Phil said back in June that they have seen double-digit % growth in game sales year over year for the last 5 years on Xbox - so you can respectfully throw that out in the bin.
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We would just have to wait and see I guess if sales actually drop or not, I definitely donât see console sales growing but maybe if Xbox thinks they can sell a certain amount like 40 mil 50 mil whatever its worth it to them
It remains my only real concern and I know some have said it will be fine with good examples too, but when it all comes down to it nobody can know what will happen.
Surprisingly of all places Iâve been seeing quite a good amount of current Xbox players saying they see no reason to all of a sudden make PS their main and they give very valid reasons too. So hopefully all will be fine. I also hope Xbox will continue their efforts in Asia, especially China. Iâve been checking out some new Phantom Blade Zero footage and it bums me out Xbox is missing out on this, yet is is not a PS exclusive in any way.
Thereâs also Where the winds meet, not sure if consoles even have been announced but I can already see a similar situation once they announce platforms.
Itâs great that weâre getting Genshin, but why did it have to take four years in the first place? Whatever the reasons I hope this improves a lot and that we get these games simultaneously with other platforms in the future.
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I always look at the rumored PC support as a remedy for that and keep moving forward excited to see what they have cooking. Itâs not like Microsoft didnât think about what impact this will have on the next Xbox.
I think itâs odd that people look at these moves and and completely ignore the fact that there are things they can do to remedy this (and are rumored to).
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The issue here is we donât know what the next Xbox console is going forward to make an accurate prediction one way or another.
If the next Xbox is a traditional, closed ecosystem console, then yes, these decisions will have some sort of effect on the Xbox console going forward.
However, if the rumors are true and the next Xbox is going to allow other digital storefronts like Steam, Epic, etc. then publishers skipping Xbox is a non-issue and suddenly the Xbox console becomes the console you buy to play all games.
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Do people not get tired of the same nonsensical arguments over and over again?
I mean, Microsoft collects and analyzes infinite amounts of user data. Iâm pretty sure they know exactly which strategy is having which effect.
YEARS after launching their games on pc, YEARS after offering a cloud alternative, people are still âbut, but, but⌠console sales!â
It doesnât matter. Console sales do not equal users. As long as there are users (surprise - there are more than ever!) third party publishers are not going to âabandonâ Xbox, and Xbox is certainly not going to abandon gaming.
80 billion dollars invested. Next gen hardware already announced. An entire forward compatibility team already announced. If thatâs not enough for you⌠why are you still here?
Take a breath. Weâll all be fine. Whether you plug a console into your tv, some kind of hybrid pc that works like a console, or nothing but an Ethernet cable. Itâll all be the same in the end.
Welcome to the future! Maybe PlayStation and Nintendo will join us one day.
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Itâs unlikely weâll get many of those games day 1, simply because Xbox hasnât ever been big in Asia - to be honest in many parts PC rules and even the PS5 struggles.
If the rumoured hybrid consoles come next though, a handheld and a PC hybrid, maybe thatâll help as it may be a cost effective way of getting a PC or decent handheld so might see some enthusiasm from markets Xbox usually canât reach.
Thereâs danger in any scenario:
- If Xbox makes everything exclusive except CoD (as they legally canât) they may make barely a dent in console sales (as most people just play Fortnite/Fifa/Minecraft etc) they may lose enough money MS cuts loads of staff and studios
- If Xbox keeps most games exclusives and goes traditional powerful console next generation, they may keep a core fan base happy but itâs shrinking every generation, so is a slow death
- If Xbox innovate like they have with Game Pass, maybe including making more games multi-plat to buy the time (and money) to experiment, they may be able to grow again - the Series S was a stab at this, next time they may go further and do the handheld and PC hybrid consoles. It may crash and burn, but at this juncture itâs worth taking the gamble
I trust theyâre not making these moves without planning how theyâre going to make the most of the backing theyâve got (like the Surface team, Windows team etc) and make some more innovations
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Reading through this thread, I understand and respect all of your concerns, but I do not get the sense that anyone in the industry shares them no matter where they work. At least not the majority if many at all and I talk to dozens if not, hundreds of people that work directly in gaming.
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That is understandable they are not the consumers though so one will though expect an alignment if they expect to be successful. This is probably why many are criticizing the execution which might seem sound in the industryâs sight but horrid on the consumer front. I think Jez article sums things up well. Many just see it as give and take and feel Xbox is not giving but just taking.
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I do wonder hearing SOT has done like a million sounded pretty poor to me knowing that there are costs associated to this and now longer dev times for other console inclusion as SOT has been lagging in the constant DLC updates or maybe not, it just seems that way to me. Also, software sales have been tanking except for a few big games. Almost everything on PS5 lately ever does beyond a million. Itâs difficult to see how they would even justify the constant spend on other platforms if the games are not selling that well. Iâm just thinking the move to a dying platform might not be so great. The only thing that is bug now is the MTX FTP games. Will Game Pass cannibalize sales for day and date or is time exclusivity the best idea. I think the best idea is the hybrid console that houses all stores where you can make it in one format and then available to all format supporting stores. That way they can even leverage an OS idea for manufacturers in foreign countries that want in.
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If that individualâs primary place they want to play is on an Xbox console, why would they be placated by the fact that Xbox games have launched on PC and cloud?
I donât think Xbox is going anywhere, certainly not anytime soon, but peopleâs concerns and arguments are hardly ânonsensicalâ. Certainly no more nonsensical than trying to make out that the downward trend of Xbox console sales are absolutely fine and nothing to worry about.
And you canât just expect people to blindly trust Microsoft with their internal analysis and data with regards to their strategy because a) they change strategies constantly and b) their communication around said strategy has just lead to mass confusion and negative morale among Xbox fans over what exactly Xbox is even doing.
Not to mention this is the company that brought us Zune, Mixer, Groove and the Windows Phone. You can forgive people for not having the utmost confidence in Microsoftâs strategy and commitment to the Xbox hardware at this time. Perhaps when their communication with their fan base is a little clearer and more honest, then that will change, because they only have themselves to blame for the sentiment around the brand at the moment.
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At this point, Microsoft needs to purchase Valve. Kill off the Xbox brand turn the next Xbox into the SteamBox, and give it a series name after it, and the new handheld can be the newest Steam Deck. 132 million monthly users some of who may actually buy the console this time around since a lot of these people play on 720p and 1080 still and Steam has a global name and presence that the Xbox just doesnât have.
This way the console is saved and people would worry less about it going away or losing access to their libraries. Going multi-platform would be cleaner now that the platform-exclusive legacy of Xbox is gone. Users would also have access to Sony games and other games that usually would skip the platform and Gamepass could reach its full potential and you get a globally recognized brand that you could put your mobile store under also not to mention all the money coming in from the Steam Store.
The Xbox and Xbox Gaming Studios branding has too much smut around its name from the way it was launched last gen to the low-quality games from second-party studios under that came out under the Xbox Gaming Studios name and now just the general overall mixed messaging and confusion over the direction Xbox is since Microsoft Gaming was formed.
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This point was always curious to me. If you are a person who has the time and money to play enough games where you run out of games to play on your 1st console, then I would imagine you could afford another console. Like if the other console has an exclusive and you are salty about not getting to play, you must have exhausted everything to play on the console you own right?
On the other hand if you canât afford or have the time for multiple consoles then what are you complaining about? You canât canât even play all the games on one console so why worry about a game on another console youâd struggle to buy or find time to play anyway?
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I think thatâd work out if you wanted to play every game equally. There are games I want to play enough to buy a console for (not really), games Iâm willing to pay $70 for, games Iâm willing to play only because they are on Game Pass, etc.
Iâm going to want to tackle those must have games first regardless of platform. Probably not the most economical thing to do if you are financially limited, but thatâs how a lot of peopleâs minds work.
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Not happening. Iâm sure they have been in talks and tried. I donât think Vave is interested in selling and they would have a hard time with regulators not to mention Sony would oppose it strongly like they did with ABK. I think there are better ways. If the hybrid is like some are speculating they could redefine the market and be the first adopters. If the next console is open to all store fronts. PC launchers from different stores could take off and have more impact on the PC scene might even break Steamâs PC hold as publishers can sell directly to consumers and maybe eliminate some costs. This I would think is their best course of action. I would look at this current multiplatform thing as a way to test and build a system that is compatible for all games so they have just one GDK, get to make just one game that will be playable on all supporting stores for that GDK.
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I wouldnât go as far as expecting publishers to all of a sudden create new stores. I donât think any PC store is just going to work,
I think itâll need to be a partnership with the Xbox app having access to your entitlements across stores as well as potentially even integrating some of the necessary services/DRM so that games launch cleanly. I donât, for example, expect to click a Steam game from the Xbox app and then it launch the Steam app. Its gotta be better integrated than that.
I think they name dropped two particular stores when they mentioned this for a reason. Steam was probably not on board at the time or they are still working it.
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We donât even know if there will be another Sony console considering the cost of things now. Would they even be able to build a console less than 700 with good or nextgen tech in it and at that price would it sell. They are struggling to sell consoles and software isnât moving that much add to that it is now the most expensive division for Sony to fund. Iâm thinking the next Sony hardware could even be a handheld.
I highly doubt that. I expect it to be like a surface product and more or less an example or a blue print for other manufacturers. I also do think it will be more android like with apps or something of the sort. The way I see it Microsoft might be hoping it goes beyond gaming.
I think the product is separate from what we expect from the software running on it. It needs to look and feel like a console still.
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Honestly, I do think they want to drop the hardware since itâs a loss generator for them. I think they want other hardware manufacturers to pick up the hardware that ensures or gives them market share in different regions of the world however they have to make it enticing for a company like Samsung to want to get involved. you could be right but I do think with the handheld there is more at play than gaming. Apple broke into phones through iPod there seems at least to me that this could be that sort of play or something similar. This handheld with AI and social media could be huge or the start of something else. In any case itâs still just speculations.