VP Phil Spencer says company will support current-gen platform for "years to come," hints at "surprising" announcement for E3. Though Microsoft's future is the Xbox One, the platform holder is not leaving the Xbox 360 behind anytime soon.
Microsoft Game Studios executive Phil Spencer told GameSpot that the company will support the platform for "years to come" and even has a "huge" Xbox 360 announcement in the works for next month's Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"
Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”
Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever
Nice one ☝️
It's better than what Nintendo and Playstation is doing. It might not be perfect but at least they are TRYING. Unlike the others.
Trying? Take off the blinders for a moment, mate.
1. A failure to preserve games is just that: a failure to preserve games. Don't try to sugarcoat it: NO ONE is doing it properly. Better than awful is nothing to write home about.
2. At the time of this comment, isn't it the case that you need an internet connection to play Xbox games even if you buy physical discs that are hardly in circulation anymore? I don't have a Series X and I can't verify, but I think that is correct. I'm fairly certain you can at least play PS5 games at version 1.0 (not much of a win really when many games require day one patches). I think Microsoft's all digital, licensing approach is by far more aggressive than anyone else's. They really try to push you to game pass where you lose your entire library by umm.... Skipping a month of payments.
I don't think anyone is doing it right whatsoever. Don't get me started on Nintendo, who goes after anyone looking to preserve their games better than they ever would with extreme litigation.
Don't be a simp for any of these companies. Get it together.
@DarX never speak on Xbox again. You lost all credibility with your internet connection comment. Smh you have 0 clue and misinformed yet speaking on something you don't no squat about.
What has Sony done exactly? You guys keep deflecting to Sony but I am not actually seeing any results, and ai am certain nothing that you can come up with even comes close to what Microsoft has done and what they have tried and failed to do, like tie all your disks to your account on xbone.
Microsoft removed their whole indie section when they moved to the xbone because they were going to only allow games on the service that came from a publisher, id@xbox started after xbone launched and it only exists because Sony embraced indie and Microsoft was forced to cancel their plans and reverse course.
And every single game that was part of games for windows live including disk games (I have gta 4 on disk that won't work) so hundreds of games that use that DRM no longer work unless the company themselves patched it out which of course very few did.
Not trying. Tried. they killed of the backcomp program years ago. They set something up again, but sounds like it's more of an attempt to save the current library on whatever they are planning next. With luck they save everything and more, but let's see. I could see them killing off parts of the OG xbox and 360 libraries. Can't imagine that they would allow us to play Forza 5-7 in the future.
With that said, I do like what they've done and really wish they could have done more.
Zeref
So killing off physical media is trying what exactly. Ms don't really give a fk if you think they do your kidding yourself.
They are not trying this team is established for forward compatability the team is. It interested in preserving Xbox or 360 games.
Just because it's digital only doesn't mean you can't preserve it. Just put it on an external and you have the exact same functionality of what a disc does.
This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.
No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.
Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.
Anyone remember xblig which Microsoft removed their whole 360 indie section removing hundreds of games from people?
Do you know you can put your games on an external and preserve them that way? There are no benefits to discs. ZERO. Idk why some of you are still obsessed with them.
Because games like Persona 5 exist. It's STILL V1.00. On Playstation, that's a win because 1.00 is installed on the disc—no need to download anything.
If a game does not require any updates, it's all on the disc.
Extremely low bar in the modern era, of course. It's not much of a win by any stretch.
But for now, physical media does have a purpose, at least on Playstation.
That is factually not how game licensing works, try plugging your hard drive into someone else xbox, It's not going to work, and it won't work if the licensing servers ever go down.
Anyone remember games for windows live.
I have around a dozen games, some on Steam itself that will not work because Microsoft shut off the licensing servers.
I do. I STILL have games (Gears of War being the big one) I cannot access because Games for Windows LIVE is total garbage and no one has held Microsoft accountable.
You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership.
"You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership."
Damn how many times do people got to explain your idiocy to you? You can take a copy of Persona 5 like someone used as an example and play that game on ANY console WITHOUT logging in which means I can lend the game to a friend without internet and they can play my game. Can you lend your hard drive to anyone without logging in for them to play? NOPE. That is a huge difference and if you think otherwise then sorry you're an idiot.
"No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft."
Ubisoft is literally erasing games people bought from their libraries... My PS1-3 discs are useless on modern hardware. Nintendo's re-published and resold almost their entire Wii U library, and the eShop is completely dead with no BC mechanism in the Switch software. Microsoft publishes everything they make today day one on Steam and Xbox/Windows. Sony only brings to PC the titles they think you might want some years later and Nintendo won't even design a functional long-lasting joystick.
You're absolutely trolling and not serious if you think Microsoft today is the worst offender.
Yay steam
Not everyone fks with computers though. The disc is still the best way as a console player. Period.
How do Sony and Nintendo feel about these discs from 2001-2013?
Don't be stupid, you know Xbox is the best at this today.
Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?
Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.
That is not their plan, their plan is to transfer users accounts to the cloud.
Phil Spencer himself said as much a few months back, plans could have changed but I think people are reading way too much into one statement where Phil said he would allow Epic on xbox because he wants to be able to sell xbox games directly on other platforms. Aka, instead of selling Sea of Thives through PSN he wants to have an xbox store to sell his games on PlayStation without giving PlayStation any money.
Again, it's extremely unlikely that Phil plans to put PC on xbox and licensing would prevent them from just giving out other publishers games purchased on xbox copies of thier games on PC, Microsoft does not own their games.
The thing that doesn't align with the cloud strategy is the giving up on exclusives. You'd still need strong exclusives for cloud streaming - it's still a "platform" , just with a lower upfront hardware investment. I feel like they've learned what PS learned with PSNow long ago. We're not ready to stream games and it's only gonna lose them money to try at this point
I would love that, I'd buy up some of the Xbox games if they could run on PC, like the Rare Replay, Lost Odyssey and Dead or Alive Ultimate, probably a pipe dream though.
This is the one that nobody can argue microsoft is getting right.
The idea of moving from one gen to the next and losing all previous purchases is mind blowing.
Console should and could be like pc. Theres absolutely no excuse for it, especially in the digital age.
If you want to keep game collections forever just torrent/usenet rom collections of consoles. When you have the physical game on a drive it's yours period it will never go away.
So this is a bit misleading.
Nintendo I'd argue maintains some level of preservation consistent with Xbox as they have offered a method of playing older games since the Wii vua the virtual console and NSO they also frequently remake their older games like links adventure.
Are they perfect far from it but there's some level of reverence to the past output. They have made a lot of mis steps and frequently try to go after its own community but there's efforts being made and new games are coming to NSO frequently with games that never saw release actually getting launched like star fox 2.
Let's also not forget the fact that this Xbox preservation team and the PlayStation preservation team while we are at it because if you remember correctly PlayStation set up its own preservation team roughly two years ago now they have not done anything yet.
Xbox ended its backwards compatibility program a few years ago now and as a result no new 360 games are being brought to current generation consoles this compatibility team is established for forward compatability making sure xsx games run on Xbox series successor hardware.
In short the new Xbox team isn't interested in preserving Xbox and Xbox 360 games that currently are not backwards compatible and yes that list is overwhelmingly huge with heavy hitters like the orange box becoming unplayable as of a few months back
Just a reminder: MS' marketed "backwards-compatibility& quot; is not true backwards-compatibility, save for the Xbox One generation. You must download an emulator-wrapped recompiled version of each OG and 360 game. When that authentication/download server is removed, the older games will no longer "work". The discs are only used for authentication. Moreover, only ~65 OG and ~650 360 (mostly LIVE Arcade) games are supported. The program is nowhere near as comprehensive or preservation-secure as people may have been led to believe.
Xbox has been lagging behind PlayStation in terms of 1st party content, but 2024 offers the platform and Phil Spencer a chance at redemption.
Nah, that time has passed for many, and with their words on future plans, i really don't see it ever happening.
It's a wrap. Now is the time they are slowly going to move on as to not to kill the base as is. Titles will slowly drip onto ps and Nintendo consoles, etc. Those 4 already had to of been in development for awhile already cause two of them released really soon after the announcement
There is no ‘last chance redemption’ for Phil Spencer - he’s going straight to hell for tanking the Xbox console platform.
"2024 Is A Chance At Redemption For Xbox & Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer"
I thought that was supposed to be a decade ago
U do rel7se ps5 is at thr moment only getting g those titles that were mentioned nothing else as of yet
"Nah, that time has passed for many, and with their words on future plans, i really don't see it ever happening."
Xbox has PLENTY of first party games this year while Playstation has none!
There´s more first party games from Xbox Games Studios on PS5 this year than Playstation Studios own games.
Those are the *facts* and if those facts is not something to Sony be ashamed of, they can´t feel shame at all.
Granblue Fantasy versus, FF7REBIRTH, Helldivers 2, Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade will have launched on PS5 and not on Xbox by the time Hellblade 2 launches.
This only first party games count is cope.
And as a bonus meme...Microsoft will have published 3 first party games on PS5 (Hifi rush, Grounded and sea of thieves) before their first for the year on Xbox(hellblade 2). Glad they have their priorities straight...
It's funny when people like to say xbox has more games coming to playstation this year than sony does.
YET, they leave out the context that Microsoft literally bought the biggest (Activision) third party publisher and Bethesday (another big one). So congrats on having to buy giants in order to compete?
On topic, wasn't Starfield the "last chance" for redemption?
Am I to assume that if the games they have coming this year don't get positive, feedback then 2025 will be the year of redemption?
@VersusDMC
"Granblue Fantasy versus, FF7REBIRTH, Helldivers 2, Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade will have launched on PS5 and not on Xbox by the time Hellblade 2 launches."
None of the games you mentioned are first party. None. There´re more Xbox first party games on PS5 this year then Playstation´s own first party games, undeniable fact!
The real bonus meme is Sea of Thieves a game which PS fanboys used to sh!t on
"And as a bonus meme...Microsoft will have published 3 first party games on PS5 (Hifi rush, Grounded and sea of thieves) before their first for the year on Xbox(hellblade 2). Glad they have their priorities straight..."
Imo, the real meme is Sea of Thieves, a 6 year Xbox first party game which diehard fanboys used to mock and sh!t on, making to the top of the most pre-ordered game at PS Store in a year where Playstation has zero first party games.
https://twitter.com/BenjiSa...
and all will end up on playstation, and nintendo, if xbox was doing amazing they would not need ps or nintendo, if gp was amazing they wouldnt need pc. PS has multiple first party games in development that we dont know about. Look at how halo was treated, look at redfall, and look at starfield. Its fine to be loyal and prefer one platoform but to be wilfully ignorant about it just ridiculas.
LOL se we are moving from "exclusives" to "console exclusives" to now only "1st party exclusives" matters just after MS has bought 2 publishers for $77B??
Moving goalpost to always favor MS i. Your argument is getting tiring! Exclusives are exclusives! 1st or 3rd party, they are still exclusives. You do remember the PS2 literally killed the Dreamcast, Gamecube and the first xbox due to mostly 3rd party exclusives, right?
Observe is actually correct. Sony paid to play. But we don't mention when they do it. When they do it we're totally cool with it. N4G 4lyfe!
“This notion that Xbox can only be this one device that plugs into a television isn’t something we see in the Gen Z research. Because nothing else is like that for them.
Some of them will have an iPhone, some will have an Android, but all the games and everything is the same. I can still get to TikTok on both of them, at least for now." - Phil Spencer
Read it and weep... all Xbox games are coming to as many platforms as they can put them on, and this is the first step towards them getting out of hardware entirely, just like Sega did.
Xbox has been Dreamcast out of the industry. You can deny it all you like, but it's happening.
@Obscure_Observer
You certainly have more faith in Xbox than Phil Spencer does, I will give you that.
@VersusDMC here yall Sony fans go moving the goalpost again lol now this only first party things is a cope when yall was the one who started that crap in the first place. When Sony had all the first party games and Xbox was relying on third party , yall was shouting they had no first party games. Now the tables turn and suddenly it’s a cope. lol
@lodossrage and so it’s also funny that the majority of Xbox first party games this year aren’t coming from any of those big studios lol except for Indy .. the biggest one this year is coming from a studio that Sony left and almost let that studio die after releasing two big exclusives on their console first. Now MS swoop in and saved them , then here they are with the best looking game this generation. Now that’s ironic , but you mention buying studios like Sony biggest studios weren’t BOUGHT my brother.
Yall need to be more worried about Sony closing studio after studio , the PSVR 2 dying , Sony losing billions , and the fact that yall biggest game this year as in Stellar Blade was once being developed as a multi platform game until Sony paid for them to be a second party studio. lol but you want to mention things being bought , your delusional
Shame in the competitor buying up tons of dev teams in order to make that a reality? Yeah...there's no shame in that on the PlayStation side....
There's probably tons of games exclusive to Xbox that won't be on PS because of their early access clause.
However list the games that count helldivers 2 I'd argue has done more for gaming this year than any other title will.
It could be their only game and it would still be a great year because it was that unexpectedly good even haters of love service games are playing it
Still at it? Doesn't matter at this point. The games will eventually launch on PS5.
I see you ignored his" only first party games count" line as if preordained. Is it on xbox? No...then it is ammunition. Meanwhile sony gets to passively soak up 30% of all ms game studios sales.
@obscured: “There´s more first party games from Xbox Games Studios on PS5 this year than Playstation Studios own games.
Those are the *facts* and if those facts is not something to Sony be ashamed of, they can´t feel shame at all.”
That says more about Xbox than PlayStation that they have to release games on rival consoles to stay afloat, Microsoft and YOU SHOULD NOT BE ASHAMED OF THAT FACT.
Edit After thought: it took Microsoft 6 years to finally fix their sea of bugs just in time to release it on PlayStation 🤷🏿
On topic:
MS’s last chance was Starfield…
How many last chances are there?
@Osbscure
You’re moving the goal posts into places that have no basis in reality anymore.
Life is too short to hold onto grudges. Grudges against a console, game or company is just petty.
Has nothing to do with a grudge. Ive been waiting 12yrs for them to get back to their greatness, im done waiting and have moved onto just watching that ship sink as i play on literally every other platform
^^... I still play on it, as well as the other platforms. Which is why I am not someone who dwells on the negativity like others do. there is always something for me to enjoy in this hobby.
@darth
Again, not dwelling on negativity, they legit haven't made anything i want to play since like gears 3 and halo reach. I did play Crackdown 3 and gears 5 cause i had hope given i was a huge fan of the older games, but that was a dud on both cases.
You're thinking it's way deeper than it is 🤣 make something worth playing and ill play it, i was hoping starfield would be that but again, dud.
^^...I never said YOU were doing that... but its obvious others (here) do. Its all they seem to do is dwell on negativity, especially if its XB related. all im saying is there is more to enjoy than there is to complain about. And this is exactly why I play all the platforms instead of just one. You say you do the same... so just enjoy it.
It's fanbots making their last stand in an attempt to save the Xbox, what more can one expect that the most optimism they've ever had. Xbox can't get a lock in Japan, still, and Europe is about to abandon it as well. What're you gonna do? And what happens IF Japanese generates interest? They'll see Europe losing interest and decide it's not worth it either. And it's not just Xbox, Microsoft as a whole is losing their footing. They've backed on subscriptions with everything they have to offer and it's tanking. Xbox needs to port to PlayStation and Nintendo while they can stay relevant and try to stay relevant, the longer they delay, we could see a complete Microsoft nose dive
And you think MS fans are just dandy? Besides, is it a grudge if MS continues to give reasons for people to despise them?
when you cant make enough from your own platform and pc and you have to go to ps and nintendo you know its a slow transition to 3rd party publishing, and that is fine. Xb never had the thurst or ambition after the 360
The second they decided to put exclusives on the ps5 they blew any chance of redemption
Even if they managed to get a win this year it dosent overthrow 10 years of mostly disappointments from Phil’s leadership.
Then this way, no company can redeem themselves. The very concept of redemption arc becomes impossible if the past is refused to be forgiven, even if the company manages to better themselves.
Then the now popular redemption arc of No Mans Sky or Phantom Liberty wouldn't exist in the gaming community if the same logic is also applied there.
Not defending anyone here but I want gaming to improve, companies to better themselves and most importantly competition to exist so that we get offered the best products to enjoy.
(I know in typical N4G fashion, this comment will be downvoted to oblivion, but I want good games offered from every studios irrespective of publishers.)
@RaidenBlack
IMO, what @-Foxtrot means, one years doesn't mean much. It's a start, yes, but they need more, much more.
Look at your own example, No Mans Sky - they didn't just release one patch and everyone started praising them, no. They've been doing this consistently. If Microsoft will start releasing good games consistently, that'll be great, no ifs and/or buts! But hyping them up in advance (no worthy releases yet is what i mean) - dunno, i might be wrong, but i don't think it's healthy or helps anyone.
Your analogies are terrible. A company releasing a single game that failed to meet expectations.
Isn't the same as Phil Spencer making mistake after mistake after mistake after mistake, telling lie after lie after lie after lie for 10+ years.
Your whole comparison makes no sense. It literally took years for both of those to "redeem" themselves in the container of a single game. MS has been lacking for 12yrs starting with the halo/gears/forza criticism begining in the latter half of the 360. So even by YOUR logic, he's right, it's gonna take a lot more than one game to be redeemed ESPECIALLY after fumbling what many were already holding as their chance at redemption with starfield
It's not Playstation or Nintendos fault that Xbox poses no competition. They've had more support and more money behind them than Playstation and Nintendo combined!
You say you aren't defending Xbox, but, you kind of are. Xbox has been completely mediocre for decades. The last time Xbox was competitive was the 360 era. My 360 collection absolutely demolishes my Xbox One collection and so far Series X hasn't had much reason for me to jump to a purchase.
Can you honestly say Xbox is 'competitive'?! I would say not even close.
With the gaming media, Xbox is always just one game away from redemption and success. It's willful ignorance that they think there's a 'magic bullet' that will somehow erase all the moves by Phil & the gang of the last 2 console generations.
"Well there's always next year!" Should be the official Xbox slogan
100% this Mammo!
They've been screwing up for over a decade! Even if they release a game that's of the highest quality, that's nothing in the grand scheme things.
It also doesn't un-do Kinect (with lies based advertising).
Or Kinect 2 (forcing people to spend $100 extra for something they didn't even want!).
Or releasing two consoles with nothing noteworthy twice in a row (One X, Series S|X).
Or releasing unpolished games such as Re:Core, Sea of Thieves, Halo: MCC, Halo Infinite, Redfall, and Starfield.
Let's not forget canceling games as well such as Scalebound,Project Spark, and the Phantom Dust remake.
Finally let's remember the broken promises of vaporware games, languishing in development Hell, such as Perfect Dark, Fable, Everwild, what else am I forgetting?
Redemption is far far FAR AWAY for Microsoft. It'll take a full decade of only making smart pro-consumer decisions and releasing plenty of amazing games in order to make up for it all.
2024? It ain't gonna do squat on its own.
It was the same old story in 2020, 2021,2022 and 2023. XBox has never delivered this gen.
I wonder if the 2025's version of this article is already written, probably I would say
''2024 Is A Chance At Redemption For Xbox & Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer''
We've been hearing and reading the same crap since the xbone launch, these shills/journos need to come up with something new. Good thing is most gamers know this is all BS, they all read ''"Step right up folks and hold out your money or sub to our service. You don't know what you are going to get, but like always, take our word for it" Signed Lord Phil.
Best bet would be to cut ties with Phil now. If anything actually does turn around, let that fuel good will for the replacement. I don't think there's any way at this point to turn things around for Phil.
We hear the same thing every year. Every year is always 'the year of Xbox' and then it falls even further behind the competition. Sure it'll have more first party games but does anyone think it'll really make a difference at this point?
Each year seems to be a chance at redemption for Phil Spencer and Microsoft but there's never a clear definition of what is that redemption.
I believe that for the majority of PlayStation fans, Microsoft redemption will always be what MS isn't doing at the current moment meaning there will never be redemption.
So are you saying hifi rush, redfall and starfield was their redemption last year?
That those games were good enough and Playstation fans were the boogeyman that obscured what a return to form last year was for xbox?
I like how the victim card is being shown already just in case the games don't review well.
Playstation fans don't control critic scores or game of the year nominations.
Funny that you mention Hi-Fi Rush because, since its release last year, N4G fanboys have been trying by all means to discredit the game
- Not a real AAA game, was meant for PlayStation, Game Pass Filler, Digital only crap, etc.
How about Forza? oh year it's not a real game because it's a racing game
Already ppl are finding reasons why Hellblade 2 should fail
So again What is MS Redemption?
What is MS redemption?
More exclusive games than the competition?
Maybe a xbox exclusive being nominated for game of the year?
Some 90+ metacritic exclusives?
And i also see N4G fanboys claiming all PS exclusives are bombing this year, stellar blade imput lag, no first party games, etc...but only Playstation fans are responsible for that as well?
Which Xbox game got nominated for GotY in the last 10 years? Oh right NONE. Kind of need to beat the competition to redeem themselves.
Maybe you forgot how Xbox was going to redeem Halo Infinite? Remember when everyone said Redfall was going to show what Xbox was about? How about Starfield? Mediocre games across the board, but, wait for it.... this single game will turn things around. Really?! Damn Xbox loves idiot fans waiting for this turn around that's been just around the corner for like 10 years!
Got to love how every Xbox fan absolutely 💯 trashed Hellblade when it was exclusive to Playstation. Walking Simulator as everyone explained. But now it's only on Xbox that 'cinematic' experienced is amazing! Same people that said Playstation only does 'cinematic' games as a slight are now excited. Lol
God, how many times have we heard this only to receive another massive disappointment.
To name but 3,
Halo infinite
Redfall
Starfield
...?
Y'all been saying different variations of "wait for E3" for 15 years, nothing will happen.
So we're looking at Hellblade 2 (niche indie game), Avowed (looks rough), DLC and Indiana Jones which looks pretty good. I'm not saying these games are irrelevant but they don't strongly suggest redemption for a struggling brand.
We really should be talking about redemption AFTER it’s earned and not the “potential” of it. When MS delivers and is consistent THEN we should talk about its redemption story until then we don’t need wishful thinking
We say this every damn year! Like no joke, Google this exact sh*t but put 2023, 2022, etc. in place of 2024.
Yes taking almost half of 2024 for your first title while the other guy has been dropping games monthly. Total redemption.
That's hilariously Twisted Twistedvoxel! Oh wait, you are serious. The redemption ladder broke a while back, unles you are into that mulligan crap. The era of chad blowhard ceos and the dorks that worshiped them is done.
Doubt it. The first game was horrible. It was slow and clunky. All she did was scream and yell in your face. It isn't psychosis as they aimed for. The puzzles are shallow and about as fun as those wooden toys theyd give you as a kid where you match the shapes and drop them through. Hellblade was boring as sin. Oh, and it's not just my opinion. Most people see the game as sub-par and have no interest in a sequel. This isn't going to soar as well as they might think. They could fudge their numbers to try and trick consumers into thinking it's good and doing well, but wouldn't be. Will they honest with their sales numbers? Or in Xbox typical fashion lie about it to try and generate interest in Xbox. But, gamers don't want Hellblade, PlayStation fans want the Xbox version of GoW
Can we just stop with the sensationalism. It's getting really corny.
Even though I own both and enjoy both consoles it take a multiple hit games to even slowly turn the tide
The weird thing is that this is the most graphically advanced game on consoles, and it is a month away from release yet there is almost no Marketing from Microsoft.
Every year people claim is their chance for redemption, and every year they don't redeem themselves. And even if they do release amazing games, I'm still greatly unhappy with how they run their business.
The all-digital future, rushed out first party games, embracing micro-trash-actions like there's no tomorrow, too much of a focus on services, frequently banning members of the community unfairly, releasing a new console generation with zero new games, and of course Xbox Series Gimp, hampering the entire generation.
They still haven't made up for 2013, how in the Hell can they ever redeem themselves at this point?
Microsoft is "all-in" now.
At least that's something we should at least recognize?
The next five years, whatever the outcome, are likely to decide if their recent actions will pay off.
They are determined to not leave the video game and console business.
Simply pointing this out doesn't mean anything if it's going to be succesful or if they will really redeem themselves.
As far as competition goes, though I am a Playstationeer, I want "Xbox" to stay.
Xbox future plans? So which Xbox exclusives they announce they'll be porting to the PS5 and Nintendo Switch next?
Microsoft's future in the video game space is murky right now, so let's break it all down.
Not anytime soon. But they're on that path.
One thing not mentioned in the article is Microsoft's money bags. If Sega had Microsoft's money, they would have still been around as a hardware manufacturer. Xbox as a platform only survives because of the money bags. They can continue making consoles for the core and port to PC.
The multiplatform strategy is only the result of arrogance and misguided leadership that blew up in their face. They thought gamers would jump on Xbox in droves if they knew that many of their favorite games would be only on Xbox. But that's not happening at all. Sales didn't increase. They decreased. Why? Because the dumb asses thought giving away these expensively made games in a cheap service would also turn the tide.
Gamers on other platforms are willing to buy quality. They don't need to be handed nearly free games in a service that aren't even finished and sometimes average in their development. Gamers buy Nintendo games. They buy Sony games. Microsoft groomed their base to not buy games. Even the quality ones. It has always been their plan to go digital. But most gamers still like single player gaming. Still like physical releases.
Microsoft's problem has always been that they don't produce high quality games at the same output as Nintendo and Sony. Actually, they should be producing quite a lot more because they're worth over 2 TRILLION. How they don't have more is ridiculous and no excuse. Buying publishers to take away from competition only backfired. Because it still takes millions of dollars to continue to make those games from the publishers they snatched. Their only choice was to crawl back to their competitors to help sustain those developers because Nintendo and Sony platforms were the ones buying games.
Am I sorry for Microsoft? Hell no! They deserved last place for putting in the least effort. They deserved the fallout for buying up the industry and didn't make a single blip on the radar against their competitors where they now need those same gamers they took away games from to support them. Part of it may have been to cash in on their competition. But the result is the slow death of their platform. They may go 3rd party. They may keep making hardware. I don't give a shit about them to worry about it. I only give a shit about the destructive nature of their industry moves that only negatively affect gamers. They could sell and drop out of the industry and I wouldn't blink. Probably laugh. But not blink. They deserve whatever comes to them. At least Sega put in the effort when it came to games. They just had poor leadership. Microsoft has poor leadership and barely makes memorable games. That's a killer combination. And not in a good way.
That would be an insult to Dreamcast.. it had a crazy line up of legendary critically acclaimed games.
I was thinking the same. Dreamcast had incredible games in such a short amount of time. It was truly exceptional.
...and yet all those great games were not enough to sway people from the looming release of the PS2 at the time. Sony just has that kind of brand loyalty.
Darth
I do not agree.. Sony had even better games thanks to an unprecedented 3rd party support..
DC had amazing lineup but 90% were arcade games..
@darth:
And Sony showed off "The Emotion Engine" and their real time demos that made everyone think they would miss out on REAL next gen 128bit magic if they jumped in before PS2s polygon pushing monster (and early lack of anti-aliasing with a healthy heap of shimmer + DVD playback) stepped up. PS2 was a fantastic system though with amazing games.
That's not true. Just because Microsoft has the money doesn't mean Microsoft can allow xbox to bleed entire Microsoft money. It doesn't work like they. Also SEC will be watching and investor won't allow it. Lot of reasons why Microsoft can not continue even if they wanted to. SEC regulations is expensive.
Exactly this... Microsoft is a publicly traded company, mostly owned by their shareholders (Approximately 59.24% of the company's stock is owned by Institutional Investors, 7.73% is owned by Insiders and 33.03% is owned by Public Companies and Individual Investors.). Their shareholders call the shots on the business decisions, and their shareholders want one thing and one thing only, for their stock price to go up. Losses do not make stock prices go up... so if the division continually posts losses on hardware, but shows profits on software and services (which has been the case with Xbox its entire lifespan, for over 20 years now), the shareholders are going to grow impatient and demand they stop making hardware and focus on the only thing that has ever made them money, software and services.
When Microsoft bought Blizzard and Activision for almost 100 billion, I knew that was the nail in the coffin for Xbox as a console... as the shareholders were going to expect a quick return on that investment, and when it didn't materialize, they were going to be out for blood... out to force Xbox to sell those games on as many consoles as possible, "and while you're at it, sell those first party exclusives that aren't selling well on other consoles as well... hell, just stop making consoles and sell games."
If there is another Xbox console generation, it will definitely be the last, but I doubt there even will be one at this point. I think the Xbox division planning on it just in case, but I don't think the project has been greenlit from Microsoft itself. The rumors that they have not yet even secured the chips needed from the chip fabrication facilities ties into this.
While I usually agree with you . Alot of what was said can just also be asked before any of that.
How long will the shareholders wait? It doesn't appear long at all
I think I get your point. Like just because MS has money does not mean they are content to throw it away on a dying ecosystem. Xbox has to be profitable or “what’s the point?”
Money bags, yes, but are we ignoring that Xbox actually makes a profit on games and GamePass? Hardware is often a loss leader, and they're probably making profit 4 years into the life cycle, but games and services revenue have been very profitable while other parts of Microsoft's business is struggling. Say what you will about the quality of those games, of course, but this is kind of a reverse Dreamcast situation, where the console was dragging down the company and put it at risk of shuttering entirely. Killing that console saved the business and allowed it to continue to make games on multiple platforms. In this case, the service is very profitable, as are the games, and they're also double-dipping into Multiplatform to extend this further, while their hardware is just sort of what they believe to be the best for gamers and their own titles (whether that is the case or not...)
The issue is, they aren't selling enough hardware to make their exclusives profitable, and now that they've bought half the gaming publisher/dev industry, they have no choice but to go third party to make a profit... and that is making their shareholders take a real close look at their hardware division under the microscope... why keep making the hardware if the software is all that is making them money, and they continually, generation after generation come in dead last with hardware sales?
Look at a game like Spiderman 2... if it had been an Xbox exclusive, with the amount it cost to develop, it would have been a huge failure... simply not enough consoles out there to sell it on. They would have been lucky to break even.
@fr0sty agreed completely, which is why they're hedging by releasing other games to multiplatform, plus they have PC to make up for the difference in a lot of ways, which is why their games are not complete money pits. It brings up the question of whether or not those exclusives would drive sales of consoles, though. Let's say Spiderman 2 was an Xbox exclusive, it would certainly have pushed console sales, though who's to say how much is anyone's guess.
That's why you can't rely on just one exclusive, Sony has always delivered on a wide range of solid exclusives, even this generation (even if they haven't been strong on the first party exclusives, they've made up for it with third party). They don't rely on just one "system seller", they have a portfolio of them.
ApocalypseShadow To be honest Sony has more of a chance to go 3rd party because like you said Microsoft has money, Sony does not. Sony does not have games, Only games they have come from 3rd party. Sony has been losing money for years and you. Saying Microsoft has been putting the least effort just proves you have no idea what's been going on. All Sony has done is repeat and recycle, never innovating or doing something new. All Sony has is brand loyalty nothing else and it shows.
Not sure about that. It's been two decades and I still think about Power Stone, Shenmue, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Seaman and others, but I'm not sure I'll remember Xbox Series X/S games in a few years from now... Maybe I'll remember about the franchises that the Xbox brand spawned, but I don't believe that the Xbox Series lives up to the late Dreamcast or even to the Xbox name itself. I do have great memories about the 360 with Blue Dragon, Gears 2 and Lost Odyssey though
No, Dreamcast was ahead of it's time and most still have very fond memories of it that had one. It also had some good games on it even in it's short lifespan. Xbox has none of these qualities.
I remember it coming out at the time in a really bad place they hit the market before the PS2 but it was during this transitional time when Sony was promoting the power of the PS2 and so many of the Dreamcast games were awesome but often third parties simply ported the PS1 version increased resolution and performance but rarely fully utilise the capabilities of the console.
I think in the end bad marketing done it in and like the GameCube so many people are fond of it now but at the time it was looked at in the lense of the day and it didn't stack up.
Personally I miss Sega in hardware they took risks that many companies won't
I never owned it, and got the PS2 right when it launched. But there were certain games it had that I was always jealous of that I didn't have access to - Sonic adventure, crazy taxi, power Stone, code Veronica, shenmue, skies of Arcadia. I always thought it was a really cool machine though. I've never heard a bad thing about it though from those that had it.
I only ever saw one Dreamcast, and that was one my friend owned, pity I never got to play it, I wonder what games he had for it?
It would be nice if some of those games got ported to modern systems.
Oh man sonic adventure on the Dreamcast made me so jealous as a huge sonic fan on the mega drive who also moved to PlayStation 2 I never got the chance to play it back in the day either. The Dreamcast in Australia where I am was always relegated to the smallest corner of EB Games it was kind of a strong first indicator that things were not going well at the time.
Ive been thinking about this and yeah it's possible however I think the question is more could Xbox become the next Sega rather than Dreamcast.
I can see Xbox becoming a brand still with a seperate look and feel to the parent company no one wants to see the company that makes excel publishing games so I can't see them using the Microsoft moniker on games they publish.
I see a future where Xbox is a service driven product and who knows they may still continue the hardware and make it heavily subsidised extremely powerful and low cost but require a gamepass subscription to use it so they make back their money over 4 years or so.
But I absolutely see third party publishing and cloud gaming being the sole reason for their existence.
They have far more technical experience than Sega did who we know offloaded a lot of technical expertise to vendors and it's a different time to when Dreamcast died we have cloud gaming coming up (I'm not sold on it but many appear to be).
It would have to be universally loved to be the next Dreamcast.
They forget that Sega didnt do anything wrong, it simply didnt have the coffers of MS to hold on. MS and xbox story is a bit different.
I have 2 dreamcasts, 2 Saturns. Sega did a SHIT TON wrong and they’ll be the first to tell you 😂😂😭
I played Saturn alot more then ps1 at first. My stepdads sister had one.
They had an enclosed front porch. Kept the Saturn and a TV on the front porch so the kids on the 3 house side street block could play whenever. It was all family. Literally.
Depends. They're doing another next gen console. If things don't go there way next time (though many said this gen was their last chance) they're downsizing, selling of Xbox or become 3rd party. Because the industry is just too expensive.
Though tbh I dont know what MS goals are. They said or class console sales aren't the end all be all. Is is high gamepass subscriptions? High engagement in services sales attach rate or what? The funny part is Phil recently said (again) Xbox is profitable just, slow growth.
Sounds like money hungry company wants more money, then they make said money, they want more, more and more. There is no goal just pivot after pivot and gluttony for money from what it sounds like.
Thats the thing though Phil has had to eat his words so many times over the years. Make sure you have some salt when hes talking.
I do believe ms will give the handheld thing a try. It was probably already in r and d and all.
Microsoft going the way that Sega chose I would not be surprised. I honestly would not be surprised if Microsoft rebranded Xbox as a games section and focus their studios under one branch called XBox. And have games that say developed or published by Xbox studios. But unlike Microsoft Sega actually had machines that did well and the game libraries to back these machines up.
It had more games then the XB1 and what's on the Series X and that's me defending the little white space heater.
360 sold well but gotta admit ms dipped out of that Gen about half way through. A little over halfway maybe.
Microsoft's future in the game space isn't murky at all. They've planned for a long time to drop hardware and become a multi platform publisher. For them it's much more profitable than making games purely for their own hardware. It's no coincidence that they've spent so much money on buying up some of the biggest studios with the most profitable IPs in the business. They didn't do that just to restrict the sales of those games to one single platform.
Oh yeah absolutely. Because they make more money now that they have to release on PS instead of their own hardware and give sony a 30% cut on every game sold. I am sure they planned that from the beginning.
Kill xbox and release on pc and ps. Sure all planned.
nah, xbox has Mothergoose MS behind them. Sega didnt have that kind of money.
also, sega makes fantastic games. even the dreamcast had some of my favs
This. To this day I still remember booting up Soul Caliber in 1999. There will never be another console quite like it.
the best game of all time, !!! which says a lot, as its a fighter, which never get voted.
then eventually soul caliber switched to unreal engine and ruined it, felt clunky and just like any other game, lost some of its fluidity and individuality, also too many teleporting moves. Cervantes had one jump/ teleport move, plus yoshimitsu had a few dash/teleoport, that was it.!! fast forward to ps4/xbox era and everybody teleprting around, left right and centre, the 'dance' of the fight we fell in love with, was gone,.
Dreamcast was a great system. Better than anything Microsoft or Sony have pumped out in years.
I honestly believe the next gen from Microsoft is going to transition to having 2/3 PC architect box boxes that run an Xbox platform along with Steam, epic or other storefronts of your choice, with one of them being a handheld akin to the steam deck. They are looking to alter the dynamic of the how the console market operates by fundamentally removing the walled gardens. PC gaming and Mobile are the only real growth sectors of gaming so why not have a product line that operates in all of them.
Dreamcast's aren't E-waste and hold a legacy, i have a modded DC hooked up to a CRT with the entire library.
Good luck having that with Xbox in 10yrs time.
I don’t know why, but the focus Xbox had on heavy shooters with an Alien/Space theme such as Gears of War and Halo never appealed to me. Those game had their audiences of course. But I remember that people who liked those type of games were big fans of Quake, Doom, Duke Nuken, etc when they were younger. Some people like gore and monsters. Sony had a more diverse selection of games. They were more adult oriented with games such as The Getaway on PS2 and Heavy Rain on PS3. They also had monster shooters. To this day, everytime I play a game that is an Xbox exclusive it really feels that it has no soul. Story writing has never been the strength of Xbox exclusive games.
The Dreamcast was better. Xbox is just a more advanced version of the Phillips CD i that turned out the be a better version of the Stadia console.
no... dreamcast was what it was due to before its time innovations... microsoft isnt interested in innovating anything but a sub fee to their gaming service.
Don't insult my precious Dreamcast like that by comparing it to modern day Xbox. 🍥
MS/Xbox is not going anywhere; whenever something shifts, people get all doom and gloom, lol. MS is making money on software and services, and hardware eventually becomes profitable. The problem is it's the same market over and over, with the lion's share going to their direct competitor, Sony. Fan loyalty is a real thing; it's almost like politics, where "your" side can't do anything wrong, and if they do, you brush it under the rug and keep cheering.
MS will release a new console; they will just open it up, make it completely like a PC, with other storefronts, and at the same time dip into the Switch/Steam Deck business with a handheld, effectively putting Xbox on every type of device. Collectively, it will create growth, even if one sector falls short. They will also continue to put games on PS and Nintendo when it makes sense...Live service games and, maybe after a year or 2, single-player games like SF and Indiana Jones; I do not see Halo, Gears, or Forza falling into that situation.
Side Note: as a Nintendo fan, I remember the many, many years of doom and gloom predictions from console loyalists lol.
The Saturn burned to many consumers in America. I loved the system, but the majority of the good titles for the system were never brought to the states. It was a shame. The Saturn was an absolute 2d powerhouse that released at a horrible time when everybody wanted blocky polygons. The Dreamcast suffered from the stigma of how Sega handled the Saturn in my opinion. I bought Dreamcast on day one and loved it until they stopped supporting it. I mean NFL 2k, and NBA 2k. Still playing NBA2k until this day, and would play NFL2k if it was possible to exist.
Microsoft is and has always been a software company first. Whatever hardware they make is (almost?) always secondary to their software. They seem to be trying to turn Xbox into a subscription service similar to Office 365 that spans across every platform you can think of. They want to push their presence everywhere basically. The Xbox console is just one place out of many. How well that strategy will turn out to be in the long run still remains to be seen. Wouldn't put too much hope in their hardware plans anymore tho. But never say never I guess. At the end of the day, their wallet is effectively a bottomless pit.
Full disclosure....I own a ps5, and a Series X....I still have a Dreamcast that I breakout to play Skies of Arcadia and Grandia 2 every once in awhile. I don't see a single game that I will be playing from this gen on the Xbox in 20 or so years. So while I know the comparison here is a hardware making solely transitioning to a software company...I can't compare the two
˙◠˙
BTW, many first gen Xbox games and great sagas like Project Gotham Racing were born in Dreamcast. Xbox was born thanks to Dreamcast.
Xbox keeps making new SKU’s! The internet says Xbox is waning but M$ keeps pumping out different console variants, it’s like, pretty sure they didn’t buy up half the industry to put out games on PC.
It’s funny bc M$ is so slow delivering any notable games the masses thinks Xbox is dead but really it’s just on life support while the games are being made—best not take them out to oven too soon this time or it will be a death sentence, not just for the Xbox brand, but all those great IP’s they bought as well.
In the last 6 years have they made more skus or more exclusive games
Honestly I’m confused.
Have they had Xbox one slim Xbox one x, Xbox series s & x, the black s 1tb edition now this new adorably digital edition, is that 6
They had starfirld redfail forza & halo infinite sea of thieves, As their big blockbusters
You could say hifi rush but that’s fishy, they would have had it anyway, even without the buyout,
I mean, I’m not good at maths but it’s not really adding up to a great scorecard in my eyes
These mfs not even tryna release games at all, they rather boast about releases that's like 3+ years away lmao then wonder why sales are low seems like there's politicians and con artist working there nowadays with all the lies and not owning up to it like a real adult
Basiic tenet of business is that you don’t keep pouring money into a loss making venture. MS has a history of cutting and running if the business venture is failing.
360 at 99 dollars , like the rumors state?
After XBox One reveal I hoped they will say something like this. By the way not getting XBox One, Will buy next COD and Gears for 360.
Halo TV series coming 2 360!
Nothing they could possibly do would reverse the wave upon wave of hatred the gaming community has for them at the moment. This will probably be some price cut and software package deal aimed at the casuals. As mentioned above it will be within $99 to $150 USD and most likely be 2 Kinect games and 2 better with Kinect titles and bundled Kinect. Meh.
They had better support their current platform because no one is buying the next.