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What's Xbox's strategy here?

No_Cartridge said:
The main issue with Xbox right now isn't the strategy itself, but how inconsistent it feels. Some games are exclusive, some launch on multiple platforms, some come to other systems later, and some don't at all. That makes it hard to understand what the actual plan is, and it often feels like there isn't a clear one.

Microsoft also can't realistically make every major game fully exclusive anymore. A lot of Xbox players use Game Pass instead of buying games outright, so releasing titles on other platforms can make more financial sense. But then the approach shifts depending on the game, which only adds to the confusion.

If the plan is to go more multi-platform, it needs to be consistent. If exclusives still matter, there needs to be a clearer reason for why certain games are treated differently. Right now it just creates mixed messaging.

It also raises the question of who they're trying to attract this far into the generation. It's hard to imagine many people waiting six years to buy a new console just for a single game like Gears: E-Day, especially when the hardware is now more expensive than it was at launch.
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The plan is not to release Gears on PS5 for now, to give Xbox fanboys an argument to continue their "holy war" to "evangelize."

It's amazing how Microsoft is a circus of idiots.

"Let's leave Gears only on Xbox so the fanboys can celebrate with their asses pounding."



7prWB2X.png



And it didn't take long for the perfect example of why Gears is "exclusive" to appear, for Xbox fanboys to write that post on the internet.
That's exactly what Sharma wanted with Gears, to give "moral support" to retarded Xbox fanboys.

They really think they need the fanboys to "evangelize" and believe that's the path to success.
 
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Gears of war is the only exclusive. The 'Console exclusive' is just cope from the corpos.

That being said, any strategy takes time. Just like Sony is now pivoting from what the morons at california planed Xbox might* be doing the same, so it will take some time to get the exclusive plan working.

*I said might because I actually dont believe anything Asha is saying. It is only corpo tricks for fools
 
I'm guessing most of the games coming to PS5 have already been signed during the "Spencer administration", so they can't make 'em exclusive if they wanted.
IMO, they should make all of them console exclusive, Fable in particular. Xbox only with no PC releases.

So we can point and laugh as another Microsoft gaming initiative burns to the ground.
 
The strategy is to stay in their positions for as many quarters as possible before pulling the plug on a dying brand and going full third party. I don't believe there is a path to success at this point.
 
Would love to hear your strategy. You think Sony has strategy? Closing best studio Bluepoint and Naughty Dog has had no games for 8 years or Bungie acquisition was smart ?
 
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Not sure what strategy is but glad didnt sell my xsx that I didnt turn on over a year or more ;d Expected little more from new Gears but still looks solid.
 
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Gaiff said:
Gears and Clockwork Revolution are exclusives, but a bunch of games you'd expect to be like Senua aren't. So, what's the point? Either you go all in or you don't. Seems they're half-assing it.

My guess is both those games are timed exclusives and will come to PS5 at a later date. It makes no sense to keep just two of them off PS5 and release the rest.
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The strategy is to gradually redirect and fix a strategy of making everything multiplatform, and that doesn't happen overnight. Making everything multiplatform wasn't done in a day; it took two years.

I don't understand why it's so difficult to see this.

It's not a matter of "Now I'm canceling the PS5 version of everything and leaving millions behind, along with upset studios and developers." There are agreements with third parties, licenses, strategies, etc. Most other games have everything planned, and most have even been officially announced for PS5 release.

With E-Day and Clockwork, they're sending the message that from now on, guaranteeing a PS5/6 version of a first-party Xbox game is no longer valid, and that the issue of exclusivity is going to change. To what extent remains to be seen. In two years, we'll have a much clearer picture.

Ultimately, if their message of the return of Xbox and the Xbox console at the center of everything is real... the steps should be becoming visible. In fact, they are happening much faster than anyone would have thought.
 
Mownoc said:
The whole reason they started putting their games on PS5 is their hardware failed (while it had console exclusives). Having a couple of console exclusives again isn't going to change anything lol. There's no reviving the Series.

No clue what they are thinking.
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This.

Utterly backwards thinking by MS..

Back to the same blatently piss poor decision making from MS.

They have 2 choices.
They either go full multiplat or they agree to massively invest and go fully exclusive.
They accept that they make a big loss of every piece of hardware and every software sale, they under cut all their competitors and by haviing a really cheap subsidised but powerful console and they stick to the stratagy for 3 generations - no wavering.
Then they might turn their hardware business around.

And nobody, certainly not MS, will do that and so it leaves only the multi plat option.
 
I think they are trying to keep the platform alive and have realized that actually needs exclusive content (duh)

They probably have a hard time telling a public company to take the long termin investment though. Will be interesting to see if they can pull it off

Xbox is more dead than after 2013 imo - In europe it barely exists anymore.
 
Tobimacoss said:
Steam and Epic aren't rival platforms. Steam is just a way to subsidize the first/2nd party games on Gamepass.
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No it's a rival . MS don't get a 30% cut from games sold on steam like they do Xbox and they have to give up that percentage for every game that sells there.
 
DryvBy said:
She just wants to confirm Xbox gamers don't buy games. She'll find out soon enough that GamePass is all Xbox is known for.
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To Timdog, Jez, Klobrille, SnapBlast etc...it just matter it is exclusive. They've told her to do that,you know. When twitter idiots tell to CEO what to do and how to run business. LOL.
 
Zuzu said:
This is my theory:

I think they don't want to go back on Fable and Halo because they already announced that they're coming to PS5 so they don't want to go back on their word.

Wrt Senua I think because it began with an entry on Playstation then they feel they should continue the series on the platforms it began with.

I think for new single player franchises and for future entries into franchises which began on Xbox they will aim to return to exclusivity most of the time.
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This.

I don't think it's as confusing as people seem to think it is. Basically if they already announced it or it has a history on other platforms then it's coming to them. If not it's exclusive.

It's Xbox though so people will shit on it either way. They could pull ports and release only on Xbox consoles and people would be mad just like they would be if they went fully 3rd party.
 
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If people never bought Xbox consoles for their exclusives it won't happen now. They will learn that the hardest way whenever they release their next overpriced console.
 
Kerotan said:
No it's a rival . MS don't get a 30% cut from games sold on steam like they do Xbox and they have to give up that percentage for every game that sells there.
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First off, Xbox PC store cut is 12%, same as Epic. Steam store cut starts at 30%, then 25% after first $10 million, then 20% after first $50 million in sales.
So MS wasn't going to get 30% regardless. It's been 12% since June 2021, when Windows 11 launched.

Steam is also not a mega Content Creator, it can't compete in first/2nd party content, or subscription or streaming. MS cares more about Gamepass and xCloud, rather than losing few sales to Steam.

Also, there's no profits in third party store cut revenues, IF you are also burning through billions of dollars subsidizing hardware.

Xbox users want games Day 1 on Gamepass, Steam users want to buy stuff. So MS makes both userbases happy. Let Steam users buy the games, and fund the development. Then they can put those games on Gamepass, and the content acquisition costs are pretty much covered by Steam if a game sells 2-3 million copies.

MS makes their profits off of Gamepass, which keeps growing content.

Their main rival is PS, the only other company that has all three things that can interfere with MS plans, which is massive first/2nd party content on a Gaming subscription and streaming capability included.

Steam is more like a parasitic Ally. Mutual benefits.
 
Zuzu said:
This is my theory:

I think they don't want to go back on Fable and Halo because they already announced that they're coming to PS5 so they don't want to go back on their word.

Wrt Senua I think because it began with an entry on Playstation then they feel they should continue the series on the platforms it began with.

I think for new single player franchises and for future entries into franchises which began on Xbox they will aim to return to exclusivity most of the time.
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Except… Gears 1 was ported to PS5 last year. It probably sold a lot better than Hellblade 2. It was definitely a lot more anticipated than another fucking girlboss movie game.

I don't think there is any rhyme or reason here. It seems like a very sudden shift in strategy and there were probably a lot of people who were pushing back against exclusivity especially for their titles (eg Spyro).
 
The goal is to keep the games they know won't sell that well anyway as exclusives to please the core Xbox fans all while selling the other big hitters on all platforms.
 
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Tobimacoss said:
First off, Xbox PC store cut is 12%, same as Epic. Steam store cut starts at 30%, then 25% after first $10 million, then 20% after first $50 million in sales.
So MS wasn't going to get 30% regardless. It's been 12% since June 2021, when Windows 11 launched.

Steam is also not a mega Content Creator, it can't compete in first/2nd party content, or subscription or streaming. MS cares more about Gamepass and xCloud, rather than losing few sales to Steam.

Also, there's no profits in third party store cut revenues, IF you are also burning through billions of dollars subsidizing hardware.

Xbox users want games Day 1 on Gamepass, Steam users want to buy stuff. So MS makes both userbases happy. Let Steam users buy the games, and fund the development. Then they can put those games on Gamepass, and the content acquisition costs are pretty much covered by Steam if a game sells 2-3 million copies.

MS makes their profits off of Gamepass, which keeps growing content.

Their main rival is PS, the only other company that has all three things that can interfere with MS plans, which is massive first/2nd party content on a Gaming subscription and streaming capability included.

Steam is more like a parasitic Ally. Mutual benefits.
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You can't say STEAM funds the games then game pass makes the profits. That's not how business works especially when you answer to shareholders.

By that logic why not let PSN + STEAM fund the games so we can pretend GP is making crazy profits.

Btw all but 2 games today are coming to PlayStation so I don't get why you pretend it's just STEAM "funding" these games.
 
diffusionx said:
Except… Gears 1 was ported to PS5 last year. It probably sold a lot better than Hellblade 2. It was definitely a lot more anticipated than another fucking girlboss movie game.

I don't think there is any rhyme or reason here. It seems like a very sudden shift in strategy and there were probably a lot of people who were pushing back against exclusivity especially for their titles (eg Spyro).
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Sharama probably pushed hard for exclusives to keep the fans happy and the best she could get was 1/2 per year.
 
People are forgetting that alongside the 30% margin, Xbox also had a REVENUE target of $30 billion. Extremely difficult to get there without a strong platform.
 
The whole "XBOX can't put the genie back in the bottle" argument is fucking stupid

Their goal is to rebuild XBOX, compete in hardware, compete with software and compete with services

So just because something was, doesn't mean it always is

You have to start somewhere to come back and exclusives is the way to do it

They can also subsize the development of some of these games since COD, Fallout and ESO makes them a shit ton of money

If you want to be a brand, you have to have something that's actually your fucking brand

Also, everyone should be rooting for XBOXs return….

Competition breeds creativity
 
The "strategy" is exactly the same as Sony's strategy wrt PC ports: keep titles with which you're okay with losing some revenue exclusive to your platform to "increase" the platform "value" or something.
These titles do not sell the platform, it's still 3rd parties - and in case of MS who overbought into the industry - your own huge subsidiaries who can't be exclusive to your h/w if you want them to remain huge.
So you take a hit in sales for the fabled "platform value", see your fans being happy, look at your bank account, figure out that this was the stupidest move ever, revert the change, rinse, repeat.
 
Keep just some "exclusives" to justify the existence of the console and make more money from other games in more platforms. Win win.
 
Joel Was Right said:
I genuinely don't think she can answer this. If I'm watching this showcase and deciding on a console, I've seen little here to persuade me to purchase an XBOX over a PlayStation. If I was interested in Gears, I'd have bought an Xbox at some point during the last two generations. So what about this new XBOX approach is actually going to move people into that ecosystem?

Moreoever, what does this mean for the team at Coalition and the likely bonuses they would have had based on sales metrics? They were developing this reboot for a new, larger install base and that's been taken away from them suddenly. How does this instability inspire confidence in the long-term ecosystem for any potential customer?

And now, the social media and press narrative will be on the future of exclusives - she will get pressed on this in every interview, in every meeting, and it'll lead to more questions about the future of the platform. And for what?
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Imagine having the PS5 version ready for a whole new user base and your boss just says "no lol" because of a Twitter poll, I just dont know what to say
 
Those contracts signed previously don't you think? She just came in so I wouldn't judge her for the work done before. So far she's taking the right steps.
 
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