Xbox and Bethesda talk about their future in new roundtable livestream

Leaders from Microsoft and Bethesda will talk about the future.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

I'm not expecting reveals trailers or gameplay but I am expecting them to tell us what's going where. Starfield has been rumored to release closer than expected for awhile so they need to tell us where that game is going. That should be their first priority during this whole stream.

[RazzerRedux]

Posting this here for visibility. The timestamp in the link I posted below has changed.

"Phil Spencer talks some about exclusivity here:

https://youtu.be/YJneU_qBMP...

[RazzerRedux]

Phil Spencer talks some about exclusivity here:

https://youtu.be/YJneU_qBMP...

Clears it up enough for me. My take on all of this has been speculative, but also completely wrong. Bethesda games will be exclusive to "platforms where Game Pass exist". Spencer makes caveats for existing games or contractual obligations, but he might as well said "Elder Scrolls, Starfield, Doom, Prey, etc. will no longer be on PlayStation".

That's that in my mind.

[Christopher]

People are choosing to take support their game pass consumers as their main goal as to mean ignore others. Yet he specifically states in the previous sentence that they aren't closed to deals with other platforms.

"And even in the future, there might be things that have, either contractual things or legacy on different platforms that we’ll go do. But if you’re an Xbox customer, the thing I want you to know is this is about delivering great exclusive games for you, that ship on platforms, where Game Pass exists, and that’s our goal."

[RazzerRedux]

Right. Bethesda is going to honor contractual obligations. They will also supported older (legacy) games on whatever platforms they are on. Everything else is entirely about Game Pass. So if Bethesda already made a deal to bring Starfield to PlayStation, for example, then it will be there. (Or perhaps even the Indiana Jones game) But Spencer last sentence you quoted was emphatic about exclusive to Game Pass platforms.

[gamer7804]

That’s only existing deals or mmo games. If you want to play single player Bethesda games you will need a Windows PC or an Xbox.

[Christopher]

"In the future... We'll go do."

It's like people are just ignoring what was said similar to how people thought MS once said no single player games.

[Atom666]

Well, step 1 to reading and any Spencer quote is to try to fit it into their own confirmation bias.

While I wasn't shocked today, I did think they were much more direct than I expected. They of course left the door open for the future, but sounds like that will be the exception to rule.

[RaveTears]

Damn, Fallout 4 is the last Bethesda game that I bought on PlayStation. I guess, my wallet is going to be happy.

[Zeref]

Case closed, finally. I got tired of talking about it

[MrDead]

30 years of multiplatform ip's taken and locked away.

Has anyone done anything more anti-gamer than that?

[Atticus_finch]

But but "Is not a monopoly"

[gamer7804]

they aren't really locked away, depends on how you look at it, you'll now be able to play their games on more devices than ever before. locked away from playstation yah.

[Zeref]

locked away? You're free to go buy it on PC or Xbox. Or subscribe to gamepass and play it via xCloud.

That's more consumer friendly than Playstation games where you absolutely have to have the console to play anything. I'm glad they're at least starting to put them on PC.

[Tetsdah]

Lol, just gotta get a SeriesX down the line pretty much. That's fine. Thankfully, we are finally past "exclusives are anticonsumer " or "exclusives are counter to what gaming is about". Literally the way that the game industry has been working for decades.

But now Series X has cemented another genre for its base. I may scoop it up down the line when those games arrive.

[cbuc1125]

As a PS owner this doesnt bother me at all. I never owned any Bethesda games.

[shabz666]

As a ps owner too thats kind of nuts since they have some amazing games like doom and dishonored but to each their own 🤷🏽‍♂️

[Ron_Danger]

To each their own is right. I used to get Bethesda games day 1 but the last few years my taste in games has changed and now I only get them on deep sales. I got the newest doom and newest Wolfenstein in a combo deal and I have about 3 hours in doom and 2 hours in Wolfenstein... neither clicked for me. I’m just not that into a character being a badass as a story point. My fiancée is gonna be a little annoyed though because she has around 1000 hours of PS4 Skyrim with multiple character builds.

[Julion0715]

Kool story so why are you here?

[gamer7804]

You should say as someone who doesn’t like any Bethesda games.... because having a ps has nothing to do with whether you like a game or not. Or atleast it shouldn’t.

[Jericho1337]

Fair enough, but plenty have and would if they were third party.

Having said that, I keep getting told by PS owners that you all have high speed gaming PCs so I suppose you’ve got nothing to worry about.

[enkiduxiv]

High Speed isn't really necessary for Bethesda games. Maybe for ID and Arkane. I can't imagine that anything made on that god awful Creation engine would struggle to work on a GTX 780.

[Atticus_finch]

The only bethesda game I ever bought was FO4. So I feel the same I won't really miss them considering now that they will be making GP games. But it really hurts the industry to have a well established big publisher be bought out to make rental games.

[chiefJohn117]

Aww someone's hurt

[OptimusDK]

You must be very special then or just plain stupid.

[Atticus_finch]

Sir, that's a mirror.

[Highrevz]

I almost skipped on watching it but glad I didn’t.

-20 Bethesda titles dropping on Gamepass tomorrow.

-A new Bethesda game coming this summer.

- If your platform supports Gamepass, there’s no need to worry about exclusives.

- more FPS Boost titles are in the works.

[CaptainHenry916]

- If your platform supports Gamepass, there’s no need to worry about exclusives.

What about the price increase for gamepass in the future. Microsoft needs to make profit someway.

[Highrevz]

I don’t pay a penny for gamepass ultimate as I use Microsoft rewards But if the contents there then I’d be happy to pay the right price.
It’s already a great offer as it is but I’m able to lock in 3 years worth so even a ridiculous price increase isn’t going to effect me anytime soon.

Honestly the price isn’t going to increase and if it does it would only be by a small amount.

Your far to “proud” to be using gamepass anyway so whats it to you🤷‍♂️ There’s no negatives here for you to get hard over.

[ocelot07]

@MadDestruction

Is that 100% facts or pulled out your backside? What about the people like my self who only pay £1 a month? Or the people who bought bought a load of cheap Xbox live codes and converted them to gamepass ultimate and are now set for the next 3 years?

[Atticus_finch]

$100 million
Minus all the 3rd party games they have to pay for
Minus ads
Minus Discounted or free accounts
Minus 7.5 billion
Minus maintenance
And whatever else I missed.

[ReadyPlayer22]

Hey Atticus, you know how much money Sony and Microsoft make off of microtransactions? Because theybeach get a cut of every single transaction. 18 million+ paying customers is massive

[jbull]

@MadDestruction, that's not a whole pile of money when you factor in taxes, the employees Microsoft has now under MS studios and Bethesda and AAA games development cost.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

How much do you spend on games a year?

$15 times 12 month is $160 per year which is the same as buying two and a half full-priced PS5 games

Making a big deal about nothing.

[CaptainHenry916]

@343

Expect a 10-15 dollar price increase for gamepass by the end of the year. Xbox game division aren't making any money or profits from gamepass. Aaron Greenberg already mentioned that

[CaptainHenry916]

@343

Xbox gamepass is mostly just old games though

[343_Guilty_Spark]

I should expect a price increase based on what? XBL has barely increased in price for almost 15 years

Games aren't old if you've never played them. You play every game though right?

[jbull]

The problem is it sustainable to create big budget AAA open world games like Fallout/Elder Scrolls that has development costs of 150 million only for you to spend like 10-15 dollars a month cancel anytime to play it. Microsoft cant subsidize Gamepass forever so either game budgets get slashed, gamepass substantially subscription increases price or they turn into service games with micro transactions.

[Battlestar23]

Gamepass will be enough to pay or all the AAA games don't you worry.

[Atticus_finch]

Maybe 3 single A games.

[jbull]

Will it though, they have taken on thousands of employees from Bethesda onto their payroll on top of what they already have, factor in the development cost of AAA games, hypothetically in the future you can play Halo Infinite, ES6, Starfield, Gears, Fallout 5, Avowed, Fable, Forza, Hellblade, Wolfeinstein 3 all for 120 dollars a year? numbers just don't add up, remember their paying taxes and other costs on Gamepass subscription its not pure profit.

[Christopher]

At $10/month, it really isn't. Even at $15/month, it isn't.

If you want an example of support for new games on GamePass, look at Bleeding Edge.

Now, Skyrim and Fallout on GamePass, games noted for lack of microtransactions but focus on DLC? With GamePass, you get access to all of that. It will take a minimum of 4 months of revenue to pay for what was once an up-front transaction cost of $60. On top of that, you have to pay third-parties for access to their library, you have to pay for maintenance, you have to pay for cloud services. If you release 3 AAA games a year on GamePass, those costs are eat up just in annual costs, no costs going elsewhere.

What's the way to make money off of this? Microtransactions. How many microtransactions did Skyrim and Fallout have? How much will they need now? How will microtransactions affect the mod community in those games? How will it affect gameplay?

Honestly, Microsoft is doing a balancing act right now. $15/month with the IP they are putting on it isn't sustainable unless they get money elsewhere. And, most of their past games already were getting that money through microtransactions, and now they're propping up GamePass and other games w/o them.

This is not as simple as anyone thinks. Obviously, Microsoft is investing money, but GamePass is a very tricky thing for them as I just don't see how they do it without increasing the monthly costs or capturing a market of 100+m people who rarely play games that they have access to.

[CaptainHenry916]

@Battlestar

You really believe that 😁😂😂 unless they add Microtransactions in their future games. Christopher is the only one that understands how it works

[SlothLordPootus]

There's a reason the new Forza game is simply called Forza Motorsport.

[Atticus_finch]

Both will happen, game budget will get slashed and price will go up.

[jbull]

Exactly, I am concerned with the future of Bethesda and if MS buys up more publishers, its great now but in 5-10 years time what will it be like? likely live service games with micro transactions and loot boxes on steroids.

[Atom666]

I mean, MS probably could subsidize GP forever.

But considering the untold $$$ they've spent buying/forming/hiring for 7 new studios, plus that 7.5b cash buy, I really have to think that we're past the period of budgetary constraints on the Xbox team.

All we hear is how the new teams have all of this influx of resources, too.

The best part of the GP model is that they're still selling software outside of the sub. Not only direct sales (like Horizon 4 being at the top of Steam charts this week), but they're still getting that 30% cut of ALL sales on their console just like Sony. Another year of Fortnite and Roblox royalties will likely cover GP expenses.

So they'll be fine to build GP while subsidizing it with their own revenue streams. As their 1st party portfolio grows, the need to spend on big 3rd party deals decreases, too.

[Jericho1337]

That’s for Microsoft to worry about. Why not give them credit for subsidising the service for the sake of customer value?

[Christopher]

Businesses don't do things for the sake of customer value, they do it for the sake of more profit with less effort in the long run. Apple was once touted as the cheap alternative to PC. Look where they are now. One day you can say you're for the consumer's wallet, the next you can empty that same wallet.

[Jericho1337]

I get where you’re coming from, but Microsoft have consistently touted game pass as ‘the best deal in gaming’ so jacking up all the prices would be counter to all their marketing.

It looks like they’re fully focused on building the subscriber base for now, any price increases are likely to be incremental (£1 each year like Netflix).

[343_Guilty_Spark]

If you're getting the content that is consistently good why would you stop subscribing...because you could have bought it at retail? That doesn't even make sense. If it's good people will stayed subscribed.

[CaptainHenry916]

Gamepass=more Microtransactions to make profit

[chiefJohn117]

*whispers in ear
Ppl still buy games on Xbox you know.....

[chiefJohn117]

Ppl still buy games ya know lol I'll be buying halo and Fable, rest I'll gamepass which is good for MS cause I would've wait till a dirt cheap sale or not have played them at all. That where GP gets the Dub and MS knows this. They're now making money where they wouldn't have before. MS is making a ton of profit of GP. Yall just in your feelings about it.

[jbull]

"Yall just in your feelings about it" what does that mean? please bear in mind I'm not from Dixie country where I suspect you are from and where you look at your cousin intimately.

[Rhythmattic]

Clever that Xbox its no Longer a console.. Xbox Live wasn't.... But now exclusive to xbox is not a console, or is it? Im confused.......... Well Played MS, Well Played....
Not saying it isn't good for gamers, its just MS's game where they didn't move the Goalposts, but shot them with an Acme Disintegrator Gun.......

[DJStotty]

It is quite clear and un-confusing for xbox gamers, all games gamepass Day 1, wherever you can access gamepass, be it xbox, PC, or xcloud.

Simple

[Rhythmattic]

xbox gamers...be it xbox, PC, or xcloud.
There it is.
Xbox exclusives.
Simple

[DJStotty]

PC and xcloud are not xbox, xbox gamers know they get all the games on gamepass day 1, if they have gamepass sub. PC gamers know they get the games on gamepass for PC day 1 if they have the sub. Xcloud is for both parties.

xbox is the console
windows 10 and steam are PC
Xcloud is mobile

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