gaming platform, or could be the most pointless acquisition in the history where you don’t even have to commit to Ms ecosystem to enjoy the benefits.
ESO and Fallout 76 will and should be supported on Playstation. Everything else going forward will be exclusive. MS really need to nip this in the bud as soon as the deal is complete. Just come out and say it plainly and clearly.
Nadella saying that about Game Pass,…well then it seems crystal clear to me. You do not get growth for Game Pass if you “give away” your big guns. I mean how crazy is it that soon The Elder Scrolls is a Xbox franchise? That in several years from now headlines will say “The Elder Scrolls VI has been revealed and is coming to Xbox and PC exclusively this holiday.”?
Will they get some negativity for it? Oh undoubtedly, but it seems like almost no matter what they do they get negative shit for it, sometimes deserved like Don Matt tick Xbox One fiasco and recently the Xbox Live price hike. But I also feel they don’t get enough credit for things like BC, but that’s a different story.
With the many different ways of play that MS offers tons and tons of people get to play these games and it really is only the PS player base that will need to either invest in a Xbox or just subscribe to Game Pass on PC, mobile, TV etc. Microsoft needs to be aggressive now, it’s simple as that.
Like the OP says, it’s not about gaming revenue, which to me says it’s not about copies sold, so that whole argument by especially PS fans goes out the window. It’s about Game Pass. There should be no doubt really.
Now let’s look forward to the deal closing and a event being announced!
I would say even mmos. If mmos can thrive on PC+Ps4 only (Or PC+Xbox only) they can thrive on Xbox + PC+ Mobile.
They should still support every service game as a first class citizen on other platforms. But every new service just like any game should be on their ecosystem only.
I have yet to see a real argument against it that doesn’t boil down to “But I don’t want to have to buy an Xbox to play games I like.” Well, uh, that’s the industry. I liked Street Fighter, then I had to buy a PS4 to keep playing it. I liked Fuse and Sunset Overdrive, now I need a PS4 to keep playing Insomniac games. I survived, so will PS fans who like Elder Scrolls.
It’s a good point. The need to staff up to put a MMO on PlayStation seems highly unlikely based on a more aggressive approach. Sea of Thieves has had 15 million unique users. Potential of ongoing exclusive games is pretty huge due to PC and eventually Xcloud. An exclusive MMO that builds a large base across Xbox, PC and cloud could be one more thing to push people towards the Xbox ecosystem.
Stupid decisions sure, but this can’t possibly be one of them. If it’s not about revenue but about Game Pass growth this is their golden opportunity for that.
Honestly, the only real stupid decision was XbL price hike, before that it has been nothing but great decisions really.
Ok I’ll be a bit cynical here and Vote B because I still don’t certainly trust Microsoft’s conscience in making Decision A despite all the discourse that’s happened over the past few months compounding over the dumbass Gold Hike actually passing through any sort of scrutiny at the executive level, I feel like I should afford Microsoft a room for error here, a rather critical one too perhaps lol. I hope it’s Option A for the sake of the brand recovery and ecosystem, but I feel Option B is probably what’s gonna happen.
Jesus that would be a huge mistake though. In a year where Xbox already doesn’t seem to have many heavy hitters. If I was MS and for some reason I had to do this, I would make sure it hits Xbox first and months, a year later on PS.
Imagine going into Game Stop and the person behind the counter telling you that for payments of $25 starting next month, you can play Halo Infinite, Starfield, Forza Horizon 5 and Wolfenstein 3 even though you’ve never owned a Xbox console or high end PC before. Not a bad option for parents needing a Christmas gift especially if money is tight. Compare that to the traditional model of needing to spend $400 to $500 for a new console and then another $200ish for 3 new games.
Exactly. And the prospect of a single sub giving access to multiple service games and mmos instead of a separated sub for each could also be a great pulling factor.
