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[Nydius]

MS doesnt NEED Sony or Nintendo Money. Forza Horizon 6 has just proven that, it's just how much money do they want. If they make products with the appeal of FH6 they are laughing, and that goes for Nintendo and Sony alike.

But that's the rub, isn't it? Forza Horizon is practically the only strong property Microsoft has.

The cultural cachet of Halo and Gears has been trashed over the last 15 years. The last two iterations of Call of Duty ran the franchise aground - and even then the bulk of the sales were on PlayStation platforms. DOOM fizzled out with TDA and, after Starfield (and Oblivion Remastered getting major bug fixes at a glacial pace) Bethesda's reputation is pretty bad too. Smaller "art house" style projects like South of Midnight and Hi-Fi Rush can't survive on Xbox+PC alone.

I have no problems if Microsoft decides to adopt a timed exclusive model for everything they own going forward. That would still provide value for people who are locked into the Xbox ecosystem while leaving the vastly larger PlayStation and Nintendo markets available six or twelve months later.

 

[Sephimoth]

Agree with op. And if they must come out on PC also; a year later. Same with Gay Pass

The issue with them going exclusive with big hitters is, of course there's going to be an initial profit drop.
But over time people think "SHIEET they're serious. If I wanna play this 10/10 I have to buy an XBox XBOX!" And they likely will.

That's why they won't do it, because it's all about short term NOW NOW NOW money rather than building something big.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Maybe for select games, but this would royally suck in general since they bought so many 3rd party devs with a history of being prominent PC devs.

It's just a shitty thing to wish for really, but gamers gonna gamer.

 

[DenchDeckard]

But that's the rub, isn't it? Forza Horizon is practically the only strong property Microsoft has.

The cultural cachet of Halo and Gears has been trashed over the last 15 years. The last two iterations of Call of Duty ran the franchise aground - and even then the bulk of the sales were on PlayStation platforms. DOOM fizzled out with TDA and, after Starfield (and Oblivion Remastered getting major bug fixes at a glacial pace) Bethesda's reputation is pretty bad too. Smaller "art house" style projects like South of Midnight and Hi-Fi Rush can't survive on Xbox+PC alone.

I have no problems if Microsoft decides to adopt a timed exclusive model for everything they own going forward. That would still provide value for people who are locked into the Xbox ecosystem while leaving the vastly larger PlayStation and Nintendo markets available six or twelve months later.

I really, REALLY feel like the world could do with a really good GEARS OF WAR right about now! - So I think If they can deliver some hype footage for that, within the next few months. Maybe, thats just me but I am in for a really good arcade shooter with my friends. A strong co op campaign.

If Asha is gonna step up, now is the time to do it. The series X was / is one hell of a piece of kit but Phil completely fumbled the launch and first few years of the generation. Asha has one chance, and its Microsofts last chance to do some good here and that is releasing some solid games. FH6 is a great start. For next gen, she should be making sure they have a really SOLID launch day selection of next gen games but that will only do any good is if it happens after she delivers a solid next couple of years of releases. Starting strong with FH6, then Halo remake, what we got for the next year? We find out in a few weeks. They need in game footage and some robust dates for games. I say delay Fable to launch Magnus with and make it exclusive. Make it awesome. They also need anothr couple of titles for launch, maybe a strong Indie style smaller game or something like a Psychanaughts 3 to launch within 6 to 9 months of launch day. if there was something on that kinda level. Banjo Kazooie perhaps, something hopefully Phil had the sense to greenlight in the last 18 to 24 months.

just spitballing ideas.

Reality is, they are still relying on Forza Horizon and Halo, if we look at right now and the next few months, hahaha

 

[Black_Stride]

They all but cancelled all the projects they had going.
They are scrapping whats already been confirmed to be going to PC and PS5
Nor are they gonna delay the PC versions.

By the time they have a project they can say is gonna be Helix exclusive..........they will have already realized......nope a console exclusive doesnt make sense when the Helix hasnt sold anywhere near the amount they want it to.

Games are gonna bomb, not for being bad or because people dont want to play them, but because the hardware simply isnt going to be out there.

We are not going back to major exclusives unless Sony somehow completely shits the bed with the PS6.

 

[Katatonic]

Xbox is a legacy brand, despite what an incredibly vocal minority and AI algorithms will tell you.

 

[AZRoboto]

The developer of both Windows and Xbox shouldn't be encouraged to make Windows worse just to make Xbox "better"

 

[Three]

100% they should go Xbox and PC only for day one. Then throw PS and Switch 2 some odd games that make sense. I think all companies should be striving to just create really amazing games and if exclusivity helps build an ecosystem that supports that go for it.

MS doesnt NEED Sony or Nintendo Money. Forza Horizon 6 has just proven that, its just how much money do they want. If they make products with the appeal of FH6 they are laughing, and that goes for Nintendo and Sony alike.

What has FH6 proven? MS content and services revenue was down even with FH5 selling 5M on PS5. What has FH6 shown?

 

[rkofan87]

Maybe, 6 months, or 1 year after on PC.

Xbox games on PS5 is peak

 

[Moondoggy]

Xbox: "We're reverting to all of our releases going forward being available solely on the Xbox platform but with the added value of them being available day one on gamepass"

Also Xbox

 

[bitbydeath]

Sony claws back exclusives and certain people are celebrating... MS explores clawing back exclusives and people seem to be saying no they cant do that? Make it make sense.

MS would need to scratch Helix and release a console instead. It's possible but extremely unlikely they would commit to making exclusives again.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Sony claws back exclusives and certain people are celebrating... MS explores clawing back exclusives and people seem to be saying no they cant do that? Make it make sense.

I'm not celebrating either of these ideas personally, I'd love to have the option to play PS games on my PC or my PlayStations. I've double dipped on 2 games.

For Xbox thought they did buy a massive amount of developers using money not earned from gaming. It was never the same situation for Xbox to ever make games exclusive to their hardware, let alone if they pull all of their dev teams off of PC where the biggest fans of many of the devs are.

It's shitty to see a megacorp use endless cash to fuck around in an industry they haven't had much success in, and have had colossal fuckups in. It's less shitty when that company at least makes the product not exclusive to their failing hardware platform.

 

[Melfice7]

Wasnt that part of the agreement to purchase activision? that they wouldnt take away games from the competition?

 

[Mortisfacio]

Considering there's more Microsoft games in top played than Sony games on PlayStation, I agree. If Xbox has any fight left in them, they'll yank ports to PlayStation. Based on sales and playtime, it's clear that the players want these games.

 

[Russell]

I agree. If Microsoft wants any chance of taking part in this race, they need to never release their games on the personal computer. Give me a reason to buy your console and be a part of your ecosystem. Give me a reason to see your brand as being special.

 

[Dr_Ifto]

Just leave the multi-platform games to older games to entice people to move over early for earlier access.

 

[MisterXDTV]

The OP didn't get the memo:

Xbox is pivoting to pre-built PCs like Asus, Dell and MSI, so they can't have exclusives by definition

Not like Sony and Nintendo can

Nobody will leave Playstation for their games, like nobody has done it in the past 15 years

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Nah. Open it up

Even when 360 was new and gears was announced for PC with more mp maps and sp levels to fight a Brumack I didn't care. And a good pc rig played it at 60 fps too. And it came out only 1 yr after xbox. Who cares.

 

[Nydius]

I really, REALLY feel like the world could do with a really good GEARS OF WAR right about now! - So I think If they can deliver some hype footage for that, within the next few months. Maybe, thats just me but I am in for a really good arcade shooter with my friends. A strong co op campaign.

I agree and I hope like hell that E-Day is that game. However, I'm a little concerned that the only way they can seemingly bring back any hype for the Gears of War IP is to roll all the way back to a prequel era Marcus and Dom game. E-Day feels like a soft reboot of the entire IP and I'm not sure how that bodes for the future.

Gears of War, much like Star Wars, can exist outside of their original protagonists. They just need to get strong writers and game designers who can do it.

 

[Fess]

Forza Horizon is practically the only strong property Microsoft has.

They have Forza Horzon, Sea of Thieves, Diablo, Gears of War, DOOM, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Fable, fan favorite Ori and Psychobauts, Rare's old IPs, Halo is still a strong property, freakin Minecraft, StarCraft, World of Warcraft, Crash, etc, I'm too tired to list more.

They own lots of big IPs now. And to my knowledge only Call of Duty are denied from exclusivity, at least a couple more years.

Problem is. Many of those IPs are sleeping 6 feet under with no dev actively working on anything, many are seen by the market as multi platform IPs. And Microsoft don't have the guts to mess with that and definitively don't want to miss out on the phat third party multiplat publisher money.

So here we are. A big third party publisher with hardware not many understand why they need to have.

 

[Nydius]

Halo is still a strong property

In what universe?

Halo Infinite was a flop. The only reason Halo has any interest is because they're about to release yet another remaster of twenty-five-year-old Halo CE, except they're completely omitting half of the game (multiplayer).

As for the rest of your list, I mentioned most of their devs in my post. Bethesda has lost most of their goodwill, as has Blizzard. Diablo is good (not strong) but the issues with Diablo 4's rocky launch and expansions have hurt the IP. DOOM fizzled out with The Dark Ages and Wolfenstein is MIA. Fable remains to be seen. Is anyone really clamoring for any of Rare's old IPs? I've got Rare Replay and most of those are games of bygone eras.

You're right that they have a ton of IP, many of which are sitting in a grave. But many of those wouldn't be system sellers even if they resurrected them.

 

[Fess]

You're right that they have a ton of IP, many of which are sitting in a grave. But many of those wouldn't be system sellers even if they resurrected them.

They're wellknown IPs and just one good release away from major success. They could easily do even a new Viva Piñata that could blow up on the market. Or a Crash. Or a third person StarCraft. Or DOOM RPG or whatever else. Their problem isn't the IPs, it's the quality. Many of their games struggle to break into the Metacritic tops.

 

[TheGodfather07]

Only way they can go back to exclusives is to truly return to the traditional way. That means no day 1 on gamepass. How can you gonna have exclusives if you struggle to sell both hardware and software? They're backed into a corner they can't escape from.

 

[reinking]

Sony claws back exclusives and certain people are celebrating... MS explores clawing back exclusives and people seem to be saying no they cant do that? Make it make sense.

Because both consoles are in a completely different place right now and for the foreseeable future. Anyone who can't see that is in denial. Why are XBOX fans and Xbox under Phil so worried about what Sony is doing? Thank freaking goodness Asha seems to be moving away from that mentality and working on XBOX internally.

 

[Skifi28]

Hear you

 

[Evil Calvin]

I just googled it and it says 35-37 million as of March

 

[Ebrietas]

The most recent Xbox is a handheld PC and the next one is a living room PC. Not happening.

They probably mean exclusive to their own PC store. Which I won't put past MS for trying.

 

[Evil Calvin]

I just googled it and it says 35-37 million as of March

In his dreams, am i doing this right @Ass of Can Whooping ?

Don't be a dick.

 

[Pop]

They really should. Exclusives matter

 

[nial]

MS doesnt NEED Sony or Nintendo Money. Forza Horizon 6 has just proven that, its just how much money do they want. If they make products with the appeal of FH6 they are laughing, and that goes for Nintendo and Sony alike.

There's definitely a ton of PC (Steam) money there. Sony's current thing is the fact that they are ditching PC for non-GAAS releases.

 

[Truthtellers]

 

[Bry0]

Windows is a Microsoft platform, why is this so hard to understand?

 

[BlackTron]

Yes...

Anyone saying its a "bad thing" to have your own suite of games that are tailor made to take full advantage of your hardware and simultaneously give it an identity, is quite frankly retarded lol.

ALSO.. Exclusives are good for COMPETITION.

A competitive industry will only benefit gamers, way more so than HURR DURR i cAn pLAy mY gAmEZ aNyWhErRe - Who gives a shit.

Of course it's a good thing. It's just a bad idea for Xbox...er, XBOX because they have demonstrated they can't stick the landing with that strategy and suck at it.

It was a good idea for Sega to have exclusives too. Until it wasn't.

 

[NickFire]

You can't spend 80 billion on top of everything already spent and then intentionally reduce your potential audience. Selling consoles is highly desirable. But not at the expense of an 80 billion dollar investment,