Ryuu96 said:
Felt like breaking down the "losing money" argument too. Lets say Person A is a big Bethesda fan on Playstation, if Microsoft still releases Elder Scrolls (For example) on Playstation, they will almost certainly continue to buy via Playstation. - Microsoft gets a 70% cut off every sale.
Now lets say Microsoft makes Elder Scrolls exclusive to its ecosystems, Person A then has no choice but to either get an Xbox or PC if they want to play it, odds are if they're a big enough fan that they will, lets say they get an Xbox. - Microsoft gets another Xbox sale (Series S or X).
- Microsoft gets someone in their ecosystem.
- Person A is likely to buy more than simply Elder Scrolls on their Xbox, so Xbox gets more 3rd party revenue (30% cut).
- Persona A will either get the game via Game Pass as it will then literally be right around the corner, that increases Game Pass subs which is Microsoft's ultimate goal, or Person A will buy the game directly from the store, Microsoft then takes a 100% cut (or they buy physical, Microsoft gets a 70% cut).
- Person A may get Xbox Live Gold.
Lets say they get it through PC. - If through Steam, Microsoft gets a 70% cut.
- If through Bethesda, Microsoft gets a 100% cut.
- Microsoft now owns Beth.Net so more people in their ecosystem.
- PC is an open ecosystem, you can access Bethesda.Net, Steam and Windows Store at no extra cost, buy a Bethesda title from any of them, which means someone in the PC ecosystem also have Game Pass PC right around the corner in the same way Xbox does.
So I mean, the choice is obvious to me. |
It all actually comes down to "profit" vs "engagement" decision. Microsoft can make more money by going the exclusivity route but they will inevitably lose a chunk of potential player base. Not all Bethesda games players will switch from Playstation to Xbox/PC so they will obviously be left out in the future.
Ryuu96 said:
derpysquirtle64 said:
I agree with this point, but when it comes to Starfield, it doesn't really make much sense to make it multiplatform because it is a new IP. As for the games like Fallout and TES which are guaranteed to sell tons of copies on Playstation, they will most likely stay multiplat |
As I pointed out, nah, not really.  Microsoft acquired Github (which at the time never profited as a company) for $7.5bn. Microsoft acquired Linkedin (which almost everyone agrees was a massive overpayment and is still operating at a loss) for $26bn. And yet investors are more happy than ever, Microsoft's market cap is absolutely gigantic, they're only becoming more successful, Microsoft can easily do these long-term game plans and are focused on more things than simply short term profits. Investors are happy to see money sitting uselessly in a bank being spent too. Of course Microsoft DOES want to profit but that doesn't mean everything has to show huge profits instantly, that wasn't the case for Linkedin, Github and it currently isn't the case for Xbox/Game Pass, Microsoft can afford to take these long term risks. Also Xbox is in a neat position of not really having much of an effect on Microsoft's profitability as a whole, if investors don't care about Linkedin, they won't care about Bethesda which was purchased in pure cash on hand (money sitting uselessly in a bank accumulating interest). They've used $7.5bn in a bank on a company, that company will be used to grow Game Pass, Microsoft hasn't really lost anything (they can replace that $7.5bn in a single quarter) but will gain something. |
Github is still a mystery to me in terms of how it makes money. From all that happened after acquisition it is actually bound to earn even less money unless I miss something. Even private repos are now free for everyone while they always were hidden behind paywall before MS acquisition.
But let's get back on topic, such comparison is not really correct as it seems, because MS didn't significantly change the way GitHub or LinkedIn make money. In Bethesda's case we talk about potential cut of one of it's revenue streams and most likely the largest one. I can be wrong but Bethesda games sells the most on Playstation. It's a risk and a huge change on how the bought out business operates. But if I were to guess, Microsoft still hasn't decided what to do with Bethesda, so I personally don't anticipate a clear answer on "exclusivity" question during this rumoured March event. I'm not a Microsoft exec but clearly this point of time is not the best one to make such decisions for various reasons.
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