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[Topher]

Quoting a story from 2019?
So Phil Spencer saying how in 2016, 2017 and 2018 they haven't done the best for first party output is your comeback?
Since the dark days of 2017/18 Microsoft has increased their studios from 4 to 24. They won publisher of the year in 2021.

Once again, followed by next to nothing in 2022. That is exactly the lack of consistency I'm talking about. Not sure why that is hard for you to understand or why it is controversial.

For the record, I praised Microsoft last year when they won Publisher of the Year. I enjoyed Halo Infinite and absolutely loved Psychonauts 2. I'll be right back here praising them in 2023 if they deliver kickass games with Starfield and Redfall. I'll critical if they don't.

That is being more than fair. I really have no idea how anyone can have a problem with that.

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

No need to pick one or the other. Xbox is already doing both.

You think they are done buying after the Activison deal? Lol

They will have to continue to buy studios to keep pumping games into game pass. GP needs new games to keep people subscribed.

 

[onnextflix5]

Don’t know how Microsoft can succeed anytime soon, they need keep buying studios that keep popping up every few years. how much money are willing to sink into the Xbox, I just don’t know, but they have spent too much money to just dump it, right?

 

[recykle]

If they should over pay for anything its Capcom.

I know getting a Japanese publishers is extremely hard, near impossible due to their strict regulatory system when it comes to sales of Japanese companies to foreign companies, but with guarantees in place it could happen. Locking up Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Devil May Cry and Monster Hunter would be huge along with Mega Man who is long overdue for a revival.

 

[Fredrik]

Once again, followed by next to nothing in 2022. That is exactly the lack of consistency I'm talking about. Not sure why that is hard for you to understand or why it is controversial.

For the record, I praised Microsoft last year when they won Publisher of the Year. I enjoyed Halo Infinite and absolutely loved Psychonauts 2. I'll be right back here praising them in 2023 if they deliver kickass games with Starfield and Redfall. I'll critical if they don't.

That is being more than fair. I really have no idea how anyone can have a problem with that.

I agree. To be completely honest, I think they’ve been absolute shit this year, and I say that as someone who generally like what they bring to gaming with their PC strategy and Gamepass. For AAA they had one egg in the basket. Starfield. Then they smashed it. Oops, now what? And it’s not the first time. They had one egg in the launch basket as well. Halo Infinite. Then they smashed that. They deserve to be roasted.
I just hope the silence from all their studios means that they’ll come out of this blasting with all cylinders firing and another gear installed.

 

[Chronicle]

Microsoft tracks record with first party is terrible. Buy Activision just to see what happens.

 

[jufonuk]

They tried that, Nintendo laughed at them.
Apparently for a full hour...

 

[Black_Stride]

We cant trust ABK as they are to give us a new Tony Hawk Pro Skater game.
So they need to be bought no matter what.

MS is the most likely candidate to actually give us a new Tony Hawk Pro Skater game and NOT immediately dissolve the studio that gives you one of the most zen nigh on perfect games of the last decade.

 

[LeftThumbstick]

I’d go with Activision.

Call of Duty is a behemoth franchise, the biggest in the world and does healthy numbers year in and year out.

If anything is to keep Xbox going for a long time it’s that. They have 20+ studios as is that have lots of capacity to create new games.

 

[Skifi28]

Buy steam and then bring it over to xbox. And that is how the war was won.

 

[Black_Stride]

Don’t know how Microsoft can succeed anytime soon, they need keep buying studios that keep popping up every few years. how much money are willing to sink into the Xbox, I just don’t know, but they have spent too much money to just dump it, right?

Don’t know how Microsoft can succeed anytime soon?

Are we assuming Microsoft has failed?

 

[In Cold Blood]

Once again, followed by next to nothing in 2022. That is exactly the lack of consistency I'm talking about. Not sure why that is hard for you to understand or why it is controversial.

For the record, I praised Microsoft last year when they won Publisher of the Year. I enjoyed Halo Infinite and absolutely loved Psychonauts 2. I'll be right back here praising them in 2023 if they deliver kickass games with Starfield and Redfall. I'll critical if they don't.

That is being more than fair. I really have no idea how anyone can have a problem with that.

Every company has a year with less games than they hope.
This year there was two first party games. Pentament and Grounded. Could count Deathloop, but meh. Pretty light on.

Sony in 2019 had one game from their first party studios.. Days gone, an average game with a 71% Meta.
Won't count MLB as it's a yearly minor update.

Should everyone have been claiming Sony had no games and they need to get their studios to pull their heads in?
Nah, because they had a decent 2018 and there was some good games scheduled to drop in 2020.

Microsoft is coming off an era of terrible investment in first party studios. They thought that everything was moving to third party and that there wasn't a need to invest in that area. They weren't alone in that either. Sony made no investments in new game studios during the whole PS4 era, and infact like Microsoft they actually shut down some good studios like Evolution, however they had alot more studios to start off with, so never got themselves into the same hole as MS.

Thankfully both Microsoft and Sony have decided that moving forward the more first party exclusives the better.

Microsoft deserved everything they copped during the Xbox One era. I was one of them front and centre calling them out. Infact I never bought an Xbox One in protest for their horseshit console and always on DRM.
I bought a PS4 and didn't get an Xbox until they released the One X.
So like you I will call them out for stupid shit and then say they did good when they do well. Same with Sony.
I am.ultra critical of how Sony and Jim Ryan are acting with the AKB acquisition. They have embarrassed themselves and have shown the most hypocritical attitude I could imagine.
But, I admire their first party studios and the quality of the product they put out. Infact I.put a thread up saying how I thought the hard work they did to work on the PS3 Cell made then the amazing technical studios they are today.

My point in all of this is that MS has the studios. They have the games in development. On top of their own studios they are also using high quality third party studios like Asobo, IO Interactive and Avalanche Studios to make brand new exclusive games for Xbox. They arnt just paying for timed exclusives, they are financing the whole deal outright and publishing the games themselves. We all know these games are going to come. We know what is coming next year. Forza MS, Starfield, Redfall at a minimum and possibly 2 or more on top of that.
We have had Covid disrupt their release schedule as well on top of that.
They have done everything right to fix the exclusive content gap.
Any reasonable person can say " yeah, there's alot coming down the pipe and sooner rather than later there will be more exclusives coming than people will know what to do with.
As an Xbox gamer I am very excited by what's coming.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

I think that Microsoft becoming a monopoly is a real danger. It must be scary to compete com a company that doesn't really need to be profitable and have the ability to spend huge amounts of capital to put pressure on their rivals.

 

[solidus12]

Buy Sony and make God of War an Xbox IP

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

I rather see them develop some new, exclusive studios and build up their first party with high quality exclusives. COD is on XBOX anyway and has literally always been and it’s even supposedly staying on PlayStation for awhile most likely, so I think the new studios will be more beneficial to the brand long term.

 

[Gavon West]

I don't think it's up for debate now. The Activision deal will go through. But, Sony is putting up enough of a ruckus that Microsoft will have a very difficult time if they try another big publisher takeover.

No they wont. If its a huge publisher, maybe. But any acquisition this size will be scrutinized. They will purchase more.

 

[Topher]

Every company has a year with less games than they hope.
This year there was two first party games. Pentament and Grounded. Could count Deathloop, but meh. Pretty light on.

I agree. Hoping for a better 2023 with Starfield and Redfall.

 

[Swift_Star]

Create new IP's, develop their already owned studios and STOP robbing games of other platforms.

 

[Deerock71]

I'm part of the 38% that wants to see the Sony meltdowns. Schadenfreude is my down comforter.

 

[M1chl]

For me current situation is like tragedy-comedy, tragedy because last good games from Activision came more than 10 years ago, so potentially expanded library has zero appeal to me, comedy because of triggered Jim Ryan.

 

[Ozriel]

Create new IP's, develop their already owned studios and STOP robbing games of other platforms.

None of that solves their need to get as much first party content for Gamepass as possible in the short to mid term.

 

[DerivedDataCache]

Unrealist answer, because none would sell. But with 70 bill in that position I'd rather buy: Epic, Valve and Capcom.
Worth more to me than a couple live service games.

 

[Fredrik]

Unrealist answer, because none would sell. But with 70 bill in that position I'd rather buy: Epic, Valve and Capcom.
Worth more to me than a couple live service games.

Valve? End that satanic ritual at once!

 

[kuncol02]

For me current situation is like tragedy-comedy, tragedy because last good games from Activision came more than 10 years ago, so potentially expanded library has zero appeal to me, comedy because of triggered Jim Ryan.

MS looks like company that care more about legacy games so legacy games being freed from current Activision would be great thing. At least that's what I hope would happen.

 

[M1chl]

MS looks like company that care more about legacy games so legacy games being freed from current Activision would be great thing. At least that's what I hope would happen.

Possibly, but I don't see them doing it that much nowadays as their efforts with rare failed, to resurect those Nintendo franchises. After all where is Fallout New Vegas 2, etc.

 

[Roberts]

I guess it is not the most popular opinion around here, but I would not mind if they finance games for super talented indie studios that make personal, weird and original games but have trouble finding financing and have to rely on crowdfunding. You know, like the Spanish guys who made Blasphemous.

 

[Warablo]

Create new IP's, develop their already owned studios and STOP robbing games of other platforms.

It's not like Microsoft pointed a gun at Activisions head.

 

[kuncol02]

Possibly, but I don't see them doing it that much nowadays as their efforts with rare failed, to resurect those Nintendo franchises. After all where is Fallout New Vegas 2, etc.

They resurrected Flight Sim, Age of Empires, Fable, Perfect Dark, Battle Toads....
There are remasters/remakes for AoE1 and 2, AoM, GoW, Halo 1 and 2, some other games run in higher resolution or framerate than on original hardware...
Basically, every MS console game that is not blocked with some license problems (with music, cars etc...) is playable on new consoles (Crimson Skies even has working multiplayer)
They also allowed other companies make games with Shadowrun and BattleTech IPs instead of letting them stay in vault unused forever.

 

[TGO]

I see you found footage

 

[Ozriel]

Possibly, but I don't see them doing it that much nowadays as their efforts with rare failed, to resurect those Nintendo franchises. After all where is Fallout New Vegas 2, etc.

The people who would have made Fallout NV2 are busy making Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2.

Rare’s super busy these days. Sea of Thieves has been a smash hit for Microsoft and is certainly doing better than a Banjo Kazooie (for example) game would have done. Everwild’s also being made.

Buy steam and then bring it over to xbox. And that is how the war was won.

Regulators would reject that immediately. Probably fine MS for wasting their time with a deal that’d be shut down immediately

 

[skyfall]

Just imagine this:

 

[jufonuk]

I see you found footage

yup, I can just imagine. spider man is a microsoft exec who has offered a seismic fuck-ton of money to buy nintendo.
JJJ is the nintendo exec with a flunky at his desk. considers how life changing the money is but just laughs it off. because they knew the wii was coming

 

[M1chl]

The people who would have made Fallout NV2 are busy making Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2.

Rare’s super busy these days. Sea of Thieves has been a smash hit for Microsoft and is certainly doing better than a Banjo Kazooie (for example) game would have done. Everwild’s also being made.



Regulators would reject that immediately. Probably fine MS for wasting their time with a deal that’d be shut down immediately

I didn't said that they do nothing, I was sort of opposed of the idea that they are only resurrecting franchises, however I was blinded by the fact that I think about flight sim as long running franchise and others mentioned games does not appeal to me.

 

[In Cold Blood]

I agree. Hoping for a better 2023 with Starfield and Redfall.

You and me both.

 

[In Cold Blood]

Create new IP's, develop their already owned studios and STOP robbing games of other platforms.

It's something every company does.
The only difference now is that Sony have gone from being the one to get all the exclusives to Microsoft now getting them.

I remember back to when people were saying that Microsoft wouldn't open up their war chest to buy studios as Xbox had to pay for itself ( while totally ignoring the fact that Sony used PS profits to prop up their other buisness units). They would never use that Office money to help the xbox division out.
Well, that didn't age well.
I also find it funny that the same people who are saying now that it's unfair for Microsoft to buy studios and publishers were the same people who thought Sony buying exclusives was a smart buisness decision (which it was). They are the same people who are hoping that Sony buy a big publisher in Square Enix.
They were the same people who loved them buying Bungie, an ex MS studio. All of a sudden that money Sony paid for exclusive Destiny content meant that Sony helped Bungie and now vindicated their purchase.

It seems that Sony guys want MS to only be able to play with the same budget and abilities as Sony has. Sure Sony can use its superior console sales to purchase exclusive content at a third of the price MS would have to pay for the same thing, but no, Microsoft shouldn't be allowed to use their financial budget advantage to purchase companies that Sony can't afford to.
Every person here knows that if Sony could have afforded Zenimax and Activision they would have bought them. We also know they would all be PS exclusive.
Keep the same fire guys for both sides of the debate.

 

[remember_spinal]

Just imagine this:

 

[PropellerEar]

Every person here knows that if Sony could have afforded Zenimax and Activision they would have bought them. We also know they would all be PS exclusive.
Keep the same fire guys for both sides of the debate.

You think every person here shares your state of delirium.

 

[In Cold Blood]

You think every person here shares your state of delirium.

Lol. Worst gif on the internet.
If you don't think that if Sony had the money to buy Zenimax they wouldn't have shows that someone is delirious, and it isn't me.
Infact if Sony could have bought them and didn't, that would be a major fuck up on Sony's behalf.

 

[remember_spinal]

Lol. Worst gif on the internet.
If you don't think that if Sony had the money to buy Zenimax they wouldn't have shows that someone is delirious, and it isn't me.
Infact if Sony could have bought them and didn't, that would be a major fuck up on Sony's behalf.

Wouldn’t matter cause if sony did have the money the same thing would be happening in the reverse. Sony being the market leader buying the biggest 3rd party publisher would not only get heavy scrutiny from regulators it would get pushback from Microsoft themselves

 

[Neff]

Don't go on a soulless spending spree. Rebuild the brand and give Xbox an identity organically like Nintendo and Sony.

Too late?

Realest answer in the thread. They have no identity other than a fat, indifferent, lowest common denominator-chasing wallet.

 

[In Cold Blood]

Wouldn’t matter cause if sony did have the money the same thing would be happening in the reverse. Sony being the market leader buying the biggest 3rd party publisher would not only get heavy scrutiny from regulators it would get pushback from Microsoft themselves

If Sony bought Activision then all the people here saying MS shouldn't be buying publishers would be saying the opposite. I agree with that.
The difference between Sony and Microsoft is this. If Activision was bought by Sony, Microsoft has the money to retaliate and buy Ubi or Take Two.
With Microsoft buying Activision, Sony don't have the money to retaliate on the same scale.
Maybe if Sony had of reinvested the historical profits that the Playstation division made rather than using it to prop up the other business divisions who were losing money they could have bought Zenimax.
Sony gaming made enough profit in the two last financial years to have paid for Zenimax.
Is it Microsoft fault they didn't?
Should Microsoft not be allowed to buy a publisher like Zenimax because Sony squandered it's profits and didn't reinvest it?
We have two different models.
Playstation is Sony's cash cow and they use its profits to prop up other buisness units.
Microsoft makes a ton of money from Azure and Office and then uses that money to reinvest into the Xbox division.