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Phil Spencer speculated about shutting down Xbox to start a mobile company within MS
- Thread starter ManaByte
- Start date
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
BaneIsPain
Member
do it for the lulz
Thirty7ven
Banned
Look at that, they look at their audience and think “hours” like a black mirror episode.
Mibu no ookami
Member
Same old excuses.
It's been clear as day what Xbox has planned here.
The clear and present danger GamePass poses to traditional gaming can't be overstated.
They want to turn GamePass into Netflix, raise the price, lower the cost of content, be platform agnostic.
The problem is Sony and Nintendo are in their way, particularly Sony. They know they've lost the "console war" and they bet big on xCloud and GamePass instead. It's the reason why they raised prices on GamePass on Xbox but not PC. Ultimately, they want more adoption on PC and Mobile. Xbox is a means to an end for Microsoft.
Sony knows the same thing, but their strategy is still firmly rooted in traditional gaming (for now), but their big GaaS push is because of games like Fortnite, GTA Online, and Red Dead Online.
Mobile is eating their lunch and console is a small crumb of the overall cookie. The free ride for GamePass on console is slowly coming to an end and Xbox fans will slowly but surely realize that. Right now they're trying to boil the frog, which is what you have to do with subscription services. Look at Netflix they've raised prices about as much as they can, so what did they do, they went after password sharers with the belief that it would increase subscribers and at least in the short term they were right.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Interfectum
Member
Jim Ryan is a fucking genius.
Sleepwalker
Member
There's a timeline out there where this happened, gamepass would probably look a lot like the apple gaming sub while traditional gaming stayed more or less as we know it.
Perhaps a better timeline indeed?
Stardust_Dragon
Banned
I dunno, I know I'm just an average consumer without any real insight into how corporations function but from a distance it sure looks like Phil has just been winging it for a number of years now as the Head of Xbox/Microsoft Gaming. and maybe even further back to 2008 when he became general manager of Xbox studios. Heck, I think he actually moved over from a different division at Microsoft to join the Xbox division all the way back in 2001 to oversee some of the European gaming studios back then.
XesqueVara
Member
dotnotbot
Member
Collected directly from MS and revelead by FTC.
GHG
Gold Member
Honestly I don't see how anyone can read what's come out today and come to the conclusion that Microsoft care about gaming, particularly the creative side.
It's been reflected in their products over the last decade but now we are actually hearing it from the horses mouth so to speak.
Yeh, all the big players are in this business for the money but most of them at least try to create stuff that's worthwhile in order to justify the asking price. But these guys, they flat out want to ask for the money without even attempting to create or justify it. But hey, "free on gamepass" right? So who cares.
Mobile is actually perfect for what they want to achieve.
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Mibu no ookami
Member
Mobile is a juggernaut, but it's entirely unclear how Sony or Microsoft can pivot organically to mobile and be leaders there. They both know this.
LordOfChaos
Member
Speculated and then they seem to have concluded they can't substantially take over that game, so it's likely not going anywhere
Eh, we all have thoughts, not reading too much into this
Eh, we all have thoughts, not reading too much into this
Bumblebeetuna
Gold Member
Glad they didn’t, I would have ditched them. They rebounded nicely.
Mibu no ookami
Member
He saw GamePass wasn't cutting it from a profitability standpoint. We know that because this e-mail was in 2019.
They doubled down on Xbox though with the purchase of more assets, but it's clear they want to pivot to mobile. They just think that pivot is made easier if they can push Sony out of the way first. They want to be able to have the highest MAU on GamePass possible, but people buying Sony consoles isn't leading to that.
They think they can get all CoD players on GamePass because it makes financial sense. If you're buying CoD every year for 70 bucks, why not pay 144 bucks get CoD AND other games for free.
Problem is the price is going to go up. There will eventually be a CoD tier. 20 dollars a month for GamePass and CoD. Then eventually 25 dollars since GamePass rises to 20...
There becomes a point where you can barely buy games outside of GamePass... and that's a dark future
James Sawyer Ford
Gold Member
BobbyK is doing this at Activision....? What
Varteras
Gold Member
Yeah. And we're clearly seeing two different approaches. Microsoft just trying to "buy the pie" if you will. Sony trying to bake from scratch. Playing a longer game. One is fucking expensive off the rip with the possibility of going stale down the road. The other will take a long time and a lot of luck. Considering the nature of the mobile market, I just don't think there is a middle answer.
kyoji
Member
whats the source doc for this?
XesqueVara
Member
Cutting Operational Expense who whould go to Consoles/PC and putting it on Mobile.
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DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Multifaceted.
Mibu no ookami
Member
Microsoft wants to leverage ABK into Mobile. They will join the fight against Google and Apple in terms of getting sales on Android and iPhone without going through their appstore.
Eventually, they'll lose these cases because they're complete monopolies. That will open the door for Microsoft if they own gaming enough to get revenue from mobile, PC, and console and eventually have streaming come online.
James Sawyer Ford
Gold Member
So he's actually cut Activision's OpEX for CoD? Or did he just get rid of everything other than CoD so he could invest more in mobile?
GHG
Gold Member
Much of the revenue at activision blizzard comes from mobile:
The primary breadwinner for Activision Blizzard in this report was King, the mobile company behind hit games like Candy Crush Saga and Rebel Riders. According to the latest report, King raked in $739 million over this quarter, resulting in mobile platforms being the number one source of revenue with $956 million in total.
Activision Blizzard Reports Massive Earnings from Call of Duty, Mobile Games
Activision Blizzard releases its latest quarterly earnings for 2023, with massive profits being drawn in by Call of Duty and mobile games.
gamerant.com
And then to top it all off they are wholesale bringing across the monetization elements that exist in their mobile games (and have proved to be so lucrative for them there) over to PC and console games.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Just cosmetics, bros.Much of the revenue at activision blizzard comes from mobile:
The primary breadwinner for Activision Blizzard in this report was King, the mobile company behind hit games like Candy Crush Saga and Rebel Riders. According to the latest report, King raked in $739 million over this quarter, resulting in mobile platforms being the number one source of revenue with $956 million in total.
Activision Blizzard Reports Massive Earnings from Call of Duty, Mobile Games
Activision Blizzard releases its latest quarterly earnings for 2023, with massive profits being drawn in by Call of Duty and mobile games.
And then to top it all off they are wholesale bringing across the monetization elements that exist in their mobile games (and have proved to be so lucrative for them there) over to PC and console games.
James Sawyer Ford
Gold Member
Much of the revenue at activision blizzard comes from mobile:
The primary breadwinner for Activision Blizzard in this report was King, the mobile company behind hit games like Candy Crush Saga and Rebel Riders. According to the latest report, King raked in $739 million over this quarter, resulting in mobile platforms being the number one source of revenue with $956 million in total.
Activision Blizzard Reports Massive Earnings from Call of Duty, Mobile Games
Activision Blizzard releases its latest quarterly earnings for 2023, with massive profits being drawn in by Call of Duty and mobile games.
And then to top it all off they are wholesale bringing across the monetization elements that exist in their mobile games (and have proved to be so lucrative for them there) over to PC and console games.
I realize it's a huge chunk of revenue
What I did not know is that BobbyK wants to cannibalize console OpEx in favor of mobile
Pop
Member
Rebounded? Xbox hasn't done shit
Mibu no ookami
Member
There really isn't a middle answer, but Microsoft's answer is MORE likely to work than Sony's.
Sony tried to get into the mobile market with forwardworks and they failed miserably because they were one toe in and one toe out.
SME has had more success with mobile than SIE with Fate/Stay.
This is why I've said Sony if they're really interested need to buy T2/Zynga because it's really their only option of getting into the game in a major way at this point. Sony Group has to ask themselves if they want to be in a similar position with SIE as they are with Sony Pictures today.
XesqueVara
Member
Mobile is literally a Money Machine if the Game is a Hit, just need to see Mihoyo. A fucking 60% profit margin
gameworldobserver.com
Genshin Impact developer miHoYo generated more profit in 2022 than Activision Blizzard, EA, and Embracer | Game World Observer
miHoYo is a private company, so it doesn’t have to release financial statements. However, Chinese media recently disclosed some information about the Genshin Impact developer’s revenue and profit.
gameworldobserver.com
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GHG
Gold Member
The email is from early 2019, not long after they announced Diablo Immortal I believe.
It's probably not the case with this email, but with so much stuff coming out we're bound to start seeing folks flexing their Photoshop skills. Most, including myself, aren't about the go through all those court documents to prove validity of every email that gets posted.
ToadMan
Member
It’s not Phil’s speculation - it is what they’re doing.
ATVI will mean about half of MS gaming revenue is from mobile overnight. Couple that with the GP and cloud strategy and Phil’s comments in these docs.
Remember the “we are not in the business of out consoling Sony or Nintendo” - one of the few times Phil said exactly what MS were doing.
Xbox custom hardware is obsolescent as far as MS is concerned. The comments about xsex being the pro for this gen confirm that. They don’t want to make another one.
MS is buying these publishers and franchises and then dumbing them down for mobile - this document explains that too. Pointing out that Google sheets is better for more users than excel and they want that same success in gaming. They’re hoping xbox console fans will do the heavy lifting of paying and evangelising for them.
But MS don’t want the console gamers - they want the gamers Apple and google get a slice of. MS were too busy fighting Sony and missed the real money in gaming - they’re trying to break their way in.
That’s fine. I’m all for it and I’ll happily wave MS on to their new pastures.
But while MS is busy trying to pivot to their next gaming failure, they’ll fuck with our corner of the hobby on their way out because we “traditional gamers” aren’t interesting to them now. They even trained their own customers not to buy games anymore.
The move away from consoles for MS has been one of the few things they’ve actually been honest about the last few years.
ATVI will mean about half of MS gaming revenue is from mobile overnight. Couple that with the GP and cloud strategy and Phil’s comments in these docs.
Remember the “we are not in the business of out consoling Sony or Nintendo” - one of the few times Phil said exactly what MS were doing.
Xbox custom hardware is obsolescent as far as MS is concerned. The comments about xsex being the pro for this gen confirm that. They don’t want to make another one.
MS is buying these publishers and franchises and then dumbing them down for mobile - this document explains that too. Pointing out that Google sheets is better for more users than excel and they want that same success in gaming. They’re hoping xbox console fans will do the heavy lifting of paying and evangelising for them.
But MS don’t want the console gamers - they want the gamers Apple and google get a slice of. MS were too busy fighting Sony and missed the real money in gaming - they’re trying to break their way in.
That’s fine. I’m all for it and I’ll happily wave MS on to their new pastures.
But while MS is busy trying to pivot to their next gaming failure, they’ll fuck with our corner of the hobby on their way out because we “traditional gamers” aren’t interesting to them now. They even trained their own customers not to buy games anymore.
The move away from consoles for MS has been one of the few things they’ve actually been honest about the last few years.
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GHG
Gold Member
Arkangelus0
Banned
Its because they cant, nobody cant
If you are big on mobile is because of luck, there is no formula or something like that
Zynga, Rovio and many companies dont even know how they got succesful
Chasing mobile like their main source of revenue is beyond stupid
Arsic
Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Hawking Radiation
Member
Christ on a bike.
What the fuck is going on over there at Xbox?
You can't tell me these are competent leaders of the division? Trying to buy out the competition? Trying to close down the division to start a mobile arm? WTF? !!!!
What the fuck is going on over there at Xbox?
You can't tell me these are competent leaders of the division? Trying to buy out the competition? Trying to close down the division to start a mobile arm? WTF? !!!!
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FrankWza
Member
Trust fund kicked in.
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