I blame the console wars and it is genuinely a good case study for the worst humanity has to offer in terms of tribalism. Early on consoles built “competition” around weaponizing their users against each other, and for most console gamers today this was their childhood. There’s not much reason left with consoles being increasingly similar, third party support being decreasingly even timed exclusives, and stuff like crossplay meaning we can play with anyone. Unfortunately for some their console can still only succeed if the other console is failing, and Xbox having been the last to enter the market is the “other” console for most. It’s that “us vs them” mentality and there are great psychological studies. It’s super present in our society. Just look at wny of the isms.
There’s other good possible reasons tio. For some people it’s just farming for engagement, and others genuinely have a hate boner for Microsoft.
That kind of behaviour isn’t new to gaming ( I remember when Sega got a good amount of hate , some of it their fault at how they handled their consoles but they still made the best games IMO as well as the beginnings of the cult like devotion to Playstation) but social media amplified it to near psychotic levels. One of the many reasons outside of this place I don’t really discuss gaming online anymore.
Even trying to make money on it, what’s the point of releasing fallacies and pushing a shitty mindset on people and waste your time doing so instead of something productive just for some extra income? We know some news outlets do it as well, and it’s a societal issue, but anyone sane isn’t doing any of that.
The games and creators behind them should be put first. Releasing day one across as many stores as possible will help sustain and grow the content and IP side of the house.
The hardware can and should be able to stand on its own merits as a fantastic way to play games.
Speaking of the “What’s the point of XYZ console without exclusives?” kinda shows our hand in the console market. No one is is asking what the point of a smartphone or PC is without exclusives. People just buy what works for them and then go on to do the things everyone else does on their smartphone or PC or tablet. The point of any console is just to play games. If we have to justify it beyond that then that doesn’t seem like a super healthy business model to me.
So might as well ask the big question, and I feel like the answer is probably no unfortunately, do you think the CEO change gives a genuine chance microsoft/xbox returning to exclusive content & do you think it will result in other strategy changes e.g. more acquisitions, more oversight on studios, changes with game pass and more directed focus when it comes to which games to release
No, they are not going back to exclusives unless the studio can’t have the game ready to launch everywhere.
No, I don’t think they will be acquiring more studios, at best they will contract other studios to work on things.
The big change I can see coming for Game Pass is not require it for MP. As currently all versions of Game Pass can do cloud gaming.
If I’m remembering correctly Microsoft being super hands on was a massive issue, they backed off too much and it became an issue. Right now they have a good middle ground.
To me it seems this CEO is there to accelerate things and bring Xbox more into the Microsoft fold. I don’t think Game Pass is going anywhere. The exclusive thing is still a topic that she needs to make her stand on. I’m guessing all that will be made clear at E3 once Gears platforms are officially announced. At GDC they kept saying Xbox, there was hardly any mention of other platforms just Xbox and other devices. I think with this many will lose it if they see E Day going to PS5.
The thing though is it doesn’t look like going PS5 has helped solved the profit margin increase situation. I think Sea of thieves and Forza have been the only ones to have done really well on PS5. She just might go with not supporting other consoles now that they are pushing hard into PC starting with Xbox mode.
I don’t think microsoft being too hands on was necessarily the issue with the xbox one. I think it was them forcing in the Kinnect and TV functionality as all things considered the xbox one had an amazing line up of games for the 1st 2-3 years (1st party and 3rd party). They were definitely too hands off this generation though, I know it is nice to give the studios/devs freedom but their are some decisions that should of been made. One of the biggest missed opportunities was not immediately announcing fallout new Vegas 2 post Bethesda acquisition
Question then is why was she brought in? If the strategy stays mostly the same. Also, won’t the doom and gloom continue and what is the point of constantly going on about Xbox if you keep getting the same arguments.
I think it will come down to the question, does Microsoft see xbox as a publisher 1st and foremost or a publisher 1st an foremost. It is probably the latter at this point, xbox has the eye of Microsoft now on them but if they don’t go back to exclusives odds are xbox won’t recover but if they do they have a chance, escpecially when you factor in the IP they own, obviously call of duty and maybe a few other things will stay multiple plat but if they made the next doom, elder scrolls, fall out, Wolfinstine, Crash, Spyro, Diablo ect. Exclusive it would bring in a lot of people
I agree. I’m not really into exclusives but clearly Microsoft bringing in new leadership seems to say they need it, especially when they keep touting consoles. I don’t think they need to pull from steam but maybe PlayStation. Case by case might be a consideration again.
Imo, most of what Sharma is presiding over isn’t outside of what Xbox was already doing, Sarah announced the new hardware, the partnership with AMD.
What she is doing is reversing course on Sarah’s marketing to not focus on the console. Putting Xbox as the center of their strategy like it was originally, while still building towards the goals that Nadella and Hood want.
Yeah I agree, I also feel like Phil Spencer “retiring” also held a lot of the modern bad PR so their using him and Sarah Bond as basically sacrificial lambs. Kind of like they did with Don Matrick previously