Xbox Game Studios |OT4| This is for Studio talk. Studios. It's the Studios OT. Studio talk here (Part 1)

[Shadowgasm]

@Mort

Omg! They are phasing out Phil!

Phil wasn’t sustainable.

[LiamS]

@Mort

Omg! They are phasing out Phil!

lol I dont mean that! Just that I think xbox want people to think of Matt booty when they think of the first party studios, not just Phil.

So, for instance, if a first party game comes out and its awesome, well polished, etc etc, people would think “wow Matt did a great job, helping to sheperd this project” or whatever, instead of just attributing everything xbox to phil

edit: we have even started to see this a bit, during the july showcase last year, off the top of my head, Matt Booty had the same or slightly more screen time than Phil. Iirc of course

[beastmode10]

@LiamS

Phil is the head of all things gaming at microsoft, which would include a revamped game store. Plus Phil is easily the most public facing executive at microsoft so it would make sense for him to do it.

As for why Matt Booty is doing it? I’m not sure, but I get the feeling, imo, that xbox wants more than one ‘frontman’ I guess you could call it. That is, having Phil be the singular person people think of when they think xbox is something I would imagine they want to expand.

I could totally see xbox PR turning Matt Booty into the “Pete Hines of xgs” (because bethesda isnt part of xbox game studios, they are a part of xbox, pedantic I know)

This works only for the Gamepass experience. I agree.

Matt Booty and Todd Vaughn are at the same level. I will expect Todd Vaughn to eventually make an appearance alongside Matt down the line.

Not sure about Pete Hines and his equivalent. I suppose there isn’t one.

You might be onto something for the frontman/frontwoman theory. But you might easily see a lot of Sarah Bond there. She along with Matt/ToddV are handling massive roles.

[LiamS]

@beastmode10

This works only for the Gamepass experience. I agree.

Matt Booty and Todd Vaughn are at the same level. I will expect Todd Vaughn to eventually make an appearance alongside Matt down the line.

Not sure about Pete Hines and his equivalent. I suppose there isn’t one.

You might be onto something for the frontman/frontwoman theory. But you might easily see a lot of Sarah Bond there. She along with Matt/ToddV are handling massive roles.

Yeah I agree! Sarah always does a great job with her presentations/stage presence, and I definitely would like to see more of her at the various events that xbox run in the future!

[peter42O]

I’m staying with what has been my prediction since late 2020 for the second half of 2021 and early 2022.

• Flight Simulator (August)
• Wolfenstein III (September)
• Forza Horizon 5 (October)
• Halo Infinite (November)
• Starfield (March 2022)

[PhantomFox]

@Xplainin

I think it will be. I reckon MS is going to see how much effect having the game day one on GP compared to paying full price on PS works out. If they can get people to adopt Gamepass and increase the subs to the degree they want, and still get the revenue from PS players who will never come across to the Xbox ecosystem, then they might just try that. Its also easy to say that the PS5 version was already nearly completed, and they had Bethesda employees bonus tied up with how many units they shift that this game is one that will be multiplat.

Didn’t you see the recent Microsoft earnings report? They don’t need PS money. At all.

[Mort]

@PhantomFox

Didn’t you see the recent Microsoft earnings report? They don’t need PS money. At all.

This. It’s peanuts on the MS scale of things. Xbox can stand on it’s own.

[Shakez]

@PhantomFox

Didn’t you see the recent Microsoft earnings report? They don’t need PS money. At all.

Also they said that they need more good content, not more platforms.

This alone tells you were their efforts are being put.

[Zem]

Is the initiative doing well? I haven’t heard from them ever since the perfect dark announcement on the game awards.

[peter42O]

@Xplainin

I think it will be. I reckon MS is going to see how much effect having the game day one on GP compared to paying full price on PS works out. If they can get people to adopt Gamepass and increase the subs to the degree they want, and still get the revenue from PS players who will never come across to the Xbox ecosystem, then they might just try that. Its also easy to say that the PS5 version was already nearly completed, and they had Bethesda employees bonus tied up with how many units they shift that this game is one that will be multiplat.

Not going to happen nor should it.

It would cost Microsoft money. 30% fee to Sony on every disc and digital copy sold plus extra money spent on retailers for carrying the PS5 disc version as well as spending extra money on manufacturing the discs, cases, printing the inserts and distribution.

Also, paying $70 for Starfield or any game for that matter on PS5 for those who don’t own or have any interest in owning a Series X/S is far better than having to spend hundreds of dollars to buy a console just to get a game for $10 in Game Pass.

NOT having the Bethesda games on PS5 is exactly how you get consumers to buy a Series X/S and subscribe to Game Pass.

[javycane (Javier Ruiz)]

@Xplainin

We saw MS honour stupid little kickstarter deals

Because actual people funded the game and made it possible. Thats the point of kickstarter.

[PhantomFox]

@Xplainin

… PS as well. And my point about bonus is actually a serious one. Alot of companies have the employees bonus tied to how many games they shift. So if MS suddenly put it on GP and don’t release it on PS, then obviously it won’t shift as many units as it would have done, so the workers miss out due to no fault of their own. We saw MS honour stupid little kickstarter deals for Psychonauts 2 when they didn’t have to and allow the game to stay on PS. Think about it, Double Fine Productions was bought out in 2019, and Psychonauts 2 will be on PlayStation two years after the buy out, even after MS bought out the publishing rights for the game as well. I’m not saying all Zenimax games will be multiplat, but I have a feeling that some of the ones that come out this year or next may still be multiplat.

Of course companies want growth. They can do that without releasing Bethesda games on PS. Sea of Thieves for example sells really well despite being Xbox exclusive and on Xbox Game Pass. The majority of Bethesda sales are on PC, and that will continue to be the case. So they really don’t need PS for this.

MS honored the kickstarter deals because it would absolutely have been a dick move if they didn’t. Like imagine supporting a sequel to a game you loved only to find out you won’t be getting it since Microsoft bought Double Fine. People would be pissed. Since it doesn’t appear to be getting a PS5 version I think it’s obvious they would’ve made it exclusive if they could.

[javycane (Javier Ruiz)]

Why are we back on the zenimax multiplatform nonsense again.

[Xplainin]

@PhantomFox

Of course companies want growth. They can do that without releasing Bethesda games on PS. Sea of Thieves for example sells really well despite being Xbox exclusive and on Xbox Game Pass. The majority of Bethesda sales are on PC, and that will continue to be the case. So they really don’t need PS for this.

MS honored the kickstarter deals because it would absolutely have been a dick move if they didn’t. Like imagine supporting a sequel to a game you loved only to find out you won’t be getting it since Microsoft bought Double Fine. People would be pissed. Since it doesn’t appear to be getting a PS5 version I think it’s obvious they would’ve made it exclusive if they could.

We shall see. Way more than happy to be wrong. I don’t want to see MS release Zenimax Games on PS, I think it would be a stupid move and a kick in the face to all loyal Xbox players.

[Shakez]

@Xplainin

We shall see. Way more than happy to be wrong. I don’t want to see MS release Zenimax Games on PS, I think it would be a stupid move and a kick in the face to all loyal Xbox players.

We are seeing PS games on gamepass, I think we know what MS really wants from PS here.

[Deadwing88]

Phil shouldn’t have bothered clarifying exclusivity… because some have just outright chosen to ignore it. lol

[CallMeCraig]

@Xplainin

We saw MS honour stupid little kickstarter deals for Psychonauts 2

What exactly is stupid about funding a game like Psychonauts 2?

[Mort]

@Xplainin

And my point about bonus is actually a serious one. Alot of companies have the employees bonus tied to how many games they shift. So if MS suddenly put it on GP and don’t release it on PS, then obviously it won’t shift as many units as it would have done, so the workers miss out due to no fault of their own

Hm if only MS had enough money to cover any bonuses tied to an old metric not in use and replace it with players on Game Pass. If only.

@Xplainin

We saw MS honour stupid little kickstarter deals for Psychonauts 2 when they didn’t have to and allow the game to stay on PS.

What? Of course they had to honor that. The game was funded by these people, who “bought” it for PS4. If there is one deal they should definitively honor, it’s this one.

[BRiT]

Can we please stay on topic with news about Xbox Game Studios and leave the MultiPlatform / GamePass Profitability takes to another thread?

[peter42O]

@Xplainin

So how many games would Star field have sold on PS4 and PS5? How many people would have bought the game on Xbox and PC if it wasn’t on Gamepass? The number MS comes up with might not match what the workers think. It gives MS an out to release it multiplatform. Not saying they will, but I can see it doing so. If it isn’t I will be really happy to have misread it. I will be interested to see how people like you react if it does.

On Psychonauts, MS was not bound by the kickstarter.

SMH.