Phil Spencer said:
They learned from the first 4 games. They run a business and player numbers on Xbox are higher than ever. The industry is under pressure and it will be change for all of us.
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Iâm not sure Xbox is as eager to sell consoles as you all think. The consoles are sold at a huge loss and that canât be easy to justify to the suits. They havenât even tried to market or sell consoles in a while, so I doubt, they are concerned about moving hardware the way many here seem to keep pushing.
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They canât use CoD beyond it being on Game Pass and in marketing, as itâs locked up tight with contracts keeping it multi-platform for a decade.
Also, those declining figures vs PS5 pre-date the multi-platform move - the 4/5 to 1 sales stories started late last year when they discounted the old PS5 model hard and were selling a ton, after already selling well as pent-up demand started to be met by increase stock.
Many PS4 gamers will have started to upgrade (and by the end, that had a huge install base), some Xbox gamers will have swapped over (as the One generation did have a significant number of big titles get money-hatted by Sony, Xbox didnât produce loads of first-party stuff and sometimes people just like to be on the âwinningâ side) and newbies may have been tempted by the deep discount - and PlayStation is seen as âtheâ games console nowadays (with Nintendo as the family / kids one).
For the inner gaming child in me, it sucks - you always want to be on the âwinningâ team, and I love the Xbox ecosystem and want them to be ahead so we never get games skipping Xbox etc. - but the adult gamer in me realises that unfortunately Xbox is in a sticky situation so have to be innovative to succeed, while preparing for the future.
That includes making money to support all their studios by putting some games on PS, looking at starting next generation early, looking at handhelds, PC stores etc.
They already tried the traditional approach of power (the One X) and value (Game Pass) late last generation and while we thought it was turning the tide, the Series vs PS5 sales show that the positive feeling was all in the gaming media / social media, the average consumer didnât really know or care and will just buy the âdefaultâ that everyone else is buying.
When their competitor has such a massive lead, doing the same things wonât work so the innovations may be the only way forward - in the meantime, I choose to think of it as PS players subsidising my Game Pass (given it may have to go up further otherwise to keep all those studios running) and just enjoy my gamesâŚ
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I think this is relevant to this thread.
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Literally why all these tantrums and outdated entitlements donât matter - itâs not 2000 anymore and their closest competitor is trickling down that same path. Some of you need to grow up, itâs that simple.
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Sony wonât do it. They prove themselves that.
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- âTheyâll never release a game on PCâ
- âTheyâll pull any Bungie content from Xboxâ
- âTheyâll never release on another consoleâ (looks at Lego Horizon - cue the impending new goalpost shifting excuses)
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Once they port games to Xbox then i will stop discussing the matter. Its only fair.
Otherwise whatâs the point of an Xbox console at this point if all we get is sloppy firsts while others get better seconds?
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Sony doing it with Switch is still doing it
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Yet they made an excuse as to why it ainât gonna be on Xbox.
I think the difference is they wonât release these games to Xbox. Sony is def pivoting, but those games arenât coming to xbox, and most likely strategic for them to skip Xbox outside of Bungie. I guess real test would be if they port Helldivers 2 to xbox because financially it would make sense due to popularity for that game declining and releasing on xbox can bring some life back to the game
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None of this has anything to do with being fair, itâs strictly business.
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Agreed. Itâs not even a secret. MS has already stated that growth is elsewhere. People just like to hold onto the good old console wars.
Including Sony, it seems. I bought a PS5 Digital for effectively âŹ160 (instead of âŹ450.) Brand new, from Sony directly. Theyâre basically giving them away to pad the numbers.
As a customer, thatâs great! But I donât know how smart it is from Sonyâs perspective, since they must be taking a huge blow financially, which will have no effect on the changing gaming landscape.
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If weâre talking market trends and how the platforms are reacting I donât really see the need to focus on Xbox.
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I understand where your coming from, however my post was mostly mocking the opposite side of this. Personally I donât really care anymore, if anything I will likely be playing this on PC, rather than either console.
That said there clearly wasnât a business change here. When Phil said Indiana wasnât one of those 4 games it was factually correct, however it was obviously misleading as it had to clearly be in development for PS5 at that time in order to meet this Spring release date. Therefore I can understand why he will get more hate from the fan base.
Personally I think the only way you are going to appease the Xbox fans (and keep the multiplatform approach) is if they donât mention PS5 at all until after the game is released on Series S/X. For example in this case they could have announced Indiana in January 2025 for PS5 coming out in March/April 2025, that way the game still gets itâs first party excitement and time exclusive launch.
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They are making a lot of money, much more than on PS4 generation or any other, we live in a moment where the amount of gamers hasnât necessarily grown a lot over the last 10-15 years, but the spending from each one, specially on MTX, DLCâs etc is really really big, and the biggest stores, which are Steam and PSN are printing money.
Also, thinking Sonyâs pivoting lately because of that Lego game co-developed by Studio Gobo or MLB is delusional, itâs quite clear why these games are on other consoles, i expect a Sony showcase soon, if they announce some of their big games on other consoles or PC simultaneously or even a year late, then weâre talking, but so far the reality is they pivoted into PC 6 years ago and they didnât move from that 2 year late port strategy yet.
I hope iâm proven wrong soon, iâm the first one who doesnât want to wait 2+ years for ports, and i wouldnât want to buy a Playstation, but thatâs the reality right now.
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I donât think thatâll help appease anybody. We all know the strategy exists and all it takes to set people off, is someone like Shinobi/Nate/Tom dropping a hint ahead of time and the Circle of Doom will begin again.
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To be fair, according to Sony themselves, the Switch isnât a competitor to the PS5.
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Ok⌠and we need to get rid of insiders 
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When youâre third place in a market that isnât growing, you gotta do what you gotta do.
You have to meet the gamers, whether thatâs in your ecosystem or outside of it. There arenât enough Xbox customers to sell to. Especially with Gamepass obliterating long term sales.
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