Microsoft Consoles and Updates

[one-armed dwarf]

I mean I assume they have metrics for this. If they see an uptick in subs coinciding with player activity around specific games, and growth in uptake for said games then that's probably a correlative trend they can point to. The developers on these titles and the people involved in maintaining the gamepass service itself can't pay the bills with passion, they got to keep the lights on somehow

 

I don't mean to dump on the game anyway, I actually did intend to try it again but I have no rhythm and don't really like it when a game tells me when and where to push a button (eg, Sekiro)

[Nag]

Well I bashed buttons whenever the fuck I liked and beat the game... if it's all for score who cares.🤣

 

The parry though.... aaaarrrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhh!

[HandsomeDead]

21 minutes ago, one-armed dwarf said:

The developers on these titles and the people involved in maintaining the gamepass service itself can't pay the bills with passion, they got to keep the lights on somehow

 

They're on MS's payroll, the lights will be kept on.  How long for I dunno but they seem to be in for the long haul to try and build a real subscription service and shutting down a studio after one misstep like what usually happens doesn't seem to be what they're doing.  They do intend to maintain a diverse selection of games.

 

And besides, even if they shut down Tango tomorrow it's people who make games and with their portfolio they can end up doing something somewhere else, they're not taken round back and shot.

They convinced MS to give them money to make a cool game that isn't what "the market" asked for.  It's a win.  That's all we should take away from that and let business weirdos worry about the numbers.  Would the game have done better with a conventional release or not? I dunno or care, I'm just playing it and having a good time.

[Nag]

It was a shadow drop with literally fuck all marketing and day one on a subscription service... 

 

And a goty contender. Well done Tango Gameworks.

[DisturbedSwan]

I think it is likely Hi-Fi Rush was in development long before Microsoft bought them out but I guess that's beside the point really, Tango are a great studio as shown with underrated gems TEW and TEW2, losing Mikami will certainly be a loss though, even if he hasn't been that active on the last couple of games they've developed.

 

I think the bigger picture here for us 'business weirdos' lol is that games like Hi-Fi Rush ultimately don't turn the needle in any regard in terms of selling consoles, since the start of the year the X/S have slumped in sales compared to its main competitor, which is worrying for such a young console(s) really, but it selling worse than the 6 (7?) year old Switch is even more troubling. If Microsoft want to sell GP and the idea of GP to everybody consoles are going to be the main driver for that and they're not selling well worldwide at the moment, which is a worry, as GP is ultimately reliant on console owners who then turn into subscribers to boost subscriber numbers, which is Microsoft's main goal with GP. 

 

There's no big tentpole releases and hasn't been since Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite at the end of 2021, that's absolutely shocking no matter how you look at it. Big releases sell consoles, it's as simple as that, people aren't going to buy a console for Hi-Fi Rush, as good as it (supposedly) is unfortunately. 

[HandsomeDead]

I have no personal investment in any of these companies, I'm sure neither does anyone else (except maybe Regemond's wife) so no it's not troubling.  None of this is troubling

 

 

 

But I'm coming from a place that thinks this whole industry as it exists is unsustainable.  I don't think it'll crash like in 80s America, it probably has protected itself from that by being buoyed by more outside elements, though in the long run it would be healthier if it did.  

 

Ultimately I think MS, Sony and large publishers are all putting on a brave face as they get crushed under the size of the thing.  And ignoring that to see who is "winning" is perverted behaviour 💅 

And sets a framing that any of this matters, or even gives the notion that there is a meritocracy to capitalism, like if their success has any effect on my relationship with games.  I've owned the most successful consoles, I've owned some of the failures and I've enjoyed my time with them, what I've played on them and got frustrated at them all the same.

 

 

And the only cool game exclusive (console) on the PS5 is Returnal so far (as a potential buyer🙂) so I can't say they're rocking it over there either.  I'm sure some others have more favourites and I love that for you~

[one-armed dwarf]

I'm surprised the ps5 is selling as well as it (allegedly) is. It's been the most boring start to a gen I can think of with hardly anything really flaunting the power of these systems.

 

I assume the whole endgame with GP is to expand it beyond just xbox anyway, and turn it into a more scalable service across tons of other devices in the same way that netflix works on your TV, phone, PC, xbox, PS etc. I still think a big thing that's fucking its growth is how poor the software side of the xbox/gamepass on PC desktop client is. If it was more frictionless and less buggy it would help. High end PC gaming has stagnated since the we returned to a sort of post pandemic normal but there's a lot of PC owners not necessarily interested in the high end anyway and its a market open for capture with the GP library, if GP could improve enough to make an impression with them

 

imo, they should integrate it with Steam, Epic games store, the other ones I forgot the name of. Steam definitely at least, EA access is on steam. I know valve would probably take a pretty big cut of that maybe, but it would probably still grow the userbase if they aren't prepared to just improve the experience they already have

[Nag]

1 hour ago, one-armed dwarf said:

It's been the most boring start to a gen

 

I find that very difficult to argue with in all honesty... I could literally be still playing on a Xbox One X or PS4 and not be noticing.

[DisturbedSwan]

I don't even know how to respond to that really @HandsomeDead lol, why care about anything when we'll all be in the ground in 50-60 years time? 🤔 similar vibe to the Goth kids from South Park lol.

 

2 hours ago, one-armed dwarf said:

I'm surprised the ps5 is selling as well as it (allegedly) is.

 

No allegedly about it if you take a peek at the sales charts from the last few months. A strong AAA line-up, key 3P deals/partnerships (Hogwarts Legacy recently for example), strong brand power and recognition and a faltering competitor. Deserves every success it gets in my view, Xbox games so far just don't really feel current gen in the same way PS5 games have, A Plague Tale 2 excluded. Should only get better with FF16 and Spidey 2, god I can't wait.

 

I really hope Starfield is good, will of wasted that £80 last year on 2 years of game pass if that (and others) turn out dogshite.

[one-armed dwarf]

If you're talking about upcoming releases sure, they look pretty strong. In terms of next gen exclusive stuff that's out, I don't really see it, hence my surprise. Unless there's a huge cohort of Forspoken nutters out there who we've yet to hear from. 70 GBP for that undercooked disappointment, oof. Forget about your gamepass outlay lol

 

I get that all that is subjective, but to HD's point about meritocracy in capitalism I think it's very thin pickings from both the hardware leaders. So I think it's more of a brand loyalty thing with a higher  attachment of sentiment to playstation in particular that gives it that edge. Which is something I'm not really interested in cheer leading cause it's not stuff that's really tangible.

[HandsomeDead]

39 minutes ago, DisturbedSwan said:

I don't even know how to respond to that really @HandsomeDead lol, why care about anything when we'll all be in the ground in 50-60 years time? 🤔 similar vibe to the Goth kids from South Park lol.

 

I think there's plenty to care about and be passionate about in gaming.  It's just zero of it is in reports for share holders.  Gaming doesn't begin and end with these mega corps.  Just because I don't care about them I must be black pilled or whatever, there's just more interesting stuff on the ground where people actually make them.

 

Like when I enjoy gaming it's playing them, it's talking about them, it's watching a deep dive 3 hour long video essay on a game I've never heard of.  It was that time as a kid it was Sonic doing a loop-de-loop then going "whoooup".  It's was all of Gunstar Heroes (even the Dice Palace) and all the cool shit since over the last 30 years.  It's never been "oh, my favourite company has a 17% increase in the market share *sniff* delightful *rubs thighs*".

 

Companies will come and go, making games will be forever.  It's really not cynical.

[DisturbedSwan]

1 hour ago, one-armed dwarf said:

If you're talking about upcoming releases sure, they look pretty strong. In terms of next gen exclusive stuff that's out, I don't really see it, hence my surprise. Unless there's a huge cohort of Forspoken nutters out there who we've yet to hear from. 70 GBP for that undercooked disappointment, oof. Forget about your gamepass outlay lol

 

I get that all that is subjective, but to HD's point about meritocracy in capitalism I think it's very thin pickings from both the hardware leaders. So I think it's more of a brand loyalty thing with a higher  attachment of sentiment to playstation in particular that gives it that edge. Which is something I'm not really interested in cheer leading cause it's not stuff that's really tangible.

Next Gen exclusives have been few and far between, but for me, the PS5 version of a cross-gen exclusive is still such a leap that in my mind I wouldn’t consider the PS4 version if that makes sense. But yeah, strictly speaking next-gen exclusives have been thin on the ground from both manufacturers, one so more than the other I’d say. 
 

I did think about buying Forspoken at one point, wouldn’t have paid anything close to £70 for it at launch (not any game really) but yeah it was a huge disappointment.

[DANGERMAN]

slightly off topic, but I think the backwards compatibility, and similarities with PC, from last gen and this gen has muddied the waters a bit. When the PS3 and 360 wrapped up, we were still getting sports games, rough COD games, and on Playstation at least, some Japanese games. This time, and I'm sure Covid played a part with this, games are more scalable.

 

There's no way we'd be getting the Resident Evil 4 Remake last gen versions if this were the PS360 gen, they were dropped pretty hard and gaming moved on. We likely wouldn't be getting Street Fighter 6, even though fighting games were a genre that did keep getting games (and in this case I think I'd get the PS4 version for the controller options). Drop the res, drop some settings, and you might be able to release the game on the PS4

 

So I think the lack of exclusives this time are less about the new consoles and more that it's easier to support cross-gen

[DisturbedSwan]

The Verge: Microsoft FY 2023 Q3: Gaming revenue down 4%, Xbox hardware revenue down 30%, Content & Services up 3%
 

Quote

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2023 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $52.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $18.3 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 7 percent, and net income has increased by 9 percent. While Windows, Xbox, and devices revenue have all been hit hard this quarter, Microsoft’s cloud, office, and server businesses have made up for weaknesses elsewhere.

 

The devices revenue doesn’t cover Microsoft’s Xbox efforts, though. That’s separated out into Xbox hardware revenue, which has dropped by 30 percent this quarter along with a slight increase of 3 percent in Xbox content and services revenue thanks to Xbox Game Pass growth. Overall, gaming revenue has declined 4 percent.

 

Microsoft sold fewer Xbox Series S / X consoles over the holiday quarter than it did at higher prices in the same period in 2022, and it looks like that has continued into the most recent quarter. Microsoft blames most of the Xbox hardware revenue decline on “increased console supply” during the same quarter last year, so it looks like the company is still struggling with hardware supplies and perhaps softer demand.

 

This works out to be the lowest quarter of Xbox hardware revenue since Microsoft launched its Xbox Series X / S consoles in 2020. The drop in Xbox hardware revenue isn’t particularly surprising given the lack of first-party games throughout 2022 to drive sales.

 

Despite the hardware dip, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says “we set third quarter records for monthly active users and monthly active devices,” in Xbox. Microsoft also nearly hit $1 billion in revenue from subscriptions. Microsoft is expecting gaming revenue growth in its next Q4 fiscal 2023 quarter “in mid to high single digits,” according to CFO Amy Hood alongside “low to mid teens Xbox content and services revenue growth” thanks in part to Xbox Game Pass and third-party content.

 

Microsoft still isn’t providing an update on Xbox Game Pass subscriber numbers. Microsoft said Xbox Game Pass had grown to 25 million subscribers in January 2022, but we haven’t had an update for well over a year now. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer revealed in October that Xbox Game Pass growth had stalled on the console side of the service, with Microsoft making a bigger push toward gains for PC Game Pass instead.

 

PC Game Pass launched in 40 new markets earlier this month, taking the total up to 86 countries that now have access to Game Pass. Microsoft is still looking to push Game Pass to mobile devices, and a key part of that is the company’s proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

 

Regulators in the UK are due to issue their final decision on the acquisition tomorrow morning after months of back-and-forth. It’s a key decision that will determine the future of this giant deal. The CMA has already sided with Microsoft over Call of Duty on PlayStation concerns, and the panel of experts conducting the investigation will now deliver their verdict on how the acquisition could affect the wider cloud gaming market. The EU is due to deliver its verdict on the deal next month, while the FTC has sued to try and block Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard.

 

The weakness in Xbox, devices, and Windows OEM revenue means that overall Microsoft’s More Personal Computing unit saw revenues of $13.3 billion, a 9 percent decline year over year.

 

[one-armed dwarf]

CMA blocking Acti acquisition

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/microsoft-activision-deal-prevented-to-protect-innovation-and-choice-in-cloud-gaming

 

I'm stopping pretending like I understand what's going on here, or what is has to do with cloud gaming in particular.

 

edit thinking on it, I sort of guess the angle is maybe if cloud gaming is predicted to be big, which is hard to see at this point but maybe it will be, then basically being the king of content and king of technology (Azure cloud) would put them in maybe too powerful a spot for competitors to emerge. Maybe CMA understand it as GamePass === Cloud gaming, or something like this

[DisturbedSwan]

Lovely stuff, stops $1T Microsoft from cornering the market.

[mfnick]

Xbox keeps losing… 

If the appeal fails I can see them pulling out of consoles altogether next gen. 

[one-armed dwarf]

Which, as far as competition and choice is concerned, would be a shite outcome.

 

There's a lot of fanboy brain rot about this thing online, in the sense you get the impression some of them would actually like to see MS drop out of the market. Right now this feels like such a Quixotic endeavor by Phil and you'd wonder what the perception of the gaming division is internally. Yes, 'business weirdo' thing to think about but it's not great. 

 

On the other hand you could see why they want to buy themselves back into a more competitive position, but maybe this wasn't the way. or something, I dunno

[DANGERMAN]

I'm genuinely surprised it was blocked, and for different reasons than theirs, I think it's the right thing. There's too many mega corps as it is, Microsoft are going to have an amazing line up when they start getting stuff from Bethesda, adding COD etc to that seems like a huge problem to me

 

In terms of cloud gaming, the fact that Sony already have an agreement to use Microsoft's structure indicates why it could be a problem 

[DisturbedSwan]

3 hours ago, one-armed dwarf said:

Which, as far as competition and choice is concerned, would be a shite outcome.

 

There's a lot of fanboy brain rot about this thing online, in the sense you get the impression some of them would actually like to see MS drop out of the market. Right now this feels like such a Quixotic endeavor by Phil and you'd wonder what the perception of the gaming division is internally. Yes, 'business weirdo' thing to think about but it's not great. 

 

On the other hand you could see why they want to buy themselves back into a more competitive position, but maybe this wasn't the way. or something, I dunno

 

This is a great post. As much as I didn't want to see this go through, my hope was/is never to see Microsoft bow out of the market, despite being in 3rd place for the majority of their time in the gaming industry, I have sometimes had a soft spot for Xbox as a kind of underdog (which is weird despite Microsoft being a humungous corporation) and have in the past championed their games, until they lost their way at least.

 

What I want back is the ruthless Xbox who got fantastic 3P exclusives, fantastic JP titles, previous PS/Nintendo exclusives onto their platform along with fantastic 1P titles like Project Gotham Racing, that's the Xbox I want to see back. I think yes they could just give up if this deal doesn't come to pass which will benefit no one, but I'm hoping it'll instead fire them into action and they'll come out swinging and possibly recapture some of the momentum they had in the 360 era pre-Kinect when they were firing on all cylinders. 

 

I want the Peter Moore Xbox back, take that $70B and invest it into games and possibly new studios, new 1/3P exclusives/timed exclusives and new IP. I think it may already be too late for this Gen but next gen that kind of attitude could get them firing on all cylinders again, I do think next gen they need to only have one SKU though.

 

Who cares about business stuff though right? Why are we even talking about this, let's all just play our games and enjoy them.

 

Spoiler

/s