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Phil Spencer: We're upping our investment with first party and committed to innovate

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ArjanN

Member
Crackdown basically seems like very definition of an AAA game to me.

First-party open-world 3rd person shooter with nice graphics in development for a long time. That all sounds like $$$ to me.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
We're upping our investment after decreasing our investment and cancelling projects last year. Please be excited and trust that we won't immediately decrease this new upped investment that is absolutely not lip service. Please also pay no attention to our decreased investment in E3 space this year.

I'm sure Phil had best intentions when he took over Xbox with a couple of passion projects heres and there (all cancelled), but hearing the 'service' shit pour out of his mouth means the entire division no longer has a shred of autonomy and his higher ups call every shot. He's been Reggie'd essentially, but his higher ups actually don't have any interest in making games in contrast.
 

MysteryM

Member
Crack Down 3's development has been outsourced to Sumo Digital. A studio whose last 3 titles (ports and dlc excluded) average 77 on metacritic. What reason do we have to believe that Crack Down 3 will buck the trend, and be a standout title from the studio?

Reagent games, Sumo digital and cloudgine, with the director being Davey Jones - the guy that directed the first Crackdown. In regards to reason, there never is a good reason to believe that any sequel will be better, however we know what a great game the first game was and can have faith that the new one will be great. Time will tell, however throwing it under a bus before anyone is even playing seems disingenuous.

I've been playing horizon zero dawn recently and loving it, but following your logic perhaps everyone should have slated it given that killzone shadow fall was a bit shit. Obviously thst didn't and shouldn't happen and we should judge a game before anyone has seen it properly.
 

Doffen

Member
That kinda makes State of Decay not a AAA game, if it's anything like the original.

If it was identical to the original it wouldn't be classified as AAA, yes.
But we already know it isn't.

That's not really true . Large amount of money means lots of different things . Will crackdown 3 have similar amounts on it compared to Destiny 2 , battlefront 2 , COD , final fantasy etc etc .


Haha, not even close . It's not AAA

What is the exact budget of the titles you've mentioned?

Yes, but in order to mediate the risk that comes with producing games with that cost, games produced with AAA budgets are expected to meet a certain quality standard. I was those expectations of quality, when I said 'AAA standard', I should have been clearer.

Ah, yes the famous polished quality of AAA games.
Crackdown, State of Decay and Sea of Thieves got nothing to worry about.
 
I would take the industry's definition of AAA , not a gamers . Just my opinion , and crackdown 3 is not AAA by a long shot .

What's the industries definition of AAA then? Enlighten us all. What's the cutt-off? How much $ does an A cost?

As far as I'm aware, there's no clear definition, hence the discrepancy between what people think is and isn't triple A.

Ah, yes the famous polished quality of AAA games.
Crackdown, State of Decay and Sea of Thieves got nothing to worry about.

As I expressed, it's a quality standard that they have to meet to justify the costs of development. I didn't say it was always met.

Yes, triple A games do tend to be of higher quality than 'the rest of the industry'. That doesn't mean that their perfect, but it's not illogical to think that more money, more resources, more time, more staff, should lead to a better than average product, and it usually does. Big publishers like EA boast games that average around 80 on metacritic (79 in EAs case). That's far higher than the average of all software produced in the games industry.

Look at metacritic, or open critic. Look at the best games released in the last few years. The vast majority of these titles are triple A. On the flipside, go to the last page, look at the worst titles produced, heck even select a page in the middle, 50 ish range. How many of those titles are triple A?

Example: http://opencritic.com/browse?page=12&sort=score&platforms=[]&genres=[]&date=2016

With some time we could average the critical reception of triple A games, and look how it relates to the rest of the industry. Given that most Triple A titles sit in the 7-10 region, it's easy to see that there are quality standards that triple A titles consistently meet. Even titles like For Honor, which I consider to be plagued by issues, are better than average games. This is the result of the development process at these triple A studios.

Heck, I know of a myriad of titles that haven't been released by major publishers, because they didn't meet quality expectations. It's not uncommon that if a game doesn't meet quality or marketing expectations, then it isn't released, 'final' code sent to rot on a shelf because it doesn't hit certain benchmarks. This, and an array of other components of triple A game development ensure that quality is moderated to a higher standard, than the rest of the industry. That doesn't mean that these are the best, or most creative games, but it means there's a certain standard that these games tend to hit, and that standard is a little higher than the average of the rest.
 
We're upping our investment after decreasing our investment and cancelling projects last year. Please be excited and trust that we won't immediately decrease this new upped investment that is absolutely not lip service. Please also pay no attention to our decreased investment in E3 space this year.

I'm sure Phil had best intentions when he took over Xbox with a couple of passion projects heres and there (all cancelled), but hearing the 'service' shit pour out of his mouth means the entire division no longer has a shred of autonomy and his higher ups call every shot. He's been Reggie'd essentially, but his higher ups actually don't have any interest in making games in contrast.

Um...what passion projects did Phil green light and then end exactly? Scalebound started development before he was head of Xbox. Fable Legends was also in development before he took over. As far as I can tell he ended developement on first party games that weren't really hitting where they should have been.

I played the Fable beta, and from my perspective it would have taken a huge investment to make the game worth putting time into as a player, it was just far too shallow and boring. As for Scalebound, sure it wasn't ideal that it was cancelled, but the game was taking an inordinate amount of time to finish and he probably had to decide between giving Platinum another extension and a buttload of money, or just cutting his loses. At some point you have to realize that releasing the sunk cost is more beneficial than sinking more time and money into a project that just won't see the return you're looking for. Shit, Neir Automata was announced and came out to much more fanfare than Scalebound was ever receiving and looked far more polished, what do you think Microsoft's opinions on the matter are? It's shit because it was deck Phil inherited, and some of which may have been partially his doing since he may have had involvement in his previous roll as head of first party, but I think he made the right call.

This wouldn't be an issue if their first party had other content filling the huge gaps in their release schedule, or even better third party exclusives like Sony has been getting. I don't see how you can just write off what he's saying as lip service. Many of the changes since he has taken over have been universally positive changes for the gamer as the end user. You can bitch and moan about him pulling funding or closing studios that weren't producing relevant or worthwhile content all you want, but his decisions have a basis in sound logic from my perspective.
 

alt27

Member
If it was identical to the original it wouldn't be classified as AAA, yes.
But we already know it isn't.



What is the exact budget of the titles you've mentioned?



Ah, yes the famous polished quality of AAA games.
Crackdown, State of Decay and Sea of Thieves got nothing to worry about.

Well as you should know , exact budgets not revealed until much later , but games like D2 , COD and BF2 your looking at 250 million USD to make and market .

Don't tell me crackdown 3 is anything close
 

Zedox

Member
Phil talks about putting Single Player Games on Xbox Game Pass as a way to monetize it.
People alluding to no single player games from MS.

Who's doing the spin?

You'll find out on the next episode of NeoGAF Z.......
 

fantomena

Member
Phil talks about putting Single Player Games on Xbox Game Pass as a way to monetize it.
People alluding to no single player games from MS.

Who's doing the spin?

You'll find out on the next episode of NeoGAF Z.......

Or more like the lack of SP games and games in general from MS?
 

bede-x

Member
"Shannon Loftis and I are thinking a lot about, well, could we put story-based games into the Xbox Game Pass business model because you have a subscription going? It would mean you wouldn't have to deliver the whole game in one month; you could develop and deliver the game as it goes."

Which in Phil speak means yes, we are developing a story-driven SP game(s) with a similar model to Hitman/Telltale

I'd like to see them throw caution to the wind every once in while and do something with their own teams that isn't aimed at a specific market trend. Something where I can't feel their involvement as a publisher. I look at something like Quantum Break and I can see the leftover of their failed tv strategy plans. I look at Sunset Overdrive - which I love - and I can see how the progression is slowed down in comparison to other single player games to get you to play the multiplayer. And the first thing I looked for with something like Scalebound - though made be a developer renowned for their excellent single player games - was where is the service element? Where is the attempt to sell a Live subscription?

It might sound a naive and romantic, and obviously they should follow market trends in most of their productions, but every once in a while it would be nice to see an in-house developer do something different. Something that doesn't follow the rules. Sometimes I look at some of Sony's productions and they don't make sense. Why let Naughty Dog make The Last of Us, when Uncharted 2/3 are huge hits? Would anyone be surprised to see them leave Uncharted behind, when they're done with the current DLC? Where does something like The Last Guardian fit into market trends? And so on.

It's a creative artistic medium and they have a competitor that takes chances with productions that aren't always blatant attempts to pigeon hole a specific trend. Do something similar with one of the in-house teams, just every once in a while. Wow me.
 

cripterion

Member
I feel like heard this statement time and time again yet I fail to see where are the games. Even announced games like Crackdown 3 and State of Decay 2 are pretty info starved nowadays.
 

Raide

Member
I feel like heard this statement time and time again yet I fail to see where are the games. Even announced games like Crackdown 3 and State of Decay 2 are pretty info starved nowadays.

The marketing for these titles have not even spun up yet. Of course there is no info.
 
Well as you should know , exact budgets not revealed until much later , but games like D2 , COD and BF2 your looking at 250 million USD to make and market .

Don't tell me crackdown 3 is anything close

So you don't consider Horizon Zero Dawn to be AAA then?
 

Doffen

Member
Well as you should know , exact budgets not revealed until much later , but games like D2 , COD and BF2 your looking at 250 million USD to make and market .

Don't tell me crackdown 3 is anything close

Do you consider The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt AAA?
 
I've been playing horizon zero dawn recently and loving it, but following your logic perhaps everyone should have slated it given that killzone shadow fall was a bit shit. Obviously thst didn't and shouldn't happen and we should judge a game before anyone has seen it properly.

This is just nonsense.

The last 3 console Killzone games, produced by Guerrilla, have an average reception of 82. Killzone 2 was considered an exceptional title, and Killzone 3 was considered very good, if a bit worse than Killzone 2.

And whose to say that history didn't temper uses expectations? I often heard people that were speculative of the title because they didn't have faith in Guerrilla games' ability to deliver a title of the quality they hoped for.

I didn't say Crackdown would be a bad game. I said that, if we are using these games as evidence that Microsoft have stand-out titles coming, then it's reasonable to moderate our expectation based on the success of the franchise and developer.

Moderating your expectation is very different to making a judgement on a games quality, before it's released. What I expect and my judgement, are different things, and I'm perfectly open to Crackdown being a good game, when its seen to deliver on that promise, but at the moment it seems that all of Microsoft's bets are on just a few horses, and all of those horses (aside one named Forza Motorsport 7), aren't proven winners.
 
After reading the article and the OP quote, I think OP missed a very important quote.

“I’ve looked at things like Netflix and HBO, where great content has been created because there’s this subscription model. Shannon Loftis and I are thinking a lot about, well, could we put story-based games into the Xbox Game Pass business model because you have a subscription going? It would mean you wouldn’t have to deliver the whole game in one month; you could develop and deliver the game as it goes.”

The OP's quote makes it seems like Microsoft is abandoning the story base first party strategy because it's hard. Instead, maybe Microsoft is trying to publish story based game on Xbox Game Pass so they can the keep the high budgets of AAA story games.
 

BBboy20

Member
Hopefully we don't get a E3 of new IPs that all become cancelled later. Unless they reveal and have a tease date along with them, im not trusting anything MS reveals at E3.
They have to reveal and release big, big bombs this year.

It's not the "sit on the couch" experience with a PC. It's too much work.
ae07c17c86a4b0a3ac51d6d5c664dcba_black-girl-memes-duh-meme-black-girl_640-542.jpeg


They have been late to the party with everything since they had their heads turned by the Wii during the 360 days.

"Oh look, that's making money, let's do that!"

And then by the time they actually release their version of whatever it was that they thought was hot the market is already moving on to the next thing. They need to understand that to really make serious money you need to invest and innovate in making the next big thing, but that would involve effort beyond looking at a few spreadsheets to decide what to do next.
The punctuation mark.
 

alt27

Member
So you don't consider Horizon Zero Dawn to be AAA then?

Never said that (or witcher 3 other poster ) . Of course the games I mentioned are massive blockbusters etc , but blockbuster doesn't mean AAA, rocket league for example .

Horizon had a 50 million Dev budget , not marketing ! Marketing is way most expensive .

Still waiting for someone to tell me why crackdown 3 is AAA ? I mean many great games are not AAA, and it's not important . Like Nier Automatas Budget etc , it's now where near a AAA
 
I watched the latest Dev diary with Phil Spencer and it looks really uninteresting, but I really dont like MMO type games. Many on twitter and different Youtube channels have expressed concern on the playmechanics, graphics etc after playing the aloha/beta and feel it needs alot more dev time. And I truly think this is a game that needs to be released on every console to have a chance

I want to see some receipts on that. Anyone who has played the game is under NDA.

Never said that (or witcher 3 other poster ) . Of course the games I mentioned are massive blockbusters etc , but blockbuster doesn't mean AAA, rocket league for example .

Horizon had a 50 million Dev budget , not marketing ! Marketing is way most expensive .

Still waiting for someone to tell me why crackdown 3 is AAA ? I mean many great games are not AAA, and it's not important . Like Nier Automatas Budget etc , it's now where near a AAA

Your point is that games aren't AAA unless you spent more than 100 million? Ok. That statement is insane. No one is going to convince you that CD 3 is going to be AAA because you don't agree with the general definition of the term that literally everyone but you has.
 

Kolx

Member
Never said that (or witcher 3 other poster ) . Of course the games I mentioned are massive blockbusters etc , but blockbuster doesn't mean AAA, rocket league for example .

Horizon had a 50 million Dev budget , not marketing ! Marketing is way most expensive .

Still waiting for someone to tell me why crackdown 3 is AAA ? I mean many great games are not AAA, and it's not important . Like Nier Automatas Budget etc , it's now where near a AAA

Unless we know the budget for every game and then set a line to define AAA games I don't think we can say this game is AAA or not. The general conscious around Crackdown 3 is that it's a AAA title, and considering its long development I'd guess it's budget is rather high.
 

Chobel

Member
It's so obvious. This is another good example:

https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/858069236832321536

If you want to disprove the idea that you're done focusing on story-based SP games you don't answer with "That's not what I said". You answer with "That's not what we're doing". It's pretty straightforward. The former is an empty, meaningless cop out statement disguised as an answer. The latter is a real answer.

lol, it's just amazing how can he just comes up with non-answer stuff.
 
Just give me something new and exciting, push some boundaries. The on rails cinematic games don't do much for me so no loss there. But they still need one or two for balance and variety.

If they can bring them into game pass it could be an interesting delivery method, providing the chapters come thick and fast and the overall quality isn't lost.
 
They have been late to the party with everything since they had their heads turned by the Wii during the 360 days.

"Oh look, that's making money, let's do that!"

And then by the time they actually release their version of whatever it was that they thought was hot the market is already moving on to the next thing. They need to understand that to really make serious money you need to invest and innovate in making the next big thing, but that would involve effort beyond looking at a few spreadsheets to decide what to do next.

Not sure innovation in games is a thing they can or want to do. For the past few years all they seem to be doing is buying up franchises like minecraft and gears
 
In 6 months their fucking accountants are going to review this strategy and say it didn't do enough in the quarter or the fiscal year is going to look worse and then they'll bail on the whole plan.

Microsoft is too short sighted to see the value of the investment into first party and unique third party exclusive games despite seeing that strategy trouncing them from all directions.

It's so fucking depressing how far we are from OG Xbox which is their one console that deserved to sell a hell of a lot more for what it tried to do and what it delivered which was tons of great exclusive content on the most powerful hardware.
 

gamz

Member
Not sure innovation in games is a thing they can or want to do. For the past few years all they seem to be doing is buying up franchises like minecraft and gears

Crackdown 3 and Thieves in theory are innovative. As for buying franchises you mentioned two. Gears was a Xbox game anyways and Minecraft was just a smart buy.
 

Wil348

Member
Maybe it's just me, but this honestly kind of sounded like Phil trying to justify having more games like Halo 5 and Gears 4 and less games like Horizon and Zelda. Games like the latter two are essential to creating a diverse first party lineup, even if they don't have as much impact as service-based games. Sony and Nintendo have a large range of first party titles but MS can't seem to branch far beyond the Halo/Gears/Forza loop outside of a couple of exceptions (Sunset/Ori), and I fear that Sea of Thieves and Rare will go the way of Fable Legends and Lionhead.
 

gamz

Member
In 6 months their fucking accountants are going to review this strategy and say it didn't do enough in the quarter or the fiscal year is going to look worse and then they'll bail on the whole plan.

Microsoft is too short sighted to see the value of the investment into first party and unique third party exclusive games despite seeing that strategy trouncing them from all directions.

It's so fucking depressing how far we are from OG Xbox which is their one console that deserved to sell a hell of a lot more for what it tried to do and what it delivered which was tons of great exclusive content on the most powerful hardware.

I mean they just reported close to 2B in revenue for a quarter. Not sure where you are going with this? They seem to be heading in the same path since Phil took over to get back to the old Xbox days.
 

Gamezone

Gold Member
Is State of Decay 2 a AAA game this time, or should we expect something simular to the first game? By that I mean completely unpolished.
 

Nestunt

Member
Maybe it's just me, but this honestly kind of sounded like Phil trying to justify having more games like Halo 5 and Gears 4 and less games like Horizon and Zelda.

It's more like Phil justifying Crackdown 3, Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2. Those games are going to be more like online-only Ubisoft games and less like Uncharted or Horizon (those equate to Halo and Gears).
 

MarveI

Member
I don't understand the ''game pass'' thing in regards to ''we can put SP games on there''.
It's guaranteed not a new AAA game that's going on there so it's going to be niche, smaller SP games that most people won't care much for. It's not going to help the brand that much as a AAA SP game would/could as evident with Sony/Nintendo. It's cool if they see it as a side thing to compliment their other AAA SP games but if they see it as a possible, succesfull replacement they are in for a rude awakening.

''Hey Netflix makes a lot of money let's copy them'' while having no real vision or innovation. Instead of looking at the end result and going from there they should look at what made Netflix such a powerhouse. They offer a lot of GREAT CONTENT for great value. Great content is not something I would ever associate with MS. Netflix is investing BIG money in big projects while MS goes about it in such an uninspired way imo. Game pass is a great model so it's a good step but at the end of they day it's all about content. Something they've been lacking and have been critisized for for a while now.
 

alt27

Member
Unless we know the budget for every game and then set a line to define AAA games I don't think we can say this game is AAA or not. The general conscious around Crackdown 3 is that it's a AAA title, and considering its long development I'd guess it's budget is rather high.

Last guardian had a long Dev time . Is it truley AAA ?

Nah, didn't think so
 

GHG

Member
Ark is very popular on console too.

Not disputing that at all but it's also on all viable platforms so they gave themselves an opportunity to make as much money as possible while having a much lower cost of development.

Saying that Sea of Thieves will do well because Ark has been successful is a logical fallacy, completely different games, completely different platforms and different release windows.

I wish it well because it looks different from a setting and art style perspective but I struggle to see it becoming a smash hit for them.
 

gamz

Member
I don't understand the ''game pass'' thing in regards to ''we can put SP games on there''.
It's guaranteed not a new AAA game that's going on there so it's going to be niche, smaller SP games that most people won't care much for. It's not going to help the brand that much as a AAA SP game would/could as evident with Sony/Nintendo. It's cool if they see it as a side thing to compliment their other AAA SP games but if they see it as a possible, succesfull replacement they are in for a rude awakening.

''Hey Netflix makes a lot of money let's copy them'' while having no real vision or innovation. Instead of looking at the end result and going from there they should look at what made Netflix such a powerhouse. They offer a lot of GREAT CONTENT for great value. Great content is not something I would ever associate with MS. Netflix is investing BIG money in big projects while MS goes about it in such an uninspired way imo. Game pass is a great model so it's a good step but at the end of they day it's all about content. Something they've been lacking and have been critisized for for a while now.

Some would say that Netflix offers little content for the price. One mans great content is another mans where's the content!?!?! At least you should say in your opinion.\

Edit: You did say imo. Oops.
 

Zedox

Member
He's just saying that they are probably going to sell the Single Player games on Game Pass than just sell it traditionally like Zelda and Horizon. Not "not making games like Zelda or Horizon" which many people are taking away. He probably would have put ReCore/Quantum Break on Game Pass then sell it how they did.

I believe Phil also stated in the last IGN podcast with him that he thought having a game release exclusive on Game Pass would be an interesting idea. That comment along with this interview just tells me that they are probably going to announce a single player game (hopefully AAA) exclusively on Game Pass. I can see ReCore: Definitive Edition gets released (and they better give us who bought the game, that version for the fray, I still want my T8NK) on the platform.

They've been working on Game Pass for 3 years, the main way to get people on there is make good content to put on it. I still think putting two AAA games on the service would make me buy it (cuz otherwise I wouldn't...don't need to play older games, even if they are cheap) for a year (since GamePass is $120, and two games is $120). Getting people on Game Pass is his baby probably. It's just another way to get subscriptions, and one that if they get enough XPA, can get PC players (but they'll have to bolster that lineup greatly or get a huge amount of indies on it).

Marvel said:
I don't understand the ''game pass'' thing in regards to ''we can put SP games on there''.
It's guaranteed not a new AAA game that's going on there so it's going to be niche, smaller SP games that most people won't care much for. It's not going to help the brand that much as a AAA SP game would/could as evident with Sony/Nintendo. It's cool if they see it as a side thing to compliment their other AAA SP games but if they see it as a possible, succesfull replacement they are in for a rude awakening.

''Hey Netflix makes a lot of money let's copy them'' while having no real vision or innovation. Instead of looking at the end result and going from there they should look at what made Netflix such a powerhouse. They offer a lot of GREAT CONTENT for great value. Great content is not something I would ever associate with MS. Netflix is investing BIG money in big projects while MS goes about it in such an uninspired way imo. Game pass is a great model so it's a good step but at the end of they day it's all about content. Something they've been lacking and have been critisized for for a while now.

You also forget that parents are going to look at cheap alternatives to buy their kids games. They are probably going to market it that way first before putting big money into it like Netflix (just like Netflix did and it's exactly what Phil was talking about). The kid market is a big market and parents would definitely be interested in that (I know my mother in law is, I told her about it and she said just to let her know when it starts).

Also, you stated that it's guaranteed not a new AAA that's going on there...I say, why not? MS is basically trying to get everything as a subscription (they do the same with Office 365), so I wouldn't put it against MS that they wouldn't put an AAA title on there. I do think based on Phil's comments that they would put single player ones on there as multiplayer focused games sell more traditionally.
 

GHG

Member
He's just saying that they are probably going to sell the Single Player games on Game Pass than just sell it traditionally like Zelda and Horizon. Not "not making games like Zelda or Horizon" which many people are taking away. He probably would have put ReCore/Quantum Break on Game Pass then sell it how they did.

I believe Phil also stated in the last IGN podcast with him that he thought having a game release exclusive on Game Pass would be an interesting idea. That comment along with this interview just tells me that they are probably going to announce a single player game (hopefully AAA) exclusively on Game Pass. I can see ReCore: Definitive Edition gets released (and they better give us who bought the game, that version for the fray, I still want my T8NK) on the platform.

They've been working on Game Pass for 3 years, the main way to get people on there is make good content to put on it. I still think putting two AAA games on the service would make me buy it (cuz otherwise I wouldn't...don't need to play older games, even if they are cheap) for a year (since GamePass is $120, and two games is $120). Getting people on Game Pass is his baby probably. It's just another way to get subscriptions, and one that if they get enough XPA, can get PC players (but they'll have to bolster that lineup greatly or get a huge amount of indies on it).

Out of interest, how would you even go about breaking experiences like Horizon and Zelda down into "episodes"?

The moment you start to drip feed your content and make it episodic it completely changes that type of game it can be. It would have worked with Alan Wake and Quantum Break, but games like Horizon and Zelda? Where do you even begin?
 

Hoo-doo

Banned
He's just saying that they are probably going to sell the Single Player games on Game Pass than just sell it traditionally like Zelda and Horizon. Not "not making games like Zelda or Horizon" which many people are taking away. He probably would have put ReCore/Quantum Break on Game Pass then sell it how they did.

I believe Phil also stated in the last IGN podcast with him that he thought having a game release exclusive on Game Pass would be an interesting idea. That comment along with this interview just tells me that they are probably going to announce a single player game (hopefully AAA) exclusively on Game Pass. I can see ReCore: Definitive Edition gets released (and they better give us who bought the game, that version for the fray, I still want my T8NK) on the platform.

They've been working on Game Pass for 3 years, the main way to get people on there is make good content to put on it. I still think putting two AAA games on the service would make me buy it (cuz otherwise I wouldn't...don't need to play older games, even if they are cheap) for a year (since GamePass is $120, and two games is $120). Getting people on Game Pass is his baby probably. It's just another way to get subscriptions, and one that if they get enough XPA, can get PC players (but they'll have to bolster that lineup greatly or get a huge amount of indies on it).

If you genuinely think Microsoft is dropping their brand new AAA games on Game Pass, I have a bridge to sell you.
 

MarveI

Member
Some would say that Netflix offers little content for the price. One mans great content is another mans where's the content!?!?! At least you should say in your opinion.

Your or my opinion is irrelevant as they have 100m paying subscribers. Clearly they are happy with the content. And that's an absurd number of paying subscribers. And that number keeps rising. On top of that they've invested so much into it signing great comedians like Chappelle, Rock to 50+m dollar for just a couple specials, paying big money to secure A list actors and branching out to movies with crazy budgets. Wether we like their content or not the investment and content is up there with the best and sometimes even bigger and better.
 

gamz

Member
Your or my opinion is irrelevant as they have 100m paying subscribers. Clearly they are happy with the content. And that's an absurd number of paying subscribers. And that number keeps rising. On top of that they've invested so much into it signing great comedians like Chappelle, Rock to 50+m dollar for just a couple specials, paying big money to secure A list actors and branching out to movies with crazy budgets. Wether we like their content or not the investment and content is up there with the best and sometimes even bigger and better.

Right, but considering Game Pass isn't even out yet you have no idea where it goes. Did you really think that when Netflix first released streaming they'd be buying up movies to forgo the theater and go straight to streaming and everything else in your quote? Giving Sandler $$$ to make movies for them?

Since this is new for gaming give it a chance and see where it goes. I think it's a really good idea and great for consumers.
 

Zedox

Member
Out of interest, how would you even go about breaking experiences like Horizon and Zelda down into "episodes"?

The moment you start to drip feed your content and make it episodic it completely changes that type of game it can be. It would have worked with Alan Wake and Quantum Break, but games like Horizon and Zelda? Where do you even begin?

Honestly, the same way The Witcher 3 did DLC (which was awesome). I wish that Nintendo does sell story DLC for Zelda for years to come, I would have no qualms (actually I hope they do). All the while building the next big Zelda release in 3-5 years. It doesn't have to be just like Alan Wake or Tell Tale games.

If you genuinely think Microsoft is dropping their brand new AAA games on Game Pass, I have a bridge to sell you.

If they want to sell subscriptions, it would be smart. If you are a company trying to build the "Netflix of Gaming"...don't you think you would do things that Netflix does...and that's drop big money into an "original"...I'm not saying all of their AAA games...no, that wouldn't be smart as the big multiplayer ones still sell more at release (just like movies do before going to Netflix).

I'm not saying that they will, I just think it would be smart for their end game of the service.
 
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