By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
smroadkill15 on 28 September 2020
Edit Thread
drinkandswim said:

Microsoft has clearly been moving away from Console Exclusivity. Which is why their games will be available on phones and are available on PC day one of release. I mean maybe you think they need to be part of the console war to be successful. It just isnt true. Software sales is where most of the money is made, not console sales. And the market is only headed further in that direction. Microsoft was one of the first heavy supporters of cross platform play.


There are multiple reasons for this. 1) its more profitable to sell more games (consoles are not that profitable, especially their first few years). 2) Microsoft cannot win a console war against Sony or Nintendo. Nintendo has already pegged itself as a second purchase for most hardcore gamers because of its portable nature and Sony by far has better exclusives than Microsoft. I cant see Microsoft turning around a year from now and say ok all our IP’s are now exclusive. Could they? Sure. But Microsoft wants to make as much money as possible on their IP’s. Keeping them exclusive won’t do that.

MS still wants gamers to use their platform over another platform. Whether it's consoles, PC, Windows store, Xcloud, gamepass. Putting games on Playstation isn't going to help them grow their ecosystem. Using gamepass on their phone is still on the xbox ecosystem.

Consoles sales are not profitable, but the software is. Phil Spencer has already stated they plan on making many more consoles in the future. He has stated, cloud gaming is still not close to play games from dedicated hardware. 

You say Xbox can't win a console war, but that doesn't mean they can't be profitable. They were profitable with the Xbox one, why wouldn't they be with the Series S/X, especially with how much better things are going for them now. They have the largest number of 1st party studios between any other console now.  They have the cheapest next-gen console and the most powerful. This seems like a good recipe to be successful this gen. I'm not saying they will sell more than ps5, but they will certain take a chunk of potential sales, especially with future Bethesda games being exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem. 

Xbox isn't tight on money. recouping money back as quickly as possibly isn't their end goal.