But that's the thing, they need to BUILD Studios and IP, they need to learn how to actually do that instead of lucking into something and buying everything else. I just don't see Microsoft doing a good job this last DECADE. So many attempts at new IP fail, and the one success (No Man's Sky) took years to be good after nearly 20 years of Rare doing virtually nothing of value for the company after like 8 years of bringing some of Nintendo's most iconic and influential games of the SNES/N64. 

They keep buying companies and doing nothing with them. Or, if they ARE doing something, they're not doing it fast enough because it's been way too long since Microsoft had a truly strong year. 2021 was alright but it was sandwiched by two barren years. And 2017-2019 were also absurdly empty. 

The issue is that they have nothing to offer, they only take. When was the last time they innovated anything? Where's the console/portable hybrid? where's the sweet controller functions? where are the unique gameplay offerings? why aren't they in the VR market? Where are their new IP? They really only just have 'a console' with gamepass and a few quality of life features that are kinda cool. I just do not know why this makes them a good fit for the console market. They really should go the way of sega if their console doesn't actually have anything unique to offer gamers. they'd make a shitty publishing house but it'd make more sense than being a console manufacturer. 

They don't "need" to. It's just the safest way of doing it, but they can afford taking risks.

I think you mean Sea of Thieves? No Man's Sky is an indie title, not by Rare.

It's not really possible to build the successful IPs that they need for Gamepass. It takes an enormous amount of luck and spending to make something like CoD. And something of that calibre is important for how successful MS wants Gamepass to be.

It takes years to makes games in the best of situations.

I also get the impression that MS is giving their studios more freedom than they ever had, and not in the best of ways. I get the impression that the studios are getting spread pretty thin. I think some of their projects are taking even longer than one would expect, because they're working on too many things probably.

They don't really need to be doing things "fast enough", they're currently in it for the long haul.

I mean a lot of people feel that these things are gimmicky. I don't agree, especially with VR, but it's not surprising that MS is just focusing on the standard experience.

As a console manufacturer, they get to control how gamepass is served on that platform, they get licensing royalties for any games sold on their platform. 
I think in some ways, their Gamepass push is to become more of a publishing house, at least to supercede Xbox as a platform.

ugh, yes. I feel so dumb for mixing those up. the pirate one! YARH!

Also, I know it takes time, but with each passing year that time becomes less and less acceptable as they go year after year with no games exclusive to their platform despite having 23 studios already. It takes time. they've had plenty of time. It's time to deliver. 

Out of those 23 studios:

Several like Mojang, Zenimax Online have been mostly focusing on supporting live service titles. 

A couple of them are more PC focused or mobile focused, like the Age of Empires team. 

So in terms of studios working on Xbox games, they're a lot closer to PS Studios than the raw 23 vs 16 (now closer to 20) would have suggested. And I would say Sony is still ahead for big blockbuster games.  

And they are releasing games. They have like 3 early next year. 

They've released several games for Xbox One/Series S|X. 

It might very well feel like MS should be getting ahead right now, and that they must be failing, but it's largely their studios are largely following a different model than Sony's. Theyre more spread out and more of them right now are focused on supporting games moreso than pumping out new ones. 

I think more and more this gen we will start seeing this on Sony's side too, as they acquire more mobile studios, potentially more PC studios, as well as work on more live service titles. 

But I think MS and Sony will both bulk up more throughout this gen, and we will see fewer low periods. 

I have said this before, I hate consolidation, but I've accepted that MS will acquire Activision and now I'm more just curious to see how Sony will respond. I think they will do some great things.  

On the MS note, I do think they're still trying to figure out how to manage their studios. They seem to have been too tight before and nothing good came out of that. And now it seems like they've gone the other way and are too loose. But they're at least making better games than they've had in a while. And they seem to be taking things much more seriously than they ever did before. 

Edit: I think worst case scenario, MS decides it's not working out for them and start selling off the properties they have acquired. I don't think there is much to worry about. 

And I apologize, but we are getting off topic here.  

Really affect MS would need to be a bonkers purchase like EA or R*, any japanese dev would just be small loss even if they could cry monopoly over JRPG or whatever it isn't content that have pushed Xbox sales.

This looks very cool, and probably very expensive.

great presentation and idea, still 150USD more than I would like to pay.

I hope RE 2 + 3 and SH1 are announced for PS Classics this week.

Great ^^