I expect “console launch exclusive”.
Xbox has been moving away from the “WE MUST SELL THE HARDWARE!” for years now.
Because it weakens the Xbox console, which means that it will be easier for Sony to make exclusivity deals with 3rd party publishers. We are already seeing a barrage of 3rd party games coming for the ps5, including Bethesda games, while XSX owners are…,waiting. When you can’t even commit your own first party games then you have big issues as a console manufacturer.
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Xbox cares about everything. If you want a company that caters to only their console and not gamepass and PC you picked the wrong platform to invest in.
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The community does it better because it can just say whatever it wants.
So lets be in the real world…if you can do better how do you PR this (the situation that may well be what is being dealt with)…
The next few games already have PS5 versions in development and Bethesda want to continue these and this was baked into the deal. Some of these games are unannounced and their release window still not fully known. Indiana jones plus one other unannounced title have rights issues meaning they need a multiplatform release. Xbox want to have the option to publish some future games multiplatform depending upon what happens because nobody has a crystal ball.
Ok - so you explain to me how in a sentence or two they can ‘PR’ that any better than they did. And don’t come with ‘it shouldn’t be like that’ this is a business reality - so you can’t change it. PR it…I bet you can’t do any better…
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The more exclusives the platform has, the bigger appeal it has. Bigger appeal means more customers and bigger market share. Bigger market share - more games are coming to Xbox. GamePass is the great value, but what the games from GamePass that are not on Playstation? For now we are getting mostly the games that existed on Playstation prior and did not get in the previous games.
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And 4 months later, another 3 years of “why TES6 can still come to Playstation”.
The truth of it is, unless MS specifically named these games, people would still be complaining and looking for anything to say these games won’t be exclusive. I agree the wording could have been clearer if there were no legal/contractual factors, but there are.
You can’t say the words “all” when it’s quite literally not true for reasons everyone already knows.
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Its a marketing ploy. There is going to be consoles in stock in June. Everybody will be wathing the online E3 event in June. Or maybe they have a live E3 event still because the vaccine rollout is ramping up.
Either way this gets more people talking about it for right now. Its free advertising. There is not really mixed messaging as the vast majority of people think Bethesda games will be exclusive after the contracts are fulfilled. Then in June they release a trailer for Starfield that says Xbox and PC only. They are building hype
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You care about the brand enough to be upset about a game being multiplat?
This is giving me “Quantum Break coming to PC” vibes where people are getting mad over nothing.
They’re video games. This is decision isn’t changing 99.99% of the users on this forums livelihood, yet some are acting like they’ve just lost something.
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Yep, you are right, I didn’t expect that Xbox would care about PlayStation at a time when Sony is hell bent on cutting as many games from Xbox as possible,
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If they reveal Starfield this year we’ll probably get clarity on platforms. As for TES VI, they don’t have to say anything about that.
I do expect many interviewers to keep asking Phil and his team about these franchises though. This topic in the game industry now isn’t going anywhere.
Hoo boy.
I’ll have an article with my thoughts on the statements up shortly. In the interim, I agree with the general premise that I wish the messaging could have been more clear cut.
BUT
There are very likely legal, contractual elements that require some vagueness here. It sucks, but it’s the best you’ve got. Posting how much it sucks ad nauseum serves zero purpose other than to vent, which while understandable, is not conducive to good discourse. (No, we’re not “going corpo” - I’m not paid enough 
)
So, try to detach yourselves from the emotion of it a bit - a) it’s just video games, and b) you got a mostly clear direction. Bethesda is for Xbox now. Games that are multiplayer or have prior agreements for may release on Playstation, but Xbox gamers get the first class treatment all the way.
So enjoy it! 23 Studios making games for Xbox. That’s some awesome stuff. I too, wish the matter were settled entirely, but it isn’t, and that’ll have to do for now.
Sik
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Here’s where I think a lot of this distress is coming from.
We saw so many of these people in the industry that talk about xbox extensively be so damn confident in what Xbox would do, and the larger community were tipped off into a sense of security of a future now nowhere as clear as made to be by these industry figures. This is possibly why all of these people like Nick, Rand, Colt, Tim, Jez, Klobrille, etc kinda went almost radio silent recently about their previous level of high confidence in what they thought because they probably caught wind of what’s actually happening recently.
We were constantly told by these same people that, “if you think any bethesda games are coming to playstation, you are still in denial”, “just be ready to be wrong”, so on, hence reinforcing confidence in the idea of most games being exclusive. Some even making bets on said possibility. Doesn’t mean most games won’t be indeed exclusive, but the language used in the article makes absolutely nothing clear from what we already knew back in September. What new information came about that required the embargo/legalities? Nothing. We already knew it was supposed to be case-by-case basis. The mistake was perhaps expecting that statement to be a sort of a provisional one until we got more clarity after the deal. In fact, the exact thing was said, “they can’t talk about it right now, it’s illegal, the deal has to pass through, then we’ll hear the news”. Well, the news is here, and it’s functionally the same thing we already knew. That expectation of an update on this ambiguity is partly where the problem also arises from.
So I’m not mad at those who were smart enough to not place high certainty in said convictions, but I am neither mad at those a tad upset by the continued lack of clarity.
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You are crazy if you dont think they still dont want to sell hardware. The reason they dont even mention them anymore was because it got WHACKED by the PS4 last gen.
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They are leveraging it beyond gamepass. Did you not read the statement? The fact is they aren’t able to right now spell out the full details of a hugely complex buy out - or delve into unannounced titles and explain which might be exclusive or not. But they told you their intention is some are exclusive. That could mean virtually every title past this year or just a few. You or I don’t know. But that’s leveraging the deal. It is impossible for them to say anything else given the likely reality of this. ‘We’ll never publish another Bethesda game on PS5 after X unannounced game comes out, oh and Indiana Jones because of the rights issue oh and yes that service based game we want maximum engagement from oh and…’
You can’t definitively say these things. And I suspect the ONLY definitive thing they could have said today was ‘Bethesda will be allowed to decide on where they publish their games going forward’. And they very clearly said the opposite of that.
My final statement is… if you care about video games to the point that you are angry or upset by other people being able to play them that’s YOUR PERSONAL PROBLEM.
They’re video games guys. Nothing to cry over.
I’m staying out of this thread after this. So much toxicity.
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I expected some games will be exclusive like the next hit RPG from Bethesda, Starfield.
That’s all they needed to say.
From what I’ve seen out there, everyone who does not onw an Xbox thinks that every big game is going to be multiplat.
So yeah, this is bad for the platform.
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Folks, I’ve initiated “slow mode” on this thread as the server was sweating profusely. It’ll deactivate at around 6pm. Hopefully it’ll help with the load.
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Fallout 76, Elder Scrolls Online, future VR projects and future mobile projects are going to be multiplat. I’d imagine anything with a large multiplayer focus will too.
The single player stuff you all know and love will be exclusive to Xbox/PC.
Starfield will be the first big one. Or maybe Wolfenstein 3. Everybody relax.
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