Just playing Devil’s Advocate here but MS can say “Halo Infinite has been played more than any other Halo game so why do we need to go back to the 360 marketing days” ?
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I feel like I’m crazy but I just don’t see the value of TV spots in 2023. If they were effective for the Xbox business, they would do them.
This. First party titles do very well without TV spots. 30 million for Forza, 20+ million for Halo, 15 million for Grounded etc.
Also, if Sony have a TV spot for Ragnarok and then Xbox have one for Grounded and Pentiment, they will get clowned. It’s an optics nightmare, obviously unjustified but still.
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TV spots or the standard marketing blitz make sense for single player AAA games. Not so much for live service games like Forza or Halo Infinite.
It’s also all about trade offs, 20 + million playing a game via gamepass or F2P will just never have the same impact of a premium priced game that sells millions. It’s just 2 completely different ways to consume a product at this point.
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I agree. Games like Starfield and Fable and maybe even Redfall can support them. Games like Grounded and Sea of Thieves, not so much.
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I agree it’s uncharted territories due to Gamepass gives you the opportunity to get 20million+ people to play a game. However, I feel you still need to market your big games. I remember they had a commercial for Forza Horizon 4 which was cool and that launched on gamepass.
Anyways, I think you need to have a healthy mix of promoting gamepass and marketing the big AAA games. I think my major gripe is they’re all in on gamepass, but I don’t think many are aware of why gamepass is so great and what the service actually is. I think they should be heavily advertising the service since they’re all in on gamepass. It would be cool if we see gamepass being advertised at sporting events, commercials, and other places. Lastly, I feel people outside of the xbox ecosystem aren’t aware of the service
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Yeah I mostly agree with you but we can’t really use Forza Horizon 4 as an example anymore or even Gears 5.
The Gamepass ecosystem is so different now, the consumer behavior of Gamepass members has evolved significantly since then. The Gamepass ecosystem is basically a community within a community (xbox community) at this point. It’s insulated which is why a game can get 15M + player count on Gamepass and not have the impact of a game that would sell 5M in a traditional way.
I’m not saying that as a negative thing or a slight towards Gamepass, it’s just the reality of the landscape. MS is in unprecedented territory with this so I can see why they’re still trying to figure out the marketing aspect of all of this.
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Everyone but MS is doing marketing and TV ads.
Halo Infinite got zero marketing and didn’t feel like the launch of a premium product as a result (like Halo 3 was).
Like, Rings of Power got over 100 million viewers yet Amazon still marketed it heavily. Same for The Mandalorian, same for God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West, same for Nintendo games (their games and the Switch are selling gangbusters yet I see these all the time on TV).
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I’m on about AAA exclusives of which COD and Diablo is not, never mind the deal hasn’t even been done. Ghostwrire is already on the PSV and I’ve a bet right now Goldeneye won’t be out this year
You may be able to. Most would have R&C, Horizon Zero Dawn 2, GT 7 has big budget AAA games
I rather see The series S/X as the best selling console in the UK and USA each month, but alas, it hasn’t even come close to that in months
I complete agree. I get that Youtube and streaming are the way forward, but it be nice to see some big TV ads from MS to push the XBox
Why would you like to see a company burn money?
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Xbox won’t outsell ps5 this gen especially with IPs like Spider-Man and wolverine. These draw in the casuals.
Also they are more focused on gamepass than pure sales.
To counter the SONY PR spend. If SONY can afford it, surely MS can?.
1.) But will TV spots ACTUALLY increase console sales, game sales and Game Pass subs? Only MS knows, but if not, then it’s probably not worth doing.
2.) Doing TV spots just because Sony is doing them is the wrong reason to do them.
3.) We know Xbox’s marketing budget was cut recently and I imagine they are focusing their efforts on what is important this year (i.e. June 11th, Redfall, Starfield, Forza etc). and promotion efforts that will have a material benefit on their target metrics.
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Seems to work for SONY. SONY do a far better job of making their console desirable IMO
Well then we have to discount all of Sonys lineup for the last 2 years, because they aren’t AAA or exclusive.
Well you lost that bet.
I’d put them on par with things like Deathloop and GWT…unless they’ve performed over and above at retail…which they didn’t.
I’d rather let the games do the talking. I don’t see Spider-Man 2 doing 1/3rd of Starfield or Diablo 4 (just the Xbox/PC version) or Call of Duty…and that’s a huge issue for a company whos reputation lies on having untouchable first party games. Not to mention 2023 being a huge drought for PS5 blockbusters.
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What works for Sony will not necessarily work for Microsoft. They are different companies with different strategies and different products and focused on different territories.
TV ads are not why Sony is doing well. They are doing well because of a consistent release cadance of high quality AAA games and the goodwill that comes from it. Sony could stop doing TV ads tomorrow and still do just as well.
I just think that there’s probably a reason why MS doesn’t do TV ads, and the reason is probably that the cost of TV ads far outweighs the material benefit.
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Spider-Man is a different beast bro.
This thread is quickly turning into nonstop console warring, begging Microsoft to do exactly what Sony does, moving goalposts when proven wrong.
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Console wars is the answer
Really? I must have missed the part of SONY games coming out on the Series S or X consoles and please don’t try and be clever and bring up the PC that is not the same; There’s a reason why SONY paid CORE over £200 million to make Tomb Raider 2/3/4 Ect, exclusive to the PS, no matter the games were on the PC and looked and run better on the PC too.
It’s like having a debate with a child. Overlooking that Goldeneye 64 is now hardly a AAA title, its hardly exclusive too, since it’s on the Switch I was on about The Initiative Perfect Dark game.
I’ll have another bet with you and say Diablo4 will sell better on the SONY consoles. I would agree with you on Starfield mind.
But I really rather see MS winning the console sales battle because there is no better guarantee for games than having the best selling console in the main markets. The 360 showed that