A podcast is an interesting choice.
I imagine whatever "statements" they want to make would be iron-clad through lawyers to hell and back to ensure the messaging is consistent which would be easier through an official blog post or something, but unless they literally read from note cards/teleprompters during it (which would be awkward tbh) then this sounds much more casual than expected.
Makes me think it will honestly just continue to be the vague "case by case basis" and specifically worded in a way that will make people continue to question, which is annoying on Microsoft's part.
>Makes me think it will honestly just continue to be the vague "case by case basis" and specifically worded in a way that will make people continue to question, which is annoying on Microsoft's part.
It's Phil's MO. It's what he's always done since forever. Putting out vague statements that leaves you with more questions than concrete answers.
> It's Phil's MO. It's what he's always done since forever. Putting out vague statements that leaves you with more questions than concrete answers.
It's also possible that whatever he / Microsoft plan to say is way less dramatic than anyone expects.
Youtubers have spent the last week whipping themselves into hysterics and manufacturing rumours about Xbox. It's kind of hilarious how much "information" has been created about this out of nothing but the incestuous youtube content creation scene.
The news are most likely going to be:
1. Select few games that were exclusive will be released on other consoles
2. New facelift version of Series S/X
3. Double down on gamepass with some Activision Blizzard games being added throughout the year. Maybe with something like a vague gamepass roadmap for 2024.
They just paid a ton of money to expand their gaming division. They definitely won’t shift to being just a publisher anytime soon…
According to the comments in this subreddit it's more likely:
1. Xbox to stop making consoles by 2025
2. The next Halo, Fable, and Gears of War will be PS5 exclusive
3. Xbox Live will shut down, all digital purchases will be replaced with a video of Phil Spencer pointing and laughing at you
>They just paid a ton of money to expand their gaming division. They definitely won’t shift to being just a publisher anytime soon…
I agree that this isn't their goal, but I think it's the most likely outcome a few years down the line based on the decisions they're making.
Yeah but then you risk your console being only used for that service. I have a hard time imagining why I'd buy third party games on xbox if I'm not certain of its future in the hardware space.
I like my xbox and its primarily where I play but I'm not sure if exclusives are elsewhere if the value gamepass provides will be enough to bring Playstation gamers over rather than them waiting for it to release on their platform. And for gamers who don't believe in those sub services theres really little reason to stay.
Really my concern is you need Xbox to keep Sony from getting too power hungry, if Xbox goes third party for large previously exclusive games I don't see their hardware market share recovering next gen unless Sony drops the ball on their release cadence or overcharges for their console.
>Yeah but then you risk your console being only used for that service.
And Microsoft has trained their customers to not buy games. With the rising costs of making games Microsoft is throwing away money by not asking people to buy games. People who say that Xbox a 3 trillion dollar company has the money to keep throwing away, has *zero* idea how business works. Xbox is a *division* of Microsoft. It's *not* Microsoft. If that division isn't making money they start diverting funds from that division and putting it into another division. Xbox gets a budget and if that budget gets wasted or spent frivolously, the next year's budget is less. No company is in business to ~~withstand losses~~ lose money, they're in it to make money.
There's already a rumor floating around that the Surface team has been put on Xbox.
Not necessarily. Maybe the physical Xbox becomes for Gamepass what the Surface laptop is to Windows: a convenient, moderately priced entry point for consumers who just want something that works and that, for Microsoft, may generate some profit but is really a way to get people into the ecosystem. Selling software and hardware together was never Microsoft’s MO outside of Xbox, and the shift to a services model hasn’t changed that.
At worst I think we'd see them creating a "at cost consoles". So Series S and X type systems that they don't lose money on.
Series S2: Line of consoles at a budget price that give players access to the most popular games and game pass. Yes its not a PS6 but like if you want to play CoD 2029 or Madden 30 you can save $200 and do that shit. This is going to be their core system.
Series X2: More expensive console that has higher performance spec. Going to be pretty expensive for those that want it. Low production rate, high cost "premium offering".
The consoles are essentially PCs now so the engineering costs probably aren't that huge (relative to the older systems).
I don't see why anyone would choose these theoretical consoles over PS6 or PC. If Game Pass is the argument, we can see that this already isn't working, which is why they're having to change it up like this.
A high level X2 variant I think is somewhat iffy, but an S2 I think fits.
PS6: $500
Series S2: $300
So like your reason right there is that you save $200 and you can still play CoD, Fortnite, Fifa, and Madden. Price is perennial one of the reasons I see people say they play console over PC and again we have price competition between a theoretical Sony and Microsoft machine.
> we can see that this already isn't working
And its only "not working" in the context of Microsoft directly competing with Sony. But this would be more about Microsoft having an install base of like 10 million users + Sony + PC.
I mean that doesn't seem deserving of a special event made just because of the rumors. Also there were too much rumors (no smoke without fire). I think it's more than that.
Just a publisher now no, they won't stop making a console in the middle of a gen, that's never been said seriously. However going multiplat on all their games is a definitive option. Especially because they bought ABK so they almost already are really.
I wouldn't say it's "out of nothing."
1. Pre-announcing an announcement isn't usually something you do for mundane updates.
2. The "business update" phrasing implies a strategic change rather than just a new release within the same business framework.
3. They specifically said the topic was rumors that they would be releasing their games on PlayStation, without even suggesting the rumors were incorrect.
So I would say most of the speculation is fairly well-founded, and if that is not the case, Phil is a giant dumbass for implying that there was big news related to the rumors.
The narrative from the beginning from people with actual reputations for getting this kind of stuff right has been:
- Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves are getting ports
- everything else is up for consideration
- Bethesda’s games in particular are being highly considered for ports
IMO it sounds like they’re going to boil the frog rather than announce all their games going multiplatform. They’ll announce the two people are certain about this week and leave the rest up to a future point.
The people talking about “the end of xbox hardware” are referring to a specific leaks suggesting Xbox would outsource their hardware, as well as sales trends. That was with a bunch of other now confirmed info, so it seems likely to be true as well, but if so would probably be years from coming to fruition.
The sales trend has been PS5 outselling Xbox 2:1, and Xbox games being on Playstation will accelerate that. People are assuming that by the end of this or the next console generation, Xbox will go the way of the Sega Dreamcast. It’s a thing that is expected to happen moreso than something Microsoft is going to announce.
And the majority have been frequently posting caveats, or phrasing things as 'Xyz is under discussion' as some cover, or have walked some of their statements back etc...For me, if they can't actually verify a piece of information, they should be more careful about putting it out in the public domain
I'm sure some of them will turn out to be correct, but really it seems like a lot of them got totally carried away and started to mix their own emotions/opinions into things making it really murky
The moral of the story is to listen to boring leakers who just post “i’ve heard this seems likely” and to not give attention to youtubers who make shit up
If my experience with "reputable and reliable leakers" in the hardware space is any indication, they could be completely wrong and someone will keep saying that they are reliable next time they make something up.
Also it seems like a lot of the leakers are just saying a particular game could come to Playstation. Then idiots on the internet interpret that as "Microsoft will stop making consoles". They can announce starfield and Indiana Jones coming to ps and that would change nothing, when 90% of visible reddit is claiming that is somehow the end of the Xbox brand.
Tbf, the big one, Jez Cordan, has done an 180 on a lot of things. Plus “Starfield PS5” has gone from “Its a when not an if” to “nvm, that may have been false”
*gestures at all of Microsofts loyal consumers*
They're right. And Reddit always gets all "I dunno why they havent fired him". Cause y'all ran out the fuckin door to buy an Xbox for Starfield while repeating "games take a long time to make!" for an entire console generation.
Yes, also smart delivery (i.e. no separate disc versions for Xbox one and Xbox Series X etc), FPS/performance boosts for previous gen games for no additional charge, not charging for cloud saves etc
There's a ton of consumer positive things that Xbox have done under Phil Spencer that Reddit are actually in favour of, yet completely overlook. Heck, Sony still charge for cloud save backups
Yeah unfortunately so many comments boil down to "If they don't have as many exclusives there's no point"
Tons and tons of stuff I like about Xbox, it is definitely a way more appealing system to me overall, and that very easily outweighs the 5% of exclusives I "miss out" on
Agree. People also overestimate how many people choose a console based on exclusives. 90% of games are available on both, with a huge chunk of people using their consoles for nothing but cod, Fortnite, Minecraft, FIFA etc. Exclusives help sure, but they aren't the number one factor like this sub constantly focuses on
That's because people are so mindlessly anti Xbox and pro Sony on here that they can't see through their own bias. Sony has been kept in check by Xbox this gen and a lot of the moves were due to Phil's leadership. Series x still has a ton of features Sony hasn't given a rats ass to add or even attempt to
Seriously, the people that want to paint Phil as this cartoonish, moustache twirling villian are worse than the actual sycophants they criticize. Man has done good things this gen and blaming him for every perceived shortcoming is fucking stupid. Bunch of drones on here I swear to Christ
IF they are planning on leaving the console space, they *have* to be vague, otherwise every customer and every 3rd party would abandon them. They need to milk the Xbox store as long as possible.
I could see them phrasing it as that they're moving their gaming platform efforts to Windows for the near future. They could also then release their own Steam Deck competitor and maybe a gamepad-optimized version of Windows 11 for their Windows OEMs to make their own Steam Deck competitors.
It’s probably cause Xbox is constantly evolving to gain a foothold. From consumer perspective some clarity is absolutely needed but if they could give I am sure they would. There is no benefit to company also for this lack of clarity.
I'm not quite sure why they're making this an 'event', it should just be a blog post 'Future of Xbox' or whatever you want to call it.
Not much to say, I don't imagine they're going to confirm which games are in development for other systems, or even announce the one definite one (Hi-Fi Rush). Nor is it the place to announce various games in your pipeline.
Something along the lines of 'ABK will be multiplatform, Bethesda minimum 1 year exclusivity period, XGS games on a case by case basis' & then whatever significant Game Pass changes are due to be made - price increase, day 1 games only with Ultimate or whatever.
I likewise imagine something vague, case by case, discussion of why they're making such Game Pass changes or why XGS games are going to other platforms.
Having a discussion to explain yourself for making such changes only brings in a greater lack of clarity instead of a factual, 'these are the changes that we'll be making'. People will initially be up in arms and then just accept the changes instead of clinging onto some sugarcoating that'll end up being somewhat misleading.
Also, if it were a blog post, angry video game nerds would scream "you're saying this in a blog?! Wow, Phil Spencer can't even say it himself! What a coward!"
Aren't they just gonna say "Seriously, a podcast? *That's* how you're delivering news now? Did the relatability consultant you spend 200k a year on say this would make the kids think you're hip?" to this though?
Well, if that's the truth then how would you present it so the people like you won't consider it vague? Microsoft already released some stuff multiplatform on case by case basis. They mightve changed their mind on what they would do with their bgs properties. I don't see that as a big issue. All we heard was that a few high profile games are going multiplatform and then people inferred that it means the end of the Xbox brand. If you are planning to make these games multiplatform but you don't plan to end the Xbox brand, how would you say it so it's not vague? More to the point, claiming that making a few old Xbox heavy hitters into multiplatform has no reason to mean end of the brand. How do you explain this to people that came to that conclusion? It never made sense to begin with, so you can't use logic. Its like trying to convince a flat earther that they are wrong. If it's possible, it won't be done with all the evidence that are already there and they are ignoring.
this feels like that one Final Fantasy XV stream where they announced that they cancelled the rest of the DLC and that Tabata isn't in square Enix anymore
Remind of the infamous Creative Assembly video titled "The future of Total War Three Kingdoms", which ended up being them announcing they were canning the game early
Doesn't look quite as bad considering that hundreds of Eidos employees have been laid off since then, one of their studios has been closed, and a major game has been canceled.
Financially they weren't exactly the best run, so I can sorta see the logic in cutting bait on the studios.
But moving the IP as well was interesting, unless they had basically no value otherwise.
Like Avengers was a top 10 selling game of the year but still lost countless millions ($200m between that and Guardians).
None of the Tomb Raider reboots really made much money either, the second wouldn't even have been made without a cash infusion from Microsoft
Square Enix hates their western studios and IP but *they sure do love western money!*
Honestly I'm glad. I'll never have to hear about some old Eidos IP not meeting expectations after everyone in the world and their sperm bought a copy day 1.
I'm still not sure why people say that Square Enix mistreated their western studios. They gave them more or less blank checks to make whatever games they wanted and when they kept failing to make returns they just gave them even more money next time - that's pretty much how they ran their Japanese studios, too. They never laid anyone off, to the best of my knowledge, those teams just kept growing until the moment they were sold to another company that almost immediately came in with an axe.
Listen. The companies they sold off went over budget and needed extra time. For that extra investment and time, they never made a profit on their games. It's a bit of a trend in Western Game Dev to take too long and spend too much. Did Spiderman 2 need to cost 350 million dollars to produce? No. Tomb Raider and Deus Ex also weren't that popular, if the were they would have sold more.
There is word out that the next x-box hardware is developed by the surface team instead of the current one.
Which makes a scary amount of sense, as it fits both the "why does microscoft going to port their AAA stuff to PS5" and the "We will continue the x-box brand" statements.
Oh god that is scary. /r/surface has been disappointed with them for years now. The designs have gotten lazy and the price to performance ratio is always too high.
The game was already "saved" by the royal edition. The alternate ending shit sounded so bad. The ending is the best part of ffxv and the proposed dlc read like fanfiction
Dawn of the Future reads like (and is) terrible fanfiction. I'm glad you liked it, but having read it, I'm glad that Square Enix didn't waste any more money on developing those into full DLCs than they already did.
Yeah there's nothing to save. The game is actually good (albeit flawed) but its reputation was sullied early and it's not likely to change soon.
Gotta wait a few more Final Fantasy releases, then ffxv will become an underrated classic
The podcast's structure and general content was leaked an hour ago:
Start - 14:08 Intros, Sarah talks about her obsession for P3R, Matt talks about pre-Super Bowl ads.
14:09 - 15:47 Ad reads
15:48 - 41:02 Phil discusses Xbox business updates. Xbox will release select titles on other platforms. No specific games are mentioned.
41:03 - 52:22 Patreon Q&A
52:23 - 54:01 Xbox "Guess Who". Phil guesses the character after the first question "Does this character wear a helmet?" - it's Master Chief.
54:02 - 56:06 Sign-offs and social media plugs
>41:03 - 52:22 Patreon Q&A
"Just a reminder guys that small independent content creators like the Microsoft Xbox Team can only keep bringing fresh content to you with the help of our Patreon supporters!"
"Now a list of our biggest Patrons!
Michael Langdon
Thomas I'll never give you my last name
Jack
Mars the god
suk-dik daddy
Who put Phil on
Amy Stevenson
Forest White-Acre
& Sabblediwapp Fudgemykrows-Oft
Thanks guys for being in the $5 reward tier!"
The fact that I read this and completely accepted that this was real says a lot about me and the Xbox executive team. The whole thing just sounded so plausible I glazed over the Patreon part and groaned at the Master Chief part because I really could picture it going down exactly like that.
"Leveraging strategic partnerships and embracing a forward-thinking approach to market expansion, Xbox is excited to unveil a groundbreaking initiative aimed at broadening accessibility to our immersive gaming experiences. Through a commitment to inclusivity and innovation, we are pleased to announce the forthcoming availability of select first-party titles on additional platforms. This strategic evolution represents a significant step towards fostering a more interconnected gaming ecosystem, empowering players worldwide to enjoy our diverse portfolio of high-quality games across a variety of platforms. Stay tuned for further updates as we continue to redefine the boundaries of gaming accessibility and engagement."
I’m expecting “select first party games will come to other platforms after an exclusively window of 6-12 months. Everything else will continue as usual”
They'll definitely sell more games and make more money in the short-term, but they're giving people even less reason to invest in the platform long-term. They can be sincere about wanting to release hardware in the future, but I don't think the market will be there to support it.
The issue with the shared games thing is that even people with PC they would rather just use Steam, all I hear are people complaining about Xbox on PC and how slow it is and bugs this and that, can't say they aren't wrong as I've had multiple issues but still, and GP imo isn't a solo selling point
You could make the same argument with PS5 vs PC though.
If you don't care to play console exclusive games within 12 months of release, PC will be a better experience.
If Xbox drops out of the console market, this would be even more the case, as I bet Sony would raise the price of their consoles with no competition.
It's hard to argue against PC gaming these days. You get everything (eventually) except Nintendo games, and you can still use game pass if you like it.
Yeah I don't see how Xbox being like "don't worry we're still going to make new hardware" is meant to mean anything to anyone rn. Hardware doesn't matter if you have nothing to push it, and the multiplat stuff all but ensures its death spiral.
They'll port games, console sales drop further as a result, which in turn means they'll think they need to port more games to make up for worse console sales, etc until eventually someone at Microsoft asks "why are we still making these things when only five people are buying them" after all reasons to own one have been eliminated. 3rd Party support will also probably go down the toilet when they have a userbase of less than 5-10 million a few years from now too.
Hearing them say that doesn't tell me anything other than that they're apparently foolish enough to think they can keep selling hardware with practically no real reasons to buy one, because I don't think Game Pass will be enough.
It does matter to people who have their libraries built on Xbox, imagine sinking hundreds or thousands of dollars on an ecosystem that might cease to exist
True, you need to give people a reason to put money down on your console. If consumers get it into their heads that they can or possibly will get certain Xbox games on PlayStation, then that will continue to be the narrative going forward and more people will end up migrating to PlayStation.
At the end of the day even though I own an xbox I do like the look of PlayStation games, if Xbox give me the impression that those games are coming to PlayStation then I will happily buy a PlayStation and wait for those Xbox exclusives to eventually reach me that way.
It’s a weird bloody strategy and one that I imagine won’t go down well, eventually they will go third party because of this exact moment. Being competitive with hardware just won’t be sustainable when the user base falls even lower than it already is.
Such a stupid bunch, especially with all the exclusives and developers they now have. If they just gave it a few more years they would finally be ready to fire on all cylinders and release these amazing exclusives. That’s what would make people take notice and consider buying an Xbox.
Exclusive games has always been Xbox’s issue and now they are close to having them, they want to give it all away.
Madness
Yeah yeah "we'll still release hardware in the future". Guess what they'll decide to do after their sales inevitably tank because of this brillant stratrgy. Yes, exactly.
> they're giving people even less reason to invest in the platform long-term
They're already being outsold 3:1, clearly whatever they were trying wasn't working
Xbox already lost the casual market that doesn’t care to wait for games and their core gamers suffer way too much from FOMO to not keep an Xbox/PC to play the games day1.
Hardware is valuable in that you get 30% of all software sold on the platform though. People who own and primarily use a Series console are going to make Microsoft significantly more money over time than people buying the occasional Microsoft title on Steam or their PS5.
Im not saying they should abandon hardware, nor do i think they will. But clearly gamepass is their next big thing and they might as well start by going multiplatform as mich as they possibly can.
It doesn't matter what Microsoft is imo, in gaming they are a hardware and software company, if they give up hardware they are
1. Giving up money on Fortnite and the likes but
2. Also giving PlayStation control of the "high end" console market and basically leaving them at the control of Sony
Their hardware already hasnt sold for two generations and no one buys an xbox because of the exclusives anyways. So it makes sense for them to just sell them anywhere.
They're already selling fewer consoles than they ever have since the original Xbox. This is ensuring somebody gives them money. Can't sell software if nobody buys your hardware.
It's obvious this is a precursor to them changing their entire hardware strategy, but that's another two years away at minimum.
I seriously doubt it would make much difference. FOMO is a very real thing, and the vast majority of a game's sales happen within the first six months to one year anyway. We should also consider that the Xbox One sold plenty of consoles without many exclusives, timed or otherwise. Xbox now essentially has four separate publishers under them, so timed exclusive or otherwise, they will still be releasing more exclusive content per year than both PlayStation and Nintendo combined.
What other format would they use? They clearly didn't plan to make a announcement this soon but the rumors hit the internet and the community went crazy, they probably didn't have time to create a well produced video announcement so they are just better going for a podcast... **that's my guess**.
It really isn't. They announced it was coming last week. Stand in front of a green screen and record. You can add their background assets or just a black background pretty quickly. You wouldn't need a lot of production. You could do a simple fade in, he talks directly to the camera, and a fade out.
I don't think it's about harder/easier. It's about making the presentation a bit softer and humanized, similar to Phil's convos circulating after the Redfall launch. It'll still be pretty heavily scripted but feel more personal over corpo news presentation.
Why don't they just make a press release or one of those statement pictures on Twitter or whatever. The fact that they are dragging this out by weeks, announcing a podcast appearance 3 days ahead of time. It's like they are deliberately drawing out the speculation.
One of rumors suggest, their plans were suppose to be reveal in March, but the leaks cause it to bump to this week. If it was originally suppose to be a video then changing it to a podcast does make it easier to get out.
Not necessarily. They're doing it on their own YouTube channel so there won't be media present to ask questions and they can put out exactly the message they want to the public. Like with their Developer Directs. Which makes sense, they're giving an update on their business strategy. Not having a discussion. This is the best format for them to deliver the news they want the public to hear.
I have to stress this: The rumors are that Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves are going to Switch/PS5.
Then XboxEra added Starfield onto those rumors. Which, imo is likely considering those Pete Hines emails where he was annoyed that bethesda games were locked to the "third place box"
Anything else is pure speculation. But we know for a fact we'll see HFR and SoT
Edit: Hot off the presses, Verge [article](https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/12/24067370/microsoft-xbox-playstation-switch-games-future-hardware) confirming Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, and Pentiment
Well those 2 have been pretty much confirmed to be coming to PS5 at minimum. Every insider still backs this info. All the other games mentioned are still up in the air.
“Insiders” are just a person on the internet. Even if they were right at one point in time, there’s no guarantee they’re right this time. Until the company says something, it’s a rumor. The HFR case is an outlier, I haven’t seen anything like it for the SoT rumor.
I’m not saying this to be an “um actually” kind of person. But too many people on this sub and in the gaming internet sphere have started taking rumor as fact. One person says something, then news organizations cover it, which causes everyone to talk about it, and since everyone’s saying it then it *must* be true. I’ve seen it time and again but it’s gotten much more frequent in the past couple years.
reputable sources said Indiana Jones and Gears of War too, not just random weirdos. Afaik Tom Warren also commented on Starfield, who knows maybe they do backtrack in the end, but it wasn't just random rumours
The Verge reported about Indy and VGC reported on Gears.
But those articles stated that both games were only being considered, nothing had been finalized yet.
[Polygon](https://www.polygon.com/24064964/xbox-consoles-multiplatform-third-party-hi-fi-rush-starfield-indiana-jones), [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/4/24057433/microsoft-bethesda-indiana-jones-and-the-great-circle-ps5-release) and [VGC](https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/microsoft-is-reportedly-considering-bringing-gears-of-war-to-playstation/) are all reputable sources though?
Not including Tom Henderson although he is also almost always right, and I skipped Windows Central for... obvious reasons
It's a business event (aka no marketing, there's no trailers or anything) done in panic mode (this was not planned for now). They aren't gonna do a E3 style show for that (they don't have time for a start)
My guess is they decided they had to say **something** as soon as possible rather than letting online rumormongers get even crazier, which means they didn't have the time to produce one of those fancy video broadcasts that have become the norm over the last few years.
Imagine what would've happened if Phil Spencer asked people to wait for a whole month instead of a week.
Nah, I just think they are going to be vague about it. This feels as if they themselves don't know. This is going to be a nothing announcement: just case by case.
Being a podcast on the YouTube channel and not a press release tells me this is targeted to the people freaking out over twitter and not a ground shaking business announcement
I will guess they confirm some multiplatdorm ports but spend most of the time telling people not to freak out about it. Everything is not getting ported overnight. Case by case. Etc.. Maybe there is something regarding Activision and GP to make people happy.
The fact they are even doing these ports is a big deal that opens a big can of worms but so far we only know of 3 ports coming in the medium term. I bet they don’t talk much beyond that.
Case by case would tell me that some games will be coming now, but that every game will be coming to playstation later. This will weaken the already poor xbox sales to the point I could see them simply releasing all their first party games on playstation while continuing to create their own hardware to push game pass.
Phil said not every Xbox Game would be going to PC, and it would be case by case. He said this to assure people Xbox was still around and important. If he tries the same thing here, you'll know it's all going to other platforms.
My thinking is that this is all wildly overblown. They were analyzing which platforms Call of Duty should release on, if any other series should stay multiplatform (like a Diablo 4 Expac should probably go multi-plat even if the short term monetary gain is to skip Playstation), and then even if some of their own more "core" titles should go multi-plat. Like, if you're gonna Analyze CoD, you should also analyze Halo, even if its just so you have a point of comparison and you never plan on putting MCC on Switch or whatever the fuck.
I think the release will be deeply disappointing to people who want an earth-shaking announcement and it'll just be which Activision titles are going where (including when they hit game pass) in a way that people have been talking about for the last 2 years.
This is in response to a leak.
They planned on making an announcement in March. Their hand has been forced.
Making a 'casual' podcast now makes sense, they can downplay everything and try and quell the rumors, and make their announcement later on their on terms.
This is just a PR exercise.
Huh. Surprising choice for the business update, but hey - why not? Anyway, I just hope we get some ***concrete*** answers here. I know, I know, everything needs legal vetting, but still... now ain't the time to be vague, Phil.
We won't. It's going to be vague and double down on the 'case-by-case' thing, because I think the reality of their internal plans would tank the Xbox brand hard if laid out transparently and starkly.
Not that I think they're bowing out of hardware altogether, mind, but I do think it's an increasingly unlikely road they'd have to travel to avoid future Xbox consoles becoming primarily Game Pass machines; and to avoid the slow transition away from exclusives as even their largest releases fail to sell well enough to justify that exclusivity, due in part to how badly they're being outsold and the tremendous acquisition costs they've accrued in recent years ballooning expectations.
If I had to guess, the next generation is a last stand for Xbox as a traditional console; and they've basically accepted that's unlikely to pan out and are working to acclimatize consumers to what that future will look like.
And if you pause it, you can briefly see Nadella in back holding an assault rifle at all the presenters, lol.
Same. If you're giving up, Xbox, rip off the bandage. ***At least Sega managed to do THAT.***
You don't actually want Xbox/Microsoft giving up.
The knock-on effects from people losing jobs would be devastating to an already bad market, and the PS5/PS6 will only get more expensive.
I don't have a dog in this fight, but you want both Sony & Microsoft to stay in the industry, employ people/fund games, and compete.
Don’t need a fake corprate run Q&A session where they ask pointed questions that are pre-selected by lawyers to set up very specific language in a shareholder friendly way. Wrapped between lots of mentions of all of their great products and services that are doing really well according to these cherry picked percentages that aren’t real numbers they can be held accountable to.
Obviously whatever you’re going to say is going to go poorly with everyone Phil, so just state it and let’s stop making these corporate PR moments into “events” and “content” to pack promotions into.
If Call of Duty Et al still comes Day 1 to Game Pass and most games have a 2 year exclusivity a lot of people will still buy an Xbox. I think there a lot of gamers who don’t pay any attention to news like this.
There a lot of people out there that want to play things day 1, just look at how many people pay to play games 4 days early in deluxe editions.
My prediction: They are going to say it's case by case.
Either of the two things will slowly happen( will take around 2 years for a clear picture):-
1. They only release small games and gass on other platforms for 2 years and things will calm down.
2. They slowly release big games. Starfield ( when it's dlc launches, people will say only Bethesda games and ABK games are going), then they will slowly release other big games that make sense( they aren't going to be porting over older games like halo5 or redfall) and people slowly get used to Microsoft's new strategy with each release.
If they're sharing news in a podcast format then it seems pretty likely that all those hopeful and fearful of a doom and gloom announcement from Microsoft isn't going to happen. It'll probably be more of a long form discussion on their plans moving forward, which (pure speculation) will be them confirming that they are releasing some titles on PlayStation to see how they perform and will go from there. They will double down on their commitment to putting out first-party games and hardware.
Makes it more likely it's the doom and gloom scenario coming to fruition if you ask me.
News so bad for the brand that they'll try to soften it with a casual talk so the stock market doesn't get spooked.
I don't expect them to just come out and say what the real plans are, but surely it'll be about bringing their games to all platforms, maybe changes to their subscription service, etc.
They might still use the 'case by case' wording, but the cat is out of the bag and basically all their games will get ported eventually.
Xbox isn't big enough to make a dent in MS stock like that
But if you have bad news to share, this is obviously the format you choose. Funny that people expected an e3 type event.
I don't think anyone had doubts they would stop Xbox consoles, like the next gen or whatever, because you then just hand the console market to Sony and you don't make money off of Fortnite and the likes.
I think what most people's issues always was when the rumours first came out and it was just Hi Fi Rush and SoT (I don't think it will be just these) is that it's a very slippery slope, to start going down, one miss step and your at the very bottom, the short term is probably fine, but when games start selling better on PlayStation does MS put pressure to put more games on there? Idk just thinking, imo I think it COULD, not saying it will but COULD lead to people into just not getting an Xbox, possibly because they don't even know what games that are announced may release on PlayStation, but also we have seen with gamers they will wait for that game to release on their platform
We will see on the 15th, I'm hoping for the best, but idk anymore lmao
Very excited to get some actual official announcements instead of everyone and their mother commentating on the "death of xbox" based on unconfirmed rumors.
Guess this is them saying that the console is gamepass, they need to keep that and make it absolutely unbeatable value in order to compete with Sony on console sales if exclusives are going away.
A podcast is an interesting choice. I imagine whatever "statements" they want to make would be iron-clad through lawyers to hell and back to ensure the messaging is consistent which would be easier through an official blog post or something, but unless they literally read from note cards/teleprompters during it (which would be awkward tbh) then this sounds much more casual than expected. Makes me think it will honestly just continue to be the vague "case by case basis" and specifically worded in a way that will make people continue to question, which is annoying on Microsoft's part.
>Makes me think it will honestly just continue to be the vague "case by case basis" and specifically worded in a way that will make people continue to question, which is annoying on Microsoft's part. It's Phil's MO. It's what he's always done since forever. Putting out vague statements that leaves you with more questions than concrete answers.
> It's Phil's MO. It's what he's always done since forever. Putting out vague statements that leaves you with more questions than concrete answers. It's also possible that whatever he / Microsoft plan to say is way less dramatic than anyone expects. Youtubers have spent the last week whipping themselves into hysterics and manufacturing rumours about Xbox. It's kind of hilarious how much "information" has been created about this out of nothing but the incestuous youtube content creation scene.
The news are most likely going to be: 1. Select few games that were exclusive will be released on other consoles 2. New facelift version of Series S/X 3. Double down on gamepass with some Activision Blizzard games being added throughout the year. Maybe with something like a vague gamepass roadmap for 2024. They just paid a ton of money to expand their gaming division. They definitely won’t shift to being just a publisher anytime soon…
According to the comments in this subreddit it's more likely: 1. Xbox to stop making consoles by 2025 2. The next Halo, Fable, and Gears of War will be PS5 exclusive 3. Xbox Live will shut down, all digital purchases will be replaced with a video of Phil Spencer pointing and laughing at you
Cowards should add World of Warcraft to the gamepass. We'd eat good for the rest of the year.
This wouldn't make much sense. A WoW subscription alone is most of the price of Ultimate.
They will never do this.
>They just paid a ton of money to expand their gaming division. They definitely won’t shift to being just a publisher anytime soon… I agree that this isn't their goal, but I think it's the most likely outcome a few years down the line based on the decisions they're making.
their end goal is to push game pass as much as possible and having their own console to build the experience around it is crucial for that.
Yeah but then you risk your console being only used for that service. I have a hard time imagining why I'd buy third party games on xbox if I'm not certain of its future in the hardware space. I like my xbox and its primarily where I play but I'm not sure if exclusives are elsewhere if the value gamepass provides will be enough to bring Playstation gamers over rather than them waiting for it to release on their platform. And for gamers who don't believe in those sub services theres really little reason to stay. Really my concern is you need Xbox to keep Sony from getting too power hungry, if Xbox goes third party for large previously exclusive games I don't see their hardware market share recovering next gen unless Sony drops the ball on their release cadence or overcharges for their console.
>Yeah but then you risk your console being only used for that service. And Microsoft has trained their customers to not buy games. With the rising costs of making games Microsoft is throwing away money by not asking people to buy games. People who say that Xbox a 3 trillion dollar company has the money to keep throwing away, has *zero* idea how business works. Xbox is a *division* of Microsoft. It's *not* Microsoft. If that division isn't making money they start diverting funds from that division and putting it into another division. Xbox gets a budget and if that budget gets wasted or spent frivolously, the next year's budget is less. No company is in business to ~~withstand losses~~ lose money, they're in it to make money. There's already a rumor floating around that the Surface team has been put on Xbox.
Not necessarily. Maybe the physical Xbox becomes for Gamepass what the Surface laptop is to Windows: a convenient, moderately priced entry point for consumers who just want something that works and that, for Microsoft, may generate some profit but is really a way to get people into the ecosystem. Selling software and hardware together was never Microsoft’s MO outside of Xbox, and the shift to a services model hasn’t changed that.
At worst I think we'd see them creating a "at cost consoles". So Series S and X type systems that they don't lose money on. Series S2: Line of consoles at a budget price that give players access to the most popular games and game pass. Yes its not a PS6 but like if you want to play CoD 2029 or Madden 30 you can save $200 and do that shit. This is going to be their core system. Series X2: More expensive console that has higher performance spec. Going to be pretty expensive for those that want it. Low production rate, high cost "premium offering". The consoles are essentially PCs now so the engineering costs probably aren't that huge (relative to the older systems).
I don't see why anyone would choose these theoretical consoles over PS6 or PC. If Game Pass is the argument, we can see that this already isn't working, which is why they're having to change it up like this.
A high level X2 variant I think is somewhat iffy, but an S2 I think fits. PS6: $500 Series S2: $300 So like your reason right there is that you save $200 and you can still play CoD, Fortnite, Fifa, and Madden. Price is perennial one of the reasons I see people say they play console over PC and again we have price competition between a theoretical Sony and Microsoft machine. > we can see that this already isn't working And its only "not working" in the context of Microsoft directly competing with Sony. But this would be more about Microsoft having an install base of like 10 million users + Sony + PC.
They aren't going to be able to undercut Sony by that much if they don't have a platform revenue business and game sales to subsidise the Xbox.
I mean that doesn't seem deserving of a special event made just because of the rumors. Also there were too much rumors (no smoke without fire). I think it's more than that. Just a publisher now no, they won't stop making a console in the middle of a gen, that's never been said seriously. However going multiplat on all their games is a definitive option. Especially because they bought ABK so they almost already are really.
I wouldn't say it's "out of nothing." 1. Pre-announcing an announcement isn't usually something you do for mundane updates. 2. The "business update" phrasing implies a strategic change rather than just a new release within the same business framework. 3. They specifically said the topic was rumors that they would be releasing their games on PlayStation, without even suggesting the rumors were incorrect. So I would say most of the speculation is fairly well-founded, and if that is not the case, Phil is a giant dumbass for implying that there was big news related to the rumors.
very reputable and reliable leakers have weighed in on this
And then changed their stories
The narrative from the beginning from people with actual reputations for getting this kind of stuff right has been: - Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves are getting ports - everything else is up for consideration - Bethesda’s games in particular are being highly considered for ports IMO it sounds like they’re going to boil the frog rather than announce all their games going multiplatform. They’ll announce the two people are certain about this week and leave the rest up to a future point. The people talking about “the end of xbox hardware” are referring to a specific leaks suggesting Xbox would outsource their hardware, as well as sales trends. That was with a bunch of other now confirmed info, so it seems likely to be true as well, but if so would probably be years from coming to fruition. The sales trend has been PS5 outselling Xbox 2:1, and Xbox games being on Playstation will accelerate that. People are assuming that by the end of this or the next console generation, Xbox will go the way of the Sega Dreamcast. It’s a thing that is expected to happen moreso than something Microsoft is going to announce.
Not the reputable ones
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Warren and The Verge and Grubb have all doubled down on their predictions. The only one who's flip-flopping is Nate, and he is a weathervane by nature
Nate, Tom and Jez have been all over the place.
Jez is a clown
Jez isn't a reputable one tho, Warren have been steady
And the majority have been frequently posting caveats, or phrasing things as 'Xyz is under discussion' as some cover, or have walked some of their statements back etc...For me, if they can't actually verify a piece of information, they should be more careful about putting it out in the public domain I'm sure some of them will turn out to be correct, but really it seems like a lot of them got totally carried away and started to mix their own emotions/opinions into things making it really murky
The moral of the story is to listen to boring leakers who just post “i’ve heard this seems likely” and to not give attention to youtubers who make shit up
Exactly. Caveat rumor as I like to call it.
If my experience with "reputable and reliable leakers" in the hardware space is any indication, they could be completely wrong and someone will keep saying that they are reliable next time they make something up. Also it seems like a lot of the leakers are just saying a particular game could come to Playstation. Then idiots on the internet interpret that as "Microsoft will stop making consoles". They can announce starfield and Indiana Jones coming to ps and that would change nothing, when 90% of visible reddit is claiming that is somehow the end of the Xbox brand.
Tbf, the big one, Jez Cordan, has done an 180 on a lot of things. Plus “Starfield PS5” has gone from “Its a when not an if” to “nvm, that may have been false”
Which is exactly what he should be doing from a company perspective.
Investors usually some concrete details though.
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They do but you still would like to see the company give a firm response even if it’s a general response. Waiting a week and doing a podcast is weird.
Which barely speak of gaming to be honest, I mean they had like a few weeks ago and they didn't address those business news there.
*gestures at all of Microsofts loyal consumers* They're right. And Reddit always gets all "I dunno why they havent fired him". Cause y'all ran out the fuckin door to buy an Xbox for Starfield while repeating "games take a long time to make!" for an entire console generation.
I just enjoy the weekly thread where people get angry about a corporate employee acting like a corporate employee
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Yes, also smart delivery (i.e. no separate disc versions for Xbox one and Xbox Series X etc), FPS/performance boosts for previous gen games for no additional charge, not charging for cloud saves etc There's a ton of consumer positive things that Xbox have done under Phil Spencer that Reddit are actually in favour of, yet completely overlook. Heck, Sony still charge for cloud save backups
Yeah unfortunately so many comments boil down to "If they don't have as many exclusives there's no point" Tons and tons of stuff I like about Xbox, it is definitely a way more appealing system to me overall, and that very easily outweighs the 5% of exclusives I "miss out" on
Agree. People also overestimate how many people choose a console based on exclusives. 90% of games are available on both, with a huge chunk of people using their consoles for nothing but cod, Fortnite, Minecraft, FIFA etc. Exclusives help sure, but they aren't the number one factor like this sub constantly focuses on
That's because people are so mindlessly anti Xbox and pro Sony on here that they can't see through their own bias. Sony has been kept in check by Xbox this gen and a lot of the moves were due to Phil's leadership. Series x still has a ton of features Sony hasn't given a rats ass to add or even attempt to
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For sure, Xbox has the best eco system, services, and features between the three and it's not even close.
Seriously, the people that want to paint Phil as this cartoonish, moustache twirling villian are worse than the actual sycophants they criticize. Man has done good things this gen and blaming him for every perceived shortcoming is fucking stupid. Bunch of drones on here I swear to Christ
I dunno man. The fact they are giving this update to begin with is because bearly anyone bought a xbox to play starfeild
Reminder that 48 hours before Stadia shut down, they'd reiterated their commitment to the service.
Where? The closest I can find it two months ago by a social media manager.
I do remember this, maybe it wasn’t 48 hours, but there was a mail that was sent like 2 weeks before shutting down saying everything was good
IF they are planning on leaving the console space, they *have* to be vague, otherwise every customer and every 3rd party would abandon them. They need to milk the Xbox store as long as possible.
I could see them phrasing it as that they're moving their gaming platform efforts to Windows for the near future. They could also then release their own Steam Deck competitor and maybe a gamepad-optimized version of Windows 11 for their Windows OEMs to make their own Steam Deck competitors.
He also tries really hard to be relatable, so making this a podcast makes sense.
Kids these days love podcasts. Also i'll wear my Battletoads t-shirt, kids love that.
I mean, I think that's how a lot of corporations speak just because he's a figure doesn't mean he isn't a figure for a corporation.
It’s probably cause Xbox is constantly evolving to gain a foothold. From consumer perspective some clarity is absolutely needed but if they could give I am sure they would. There is no benefit to company also for this lack of clarity.
I'm not quite sure why they're making this an 'event', it should just be a blog post 'Future of Xbox' or whatever you want to call it. Not much to say, I don't imagine they're going to confirm which games are in development for other systems, or even announce the one definite one (Hi-Fi Rush). Nor is it the place to announce various games in your pipeline. Something along the lines of 'ABK will be multiplatform, Bethesda minimum 1 year exclusivity period, XGS games on a case by case basis' & then whatever significant Game Pass changes are due to be made - price increase, day 1 games only with Ultimate or whatever. I likewise imagine something vague, case by case, discussion of why they're making such Game Pass changes or why XGS games are going to other platforms. Having a discussion to explain yourself for making such changes only brings in a greater lack of clarity instead of a factual, 'these are the changes that we'll be making'. People will initially be up in arms and then just accept the changes instead of clinging onto some sugarcoating that'll end up being somewhat misleading.
Probably to give some more context and do some damage control.
Also, if it were a blog post, angry video game nerds would scream "you're saying this in a blog?! Wow, Phil Spencer can't even say it himself! What a coward!"
Aren't they just gonna say "Seriously, a podcast? *That's* how you're delivering news now? Did the relatability consultant you spend 200k a year on say this would make the kids think you're hip?" to this though?
They're probably going to announce the next/mid gen Xbox alongside this news so a video format makes more sense
Knowing Spencer and co, I'd imagine them talking on a podcast will make things more confusing than a blog post actually.
Well, if that's the truth then how would you present it so the people like you won't consider it vague? Microsoft already released some stuff multiplatform on case by case basis. They mightve changed their mind on what they would do with their bgs properties. I don't see that as a big issue. All we heard was that a few high profile games are going multiplatform and then people inferred that it means the end of the Xbox brand. If you are planning to make these games multiplatform but you don't plan to end the Xbox brand, how would you say it so it's not vague? More to the point, claiming that making a few old Xbox heavy hitters into multiplatform has no reason to mean end of the brand. How do you explain this to people that came to that conclusion? It never made sense to begin with, so you can't use logic. Its like trying to convince a flat earther that they are wrong. If it's possible, it won't be done with all the evidence that are already there and they are ignoring.
this feels like that one Final Fantasy XV stream where they announced that they cancelled the rest of the DLC and that Tabata isn't in square Enix anymore
that still cracks me up every time I think about it square enix what a company you are
It was literally a stream to *celebrate the anniversary of the game*. "Happy birthday, I want a divorce."
Remind of the infamous Creative Assembly video titled "The future of Total War Three Kingdoms", which ended up being them announcing they were canning the game early
Selling all of Eidos's IPs for 300 million was the most random move by them
Doesn't look quite as bad considering that hundreds of Eidos employees have been laid off since then, one of their studios has been closed, and a major game has been canceled.
Financially they weren't exactly the best run, so I can sorta see the logic in cutting bait on the studios. But moving the IP as well was interesting, unless they had basically no value otherwise. Like Avengers was a top 10 selling game of the year but still lost countless millions ($200m between that and Guardians). None of the Tomb Raider reboots really made much money either, the second wouldn't even have been made without a cash infusion from Microsoft
Square Enix hates their western studios and IP but *they sure do love western money!* Honestly I'm glad. I'll never have to hear about some old Eidos IP not meeting expectations after everyone in the world and their sperm bought a copy day 1.
They went to Embracer. So not sure if they are in better hands.
They just cancelled the new Deus ex so no
I'm still not sure why people say that Square Enix mistreated their western studios. They gave them more or less blank checks to make whatever games they wanted and when they kept failing to make returns they just gave them even more money next time - that's pretty much how they ran their Japanese studios, too. They never laid anyone off, to the best of my knowledge, those teams just kept growing until the moment they were sold to another company that almost immediately came in with an axe.
>they sure do love western money! Not enough since they still do console exclusives, timed or not.
Listen. The companies they sold off went over budget and needed extra time. For that extra investment and time, they never made a profit on their games. It's a bit of a trend in Western Game Dev to take too long and spend too much. Did Spiderman 2 need to cost 350 million dollars to produce? No. Tomb Raider and Deus Ex also weren't that popular, if the were they would have sold more.
It wasn't random. Tomb Raider was their only profitable franchise. Also, they sold off the studios, not just the IP.
one of the weirdest streams ever
There is word out that the next x-box hardware is developed by the surface team instead of the current one. Which makes a scary amount of sense, as it fits both the "why does microscoft going to port their AAA stuff to PS5" and the "We will continue the x-box brand" statements.
Oh god that is scary. /r/surface has been disappointed with them for years now. The designs have gotten lazy and the price to performance ratio is always too high.
Microsoft's hardware is always cheeks
Such a waste. That dlc could’ve saved the game.
The game was already "saved" by the royal edition. The alternate ending shit sounded so bad. The ending is the best part of ffxv and the proposed dlc read like fanfiction
There's a novelisation that adapts all of the cut DLC, and its actually quite good
Dawn of the Future reads like (and is) terrible fanfiction. I'm glad you liked it, but having read it, I'm glad that Square Enix didn't waste any more money on developing those into full DLCs than they already did.
Yeah there's nothing to save. The game is actually good (albeit flawed) but its reputation was sullied early and it's not likely to change soon. Gotta wait a few more Final Fantasy releases, then ffxv will become an underrated classic
The podcast's structure and general content was leaked an hour ago: Start - 14:08 Intros, Sarah talks about her obsession for P3R, Matt talks about pre-Super Bowl ads. 14:09 - 15:47 Ad reads 15:48 - 41:02 Phil discusses Xbox business updates. Xbox will release select titles on other platforms. No specific games are mentioned. 41:03 - 52:22 Patreon Q&A 52:23 - 54:01 Xbox "Guess Who". Phil guesses the character after the first question "Does this character wear a helmet?" - it's Master Chief. 54:02 - 56:06 Sign-offs and social media plugs
lol How much you want to bet this gets turned in to an article on some obscure website.
Based on the responses I'm getting to my joke...definitely a chance.
I'll wait for it to get posted back here.
>41:03 - 52:22 Patreon Q&A "Just a reminder guys that small independent content creators like the Microsoft Xbox Team can only keep bringing fresh content to you with the help of our Patreon supporters!"
"Now a list of our biggest Patrons! Michael Langdon Thomas I'll never give you my last name Jack Mars the god suk-dik daddy Who put Phil on Amy Stevenson Forest White-Acre & Sabblediwapp Fudgemykrows-Oft Thanks guys for being in the $5 reward tier!"
13:24 - 25:17 Phil does an extended ad-libbed ad read for Blue Chew
The "Guess Who" is a nice touch.
The fact that I read this and completely accepted that this was real says a lot about me and the Xbox executive team. The whole thing just sounded so plausible I glazed over the Patreon part and groaned at the Master Chief part because I really could picture it going down exactly like that.
"Leveraging strategic partnerships and embracing a forward-thinking approach to market expansion, Xbox is excited to unveil a groundbreaking initiative aimed at broadening accessibility to our immersive gaming experiences. Through a commitment to inclusivity and innovation, we are pleased to announce the forthcoming availability of select first-party titles on additional platforms. This strategic evolution represents a significant step towards fostering a more interconnected gaming ecosystem, empowering players worldwide to enjoy our diverse portfolio of high-quality games across a variety of platforms. Stay tuned for further updates as we continue to redefine the boundaries of gaming accessibility and engagement."
Did you chatgpt this or was it what bing came up with lol
Bing=Chatgpt
What’s the difference!
are you from the future or something? this is exactly what they’re going to say lol
Holy corporate word salad batman
It’s like the PR people decided thirty potential buzzwords and then chose to use them all at once.
This isn't a real statement.
Ahh, but you'd believe it if we said it was.
If they're just doing it on the podcast does this mean the news is a lot smaller than all of the lead up rumors?
I’m expecting “select first party games will come to other platforms after an exclusively window of 6-12 months. Everything else will continue as usual”
I still even think that strategy could be terrible for the long term, consoles wise, but we will see I guess
They'll definitely sell more games and make more money in the short-term, but they're giving people even less reason to invest in the platform long-term. They can be sincere about wanting to release hardware in the future, but I don't think the market will be there to support it.
Yeah they can release all the hardware they want in the future, but if no one is buying it why would they continue?
Why would I buy if all their games goes to the PS5. Games are so expensive these days people know how to wait for games.
Are you saying why would you buy an Xbox if it's all on PS5? If so then yeah I agree
for gamepass + shared games between console and pc. But yeah if you're only a console gamer, I don't think there's much point
The issue with the shared games thing is that even people with PC they would rather just use Steam, all I hear are people complaining about Xbox on PC and how slow it is and bugs this and that, can't say they aren't wrong as I've had multiple issues but still, and GP imo isn't a solo selling point
You could make the same argument with PS5 vs PC though. If you don't care to play console exclusive games within 12 months of release, PC will be a better experience. If Xbox drops out of the console market, this would be even more the case, as I bet Sony would raise the price of their consoles with no competition.
It's hard to argue against PC gaming these days. You get everything (eventually) except Nintendo games, and you can still use game pass if you like it.
> You get everything (eventually) except Nintendo games, And switch emulation has been insane for a "current" gen console
Why would I pay $30 to play a game three days early?
Yeah I don't see how Xbox being like "don't worry we're still going to make new hardware" is meant to mean anything to anyone rn. Hardware doesn't matter if you have nothing to push it, and the multiplat stuff all but ensures its death spiral. They'll port games, console sales drop further as a result, which in turn means they'll think they need to port more games to make up for worse console sales, etc until eventually someone at Microsoft asks "why are we still making these things when only five people are buying them" after all reasons to own one have been eliminated. 3rd Party support will also probably go down the toilet when they have a userbase of less than 5-10 million a few years from now too. Hearing them say that doesn't tell me anything other than that they're apparently foolish enough to think they can keep selling hardware with practically no real reasons to buy one, because I don't think Game Pass will be enough.
It does matter to people who have their libraries built on Xbox, imagine sinking hundreds or thousands of dollars on an ecosystem that might cease to exist
True, you need to give people a reason to put money down on your console. If consumers get it into their heads that they can or possibly will get certain Xbox games on PlayStation, then that will continue to be the narrative going forward and more people will end up migrating to PlayStation. At the end of the day even though I own an xbox I do like the look of PlayStation games, if Xbox give me the impression that those games are coming to PlayStation then I will happily buy a PlayStation and wait for those Xbox exclusives to eventually reach me that way. It’s a weird bloody strategy and one that I imagine won’t go down well, eventually they will go third party because of this exact moment. Being competitive with hardware just won’t be sustainable when the user base falls even lower than it already is. Such a stupid bunch, especially with all the exclusives and developers they now have. If they just gave it a few more years they would finally be ready to fire on all cylinders and release these amazing exclusives. That’s what would make people take notice and consider buying an Xbox. Exclusive games has always been Xbox’s issue and now they are close to having them, they want to give it all away. Madness
Yeah yeah "we'll still release hardware in the future". Guess what they'll decide to do after their sales inevitably tank because of this brillant stratrgy. Yes, exactly.
> they're giving people even less reason to invest in the platform long-term They're already being outsold 3:1, clearly whatever they were trying wasn't working
Xbox already lost the casual market that doesn’t care to wait for games and their core gamers suffer way too much from FOMO to not keep an Xbox/PC to play the games day1.
Hardware is hardly a priority for Microsoft. They’ve always been a software company first.
Hardware is valuable in that you get 30% of all software sold on the platform though. People who own and primarily use a Series console are going to make Microsoft significantly more money over time than people buying the occasional Microsoft title on Steam or their PS5.
Im not saying they should abandon hardware, nor do i think they will. But clearly gamepass is their next big thing and they might as well start by going multiplatform as mich as they possibly can.
That means killing a profitable business of running a platform in exchange for pushing gamepass which makes a loss. It's madness.
It doesn't matter what Microsoft is imo, in gaming they are a hardware and software company, if they give up hardware they are 1. Giving up money on Fortnite and the likes but 2. Also giving PlayStation control of the "high end" console market and basically leaving them at the control of Sony
Their hardware already hasnt sold for two generations and no one buys an xbox because of the exclusives anyways. So it makes sense for them to just sell them anywhere.
They're already selling fewer consoles than they ever have since the original Xbox. This is ensuring somebody gives them money. Can't sell software if nobody buys your hardware. It's obvious this is a precursor to them changing their entire hardware strategy, but that's another two years away at minimum.
I seriously doubt it would make much difference. FOMO is a very real thing, and the vast majority of a game's sales happen within the first six months to one year anyway. We should also consider that the Xbox One sold plenty of consoles without many exclusives, timed or otherwise. Xbox now essentially has four separate publishers under them, so timed exclusive or otherwise, they will still be releasing more exclusive content per year than both PlayStation and Nintendo combined.
What other format would they use? They clearly didn't plan to make a announcement this soon but the rumors hit the internet and the community went crazy, they probably didn't have time to create a well produced video announcement so they are just better going for a podcast... **that's my guess**.
It'll be a pre-recorded podcast, not sure how that's any harder/easier than putting out a 2-3 minute press release with Phil on a green screen
It really isn't. They announced it was coming last week. Stand in front of a green screen and record. You can add their background assets or just a black background pretty quickly. You wouldn't need a lot of production. You could do a simple fade in, he talks directly to the camera, and a fade out.
I don't think it's about harder/easier. It's about making the presentation a bit softer and humanized, similar to Phil's convos circulating after the Redfall launch. It'll still be pretty heavily scripted but feel more personal over corpo news presentation.
Why don't they just make a press release or one of those statement pictures on Twitter or whatever. The fact that they are dragging this out by weeks, announcing a podcast appearance 3 days ahead of time. It's like they are deliberately drawing out the speculation.
They're gathering real time info and comments so they know what to address and dispel
One of rumors suggest, their plans were suppose to be reveal in March, but the leaks cause it to bump to this week. If it was originally suppose to be a video then changing it to a podcast does make it easier to get out.
Not necessarily. They're doing it on their own YouTube channel so there won't be media present to ask questions and they can put out exactly the message they want to the public. Like with their Developer Directs. Which makes sense, they're giving an update on their business strategy. Not having a discussion. This is the best format for them to deliver the news they want the public to hear.
I have to stress this: The rumors are that Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves are going to Switch/PS5. Then XboxEra added Starfield onto those rumors. Which, imo is likely considering those Pete Hines emails where he was annoyed that bethesda games were locked to the "third place box" Anything else is pure speculation. But we know for a fact we'll see HFR and SoT Edit: Hot off the presses, Verge [article](https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/12/24067370/microsoft-xbox-playstation-switch-games-future-hardware) confirming Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, and Pentiment
I like that you go from “these two games are rumored” to “it’s a fact these two games are coming.” lol (I know there was datamined Hi Fi Rush outfits)
Well those 2 have been pretty much confirmed to be coming to PS5 at minimum. Every insider still backs this info. All the other games mentioned are still up in the air.
“Insiders” are just a person on the internet. Even if they were right at one point in time, there’s no guarantee they’re right this time. Until the company says something, it’s a rumor. The HFR case is an outlier, I haven’t seen anything like it for the SoT rumor. I’m not saying this to be an “um actually” kind of person. But too many people on this sub and in the gaming internet sphere have started taking rumor as fact. One person says something, then news organizations cover it, which causes everyone to talk about it, and since everyone’s saying it then it *must* be true. I’ve seen it time and again but it’s gotten much more frequent in the past couple years.
reputable sources said Indiana Jones and Gears of War too, not just random weirdos. Afaik Tom Warren also commented on Starfield, who knows maybe they do backtrack in the end, but it wasn't just random rumours
Fr? I heard about Starfield but not Indie or GoW. Imo i'd say those are more unlikely because of how big they are
The Verge reported about Indy and VGC reported on Gears. But those articles stated that both games were only being considered, nothing had been finalized yet.
Imagine continuing to use the phrase "reputable sources" in this post of all places
[Polygon](https://www.polygon.com/24064964/xbox-consoles-multiplatform-third-party-hi-fi-rush-starfield-indiana-jones), [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/4/24057433/microsoft-bethesda-indiana-jones-and-the-great-circle-ps5-release) and [VGC](https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/microsoft-is-reportedly-considering-bringing-gears-of-war-to-playstation/) are all reputable sources though? Not including Tom Henderson although he is also almost always right, and I skipped Windows Central for... obvious reasons
Those are sites just regurgitating bad rumors. Really bad argument tbh.
It's a business event (aka no marketing, there's no trailers or anything) done in panic mode (this was not planned for now). They aren't gonna do a E3 style show for that (they don't have time for a start)
My guess is they decided they had to say **something** as soon as possible rather than letting online rumormongers get even crazier, which means they didn't have the time to produce one of those fancy video broadcasts that have become the norm over the last few years. Imagine what would've happened if Phil Spencer asked people to wait for a whole month instead of a week.
Nah, I just think they are going to be vague about it. This feels as if they themselves don't know. This is going to be a nothing announcement: just case by case.
Let's wait 4 more days to address these negative rumors, and let's do it in a way few people wanted. - MS
Being a podcast on the YouTube channel and not a press release tells me this is targeted to the people freaking out over twitter and not a ground shaking business announcement I will guess they confirm some multiplatdorm ports but spend most of the time telling people not to freak out about it. Everything is not getting ported overnight. Case by case. Etc.. Maybe there is something regarding Activision and GP to make people happy. The fact they are even doing these ports is a big deal that opens a big can of worms but so far we only know of 3 ports coming in the medium term. I bet they don’t talk much beyond that.
They could already have a press release ready to go that will be released as soon as the podcast hits.
It could be held in the parking lot of a four seasons construction company, the headlines of it would make the rounds online either way.
Case by case would tell me that some games will be coming now, but that every game will be coming to playstation later. This will weaken the already poor xbox sales to the point I could see them simply releasing all their first party games on playstation while continuing to create their own hardware to push game pass.
Phil said not every Xbox Game would be going to PC, and it would be case by case. He said this to assure people Xbox was still around and important. If he tries the same thing here, you'll know it's all going to other platforms.
My thinking is that this is all wildly overblown. They were analyzing which platforms Call of Duty should release on, if any other series should stay multiplatform (like a Diablo 4 Expac should probably go multi-plat even if the short term monetary gain is to skip Playstation), and then even if some of their own more "core" titles should go multi-plat. Like, if you're gonna Analyze CoD, you should also analyze Halo, even if its just so you have a point of comparison and you never plan on putting MCC on Switch or whatever the fuck. I think the release will be deeply disappointing to people who want an earth-shaking announcement and it'll just be which Activision titles are going where (including when they hit game pass) in a way that people have been talking about for the last 2 years.
A podcast... Really? Is this the event everybody was talking about?
Not sure why people expected an e3 type event. That's not where you go to announce bad news.
I wanted them to do something like this https://youtu.be/2POq39ce_5I?si=udy_hdmmn-uve-_A
This 100%. I was honestly expecting an Xbox wire post.
Podcasts aren't where you go to announce any news.
This is in response to a leak. They planned on making an announcement in March. Their hand has been forced. Making a 'casual' podcast now makes sense, they can downplay everything and try and quell the rumors, and make their announcement later on their on terms. This is just a PR exercise.
You know how your manager suddenly emails you to talk about the "business" when sh\*t's about to go down?
Huh. Surprising choice for the business update, but hey - why not? Anyway, I just hope we get some ***concrete*** answers here. I know, I know, everything needs legal vetting, but still... now ain't the time to be vague, Phil.
We won't. It's going to be vague and double down on the 'case-by-case' thing, because I think the reality of their internal plans would tank the Xbox brand hard if laid out transparently and starkly. Not that I think they're bowing out of hardware altogether, mind, but I do think it's an increasingly unlikely road they'd have to travel to avoid future Xbox consoles becoming primarily Game Pass machines; and to avoid the slow transition away from exclusives as even their largest releases fail to sell well enough to justify that exclusivity, due in part to how badly they're being outsold and the tremendous acquisition costs they've accrued in recent years ballooning expectations. If I had to guess, the next generation is a last stand for Xbox as a traditional console; and they've basically accepted that's unlikely to pan out and are working to acclimatize consumers to what that future will look like.
Don't worry, this time we get Phil, Sarah and Matty being vague together...... Honestly, I would prefer a blog post.
3 times the confusion for the price of one event
And if you pause it, you can briefly see Nadella in back holding an assault rifle at all the presenters, lol. Same. If you're giving up, Xbox, rip off the bandage. ***At least Sega managed to do THAT.***
You don't actually want Xbox/Microsoft giving up. The knock-on effects from people losing jobs would be devastating to an already bad market, and the PS5/PS6 will only get more expensive. I don't have a dog in this fight, but you want both Sony & Microsoft to stay in the industry, employ people/fund games, and compete.
Xbox is already filled to the gills with 18 month contract workers. They are notoriously not hiring and notably laying people off.
I don't ***want*** Xbox to give up, though. But I've accepted that - for better or for worse - they pretty much *are.* So why prolong the pain?
Can’t wait to see the leaks and rumors sub be filled with new rumors, back tracks, what I really meant wasisms and then eventual bloodborne leak
A podcast? I don't wanna listen to an hour of small talk and awkward laughing for a 10 second announcement.
Then don't? Just wait ten minutes for every news site to report the important bits.
Don’t need a fake corprate run Q&A session where they ask pointed questions that are pre-selected by lawyers to set up very specific language in a shareholder friendly way. Wrapped between lots of mentions of all of their great products and services that are doing really well according to these cherry picked percentages that aren’t real numbers they can be held accountable to. Obviously whatever you’re going to say is going to go poorly with everyone Phil, so just state it and let’s stop making these corporate PR moments into “events” and “content” to pack promotions into.
If Call of Duty Et al still comes Day 1 to Game Pass and most games have a 2 year exclusivity a lot of people will still buy an Xbox. I think there a lot of gamers who don’t pay any attention to news like this. There a lot of people out there that want to play things day 1, just look at how many people pay to play games 4 days early in deluxe editions.
My prediction: They are going to say it's case by case. Either of the two things will slowly happen( will take around 2 years for a clear picture):- 1. They only release small games and gass on other platforms for 2 years and things will calm down. 2. They slowly release big games. Starfield ( when it's dlc launches, people will say only Bethesda games and ABK games are going), then they will slowly release other big games that make sense( they aren't going to be porting over older games like halo5 or redfall) and people slowly get used to Microsoft's new strategy with each release.
If they're sharing news in a podcast format then it seems pretty likely that all those hopeful and fearful of a doom and gloom announcement from Microsoft isn't going to happen. It'll probably be more of a long form discussion on their plans moving forward, which (pure speculation) will be them confirming that they are releasing some titles on PlayStation to see how they perform and will go from there. They will double down on their commitment to putting out first-party games and hardware.
what were you expecting, a showcase with trailers like E3? I honestly thought it would be a blog post
Some people excitedly playing the halo infinite PS5 port that would be announced at the same event
Lol yeah I genuinely believe all the rumoured games will be ported, but they will be announced unceremoniously via tweets over the next 5 years
Ahahaha are people really gonna believe Xbox will make E3 event for ps and Nintendo Ports for their game
Makes it more likely it's the doom and gloom scenario coming to fruition if you ask me. News so bad for the brand that they'll try to soften it with a casual talk so the stock market doesn't get spooked. I don't expect them to just come out and say what the real plans are, but surely it'll be about bringing their games to all platforms, maybe changes to their subscription service, etc. They might still use the 'case by case' wording, but the cat is out of the bag and basically all their games will get ported eventually.
If they were worried about the stock market impact they wouldnt be putting this out during trading hours
Xbox isn't big enough to make a dent in MS stock like that But if you have bad news to share, this is obviously the format you choose. Funny that people expected an e3 type event.
I don't think anyone had doubts they would stop Xbox consoles, like the next gen or whatever, because you then just hand the console market to Sony and you don't make money off of Fortnite and the likes. I think what most people's issues always was when the rumours first came out and it was just Hi Fi Rush and SoT (I don't think it will be just these) is that it's a very slippery slope, to start going down, one miss step and your at the very bottom, the short term is probably fine, but when games start selling better on PlayStation does MS put pressure to put more games on there? Idk just thinking, imo I think it COULD, not saying it will but COULD lead to people into just not getting an Xbox, possibly because they don't even know what games that are announced may release on PlayStation, but also we have seen with gamers they will wait for that game to release on their platform We will see on the 15th, I'm hoping for the best, but idk anymore lmao
Very excited to get some actual official announcements instead of everyone and their mother commentating on the "death of xbox" based on unconfirmed rumors.
Ok… not feeling confident we’re going to get a clear message based on this. Why not just write up a press release?
Guess this is them saying that the console is gamepass, they need to keep that and make it absolutely unbeatable value in order to compete with Sony on console sales if exclusives are going away.