Forza Heads to PS5. Nothing Is Safe

IGN: "The OG Xbox podcaster Danny Peña from Gamertag Radio joins us to discuss one of Xbox's "core four" franchises, Forza, heading to PlayStation 5 in the form of Forza Horizon 5. What does it mean for Xbox? And is any franchise "safe"? Plus: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is out and awesome (and successful), we show some love to one of the newest games on Xbox Game Pass that you might not be familiar with, and more!"

[Relientk77]

The first of the big 3 Xbox franchises to jump ship with Gears of War and Halo heading to PlayStation and probably Switch 2 in the near future. Many people saying that this would never happen too. Yet here we are.

[LOGICWINS]

Yes, just like "many" people said Death Stranding and MLB The Show would never end up on Xbox. Or that 1st party Playstation titles would never be ported to PC. Other than Nintendo, everyone is heading in the same direction of making their games available on multiple platforms due to rising development costs. Xbox is simply moving in that direction at a faster pace. Glad we can put the stupidity of the console war behind us.

[CrashMania]

'Yes, just like "many" people said Death Stranding and MLB The Show would never end up on Xbox'.

Kojima acquired the IP rights to Death Stranding from Sony, the MLB license holder mandated a multiplatform release, Sony have been doing staggered PC releases for years. I dunno why you guys keep parroting this like it's the same as Microsoft starting to put their tentpole games on playstation, when it obviously isn't lol.

MS are doing what they are doing as they dropped 80 billion on massive publishers only to see their console sales continue to collapse and gamepass stagnate despite the addition of numerous big titles like Black ops 6 coming to the service day 1.

[Elda]

Death Stranding is not a first-party title, Sony does not own Death Stranding. MLB The Show is developed by Sony but it's licensed by the MLB which has total control, the very reason why years later both titles ended up on XB.

[1Victor]

@logicneverwins
Well comeback when grand turismo goes to Xbox till then good luck with therapy🤷🏿

[lukasmain]

I love seeing you guys desperately cling to those two games. See Crash's comment. It's really sad guys

[arm71174]

This Xbox just wants you to play the games is out right misleading. They changed direction because they had too. Like Sega Dreamcast, the reason this is happening is due to poor hardware and software sales.

If Xbox was in the driver seat this wouldn't be happening so please stop acting like it is for any other reason other than poor Xbox sales. IGN was a big stoker of the console war flames because you all chose to partake in it.

The Wii U was a failure for Nintendo and they continued to remain an exclusive game publisher/console maker.

You can say Sony will do this or is doing this with PC but it is for VASTLY different reasons.

Microsoft imposed this on Xbox because the console brand has been in a sales decline for a decade.

You only mention Sony and not Nintendo because you know Nintendo is not going this route any time soon because they don't have too.

If Sony consoles sales tank they will be forced to do the same. Let's not act like Xbox would be doing this if they had the hardware sales Nintendo or Sony have.

[OtterX]

"There's no way Sonic would ever come to Nintendo!"

Ha, I feel like this is my childhood all over again.

[Christopher]

I think most of the people who said it wouldn't happen have changed their minds when Xbox started putting 1st party on PS5. I think most of them want more of that, but they also want PS5 to put onto Xbox same day and date. I wouldn't harp on the opinions of people before the put Sea of Thieves, Grounded, and others on PS5. They obviously saw a change after that.

[Babadook7]

“Yes, just like "many" people said Death Stranding and MLB The Show would never end up on Xbox”

I actually never heard anyone say this. Death Stranding was talked about being timed even before its release.

[Knushwood Butt]

And a certain crowd trying to criticize it for being a walking simulator, before it got announced for xbox, and then the, 'walking simulator', talk suddenly disappeared.

[Neonridr]

no offense but porting over a 3 year old title isn't exactly anything to write home about. If MCC does indeed come to other platforms that's an 11 year old title.

When a brand new Forza, Gears or Halo game comes to PS5 day and date, then that's something. I will believe it when I see it.

This is just about squeezing some more dollars out of a game that already sold extremely well and isn't going to attract much of a new audience.

[andy85]

They likely wont day and date, but you can believe they will within 6 months. It isnt about squeezing extra dollars out of old games. They have to put old Halo titles because there hasn't been one released for 4 years this year. And the last Gears isn't even this generation. But you can bet your bottom dollar the next ones will be on other consoles within months.

[Reaper22_]

"But you can bet your bottom dollar the next ones will be on other consoles within months."

You bet your bottom what?😆

[andy85]

Dollar? Are you okay? 🙃

[Neonridr]

I mean porting over a game that is over 3 years old kinda sounds like squeezing extra money out of it. Why does Sony bring games to PC a year later? Because they are nice?

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

You can't be serious. I thought you were much better than that. Not even Obscure or that Alt even thinks this.

[Neonridr]

sorry to disappoint you

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Meh whatever. You're the same guy thought Game Science was lying when any ounce of effort into reading beyond what was purposefully fed would have led you to the likely right conclusion. I don't really understand why things need to be spelled out. You're acting like a couple of weeks ago people weren't on here saying this will never happen. Now all of a sudden this some obvious move to squeeze money out of older titles and not a step into bringing all their games over to all platforms.

First it was just games that already had contractual obligations.
Then it was just 4 titles Phil announced.
Then it was just franchises that weren't the traditional MS studio titles.
Now it's sure it's MS studio titles but only ones that are 4+ years old.

You think it stops there or will it inch closer to being day and date? "Sorry to disappoint you", I won't answer and instead will let you come to your own conclusion on that one.

[Neonridr]

sorry to disappoint you was in regard to you insulting me. When Forza Horizon 6, the next Gears and Halo 6 (or whatever we are calling it nowadays) release day and date for PS5, then we can have that discussion.

Next thing you will say is when they eventually port over the 10+ year old MCC it's not to try to make more money off of it.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Yeah they are trying to make money off of it, but I don't see your point?

Again, literally 2 weeks ago what you are saying now about games releasing day and date on PS5 is what people were saying about 4+ year old Forza, Gears and Halo... " I'll believe it when I see it" so obviously these games being ported over no matter how old is significant.

If you refuse to see the trend, I guess I shouldn't be surprised since you were also the same person that refused to see truth in the Games Science debacle when you lol'd at Game Science when they said they were having optimization issues with Series...

Let me guess you wouldn't find it a big deal if Sony ported over their older titles to Xbox right?

[neutralgamer1992]

They invested 80 billion and didn't see the results so they pivoted. That's called business. Yes in a perfect scenario gamers would buy into Xbox ecosystem and sign up for GP. But since that didn't happen MS decided we can generate a lot of revenue and become the biggest gaming publisher while still providing great value through GP for Xbox gamers

IMO they should just release gears and halo already. Yes for few weeks some gamers will make fun of them but in the long run the extra revenue will be proof enough. Those asking where is value for Xbox ganers need to realize if you have a Xbox platform or pc GP you get all there games on there day one while on every other platform ganers have to pay full price for these games (unless they want to wait for a sale)

[jznrpg]

I don’t think GamePass is going to exist for very long. If they’re making good money as a publisher but Gamepass is stagnant they will think about getting rid of it. If gamepass declines it’s guaranteed

[neutralgamer1992]

We have to realize MS can eat a lot of the cost for a long time. Plus them releasing their games elsewhere makes them a lot of money so they can fund GP. Their end goal is to have GP on all platforms but let's

[Knushwood Butt]

'We have to realize MS can eat a lot of the cost for a long time.'.

That's not how businesses work. They've just blown, what, 80 billion? And you think the shareholders want them to eat more cost?

'Plus them releasing their games elsewhere makes them a lot of money'

Got any data on that?

'so they can fund GP.'

Why would they need to fund GP if it's profitable?

'Their end goal is to have GP on all platforms'

Actually, the goal they publicized is 100 million GP subscribers. With xbox hardware dead in the water, good luck with that.

[rocky047586]

@Knushwood Butt exactly right. GP hasn't even hit 30m yet. They were looking for that number years ago. Still not there? No, they will not be wasting money for too much longer on it. Two years ago, they stated they were looking for 50m to be sustainable; it's only a matter of time before they call it quits on GP at this point. What I suspect will happen, the service will turn into what Playstation Plus does, essentially. It'll give you massive discounts on newly released titles, and you'll still have access to older titles that rotate in and out, but they will not release day and date titles on the platform for "free" any longer.

[lodossrage]

Ok, if they stop Gamepass in two years like you say or change it to be more like playstation plus the negative press will bury them

Personally, in my opinion, I think they want to stop Gamepass. But they know they're in it too deep to stop. And with COD still not being enough to drive growth, I can see them wanting to waive the white flag on gamepass

[LoveSpuds]

@Lodo
They were thought to have been in too deep when they got into the phone business too. At some point, shareholders will demand an end to services which aren't making enough of a return (let alone a loss).

Another factor folk don't consider is that it is highly doubtful Sony and Nintendo will ever allow gamepass on their ecosystems. Each has there own competing platform and each make money for every MS published game sold on their respective digital stores.

[lodossrage]

@LoveSpuds

"Another factor folk don't consider is that it is highly doubtful Sony and Nintendo will ever allow gamepass on their ecosystems"

Everytime I brought that fact up I was called a fanboy

But with the Zune and Windows phones, they got out pretty early before it got out of hand.

Gamepass they've pushed hard for almost 8 years. And they advertised it in a way that makes people feel Gamepass is the only reason to even deal with Xbox at this point. If they stop it or even change it to a model like Playstation's that could very well be the end of Xbox period

[neutralgamer1992]

Knu

Yes data is they were the #1 publisher in month of December and most of that income came from playstation. And I don't think that's how shareholders work. There is a thing called long term investments and right now for MS gamepass is a long term investment

So it proves 2 of my points. They can keep their bare happy by releasing games on GP day one and they can make a lot of money from other platforms. Right now they haven't released on switch 2 so once that comes out that's another platform for them to make money. Xbox made over 15 billion in revenue so it's not like that they are going broke anytime soon.

Microsoft's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. Therefore, fiscal year 2023 (FY23) covers July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023, and fiscal year 2024 (FY24) spans July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.

Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23):

Gaming Revenue: Microsoft's gaming revenue for FY23 was approximately $18.128 billion, marking a 16.5% increase from the previous year.

Profit: Specific profit figures for the Xbox division in FY23 are not publicly disclosed.

Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24):

Gaming Revenue: In FY24, Microsoft's gaming division achieved a record-breaking revenue of approximately $21.52 billion.

Profit: While exact profit numbers for the Xbox division in FY24 are not publicly available, Microsoft's overall net income for the fiscal year was $88.1 billion, a 22% increase from the prior year.

The significant growth in gaming revenue during FY24 is largely attributed to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which was completed in October 2023.

[hiawa23]

Awesome, get the games in as many gamers hands as possible is best for all gamers.

[Elda]

LOL!! XB loses more & more of their exclusives to be put on other competing consoles. Soon to becoming a 3rd party developer & publisher only.

[Knushwood Butt]

Copium den.

[Dreadnort]

Surely this is one game (other than Halo) that would benefit from having VR2 compatibility.

[thesoftware730]

It should look excellent and run even better on the PS5 Pro.

In other news did anyone on here report the Capcom Marvel Vs Capcom fighting collection launched on Xbox? I may have missed it, just saw it on another website.

[BlaqMagiq1]

PS5 and Switch 2 will be the ideal setup to enjoy games going forward from here. More and more Xbox games are going to PS5. Great times ahead.

[anast]

Nintendo is safe.

[dmonee]

Im excited about this. Forza is one of the franchises I miss, from the xbox. Im happy, these games are going multiplatform. Sony should do the same.

[hennessey86]

I genuninely don't see an issue, either Xbox does something different or there won't be an xbox. They do have to come up with a reason for people to purchase the next xbox console, what that will be I have no idea.

[wesnytsfs]

Its an old game its not like they are getting the newest version same day that will not happen. I think its great more sales for Forza and sony users finally get the best arcade racer this generation.

[Abear21]

Typical Microsoft, still no actual release date despite announcement. They broke this news too early and it’ll likely come in a hot, buggy and not optimized mess for the PS5 or Pro.

Think about it, they release games too early and in a terrible state on their own consoles

[hennessey86]

Motorsport has been awful, generally Horizon has been in a much better state and gets issues patched fairly quickly.

[IRetrouk]

Ole phil ripped that band off, about time, only been saying since 2020 that they need to do this🤷‍♂️

[Kuma]

I can't wait for Halo and gears on my ps5. It's always about money.

[Abear21]

I’ll wait for all DLC, patches, and a discount, because you already know these games are coming in full price, not complete, and looking to gouge the PS consumer.

[z2g]

I think the concept of exclusivity just doesn’t work anymore. Games are just too expensive to make. And honestly it gets frustrating and creates petty “wars”. At this point I’d rather just choose the hardware that feels right and have access to most games. The competition should lie in the quality of the games, not the who sells more consoles. Gamers don’t really benefit from much from sales numbers, but they do benefit from a competition of quality - a race to the top rather than to the bottom.

[Abear21]

Nintendo and Sony create amazing exclusives that move hardware. Microsoft is terrible at quality software and allowing games to cook until ready.

[127maXimus]

Just another example of why you cannot trust anything Phil and company ever say.

[gold_drake]

thats abit dramatic lol

[arm71174]

Stop acting like this is an industry move and strategic vision.

Lifetime sales of the PS5 have outpaced those of the PS4 by 7%, while Xbox Series consoles have fallen 18% behind Xbox One in the US.

This is the reason period! That's why they don't mention Nintendo because they would sound even more foolish. Xbox is doing this because of sales. Economics 101.

[Richhard1]

Safe? The more consoles the better, more sales is good for the gaming industry,