I can finally go to bed now. Pfewwwww

I bought a Series S back in 2022 and X in 2023

No regrets - mainly buying them for b/c but honestly I play older titles on PC and play first party titles on Playstation and Xbox mainly (and whatever exclusives are on both).

(I do double/triple dip though :p).

Them doing this doesnt worry me, I wish the other two companies were like this though - releasing the games across all platforms (after a while).

DAMN, you need to chill bruh

The goal is actually $32bn.

I've said it before, I don't think it happens without another big acquisition.

They'll be low $20s with ABK included, so how will they make the rest of it between now and then? Well they have the planned Mobile Store but that would need to really take of, I think some Mobile investment could maybe bring them in a few billion? Idk. XGS/Zenimax firing on all cylinders possibly brings us to high 20s, some would suggest fully abandoning hardware would help them achieve their goal but I have my doubts and here's why.

ABK, a fully multiplatform company, brought in around $8bn in revenue at its peak, I believe it would be safe to assume that XGS/Zenimax as a fully third party entity would not be bigger than ABK but even if I were generous and said they'd match ABK, 8 + 8 is still only $16bn which is quite a bit off what they'll be today with ABK which is low $20s, the hardware sales bring in billions in revenue, as does the 30% cut.

So to abandon hardware completely I believe would bring their revenue down, not up, even if they went fully third party, or the other scenario is abandoning hardware completely, the loss in revenue would simply match the addition in revenue via going fully third party and we'd be back where we started in terms of revenue.

So I fully expect Microsoft is going to make another large acquisition.

I know when I say that ABK is the biggest third party publisher in the world in terms of revenue, someone may mention NetEase and Tencent but I feel those are unfair comparisons because of the way that China works, due to China's draconian laws those two companies basically have a monopoly over the entire (massive) Chinese market so of course they pull a lot more than ABK.

And also Tencent has investments in practically everything, which just backs my point up even further, Microsoft will need to make more, Lol. Keep feeding that Game Pass machine and I'll be happy though, none of their recent business decisions change anything about how excited I am about their future line-up.

Tbh I was planning on avoiding Empire/Internet for a few days but you dragged me back here

It's 10pm anyway, Yakuza time is over, but like there's nothing I can say or do which will comfort those upset by the decision so...I don't know what I'm meant to do, haha, I've just posted my perspective on things but that's just my personal opinion. I might be dipping in and out of Empire over the next few days as people vent and just focus on having fun gaming.

Like a Dragon Gaiden, Jusant and then some TV Shows until Infinite Wealth.

What can I say, I'm a chill and positive guy

Should close Empire for a month, that’ll really calm everyone down 👀

But for real, go play FFXVI that game you can’t play on Xbox … it’s phenomenal :) 

Lmao. People can vent or w/e as long as they don't go extreme with it, have a right to not like the decision, some will be fine with it, some will like it, some will dislike it, too early to say what is the right one from a business standpoint but I really try not to care about that stuff, it ain't my business and I'll enjoy games in the meantime.

I just don't want to drag myself into it as I tend to do and then spend hours debating instead of actually having fun playing games 😭

Jusant is next after Gaiden.

Everyone is welcome in Empire, no matter where they play Xbox IP, I'm still incredibly excited for the future line-up, I will enjoy the time I have left on Xbox hardware and continue to buy it as long as they continue to make it and simply jump to PC if they stop. These things aren't really bothering me, it's getting into arguments and debates that bother me, Lol.

All I'd say is that they need to be clear, they should be honest about what their plans are moving forward for exclusivity, the graph I posted above was from the FTC trial and not officially released but maybe they should release it to the public, they should explain their plans moving forward and then people can decide whether they want to stick with Xbox, move to PC or move to PS/Switch and wait for timed exclusivity to end (and games it applies to).

Fine by me whatever option someone wants to take.

I find Tom *possibly* leaking the next Xbox is ARM interesting though, he could be mistakenly remembering the slide which said Microsoft was considering ARM as Microsoft is doing ARM though so I wouldn't jump the gun just yet but it could also be him casually confirming it, Lol. If Xbox switches to ARM then I think the odds of a handheld device from Microsoft are higher.

They need to do the Universal Xbox Store as well across Xbox/PC/Mobile.

If this slide is still their plan as of today then this would be my attempted educated guess as to where each upcoming titles slots in.

Multiplatform - Smaller Community/Niche Audience or Massive Online Community.

• Towerborne - This will be a smaller title, have a small community, it will have similar impact as Psychonauts 2.
• Contraband - This will be a multiplayer title with a small community or a big one, depends on its success.
• State of Decay 3 - A fairly decent sized multiplayer focused title.
• OD - Probably going to be niche.
• Anything Diablo - Massive multiplayer community.
• Anything Call of Duty - Massive multiplayer community.
• Anything Overwatch - Massive multiplayer community.

Exclusive - New IP/Uncertain/Appeals to Dedicated Gamers/Single-Player

• Hellblade II - This'll be a big single player only title, appeal to dedicated console gamers.
• Avowed - Bit of a fake new IP, Lol. It'll be another big single player only titles, appeal to dedicated console gamers.
• Fable - Big single player title, appeal to dedicated console gamers.
• The Outer Worlds 2 - Big single player only title, appeal to dedicated console gamers.
• Clockwork Revolution - Big single player only title, appeal to dedicated console gamers.
• Indiana Jones - Big single player only title, appeal to dedicated console gamers.
• Blade - Big single player only title, appeal to dedicated console gamers.
• The Elder Scrolls VI - Big single player only title, appeal to dedicated console gamers.

However, their new plan could be everything multiplatform but we still don't know after what period? It could also still be the above but only the exclusives are only timed, but we don't know for how long. There's another question of how a title which has a multiplayer component but is largely single-player focused fits into this? Take Fable for example, it will surely have some form of co-op but its focus will largely be single-player.

Or Perfect Dark which will likely be a combo of single player and multiplayer.

My shitty attempt at where I would roughly place each title, Lol.

Is it weird that I just do not care about this stuff? Like, as long as I keep getting great GamePass content, MS can put games wherever for all I care