Dulfite said: Microsoft is taking a hybrid approach because they've identified there are more profits doing that than there are doing one or the other (exclusives for all games or multiplatform for all games). It's a new approach for the industry and they think it will work. |
Microsoft has never changed their approach since day 1 (the Visicalc times I still remember). They have one goal, and one goal only: Destroy the competition and get the monopoly. There is an interview somewhere on YouTube where Steve Jobs calls it out very precisely: "Microsoft does not innovate, they destroy". This was true when the interview was taken and it is true still today.
Also, the idea that MS will bring their first party software to Playstation is somewhat peculiar. Bringing their software day one to PC has already reduced the incentive of people to buy XBoxes, and bringing their first party software to PS5 would essentially kill that incentive almost entirely. Sure there are people who simply hate Playstation and will continue to buy XBoxes. But those nerds will not be enugh in numbers for a sustainable product.
As for Gamepass being profitable, certainly not on XBox. This holiday season has shown, even throwing XBoxes at customers for bargain prices didn't move the needle a jota. Losing $200 (or even more) on every box sold requires over a year of gamepass at full price to even recoup the hardware losses (and it seems from those many threads about "Get Gamepass cheap" nobody pays full gamepass prices, anyways.)
I'm also wondering about this Natella guy on top of the MS food chain. The XBox group is an almost irrelevant part of Microsoft. Why is he constantly babbling about XBox in the news? He has a megacorporation to run, not a game console...