It’s pretty funny to see how things work in the gaming industry. When people don’t have something, they often demand it. When they get it, they still find room for criticism. Microsoft has been target of a lot of flak for the fact that many Xbox One games didn’t reach a 1080p resolution, and now that Diablo III has touched that “magic number” on Microsoft’s new console, some are criticizing the company for somehow “forcing” Blizzard to do it.
The Microsoft Gaming CEO wants consoles to be more like PCs.
This is actually an interesting proposition.
Apple is currently facing some legislation issues for exactly that.
Since they restricted me from commenting on the last major article I was gonna say Phil wants multiple store fronts on their console. Which would give the console more games, options and different ways to buy and consume.
He talked about a handheld
Expansion and meeting where Gen Z wants to take their games where ever, download somewhere and go and connect with their friends.
"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,” he said.
“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.
“All of their stuff is available wherever they want. So for Xbox, our brand pivot — as we attract and maintain relevance with a younger audience — is ‘Xbox is a place where I can find the great games I want to.’”
How is plus this any different than what they've been doing? They're targeting Gen not millennial and definitely not Gen X as they're old and are car from the demo. It's Z, instant access, multiple devices, f2p (sadly)
More lies, Phil you don't care about gamers.
You want Epic on xbox because no one buys games on your platform so you have nothing to lose, and your long term goal is to force other platforms to accept other stores on their platforms including yours, lowering their own revenue while you subsidize your own xbox business until all your competition can no longer maintain themselves.
I have said from the beginning the FTC is fighting the wrong fight, instead of trying to block Microsoft from buying publishers what they need to do is force Microsoft to split up and divest its hardware and it's cloud business from it's PC software (windows) business.
Countries have laws that prevent people from dumping cheap grain or iron ect. into markets and making it so other companies can't compete, this is exactly what Microsoft is trying to do, flood the market with cheap games and hardware until no one else can compete.
Phil Spencer is ushering in a new age for the Xbox platform, one that could be appropriately titled ‘The Multi-Platform Age Of Xbox.’ It’s begun with four games coming to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, and if recent reports are true, there’s many more to come.
Spencer dug a bit into why he’s leading Xbox in this new direction, and how part of this change comes from Gen Z buying habits, and the lack of growth in the console market.
Lmao
“It’s not our fault Xbox fans, we have no choice, blame yourselves or the young”
I thought he said a while back it was because of AAA budgets being so bloated or something
Apparently sea of theives was a huge successful on PS so I guessed the board has seen dollar signs and that small batch of games will probably Expand
Polygon spoke with Spencer during the annual Game Developers Conference, and though the conversation ranged from the possibility of a handheld console to the trouble with closed platforms, one theme was inescapable: What the hell is going on with the games industry? And how will video game makers and publishers — Xbox included — get out of it?
“You can’t succeed unless you draw in customers from other publishers and other platforms. And because you’re not finding new customers with the games that you’re building, everybody’s kind of fighting over the same-size pie.”
People are going to twist this into him saying that Sony is bad for exclusives but what he is really saying... what he is trying to shout from the hills to the Xbox faithful, is that Xbox can not remain exclusive if you want them to ever take risks or make big games again. The back and forth game the PR team plays with the fanatics has to stop. Spencer doesn't know what Sony or Nintendo is going to do , but he is taking the Xbox games and putting them everywhere and thats how its gonna be. Going multiplat is the only way to GROW. Full stop that is what he is saying.
I don't think Phil Spencer is the one you want to ask this question. Are you sure he wasn't the one who asked it?
I won't bash Phil as much as I think he and his leadership team deserve, however, the data is showing the XBOX WW sales are nearly life support levels. Redfall failed - Star Field decent. What about those issues?!
Nothing is really wrong with the industry. More like: what the hell are video game makers doing? I’ve very rarely have I seen the disconnect between what gamers want to play, and what makers are trying to sell this wide.
What's the point on invest $500 on a ecosystem, that you will have on another console plus the other console exclusives. Why this made sense for Phil, get new customer but losing the old ones.
"and now that Diablo III has touched that “magic number” on Microsoft’s new console, some are criticizing the company for somehow “forcing” Blizzard to do it"
I don't think it;s as black and white as that, there's a key peice of info that's been left out there: the fact that they "forced" them to do it *at the expense of framerate*. Resolution should NEVER be prioritized over framerate.
On the one hand Phil is saying he didn't force them, and that it should be up to the devs to determine resolution. And on the other we have Blizzard saying that MS said it was "unacceptable" to run below 1080p. What gives? Blizzard were clearly fine with running the game at 900p @ a solid 60fps, until MS told them it was unacceptable, which completely contradicts what Phil is saying here.
900p @60fps locked or 1080p @53fps avg I would say 1080p was the right call, at least for this game. Both ps4 and xb1 versions have drops when there is lots on screen, IMO 53fps avg is not what I consider sacrificing fps for res.
A MS engineer probably noticed there was still enough overhead to achieve better, kudus for working with the developer to achieve 1080p and 60fps 99.99% of the time, with rare dips to the mid/low 50s.
Other consoles have exclusives first person shooters that run 30fps singleplayer and 45fps multiplayer dispite a 60fps multiplayer target.
Though it is unusual for a platform holder to turn to a developer and say that the resolution is unacceptable and say they need to find a way to make it better(not my words but theres).
You helped out, which is fantastic news, but you can see why people think Microsoft forced them with the language used by the developer
I am puzzled to why people keep saying Diablo 3 runs in 53 FPS. It dipped to 53 FPS, VERY rarely. The game runs in 60 FPS 99% of the time. So this group of people trying to claim 1080p somehow killed the frame rate need to stop.