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Forums - Gaming - Where is Microsoft headed from here on out?

 

Where do you think Microsoft will focus on?

PC 62 54.87%
 
Xbox 14 12.39%
 
Equal focus on both 37 32.74%
 
Total:113
Azelover on 28 November 2017
Superman4 said:
flashfire926 said:
So a system that is well on its way to outsell the snes isn't successful? Okkaayyy......

They don't need to beat PS to be successful, you know...

They kinda do though. They are not Nintendo, they dont have Mario or Zelda to sell mediocre hardware. Sony is dominating at the best time possible and will probably deal the death blow next gen. Nintendo will continue to release completely different devices with each generation and sell based on Brand loyalty

It's not mediocre! It just has different values! VALUES!!

God!!

When are people gonna learn?



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monocle_layton on 28 November 2017
RolStoppable said:
Well, their focus isn't going to be Xbox. But that doesn't mean that the focus will be on the PC. Their long term plan has to be a streaming service because selling hardware is tough.

What's going on with Microsoft and Xbox is similar to what third parties have repeatedly done on Nintendo home consoles. The basis is a mindset of risk, so there's a lot of caution. In the case of third parties, they approach the situation as "it's not going to sell anyway" and phone in half-baked games which in turn don't sell because gamers aren't stupid; the consequence of low sales is that the decision makers scale back on efforts even further which creates a negative feedback loop that could only be changed by the decision makers making the call to be serious about good games.

Microsoft is hedging their bets with Xbox. They've stopped to make Xbox-exclusive games because they consider Xbox on its own too risky due to the failure of the Xbox One (it is a failure, hence why decided to hide its numbers). I shouldn't have to explain that exclusive games sell hardware. Microsoft acting risk-averse puts Xbox on track to do even worse in the future, because the video game market at large will see fewer and fewer reasons to own an Xbox. The likely response of Microsoft execs will be to scale down further on their efforts, so there will be a negative feedback loop culminating in the conclusion that consoles are on their way out and that streaming is the inevitable future.

Huh.

Don't have much to say in response, but I think your comment is insightful and interesting to read.



NATO on 28 November 2017
Intrinsic said:

i couldn't disagree more. like if you really think about it, the fate of the XBox brand right now is no longer in the hands of MS if they plan on still selling dedicated gaming hardware.

As I said in my initial post, this is flat out the worst gen for MS to drop the ball. off the top of my head here are a few reasons. 

 

  1. next gen we won't see remasters of current gen games. What we will have is hardware that are so much more powerful that they can brute Force everything (current gen games) to 4k Rez with better frame rates. instantly extending the value of any preexisting library. Hell.... being able to play all ur current gen games at higher Rez and framerates will be enough to make a some people upgrade just as we see now with the pro and X.
  2. if they launch day and date with the PS5 (or at least in the same window) then both consoles will be similar on the performance front. more on this in (3)
  3. the games. MS simply doesn't have them. Sony has spent the past 3 console generations acquiring studios. acquiring talent to make games. And Sony allows this talent artistic freedom to make whatever they want. this ain't something MS can just muster up in 3yrs. it took Sony almost 20yrs to get there. 
so if the consoles are priced the same, have the same hardware... the only thing that can differentiate them are the games. and that's something Sony has in spades. but even worse..... what reason would anyone have to leave the PS brand when all their games are playable and look better on the PS5. When all their favorite games will be getting new "exclusive" entries on the PS5. 
Take me for instance. and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I went all digital this gen. and even if you didn't, why leave the PS library and switch to the XB? why would anyone do that right now? what is the Xbox's Trump card gonna be? 
This was the gen for MS to build on what they did with the 360. They didn't. And now I fear the race isn't theirs to win anymore. it's Sony's to lose. And make no mistake, with how successful the PS4 has been for Sony, they will push to make as powerful a console as they can make... especially when considering the PS4pro and XB1X embarrassment, and even if it means them selling it at a $100 loss just to provenance the Next Xbox. that's what they will do. 

 

I just want to highlight a point here.

It makes sense for console manufacturers to stick with the current pc-like architecture, (x86/x64 instructions), it's cheaper for them to produce, less legwork in fully custom CPU/GPU, third parties can support it better and ports generally take significantly less time, a multitude of PC based game creation software, such as unreal, unity, etc can export in a format that runs directly, and of course, most developers don't have to re-learn a new architecture.

With that in mind, from this gen onwards, (for playstation and xbox), all future gens should be *directly* compatible with previous gen software, and run either exactly how they did on the previous gen hardware (minus as much slowdown issue or res drops in dynamic res titles), or full 4k in the case of titles that do up-to-4k via checkerboarding, it wouldnt even be considered backwards compatibility anymore, just "playstation compatible" or "xbox compatible", since any software from this gen onwards should, by rights, work just fine.

Also as ther PS3 highlighted, even with a 12-18 month delay on a playstation console launch, and the worst PR disaster in the history of PlayStation for the first year of the PS3, and of course, the considerably higher price tag than the competition, it was still able to pull neck and neck on the strength of the library alone.

I agree, if the next xbox and playstation launched at the same time, or even within 6 months of each other, the PlayStation would easilly outsell the Xbox worldwide with only the US being xbox's bastion.



NATO on 28 November 2017
RolStoppable said:
Well, their focus isn't going to be Xbox. But that doesn't mean that the focus will be on the PC. Their long term plan has to be a streaming service because selling hardware is tough.

What's going on with Microsoft and Xbox is similar to what third parties have repeatedly done on Nintendo home consoles. The basis is a mindset of risk, so there's a lot of caution. In the case of third parties, they approach the situation as "it's not going to sell anyway" and phone in half-baked games which in turn don't sell because gamers aren't stupid; the consequence of low sales is that the decision makers scale back on efforts even further which creates a negative feedback loop that could only be changed by the decision makers making the call to be serious about good games.

Microsoft is hedging their bets with Xbox. They've stopped to make Xbox-exclusive games because they consider Xbox on its own too risky due to the failure of the Xbox One (it is a failure, hence why decided to hide its numbers). I shouldn't have to explain that exclusive games sell hardware. Microsoft acting risk-averse puts Xbox on track to do even worse in the future, because the video game market at large will see fewer and fewer reasons to own an Xbox. The likely response of Microsoft execs will be to scale down further on their efforts, so there will be a negative feedback loop culminating in the conclusion that consoles are on their way out and that streaming is the inevitable future.

This is also why Microsoft suck at games too.

Buy up a studio, rush them to churn something out, then close the studio when the game, inevitably, flops.



Gamer147 on 28 November 2017

Microsoft is successful right now. They are pushing gaming to new limits. That’s good for all parties.



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NATO on 28 November 2017
CGI-Quality said:

than the PC is always pushing the limits.

It does, if you got the money ;D



NATO on 28 November 2017
CGI-Quality said:
NATO said:

It does, if you got the money ;D

You don't even need that much money to outdo consoles on PC. 

Well, i mean more for pushing the limits, as nice as a console beating PC is, nothing quite itches the scratch then an insane battlestation that eats ultra setting for breakfast.



Pemalite on 28 November 2017
monocle_layton said:
flashfire926 said:
So a system that is well on its way to outsell the snes isn't successful? Okkaayyy......

They don't need to beat PS to be successful, you know...

Context is key. NES had to tackle an anti-gaming stigma and a market which was close to collapsing. Xbox One is in a prosperous state compared to it.

The market was only collapsing in the USA, gaming world-wide was actually still great.

ThisGuyFooks said:

My question is:

If Xbox cease to exist tomorrow, what will be the legacy of Xbox? How did they contributed to the industry? In which way they pushed the industry forward?

DLC/Digital games.
Online Gaming.
Achievements.
Wireless Controllers/Controllers with breakaway cables.
Friends Lists/Voice Chat.

Say what you will about Microsoft... But they have brought allot to the industry, especially with the Xbox 360.

Alkibiádēs said:

Yeah, that's the only reason Nintendo is selling Switches. /s

Playstation and Xbox are basically mediocre PC's, at least Nintendo tries something unique in the console space. 

And the Switch is just a glorified nVidia Shield/Tablet.
Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft don't have the resources, expertise to build it's own chips anymore, so they of course buy 3rd party technology... All three companies are the same in that regard.

I mean... Ouya used the predecessor to the Nintendo Switch's chip and chucked it into a console... It was a colossal failure, hardware isn't a direct determiner if a device is going to be successful.

ThisGuyFooks said:
Xbox One biggest competitor should be the Xbox 360.

They are a looong way to catch it up, how are the aligned sales by now?

Four years in, i cant see how the One would reach 360's numbers.

The Xbox One X gave Microsoft a big push to keep them on track with 360's numbers.
But the real test is over the next few years... Where are the games?

It's been weeks since I have bought the Xbox One X, haven't had a reason to use it for more than half an hour yet.

ThisGuyFooks said:
RJ_Sizzle said:

So you're saying no tablet with an HDMI port has never existed before? C'mon now

Bu-but did those Tablets had a Dock?!

Hah! I got you!

Yes.

Mr Puggsly said:
AngryLittleAlchemist said:

What was the industry like back then? 

The industry is bigger now...

BUT a userbase the size of SNES is still viable. X1 has many million sellers and its a growing list.

Could we start including SNES Classic numbers in SNES console sales? :P


NATO said:

This is also why Microsoft suck at games too.

Buy up a studio, rush them to churn something out, then close the studio when the game, inevitably, flops.

Microsoft has made some of the most adored video games of all time... The closing of a studio always sucks (I am still salty about Digital Anvil) but it is actually a normal occurrence in the video game industry.

I think what separates Microsoft from Sony and Nintendo though is that they like their studios to be profitable, they are allot like EA and Activision in that regard, where-as Sony and Nintendo will retain unprofitable studio's... As even an average selling game can sell console hardware and bring extra brand recognition.
Hopefully Microsoft wakes up to that one day... But I doubt it with so many bean counters in charge.




www.youtube.com/@Pemalite

derpysquirtle64 on 28 November 2017

I can say that I’m surprised by the poll results. In more than a year since MS started releasing their games on PC they haven’t really done anything in terms of pushing their PC gaming stuff except to give the opportunities to play their games for PC gamers without buying Xbox. On the other hand they’ve released a new console which they heavily market right now. Also let’s look at the situation from the business side. It’s pretty clear that Microsoft can’t have the same profits from pc as they have from Xbox. Looking at some known stats pc games sales are somewhat around 10% for Forza horizon 3 and gears 4. PC gamers also don’t pay for Xbox live and of course they don’t buy third-party games on Microsoft store because these games aren’t even possible to buy here. I think that the fact that ms couldn’t get almost any third party game on Microsoft store clearly shows how they are “focused” on PC as the majority here believes. Though let’s wait and see. MS said that Xbox one x devkit was built in such a way to allow developers to easily build their games for both Xbox and pc. So we should see the result probably in two years when finally we will see some games that use UWP instead of XDK. The main problem here though that the devs will still need to build a separate PC version because steam is way too popular. So it probably won’t help them to gain a decent marketshare on PC anyway.



 

TheTruthHurts! on 28 November 2017

Great question, I think it has been asked before......

I went with equal effort on both.

I see more games going to PC but not just from MS, but Sony games too. I mean if Nintendo is releasing mobile games, who knows what we will see from each company....lol.

As for MS, they made some HUGE missteps at the beginning of this gen but IMO have made considerable effort to try and correct a lot those mistakes.

When the first Xbox released in November 2001 and was getting destroyed by Sony people said that it wouldn't last and would bow out of the market........"Where is MS headed from here on out?" people asked.

Then 360 came out and people said it wouldn't survive RROD......not only did it survive, it outsold Sony for the majority of last gen........"Where is MS headed from here on out ?" people asked........Oh, and the Wii was a sales beast!

Then MS royally botched the XBox One release and people said it was over, throw in the towel, it won't survive 4 years......."Where is MS headed from here on out?".

Guess what??
30 + million consoles and 4 years later.....still here and selling. They just released an awesome piece of hardware and had/are having a great holiday showing. This was against what I consider the strongest competition yet. Two amazing consoles from Sony and Nintendo. Right now the market is saying that sales are too close to call between the three.

Far from a failure but no where near the success that Sony has had this gen. I think they keep doing what they are doing. Nintendo is right behind them and will catch them quickly.

So..."Where is MS headed from here on out?. Keep playing the most powerful console card. Keep selling great multi-platform games (and hopefully a few exclusive ones.....maybe?) to play on the worlds most powerful console, and still be here 4 years from now....lol.

All while MS is printing money in other areas.

Now if you will excuse me.........

(Goes back to playing his Nintendo Switch plugged into the HDMI in port on his Xbox One X while watching a 4K Blue-Ray, while wearing an Oculus Rift headset, using a PS4 Controller from his Pro to navigate menus on his Gaming PC)......

WHAT A TIME TO BE A GAMER!