I sort of agree. To me I look at exclusives as hardware exclusives and software and services exclusives, this can even go for ecosystem exclusives like you say. I really don’t think the Xbox hardware needs software or games exclusive. I think it helps but I don’t think it moves the needle however if hardware exclusives are there that differentiate the console from the competition.
However, I think Gamepass being a software service business does require exclusive games to differentiate it and I think the issue now is Xbox has gone beyond just a hardware like you said. Xbox being an ecosystem will need exclusive games. I do think though the key will be in how they do things. Like I would expect the differenciating factor like features and experience to be what sells hardware and the exclusive games to drive the broader platform services as it moves everywhere to other devices.
Ifyou’re referring to exclusives. Yeah. It’s not like they ever said, “Hey we’re going full multiplatform.” The language was always that they’d experiment with some games, look at the data, and adjust. What they largely saw was that porting over games wasn’t massively leading to people switching from Xbox (because the console market share is very stable now) and largely just led to more sales and more engagement for their games across all platforms. So they kept pushing. Doing exclusives wasn’t really building up their userbase anyway. Now I think from the Xbox side of things they’re looking at the brand damage multiplatform launches have and how they want to play things. It’s kinda just back and forth otherwise. Exclusives now feel superficial in that way. I think people care more about them and prop up their importance to a platform, more than is actually the case in reality. If anything I’d say Microsoft needs to focus more on creating mascot games and turning their now first party IP into mascot games that naturally promote the Xbox ecosystem. COD, Minecraft, fallout, and ElderScrolls (whenever it releases) in addition to Halo and Gears. Those super popular global games and brands should be promoting Xbox naturally now.
Oh the good ol’ “but I loved the 360!” BS that all those clueless grifters/haters are spewing, like saying something like that gives them somehow the right to shit on Xbox.
If I had a penny for every time I’ve read or listen to those self-proclaimed core gamers saying how much they “loved” the 360 or the Dreamcast I’d be a millionaire by now. Gotta get dat old school, hardcore gamer cred right? lol
So far, there hasn’t been a backtrack or pull a message like what we have above. Pulling CoD away should have been one, but it’s just a noise in the forest. Basically, it was the least damaging decision, the best kind of decision. Maybe exclusivity could end up being one, but time will tell.
I don’t think we will see a backtrack on COD until at least after the June showcase. They will see if this new price sparks more subs or not and make the call whether to bring back COD for a premium price.
No backtrack, but they’re likely hoping everyone that jumped in with Game Pass buys the game this year. But if GTA6 launches this year, I think they should be expecting a lot of competition for people’s time like last year.
I think the best solution for COD is to give a 20% discount for prem/ult subscribers. They should bring back the 10%-20% discount game pass provided to gamepass purchases
I feel a lot of people will be skipping CoD to play GTA6 for a couple of months. Even the single player is generally full of content to do for a month or 2.
I think the flat standard one on EVERYTHING has gone away and been replaced with the higher Microsoft rewards point gain. Probably a way of keeping the value the same/similar, but making it cost Microsoft less upfront and forcing those savings to stay within the ecosystem.
Otherwise, yeah the actual discount seems a little more random. Well not random, but the larger more popular games are getting it or games are getting it later.
In that sense it is a bold decision to choose this year to remove COD. They’re probably going to make less on sales regardless. COD on Game Pass could’ve been pushed as a “Buy a Game Pass Ultimate Subscription on Xbox to play GTA VI online (and maybe cloud gaming) and get COD and also buy GTA VI.”
I agree that a lot of grifters online love using that phrase to not appear biased but here in the US nearly every PlayStation user that I know had a 360 growing up, casuals maybe don’t have the same reasons as hardcore gamers as to why they abandoned Xbox though but the PS4 winning the PR battles badly right as social media had gotten huge was definitely why casuals all went for PS4, Sony was probably lucky that their big mistakes with the PS3 happened before the rise of social media.
And Nintendo for that matter… with the WiiU & 3DS… wait no it didn’t. I think it’s more like, were they ever Xbox gamers really? The 360 snagged a lot of people by going first and being like half the cost of the PS3. But eventually even during that Gen the PS3 came back and overtook the 360. The Xbox One launch was a disaster, but they really didn’t lose that many gamers. At least not as many as PS have lost since the PS2 or Nintendo since the Wii & DS combo (though maybe Nintendo got them back with the Switch and now they just don’t double dip for handheld & home console; it’s hard to actually tell because two separate products are now one). All the consoles have peaked though with one generation “eveeyone” had and has fond memories of.
scoop: Microsoft is giving Xbox employees an Xbox email address. The change is part of scrapping Microsoft Gaming in favor of Xbox and the "We are Xbox" effort. Details here 👇 https://t.co/8vTg135inV
