Damn. Big changes at Microsoft, Lol.
I've a feeling this decision came from the higher ups at Microsoft, I'm talking Satya's team, Amy Hood, etc. We knew Tim Stuart (Xbox CFO who reports to Amy Hood, MS CFO) was pro-multiplatform but Matt Booty was pro-exclusive. I don't like that Sarah is being made to announce it because I think she will get a lot of undeserved shit thrown her way for it. If it's coming from MS then Satya should announce it 😛
My speculation is that Microsoft may have lost their patience with Xbox and said something along the lines of: "We've invested billions into Xbox, over $80bn in acquisitions. Despite us being a distant third in the console market, we had to deal with all sorts of shit in the ABK trial just for having some exclusives, console exclusives restrict our future growth potential via acquisitions. We conducted polls during those trials which showed even COD wouldn't cause a huge shift in sales. Our hardware for the past 6+ years has been flatlining, even declining with Xbox Series and despite the huge price cuts to Xbox hardware last holiday, it still didn't meet our internal projections. You promised us a massive exclusive in Starfield but it didn't do much for console sales. Game Pass subscriber numbers are short of their targets. Had it not been for ABK being added, MS Gaming revenue would have declined in the recent quarter. So it's time to change tactic and get profit from additional sources because the ones we have now have either flatlined or declined"
All that being said, it feels like the Tim Stuart's of Microsoft won the debate, the CFOs, now their focus will be on improving profitability margins but I wonder if this would be a dangerous play, I now believe that everything will be multiplatform moving forward, likely timed exclusives but still, that would cause an even larger hit to their console sales, so their hardware plans will need to change tactic, timed exclusive will cause less Xbox sales, which will cause their Game Pass subscribers to decline unless they can get it on PlayStation/Switch, it will hurt the 30% cut they take from third parties. Overall combining Xbox hardware, Game Pass and the 30% cut, we're talking about billions in revenue but that's revenue...Microsoft cares more about profit margins and fully multiplatform might result in better profits.
That aside, not really something Microsoft will give a shit about but I also think it would be dangerous to give Sony basically complete control over the market too, I mean it'd be Switch and PlayStation basically but Switch doesn't really directly compete with PlayStation so they will dominant their market sector. Nobody is going to enter the market now when Sony has such a dominance over it and other billion dollar companies have failed, which will eventually mean bad things for consumers when Sony inevitably like all capitalist companies starts abusing their marketplace position because people have nowhere else to go.
Unless Microsoft makes major changes to their hardware, I feel like fully multiplatform would eventually kill it, although I was expecting that to happen sometime in my lifetime anytime and we have leaks of another Xbox hardware in development. I'd keep buying it as long as they keep making it but I would love to see if fully multiplatform revenue/profit exceeds those of the 30% cut, Game Pass subs on Xbox and exchanging 100% cut of exclusives for 70% on PlayStation.
My main reasons for sticking with Xbox (console) since their day one PC initiative have always been.
- Convenience
- Price
- Fear of PC Gaming (Lol).
My main reasons for sticking with Xbox have been.
- The Games (Love the Xbox IP)
- Game Pass
- My Profile (Achievements)
- My Library
I think I actually care more about my achievements than my digital library, Lol. Since I rarely replay old games. I can't get Game Pass on Steam but I've heard too much about how Windows Store sucks (also Game Pass on Windows Store is like a few million at most, Lol). I don't want to mess with PC Gaming right now but I may have to educate myself in the near future.
I feel sorry for those people who may lose their library if Xbox hardware goes away eventually, I've felt it is a inevitability in my lifetime but it feels like it may come sooner than I expected. Most things I get from Xbox today I can already get from PC, I've just not made the switch for some of the reasons above but they aren't total roadblocks.
At the end of all this, Xbox will still remain the biggest 3rd party publisher in the industry but I wonder what changes they'll have to make to hardware.
Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 04 February 2024
