How Much Longer Can Xbox Wait?

[Satinavian]

Yes, they tried.

But it didn't work / was to expensive. And now they kinda gave up. Sometimes you just have to cut losses instead of throwing good money after bad.

 

[BrawlMan]

Yes, they tried
But it didn't work / was to expensive. And now they kinda gave up. Sometimes you just have to cut losses instead of throwing good money after bad.

Microsoft didn't try hard enough. The problem is that they bought up a majority of the studios, and had most of them sit on their asses and do nothing. Meaning that they shouldn't even bothered buying them up in the first place. The only reason they wasted money, is because they kept sticking their dick in nearly everyone's cake.

 

[Bedinsis]

"Gave up"? What are you talking about?

They are underway with buying Activision-Blizzard, a third party so big that antitrust had to step in to see if it gave them a too dominant position in the market.

My read is that their studio purchases are to get exclusives for Gamepass, not exclusives for Xbox, and even at that timed exclusives. Remember, Cuphead was first exclusive to Windows and Xbox but is now available at all platforms, the Switch port was even developed at Microsoft's suggestion.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Yeah but then why are the ultra casual gamers picking playstation over xbox. Sales figures show that the games are selling on PC and playstations are outselling xboxes. So if people are buying the xbox games on pc, but not buying xboxes, that would suggest that putting the games on PC was a mistake for the xbox brand and directly hurt people wanting an xbox.

PlayStation offers exclusive, casual-friendly games. Do not underestimate the appeal of playing as Spiderman. Gamer critics may mock Horizon but plenty of folks love it. God of War is a big freaking deal. And now FF16 is coming out for it.

Another but not insignificant element is that as an actual product, the PS5 looks and feels like more of a boutique luxury "special" item. I have seen jokes on TV show where "he bought the kids a PS5," specifically using PS5 not XBox Series X (where 15 years ago they would say "bought his kids an XBox."). Remember what we all agreed- Sony is, after all, an electronics company. Sure we also make fun of how it looks but the PS5 is, as an actual thing, a bigger deal.

And then there's the reason folks I know bought one- their friends are on PlayStation network. I know dudes that bought it to play NBA2K. That is anecdotal sure but it's what I got.

 

[sXeth]

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And now other things have changed as well. It used to be that PCs were expensive, difficul and rare. But more and more people need one for other stuff anyway or have to work with one and thus know how to use them. Honestly, nowadays more households have a PC than a TV ( lack of TVs is of course another problem for consoles)

And you now trivially can play every current game on a 5 year old mid budget machine. That was very different a decade or two ago. PC gamers don't need the newest hardware anymore.

Together that mean PC is more accessible than ever. And XBox, which is at its core a budget PC with controller might just die.


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PCs are still pretty expensive, with the Tech know how (and interest/will to do so) you'd struggle to match the consoles on the same budgets.


Also yeah people are working at home. You know what most WaH computers don't let you do.... anything really. It'll vary of course.

Also yeah, effort. PC games are still notorious for settings, fiddling with drivers, trying to get controllers to work right if needed, etc. People want leisure time, not a second part-time job as a tech suppport to facilitate their leisure time.


And I have no clue where you are that PCs are more common then TVs. TVs are more common then monitors FOR PCs that I've seen (and I literrally work in tech support)

 

[CriticalGaming]

PlayStation offers exclusive, casual-friendly games. Do not underestimate the appeal of playing as Spiderman. Gamer critics may mock Horizon but plenty of folks love it. God of War is a big freaking deal. And now FF16 is coming out for it.

Another but not insignificant element is that as an actual product, the PS5 looks and feels like more of a boutique luxury "special" item. I have seen jokes on TV show where "he bought the kids a PS5," specifically using PS5 not XBox Series X (where 15 years ago they would say "bought his kids an XBox."). Remember what we all agreed- Sony is, after all, an electronics company. Sure we also make fun of how it looks but the PS5 is, as an actual thing, a bigger deal.

And then there's the reason folks I know bought one- their friends are on PlayStation network. I know dudes that bought it to play NBA2K. That is anecdotal sure but it's what I got.

i mean I agree, that's what I have been saying.

And look I don't shake my fist at Microsoft to mock them (mostly). It's better for BOTH consoles if they are competing on a somewhat equal footing. If Sony had banging exclusive AND Xbox had banging exclusives, that's a win for both companies because that means both have great reasons for people to have their console, and it would mean gamers have more great games to choose from.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

My read is that their studio purchases are to get exclusives for Gamepass, not exclusives for Xbox, and even at that timed exclusives. Remember, Cuphead was first exclusive to Windows and Xbox but is now available at all platforms, the Switch port was even developed at Microsoft's suggestion.

Right. That's why we all are laughing at Microsoft's promises to make CoD available on all platforms.
I can see a near-future where GamePass will include mobile games, movies, and TV shows. A second Amazon Prime thing for families to include in their budget (after they click a checkbox that agrees to share their personal data). Why can't MS buy Netflix? It's all just a soup of digital entertainment anyway.

And I also gotta agree with u/sXeth about PC gaming. It will never ever ever come close to consoles and phones for ubiquity. The cloest analogy I can come up with is vinyl albums for music- yes, vinyl sales have gone up, but it's still incredibly niche. Most people want to listen to music on phones and play games on phones or consoles because of convenience. I know PC gaming has gotten easier but it's still out of the question for the vast majoriy of people to bother with that.

I also work from home much of the time. I use a freaking laptop, because most people's work requires web browsers and office software, not anything requiring a graphics card and careful cooling system.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

i mean I agree, that's what I have been saying.

And look I don't shake my fist at Microsoft to mock them (mostly). It's better for BOTH consoles if they are competing on a somewhat equal footing. If Sony had banging exclusive AND Xbox had banging exclusives, that's a win for both companies because that means both have great reasons for people to have their console, and it would mean gamers have more great games to choose from.

Oh sorry I guess I did that thing where I answered a rhetorical question lol.

Anyway, I hear what you're saying, I'm just thinking that it's not the game anymore, MS just don't need to be competing with Sony in that way, they're competing in another way where they don't need exclusives. And as a consumer maybe I'm being optimistic because the less exclusive the better.

 

[sXeth]

Right. That's why we all are laughing at Microsoft's promises to make CoD available on all platforms.
I can see a near-future where GamePass will include mobile games, movies, and TV shows. A second Amazon Prime thing for families to include in their budget (after they click a checkbox that agrees to share their personal data). Why can't MS buy Netflix? It's all just a soup of digital entertainment anyway.

And I also gotta agree with u/sXeth about PC gaming. It will never ever ever come close to consoles and phones for ubiquity. The cloest analogy I can come up with is vinyl albums for music- yes, vinyl sales have gone up, but it's still incredibly niche. Most people want to listen to music on phones and play games on phones or consoles because of convenience. I know PC gaming has gotten easier but it's still out of the question for the vast majoriy of people to bother with that.

I also work from home much of the time. I use a freaking laptop, because most people's work requires web browsers and office software, not anything requiring a graphics card and careful cooling system.

Ironically, my work at home computer is a 2000 dollar desktop.... that I can't even use Google on lol. (I asked if I could set up a second partition to game on and it was a hard no).

But yeah, I work in tech support, I got a pretty good bead on the "casual normal person"'s computer hardware. PC wise most of them can't even run Windows 11, they're full of bloatware and run like garbage, and wouldn't know a graphics card if you gave it to them for christmas. No solid state drives, often less then 256gb, etc.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Also yeah, effort. PC games are still notorious for settings, fiddling with drivers, trying to get controllers to work right if needed, etc. People want leisure time, not a second part-time job as a tech suppport to facilitate their leisure time.

Pretty much exactly why I sold my custom desktop PC and game on consoles/handhelds entirely nowadays. Managing a PC wasn't fun. Or at least, it stopped being fun after a time. More and more I feel old, not having the energy or patience for stuff like I used to.

I do sometimes consider getting a Xbox One S/X, cause I wouldn't mind the better backwards compatibility compared to my 360, as well as the few Xbox games I do want (like Rare Replay). But at the same time... I want a PS5 even more, cause I know the games I can get for it will be better than whatever Xbox thinks it has for me to enjoy

 

[gorfias]

A dozen years ago one could put a weak PC or android tablet on tv, hook up a controller without configuration and game streaming OnLive on it. I think the industry did what they could to sabotage this (an Android update on a tablet of mine killed this functionality for me). The PS Vita had a port they never even had a use for. Why wasn't that an "out to TV port"? Imagine using the Vita as a controller to game on TV. A Switch 1/2 a decade before that was a thing. I think the industry wants to hide just how much accessible gaming can already be on just about anything. How long has AMD been making APUs that can play games today that are about as good as what the PS3 could do yet, good luck finding one in a laptop.

Example video:



But they can't keep this cat in a bag any longer. Adapt or die. I think Microsoft is trying to adapt. Yes, you need to spend twice as much as the Series X cost for that kind of 4k performance on a PC. I don't think it will stay that way much longer.

EDIT:

I could see putting one of these on a TV by HDMI and skipping consoles entirely.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Yes, they tried.

But it didn't work / was to expensive. And now they kinda gave up. Sometimes you just have to cut losses instead of throwing good money after bad.

It that was true though something tells me they wouldn’t be fighting the FTC to spend 68.7 billion on ABK. The irony is they still claim the deal means “bringing more games to more people”. This is probably due to the inclusion of Nintendo for future CoD games, which would be interesting. They also can’t take anything away from Sony in that case.

 

[Worgen]

A better question is will Microsoft even continue making the Xbox? They are buying all these studios and seem more then willing to sign deals that would see games being guaranteed for all other systems for like 10 years, when a new console comes out they lose money on each system sold and it takes awhile before they start breaking even, and even their exclusives aren't really exclusive since they are already launching on pc. It would make more sense for them to become more of a publisher then a console maker since if their games are all over then they win, no matter how much a console sells.

 

[wings012]

A better question is will Microsoft even continue making the Xbox? They are buying all these studios and seem more then willing to sign deals that would see games being guaranteed for all other systems for like 10 years, when a new console comes out they lose money on each system sold and it takes awhile before they start breaking even, and even their exclusives aren't really exclusive since they are already launching on pc. It would make more sense for them to become more of a publisher then a console maker since if their games are all over then they win, no matter how much a console sells.

A lot of people still think of the console when it comes to the name XBox. I think we're long past that. XBox is just Microsoft's gaming brand at large.

I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped making consoles, but the name will still live on attached to things like Gamepass and games developed/published under that umbrella. I do think they are trying to pivot out of the traditional console, perhaps trying to bank on subscription platforms and software. But the Series X is still relatively 'new' and it still feels like we're at the start of the current console generation so there's still plenty of time to see how things pan out.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

A better question is will Microsoft even continue making the Xbox?

Fuck, I hope they do. Having a competitor is what stops Sony from disappearing up it's own arse in a puff of arrogance and ineptitude.

 

[Satinavian]

There is technically still Nintendo.

 

[gorfias]

There is technically still Nintendo.

These days? Laptops and portable PCs (including the Steam Deck) that can connect to a controller to your TV. And Internet Access is not behind a paywall.

 

[bluegate]

I feel like X-Box isn't even participating in the console war anymore. As long as Gamepass brings in money.... Just about everything on X-Box is also on PC anyway.

I doubt that Gamepads brings in significant money for Microsoft.

They're still practically giving it away for free through promotions. How many people do you know that pay the actual $120-180 a year for their Gamepads subscription?

It's a venture capital scheme to draw in users propped up by Microsoft's Windows dollars.

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As for the topic, Microsoft might have been bumbling these past years, but they appear to be gearing up for industry domination with all their acquisitions.

Why develop games or studios when you can buy up successful ones?

They aren't throwing all this money around just to draper off silently. They're trying to stick their fingers into every game pie out there.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

There is technically still Nintendo.

Yeah but Nintendo are usually off doing their own thing regardless of what the rest of the industry is currently obsessed with. They've got their own obsessions and they seem quite content with that.

 

[Satinavian]

These days? Laptops and portable PCs (including the Steam Deck) that can connect to a controller to your TV. And Internet Access is not behind a paywall.

Sure, you can. But... why would you even want to do that ? I mean it is not that a TV screen is generally better or cheaper than a regular PC screen and i personally prefer keyboard and mouse unless it is a bad port (and then using controller on PC is fine).

I mean, yes, if you really want the console experience, a laptop can trivially replace an Xbox.