Yes, but most of them are existing games from companies they acquired.
From the XGS section, outside of Rare and Playground, the rest haven’t been that succesful, Gears, Forza Motorsport and Halo were a flop, State of Decay 2 did decent numbers, but could do much better, etc.
Games like Hellblade 2 don’t make that much sense anymore, i understand exclusives like these could help with console sales, but since that doesn’t seem the focus right now… i hope i am wrong but i’d be very surprise if the game isn’t a hard flop sales wise, and i don’t see how it can be worth for MS to greenlight more games like these.
Yea, not saying these don’t count or anything like that, they bought Minecraft or CoD and these games work perfectly, nothing to do there.
But franchises like FM, Gears or Halo have a lot of room for improvement sales wise lately, and that should be their focus now, less big single player AAA’s that won’t sell much, and more big multiplayer focused games that can bring them money consistently for several years.
There’s no limit of how many successful GaaS games a publisher can have anyway.
Way I see it if Xbox somehow start outselling playstation they’d be labeled a monopoly. The move to me seems to be to make the platforms stores a nd open the hardware making to third-parties like the ones we have making handhelds and bigger ones like Samsung.
This new hardware will attempt to harmonize all stores on one box and probably start a standard development format for all games making it similar to movies. It would serve as a blue print for other third party hardwares.
Microsoft has already informed us they’re working on. Sony contracts also keep certain games from arriving in the platform right away.
Overwatch is F2P and we have finally gotten a benefit/perk from GPU. CoD Warzone is F2P and we will likely get a similar perk as Overwatch.
Now I get why we could be upset, but there are actual reasons for things as they are now. If this does continue after MW3 then it’s definitely an issue.
Paul is missing some context here, but he is a voice of authority and generally hits on a good point. When games went to PC day and date, Xbox was quick to try and increase value to their consumers in other places because that did devalue their console purchase.
Initiatives like play everywhere provided a clear cut consumer benefit to players and could be pointed to as a benefit to console consumers.
I think this is why they announced Diablo IV at the business update, but I think the problem is they may have underestimated the impact this multiplatform strategy shift had and the lingering reduction of trust in the ecosystem.
As I put it ITT “(Excitement for the future of Zbox) requires trust in a promise of a vision, in a community whose immense trust in many visions hasn’t paid the expected dividends.”
Many Xbox fans are getting sick of waiting, sick of platitudes, sick of the competition having 8 exclusives for every 1, sick of droughts and it all kinda came to a head here.
There is context behind why games are delayed, why ABK isn’t on Game Pass, why exclusives are going elsewhere, why this may not even be a big deal and could see reciprocity in future (see Helldivers, merging ecosystem with PC) but you can only look to the future so much when the present hits you, and right now that present is no ABK on GP yet, no first party releases until Hellblade, Xbox “losing” 5 exclusives in 2 months, and games that are supposed to be the “seminal flagship experience” performing better on competing hardware.
And the benefits of this move, I’d argue, have not been well communicated. Because right now they are either intangible and future oriented which plays into the current problems, or speak to a larger problem about the sustainability of the business (i.e. they need to port to maintain the status quo), neither of which earns you friends right now.
The thing is…Xbox games on Switch and Playstation is a step too far
PC. Fine. Google store. Fine. IOS. Fine. Steam. Fine. Steam deck…well thats just a PC. Xcloud in browsers.
The clincher is how its been handled, third party don’t sell on Switch and PS5 has been a disaster for games Sony hyped for 3 years (Forespoken, FF16, FFVR2) that flopped.
It reeks a bit of corporate greed. These game should have been kept exclusive and told everyone get an Xbox, get a PC, get game pass ultimate or get out.
Instead we have Phil kumbyyahing about “how do we grow the market and all enjoy success”. Nonsense.
What happened to competition they talked about at the trial? Its not competition if you’re acquiecing.
The thing is I know, with the exception of 2025 (GTA6) every year from here on out is Call of Dutys time to shine on Game Pass as the biggest videogame release of every year.
In the end I know its going to work with Xcloud, Im just sick of Phil pandering to the other platforms in the meantime, especially during their barren lineups.
I dont want my money propping up Playstation and Switch. I’d rather they shut down the SoT servers and sunset the game than send a port those ways.
My problem with a lot of this stuff is we acknowledge that there are context and reasons for the way that things are (late investment, COVID, blah blah blah) and I get why the general audience might feel the way that a lot of folks feel lately… I have a much more difficult time understanding why an enthusiast audience that is mostly well informed feels that way though.
How can someone that knows the lineup of games and how can someone that knows that these studios had existing projects when they were acquired sit here and complain about how long it has taken for them to produce exclusives? How can someone that understands the impact that COVID has had on the entire industry complain about games being delayed over the last couple of years? How can someone that knows the games in development and how close they are really complain that they are tired of waiting and it’s no different this time from 201X?
It all comes off as pretty childish 'are we there yet? are we there yet? ’ kind of energy to me. I don’t know if people don’t understand the context or don’t care, both of which are obviously fine from a consumer perspective though. It’s not a consumers job to care about why things are the way they are, I get it. I guess I just expect more from folks that actually have the context
I get that, I’m also not a Microsoft shareholder and I’m even not complaining, just trying to figure out, what is the selling point of a Xbox? I easily could be missing something, most likely I am, but if the choice is PlayStation, plus Xbox games or just Xbox with Xbox games, won’t that kill the Xbox?
Take the game Hogwarts Legacy the game is on both PlayStation and Xbox, yet the DLC is still locked to only PlayStation users. So, if the future is more multiplatform games, then shouldn’t both systems not be treated differently?
I understand there could still be third party exclusives, but exclusive content, should go away, in a future where the same games are on multiple game consoles.
I want to stress this isn’t an attack on you, I feel like people have been attacking you and others way too much recently, my comment was more wanting to not see Xbox as a second-class citizen.
Also, sorry, if my words aren’t the best or coming across the right way.
This is my problem with those that defend the it’s only shadows it’s petty console war stuff.
I agree it is, but what they aren’t seeing it’s not that this stuff is big on its own. It’s not but what is 1 of 10 negative stories about Xbox which creates a narrative around Xbox and that is what effects the brand, the narrative that a non hardcore gamer who is looking to buy a console might come across an article and read and think nah I’ll go with PlayStation thanks.
And this is my frustration Xbox is basically giving them the media the stories themselves, they aren’t even making them work for it and are taking their own brand
I think the reality is everyone is too engrossed in the traditional way console way they fail to listen. I think Xbox message is clear. They have said time and time again they are aiming to reach 3 billion plus gamers and mentioned Xbox everywhere. They are not going to achieve these goals through consoles.
The way it looks to me is they would like to have their platform be digital and be on every device even PlayStation and Nintendo. I don’t think and see the multiplatform approach as sustainable and I don’t think they will do much of it.
I think their approach is the storefronts like the way Gamepass on PC is. Their next gen console will be a blueprint for third parties getting into the industry and expanding it and it seems that is what they are focused on at the moment. I expect nextgen will be about storefronts and think Amazon and some others will be fully into gaming by then.
