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Phil Spencer Believes Bethesda Will Be Critical to Xbox’s Progress; Excited About Announced & Unannounced Games

Shmunter

Member
Who said that? Both the platforms roughly share the same demographic of users who decide which plastic box to shill for the next few years based on their budget and other factors. PC, Nintendo and mobile are a different demographic. They all may overlap a lot but not as much as these two TV addons.

The Xbox division makes around 10-12 billion a year.
Microsoft said it. Nothing they are doing indicates they have changed course, indeed everything supports it on the surface....

 

Forsythia

Member
I always laugh when people say MS can't ignore the PS userbase. Well, guess what, they want their own userbase to grow. That won't happen if Xbox doesn't get more quality exclusives. Jesus Christ, for some gaming = PlayStation and nothing else. Sony is not entitled to every game.
 

NullZ3r0

Banned
I imagine it depends how much care Bethesda to publish his games on the ps5. They are still define some terms, maybe they will obtain to release exclusively their games on Xbox just for the first years then later in the other console, but as I already said it depends how much care Bethesda about it.
MS spent $7 billion to make GamePass the Netflix of games, not sell Playstations. A timed exclusive cost way less than what MS spent. Please use common sense.

I expect the moaning to dramatically increase as the hype machine for these games get started. Imagine if Cyberpunk was a GP exclusive and you'll begin to see the salt levels will be unprecedented.

"Bububub these games are nowhere near Cyberpunk levels."

Like they say in sports, the other guys are getting paid too. You can bet that the hype machine gets rolling. Bethesda was likely picked up to fill the gap that MS internal studios can't fill until 2022-2023. So starting later this year, the onslaught will begin. With 23 studios pumping out titles, there will be at least half a dozen AAA games coming out on GamePass every year. And you will subscribe even if it means picking up a Series S as a second console.
 

EdGalTBR

Banned
Who said that? Both the platforms roughly share the same demographic of users who decide which plastic box to shill for the next few years based on their budget and other factors. PC, Nintendo and mobile are a different demographic. They all may overlap a lot but not as much as these two TV addons.

The Xbox division makes around 10-12 billion a year.




Actually, U$11.58 Billions. For a reference, Nintendo made U$12.67 Billions on the last fiscal year.
 
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JORMBO

Darkness no more
Of course Bethesda will be critical. Before the purchase MS first party was somewhat decent, but didn't have enough heavy hitters often enough. Game like Froza and Ori are great, but there just aren't enough of them. After the purchase MS may have a line up that is actually competitive against Sony. Starfield, Elderscrolls, Doom, etc. are all huge games.
 

TwiztidElf

Member
If MS are true to their word and advertised strategy, I could absolutely see ES6 on PS5.
The caveat will be that the player will have to sign into XBL on their PS5 (may be as benign as U-Play or logging into EA Account on Fifa/Madden).
Holding ES6 for ransom. A Trojan horse to get XBL on Playstation.

The question is would Sony allow this?
If they did, I would say that's a huge win for MS.

*Before I get shot down as a blind fanboy, I'd play ES6 on PC anyhow.
 

Fredrik

Member
would you like to see sony games on. xbox and pc then?
I’m a PC gamer so of course, would be awesome.
That's interesting way of saying that Sony fanboys are toxic.
That’s your words, I just think it’s a natural result from more people having Playstations, bigger userbase means more noise when it gets locked out from the fun.
How do you change that? By having more and better exclusives than the other guy.
While I agree that exclusives are important you have to realize that it’s a brutal way to wake people up to show them that they’ll need to invest in another platform to play previously big and popular multiplats. I mean what if Sony would buy Ubisoft or Square Enix or Koei Tecmo, would that be cool? Or what if MS would buy FROM? Personally I’m not a fan of studio aqcuisitions unless there is already a tight bond that makes the purchase seem logic.
No, there was/is negativity only because S**y was left on the doorstep.
It would’ve been exactly the same if MS was left on the doorstep, we just wouldn’t hear it as much because of a smaller userbase.
 
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Kagey K

Banned
This is very true. Morrowind was exclusive to OG Xbox, Oblivion a timed exclusive to X360, the 360 was the lead platform for Skyrim, Mods for FO4 were initially exclusive to X1. From the very beginning Xbox has had a very close relationship with Bethesda Game Studios.
Todd Howard has gone on record repeatedly saying MS saved Bethesda back when they partnered up and worked with them on Morrowind.

But we wouldn’t want facts to get in the way here. 😅
 

Fredrik

Member
Todd Howard has gone on record repeatedly saying MS saved Bethesda back when they partnered up and worked with them on Morrowind.

But we wouldn’t want facts to get in the way here. 😅
I actually didn’t know this... Makes the Bethesda deal slightly less odd I guess.
 
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Yes, Microsoft bought Bethesda and all their studios so they can have a deal equal to ‘timed exclusivity’ which costs several magnitudes less money. /s

Most likely scenario - all Bethesda games are exclusive to Xbox and PC. Less likely scenario - exclusive to Xbox only. Fanboy scenario - PlayStation will see Bethesda’s games one day.
You underestimate the power of timed exclusivity on major franchises. This isn’t the days of sales, it’s the days of gamepass subscriptions. How many subs do you think a year of new elder scrolls game exclusivity is worth? A lot. That’s their stated strategy, to put these on gamepass. They’ll release on PlayStation (maybe) a year or two down the road. Cause don’t want to damage popularity of franchise by making it Xbox exclusive only and can pick up a little extra $ from Sony release after everyone else has already played it and the value as a gamepass exclusive has waned a bit.
 
I can only see Bethesda MMO's going multiplat but for the real deal titles... Chances are slim to none. Again, why would MS spend 7 billion and put them on PlayStation when they have an Ecosystem to grow. MS are literally giving places to play than your most preferred platform that MS shouldn't be concerned about.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
An 'incredible addition'?

How can it be any type of 'addition' if the games were already coming to Xbox?

All this deal does is keep games off PlayStation... and after all his talk about being pro consumer, I find it highly hypocritical.

I also find it hilarious that XGS now have at least 3 medieval looking fantasy games in development and 3 or more shooters with muscular men in heavy armor..... there is so much overlap that it just seems like they were buying studios for the sake of it. Very little imagination.


Seems I got thread banned for this... very cool. What a cool place to discuss games!
im salty rooster teeth GIF by Achievement Hunter
 

reinking

Gold Member
Well I would hope Phil Spencer feels that way. Imagine MS spending that kind of coin and not thinking it was going to be critical to the success of the XBox brand and its future. I just wish MS would get some first party games out. I have not turned on my Series X in over a week. TBF to Xbox, I have been playing a multi-plat on the PS5.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
This is blatantly false, Gears 5 sold more than 4. Game Pass actually gives more exposure of a title to a bigger audience.

So all these gamepass owners are buying the game too?
They are quite obviously playing the long game. They managed to crack 15M subs a few months back.

That was without a single noteworthy AAA release. Are you going to tell me those numbers are weak when PSNOW has been around forever and can only dream of them? Or that they won't skyrocket once TES releases and the only way to get it is on PC or Xbox?

They quite obviously had a plan and didn't just willy nilly made a 7.5B purchase. I just don't see them going for short term profits here, especially when history has shown otherwise.

You might be right, but I feel like Betheda will eventually want to release on PS and possibly the next Switch to make alot more money And support there future games being developed.

I never said the numbers are weak just the Aaron Greenberg said its not making much profit. Halo infinite is costing close to over 200-300+ million? and also the rest of the games with the 20+ studios. Its possible they won’t release on PS or Switch but recent comments like this don’t sound like Xbox exclusive lol:


PSNow isnt releasing there newest exclusives day one, they have different business models. They prefer making more money by selling there games
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Why people like you cannot understand that every person that buys PS is person which will not buy XBox, pay for GamePass or xCloud or buy anything in their store from which they get 30%? Fifa alone gives EA $1 bilion in microtransactions. That's more than $400 milion for company on whose console people are playing. There is way more to gain than money from few milion games sold on PS5.


That's interesting way of saying that Sony fanboys are toxic.

I say it because I've been a pro in the business since the 80's and am a grown adult who understands financials.

Let me spell this out for you:

On a personal level I have zero stake in this. I don't like Bethesda's product and have never bought one of their titles. There is no "platform warrior" angle from me.

MS expenditure is all about GamePass. If they wanted to shift units they wouldn't be basically bundling their product day and date with that pre-existing service. Its not like its the totality of their offering, there will be millions of people already invested with months or years worth of pre-paid subs who will get to enjoy Bethesda's titles at no added cost to them or INCOME TO MS.

Stop and think about it. This is not a zero-sum game where you get a 1:1 conversion of buyers interested in Starfield, Elder Scrolls etc. turning into GamePass subscribers because many of them will be paying for it already.

Now consider what this means to Bethesda's bottom line as a unit. We're talking about multi-year products that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce; how's that going to work out when their income gets reduced to copies sold on PC and Xbox OUTSIDE OF GAMEPASS?

The numbers don't work. Yes, a huge corporation like MS can afford to subsidize a few loss-leaders in order to support the future health and growth of their service, but they can't afford to stock the entire offering with product like that.

In fact, the logical approach is to load such titles with MTX and other post-sale transactions. At which point restricting availability to only certain designated platforms becomes an even bigger net loss in revenue over time.

The bottom line is that the goal is to grow GamePass subscriber base. And the bigger that subscriber base gets the more it eats into revenues that would otherwise be generated from standard physical and digital retail because the overlap in users increases. This puts what would be otherwise huge-selling IP into a difficult position, especially within a vertically integrated corporate stack where every unit needs to pull its weight elsewise risks getting its funding slashed by the board.

What you fail to grasp is that any corporate entity willing to spend billions on acquisitions to spur growth, is going to be equally prone to consolidate and/or divest itself of units in order to maintain profitability. If GamePass succeeds, but Bethesda as a unit ends up losing money hand-over-fist they aren't going to let that stand.
 

Fredrik

Member
kind of but not really .. MS bought Zenimax. Employees don't get a say really. Maybe Todd has some shares.
It’s not like it’s a hostile take over, I’m sure Microsoft talked with all the studios about what this would mean before the deal went official. But for me it’s the whole idea to buy a fully operational third party publisher that kinda stinks. For someone with only a Playstation it’s effectively taking away games they otherwise could’ve played. I mean I’ll have all platforms so it’s not affecting me personally but I know at least one close friend who was gutted when the news came. It didn’t make him go out to buy the XSX over PS5 though, which in itself show how difficult this battle is. It’ll take a lot to sway people over and it’ll very likely create more negative than positive PR, at least initially.
 

Fredrik

Member
Putting personal preferences aside, MS Game Studios with Zenimax added is a bigger gaming stable than Sony.
The amount of IPs and quality studios is just ridiculous.
And even with this I think its highly likely they will buy more studios.
Yeah if I push my annoyance aside and look at it objectively it’s hard to disagree. Xbox Game Studios will be a juggernaught. They need some third person perspective adventures though, and platformers, and whatever it takes they need to lure Moon Studios back so the Ori IP doesn’t go away, my favorite MS IP at least until Bethesda and The Elder Scrolls is under the roof.
 
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Yeah if I push my annoyance aside and look at it objectively it’s hard to disagree. Xbox Game Studios will be a juggernaught. They need some third person perspective adventures though, and platformers, and whatever it takes they need to lure Moon Studios back so the Ori IP doesn’t go away, my favorite MS IP at least until Bethesda and The Elder Scrolls is under the roof.
I think Sony will respond and buy some more studios.
The way the industry is consolidating at the moment I think they really need to do it.
I don't think they need to go out and buy up a Zenimax level company, but some more like they did with Insomniac.
Turned out to be a super buy.
 

12Dannu123

Member
I think Sony will respond and buy some more studios.
The way the industry is consolidating at the moment I think they really need to do it.
I don't think they need to go out and buy up a Zenimax level company, but some more like they did with Insomniac.
Turned out to be a super buy.
Buying a small studio isn't enough to mitigate the loss of an entire publisher, especially when your competitor is going to continue acquisition large or small studios or publishers.
 
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Buying a small studio isn't enough to mitigate the loss of an entire publisher, especially when your competitor is going to continue acquisition large or small studios or publishers.
There is no need to 'mitigate' anything because when MS aquires a studio you can rest assured that those titles will hit PC, streaming and Xbox consoles. The Sony fans here all have top of the line PCs so it's never an issue.
 

12Dannu123

Member
Microsoft will do everything in its power to drive Sony, Google, and Amazon out of the subscription and cloud gaming market and to do that is sacrificing short-term profit so that they can't sustain their services and acquiring studios and publishers to bolster Game Pass.

They know that Sony likely won't be able to compete directly with Game Pass so they are taking advantage of that weakness.


There is no need to 'mitigate' anything because when MS aquires a studio you can rest assured that those titles will hit PC, streaming and Xbox consoles. The Sony fans here all have top of the line PCs so it's never an issue.
Oh I agree, that Sony fans have multiple ways to play Xbox games, however, buying small studios isn't enough to recover from the loss of publishers in your ecosystem.
 
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Fredrik

Member
I think Sony will respond and buy some more studios.
The way the industry is consolidating at the moment I think they really need to do it.
I don't think they need to go out and buy up a Zenimax level company, but some more like they did with Insomniac.
Turned out to be a super buy.
Blue Point will be a Sony studio soon, perfect fit.

At the moment Sony 1st party can release a GOTY each year and that’s something nobody else can do, so I don’t think things are looking too bad at the moment.


Sony’s biggest problem right now, for me personally at least, is the lack of racing games.

On Xbox One I got Forza Motorsport 5,6,7 and Forza Horizon 2,3,4 last generation, with the last two sitting as the highest rated racing games on console since the PS2 days.

On PS4 I got Driveclub and Gran Turismo Sport, both sitting at the 70s on metacritic, and I don’t play online so GTS essentially flew over my head and they closed Evolution Studios so no more Driveclub or Motorstorm.

I think racing are going to be one of Sony’s biggest weakness and one of Microsoft’s biggest strength this generation, and RPGs of course.
And I think third person adventures is going to be Sony’s biggest strength and Microsoft’s biggest weakness.

In a way I guess it makes things better that they have different focuses, makes it easier to choose where to put the money. But it also sucks for enthusiasts with a wide taste in games who will always have to buy two consoles going forward... which with upgrades means four consoles... which in a generation means about $2k in console hardware... which means console gaming is essentially as expensive as PC gaming for an enthusiast.
 
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Blue Point will be a Sony studio soon, perfect fit.

At the moment Sony 1st party can release a GOTY each year and that’s something nobody else can do, so I don’t think things are looking too bad at the moment.


Sony’s biggest problem right now, for me personally at least, is the lack of racing games.

On Xbox One I got Forza Motorsport 5,6,7 and Forza Horizon 2,3,4 last generation, with the last two sitting as the highest rated racing games on console since the PS2 days.

On PS4 I got Driveclub and Gran Turismo Sport, both sitting at the 70s on metacritic, and I don’t play online so GTS essentially flew over my head and they closed Evolution Studios so no more Driveclub or Motorstorm.

I think racing are going to be one of Sony’s biggest weakness and one of Microsoft’s biggest strength this generation, and RPGs of course.
And I think third person adventures is going to be Sony’s biggest strength and Microsoft’s biggest weakness.

In a way I guess it makes things better that they have different focuses, makes it easier to choose where to put the money. But it also sucks for enthusiasts with a wide taste in games who will always have to buy two consoles going forward... which with upgrades means four consoles... which in a generation means about $2k in console hardware... which means console gaming is essentially as expensive as PC gaming for an enthusiast.
Microsoft has WRPGs, Shooters and Driving games covered.
They lack that third person adventure game that Sony is so good at.

Sony could also expand their major studios like SSM, ND and GG etc to put on additional teams working on new projects.
One SSM team working on GOW, and another doing a new IP, possibly an RPG.
 

Fredrik

Member
Microsoft has WRPGs, Shooters and Driving games covered.
They lack that third person adventure game that Sony is so good at.

Sony could also expand their major studios like SSM, ND and GG etc to put on additional teams working on new projects.
One SSM team working on GOW, and another doing a new IP, possibly an RPG.
Yep.

While third person adventures has been popular for a long time now I think Sony need to start making big budget games in other genres as well, their games are all different but they still share enough that I’m starting to be bored tbh. There are definitely some gaps that needs to be filled.

Same thing with Microsoft, can’t even describe how disappointing it was to hear that The Initiative’s new game was a first person Perfect Dark. There really wasn’t a gap that needed to be filled there, certainly not after the Zenimax purchase. And since they haven’t managed to buy Moon Studios I think they need to start building a dev that can do similar games, maybe build something with some old Rare talents. Since the Ori IP will essentially be on hiatus until Moon is ready with their multiplat game, which for all we know might mean no more Ori this generation, there will be a big gap there unless something happens. Playground making Fable was an interesting move though, it’s kinda leftfield to choose a racing dev but I like it, I think we could see some new cool ideas popping up through that title. I would like to see The Coalition do something different as well.
 

Topher

Gold Member
Personally, I really think Microsoft is making moves at becoming more of a third party publisher. All the focus is on Game Pass, but lost in all that is the commitment Phil Spencer made that every future game coming from XGS will be on Steam. That doesn't play into the "it is all about Game Pass" theory. And if Microsoft is so willing to share its revenue with Valve to sell games on that platform, why not others? Why not Nintendo and Sony? Especially if console market shares continue as they have with X1, PS4, and Switch into this next gen, is it really in Microsoft's best interests to go all-in on Xbox consoles? I don't expect to see Halo, Forza, or Gears on competing consoles. Perhaps not even Starfield. But franchises that already have footholds on other consoles such as Elder Scrolls, Doom, Prey, etc.......no, I'm not going to be shocked to see those continuing on PS and Nintendo platforms at all. Microsoft could have easily made Minecraft Dungeons an Xbox console exclusive and yet there it is on PS4 and Switch. Just speculation at this point obviously, but say what you want about Phil Spencer....that guy is pretty shrewd.
 
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Fredrik

Member
Personally, I really think Microsoft is making moves at becoming more of a third party publisher. All the focus is on Game Pass, but lost in all that is the commitment Phil Spencer made that every future game coming from XGS will be on Steam. That doesn't play into the "it is all about Game Pass" theory. And if Microsoft is so willing to share its revenue with Valve to sell games on that platform, why not others? Why not Nintendo and Sony? Especially if console market shares continue as they have with X1, PS4, and Switch into this next gen, is it really in Microsoft's best interests to go all-in on Xbox consoles? I don't expect to see Halo, Forza, or Gears on competing consoles. Perhaps not even Starfield. But franchises that already have footholds on other consoles such as Elder Scrolls, Doom, Prey, etc.......no, I'm not going to be shocked to see those continuing on PS and Nintendo platforms at all. Microsoft could have easily made Minecraft Dungeons an Xbox console exclusive and yet there it is on PS4 and Switch. Just speculation at this point obviously, but say what you want about Phil Spencer....that guy is pretty shrewd.
They make money from people playing on PC too so the Steam move is logic when Microsoft Store didn’t set the world on fire. If people could play all MS games on Playstation MS wouldn’t earn money from Playstation gamers gaming on PC.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
For MS, if GamePass is the success they hope for, everything outside of that is gravy.

This is the crux of the matter, and every decision flows from this strategy.
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
So all these gamepass owners are buying the game too?
Game Pass introduces more people to try a game. And many people who try a game on Game Pass end up buying it, we all do. Because people like to own their games.
whatever it takes they need to lure Moon Studios back so the Ori IP doesn’t go away
Unlike Cuphead, Microsoft owns and published Ori.
 

Topher

Gold Member
They make money from people playing on PC too so the Steam move is logic when Microsoft Store didn’t set the world on fire. If people could play all MS games on Playstation MS wouldn’t earn money from Playstation gamers gaming on PC.

No, Microsoft would earn money from PlayStation gamers on PlayStation. Microsoft is sacrificing 30% of their game revenue when putting it on other platforms. Why does it matter to Microsoft if that money is going to Sony or Valve?
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
No, Microsoft would earn money from PlayStation gamers on PlayStation. Microsoft is sacrificing 30% of their game revenue when putting it on other platforms. Why does it matter to Microsoft if that money is going to Sony or Valve?
It matters because they will then invest on their service and buy games from their store, which makes them more money. Microsoft is not a third party publisher, they make more money of people buying third party games in their store then people actually buying their games.
 
So... Let's just get everything stright. Did Spencer just admitted that all the studios they already own until now, are not going to play an important part in Xbox's future? Where was Xbox going BEFORE Microsoft paid up for Bethesda? How is it that Xbox need to buy an expensive studio with big IPs to progress into the future?

And that assumes that Bethesda would deliver; as a former fan of Bethesda years ago, let it be known that this is far from certain.
 

kuncol02

Banned
So... Let's just get everything stright. Did Spencer just admitted that all the studios they already own until now, are not going to play an important part in Xbox's future?
Are you fucking stupid or just trolling? You never had logic in school? Saying that one thing is critical for something don't mean rest is not.
Having enough fuel to land a plane is critical to safety of flight. Does that means that heaving working engine or undemaged landing gear is not critical?
 

Geki-D

Banned
Did Spencer just admitted that all the studios they already own until now, are not going to play an important part in Xbox's future?
I think it has more to do with the fact that MS' output was so weak till they bought Bethesda that obviously, Bethesda is going to play an important role. I mean, all of Bethesda's studios, what is that, like 30% of their owned studios now?

Yeah, saying that 30% of your workforce is critical is pretty obvious. Especially when that 30% holds most of the best selling IPs (Elder Scrolls, Doom, Fallout).
 
Are you fucking stupid or just trolling? You never had logic in school? Saying that one thing is critical for something don't mean rest is not.
Having enough fuel to land a plane is critical to safety of flight. Does that means that heaving working engine or undemaged landing gear is not critical?
Your analogies doesn't mean anything here. This is not Bible School.

Regardless even the most hardcore fans of Xbox have all but gave up on the output of most existing Xbox studios. They know themselves that the purchase was being done because Xbox had no other option.

What is done is done. At the very least, Xbox can once again promise Fish Tomorrow once more. So much easier to talking about the future than to talk about the present.
 
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