This has been many years in the making, but lately, it seems like Microsoft’s inability to get a handle on its stable of exclusive games is reaching a fever pitch.
Outriders developer People Can Fly's next game has been canceled after its publishing agreement with Take-Two Interactive fell through.
"the capital group of PCF Group S.A."
If you're getting funding from a group that needs two different ways of Acronyming itself, things will not go the way you want them to.
Outriders was crap. They slapped that game together and threw in a loot system to get players' attention. This game was absolutely jank and the always online nonsense made it stutter like crazy. People Can't Optimize.
I liked Outriders but I could see where the artistic vision was compromised. The way the industry is now, it wouldn't surprise me that upper management would scrap something that didn't pull in money via gaas, mts, or other means.
Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.
Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.
Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.
"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."
That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.
Blizzard writes: "After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024. This decision was not made lightly as BlizzCon remains a very special event for all of us, and we know many of you look forward to it. While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years."
How about you not hold Blizzcon anymore period. You fucking POS company. I really hope Blizzard would just die.
Bungie apparently having to buy themselves so they can take a rest from Halo and develop something new was just the beggining of how Microsoft handle studios... Their complacency in the 360 era was bound to bite them eventually (lack of 1st party studios, same halo/Gears/Forza trinity and so on).
People have been too blind praising Phil Spencer, 4k Bluray, BC, Scorpio, and point fingers at Sony for every chair they misplaced too see this big issue, and then comes Scalebound and fable cancellation and you realize it isn't always sunny🌞 at Microsoft
MS biggest issue is that they don't have the power to counter Sony's 1st party content. This year PS4 has a lot of exclusive games and beyond because Sony got a family of 1st party developers. For all the articles poking fun and talking shit about Sony announcing games with no release dates, at least they got more than just this year and we know what to look forward to. Unlike Sony, MS future is uncertain. But hey, you can always watch 4k movies in the meantime I guess...
I just never understood why they dont just form new studios instead of dropping insane amounts of cash for third party timed exclusive deals and spending billions on minecraft.
They been in rough shape ever since 2010(introduction of kinect) . Can't believe it took this person so long to realize it. MS has no first party studios to keep xbox afloat like Sony did with ps3 last generation. I'm curious to see what they bring to E3. If they don't hold an event for Scorpio prior to e3 then they're pretty much going to focus on it come June which will further proof they have nothing big to show as far as software goes. Maybe another halo? Another forza for sure
Standout Exclusives this generation.
Xbox: Halo 5, Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizons, Forza, Ori, Gears.
Sony: Uncharted, Bloodborne.
The "Greatest Games Lineup in Xbox History" tagline continues to become more cringeworthy with each passing year.