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Phil Spencer: We're upping our investment with first party and committed to innovate

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J

jelly

Member
Microsoft as a whole want subscribers. That's their business now.

Can't say I'm too enthusiastic about his comments there. I want SP games like Horizon Zero Dawn, bigger Halo campaigns, new IP SP campaigns along with multiplayer games. The success this year are SP heavy, why can't Microsoft get on in that. Lacking creativity? Tired IP. Gears should have stayed dead at least for now and concentrated on a new IP.

The Netflix of video games, well if you invest billions into making all sorts of games yourself then yes it might work out well but relying on 3rd party and giving them the Spotify slice of profits, that's not going to work for anything but old ass games that are Games with Gold.
 
A

atr0cious

Member
I can't get excited for any Xbox announcements when we have no clue if they're real games or not, especially the cgi trailers. Will wait till they actually release to follow up on my interest in them.
 
HighResTomato

HighResTomato

Member
Hope MS can invest in good studios with great teams. We all know they have the talent, the suits at MS need to take some risks and trust their studios.
 
Falchion

Falchion

Member
Music to my ears although I hope his comments about the story driven games don't mean the investment in 1st party games doesn't include much of those.
 
S

Strootman

Member
Honestly if your SP games are Ryse or Quantum Break, well, then of course they are not going to sell. These are mediocre games with lots od faults. Ultimately the success of a game depends on its quality... Breath of the Wild is a masterpiece and that's why is a success. Same for horizon or nier or persona.

And also GaaS is a very competitive market and it's driven by third party games. Overwatch, Destiny, Rainbow six, Battlefield, CoD and more... it won't be easy at all for them to succeed in this market.
 
H

Hero

Member
Doesn't really strike confidence in me that they want to invest in anything that isn't a "games as a service" model. Keep holding that L, Phil.
 
M

McMoneyman

Member
That single player comment is why I don't own a Xbox console to be honest, for me single player games are way more memorable.
 
A

AzerPhire

Member
DriftingSpirit said:
You can have DLC and expansions for those SP games. It doesn't have to be one and done.
Click to expand...

Absolutely I agree with you but there is risk to that especially if it is a new IP. DLC and expansions would need to be planned out and work started before the game even comes out so if the game doesn't sell as well as anticipated then you've just lost even more money as well as time for the studio to move onto a different title.

It just seems that MS is making decisions that take the least amount of risk with a focus on making games profitable not just on initial sales alone but on services (DLC, loot boxes, etc.)
 
D

Dark Cloud

Member
AzerPhire said:
I think his reasoning is that its not worth 4-5 years of development time for a single player only game that players purchase once, beat the 10-20 hours story and then shelve the game and forget about it.
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Then I don't care to ever go back to their products. Sony and Nintendo can give us those single player experiences with no problems and saying how hard it is.
 
R

Raylan Targaryen

Member
Originally Posted by Phil Spencer
“The audience for those big story-driven games... I won’t say it isn’t as large, but they’re not as consistent. You’ll have things like Zelda or Horizon Zero Dawn that’ll come out, and they’ll do really well, but they don’t have the same impact that they used to have, because the big service-based games are capturing such a large amount of the audience. Sony’s first-party studios do a lot of these games, and they’re good at them, but outside of that, it’s difficult – they’re become more rare; it’s a difficult business decision for those teams, you’re fighting into more headwind."
Click to expand...

Those games might not all sell well and light the world on fire but they still get people to purchase a PS4. Someone might be interested in Detroit and Until Dawn. Those won't light up the sales chart but it'll get consumers to buy a PS4 over an Xbox. I doubt MS has learned this as it sounds like Phil is focused more on how they sell.

Not everything needs to be a 5 million seller
 
E

Elandyll

Banned
Pretty much doubles down on Games as a Service with MP focus.

I guess it makes sense for them to maximize revenue with a brand that's only really strong in a few select markets, but why not do both?

giphy.gif
 
T

Trago

Member
bede-x said:
That's what I'm hearing as well. You like single player, get yourself a PS4 or Switch.

Not good enough, Phil. Just not good enough.
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LOL! Okay, where were y'all when they were publishing AAA single player games this generation? Because most of them didn't make any impact. So maybe his perspective is a bit understandable.
 
N

nycgamer4ever

Member
Admodieus said:
Yeah, and I can see where he's coming from - once that game is launched you have a consistent revenue stream for years instead of a short launch window plus some more sales down the line as the price decreases. But as somebody who loves single-player, story driven games, I'll vote with my wallet.



Yeah, I get that. But I'll keep buying single player games as long as they keep making them. Sony's been killing it this generation with Bloodborne, Horizon, Uncharted, etc.
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I'll continue to buy those as those are my main reason I love games. I also loved destiny and Division and those types of MMO games for their social aspects. I like all types of games if they are good. It;s just Phil sounds like they are moving away from the single player games and focusing a lot more on where the money is at. Maybe because they are not as good as the competition when it comes to those types of games.
 
G

gatti-man

Member
Phil can't see the forest for the trees here. MP games are everywhere and third parties make incredible ones. Sony is using its first party to add variety to the PlayStation line up. Making more shooters or MP games isn't going to make the Xbox stand out unless they are absolutely incredible/amazing.

Your first party fills in the gaps and niche stuff you need. I also don't believe a word he says. MS first party output needs a 300% boost. No way they have taken that kind of corrective action.
 
S

Severance

Member
Phil Spencer is right about single player games. There isn't as large of an audience if you're making mediocre games. One thing Sony and other third party publishers have shown is that if you make a great single player game, there is still quite the audience and they're very appreciative. It's a big commitment, because Sony has also put out a bunch of mediocre ones to get there. I don't blame them for being a bit apprehensive about making such games.
 
T

Trago

Member
Blackleg-sanji1 said:
What ryse and quantum break..surely you see the problem here
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Outside of Ryse, the other single player games they've published this generation have been solid, but weren't big hits comparable to Uncharted, Horizon, or Zelda. They didn't make a huge impact, so of course he's gonna say something like that.

I want more single player games from them like everyone else, but we gotta go out and buy those games too.
 
J

jayu26

Member
That answer for micro transactions question...

I don't think he expected that question. He is just rambling. He should have said something like, "Making games is expensive and time consuming. Selling new items is how you can keep players engaged for long time and keep revenue coming in." It would have been bullshit answer, but it would have been better than his rambling.
 
G

gatti-man

Member
Trago said:
LOL! Okay, where were y'all when they were publishing AAA single player games this generation? Because most of them didn't make any impact. So maybe his perspective is a bit understandable.
Click to expand...

Did you play them? I did. I can tell you they weren't that good taken as a whole.
 
O

Omnistalgic

Member
hmmm..doesn't sound like my type of games will come out of first party studios from MS then.

Also, disagree with announcing things "too early" concept MS is takes. 1) I think its just marketing because they don't have that much to show and 2) it doesn't hurt your brand having games announced and seeing where your platform big hits are going 2-3 years down the road.

Phil talks a lot and says nothing man lol.
 
S

Strootman

Member
Trago said:
LOL! Okay, where were y'all when they were publishing AAA single player games this generation? Because most of them didn't make any impact. So maybe his perspective is a bit understandable.
Click to expand...
Sunset Overdrive is a niche game while Quantum Break and Ryse are just mediocre games.

That's why they didn't make an impact.
 
A

Anung

Un Rama
I'll believe it when I see it. And even then announcements are cheap now until said product is actually in my hands.
 
J

jelly

Member
Roches said:
Those games might not all sell well and light the world on fire but they still get people to purchase a PS4. Someone might be interested in Detroit and Until Dawn. Those won't light up the sales chart but it'll get consumers to buy a PS4 over an Xbox. I doubt MS has learned this as it sounds like Phil is focused more on how they sell.

Not everything needs to be a 5 million seller
Click to expand...

Totally, the catalogue gets you in the door and serves a broader group of people. It would be like Netflix sticking to House of Cards and Orange is the New Black as people view them most and the rest is content found elsewhere to fill the catalogue.
 
C

CrimsonEclipse

Member
Elandyll said:
Pretty much doubles down on Games as a Service with MP focus.

I guess it makes sense for them to maximize revenue with a brand that's only really strong in a few select markets, but why not do both?

giphy.gif
Click to expand...

I mean, he doesn't say they won't have both. He isn't necessarily knocking down SP games, at least how I'm reading it.

We'll see what's on the roadmap for this year/next year... probably more of next year tho.
 
K

kadotsu

Banned
Trago said:
Outside of Ryse, the other single player games they've published this generation have been solid, but weren't big hits comparable to Uncharted, Horizon, or Zelda. They didn't make a huge impact, so of course he's gonna say something like that.

I want more single player games from them like everyone else, but we gotta go out and buy those games too.
Click to expand...

There MP games also didn't make a huge impact numbers wise. It is just that you can whale hunt with those titles, so the revenue is stable or up. It's a smart move I hate.
 
C

Cow Goes Moo

Member
Service driven company, Microsoft plans to make more service driven games after years of successful Xbox live, introduction of services like game pass, third party ones too like ea access and years of multiplayer game focus such as halo, gears of war, call of duty and ea sports games
Shocking news
 
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