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[HeWhoWalks]

Cowards need to just make COD exclusive and stop beating around the bush

They'll hurt COD more than PlayStation AND it is a breach of contract for the next 10 years.

 

[MikeM]

Damn.....didn't notice that. Yeah, that's a bit bizarre.

lol....



That sounds a bit mockish!

Absolutely are some shots fired.

Actually selling less than the X1 is unexpected. As the decrease in hardware sales in regions like the EU.

Sony releases games on PC but they haven't seen a decrease in console sales. Microsoft should be able to beat the X1 at the very least.

Sony is very selective on the games released on PC and are never day 1. There is still a reason to buy their box, unlike Xbox if you own a PC.

Except it IS a bad strategy if the goal is to move more Xbox units.

Like you I played I played Starfield on PC instead of that 30 fps console.

Correct. If you want to move your box, make sure the games that matter are not on any other boxes, inclusive of PC.

 

[Edmund]

And maybe i am the only person who knows people that game this way

Take my 34 year old son as a prime example of someone who makes really good money and does a lot of work at home oh his Mac but does not want a gaming PC and has an Xbox and Switch only

i know the numbers prove these people are a small number but 90% of his gaming is on Xbox

Goddamit even your son is older than me.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Just be thankful that PC is a solution, stop trying to make it seem like a bad strategy. I’m playing Starfield at 130-165fps with a big list of nice mods and I’ll be forever thankful that I can do that. Console exclusives are the worst.

You can play Persona and Final Fantasy on PC with a playstation controller in 2023 which I personally think is amazing.


Consoles are good for people who, understandably, don't want to spend €1500.

 

[Woopah]

I hope its a secret because its some bangers and not a secret simply because there's nothing happening until say June or so as we could use a decent show sooner

Sony had their 2023 showcase already, I don't think we see the next one until summer 2024. Havign said that, I do think we get a State of Play in Q1 2024 and I expect it to include Sony-published games (even if they are already announced ones).

 

[Bernoulli]

Edit it wasn't spain

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

In spain according to this Spanish pictures they are removing xbox from the shelves and replacing them with hair straighteners in store

That is some sort of outlet mall where people rent booths and throw anything in any kind of display case possible

 

[Bernoulli]

That is some sort of outlet mall where people rent booths and throw anything in any kind of display case possible

No, that's how our stores are in europe
If you go to a big Shop that sell food electronics and everything
Electronics is locked in booths like that and sometimes they only have a paper and you have to ask the guy to bring it from the worehouse

 

[kruis]

No, that's how our stores are in europe
If you go to a big Shop that sell food electronics and everything
Electronics is locked in booths like that and sometimes they only have a paper and you have to ask the guy to bring it from the worehouse

I hope they really clean any electronic goods stored in a whorehouse.

 

[radewagon]

Just be thankful that PC is a solution, stop trying to make it seem like a bad strategy. I’m playing Starfield at 130-165fps with a big list of nice mods and I’ll be forever thankful that I can do that. Console exclusives are the worst.

Didn't intend to make PC seem like a bad solution. PC is great. It's even a good strategy for console exclusives. If they're released a good while after the console versions, they don't even cannibalize the sales. The point I was making is more to do with MS being dumb for not pursuing exclusives because of what it does to the xbox brand. You said it yourself that the experience you are getting on Starfield on PC is better than what's available on the Series consoles. While that is understandably great, it's a terrible way to convince people to buy a console. Console exclusives may "suck" but, like it or not, they're a necessary part of the console business model.

 

[Painskiller]

Wait, since when China started making game consoles?

So McDonald's is enough to make you forget about history. Sad.
PS. Most of the components in your Xbox are manufactured in China. Boom!

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

In spain according to this Spanish pictures they are removing xbox from the shelves and replacing them with hair straighteners in store

That was in Brazil not in Spain If I'm correct.

 

[GHG]

What does "other platforms" have in common with "and more"?

 

[VAVA Mk2]

Wait for E3

We hear this every year

 

[noise36]

For sure. But I think theres more to it than just PC day one access, at least there is for me. I have no doubt a lot of people buy consoles for simplicity and love the faff free nature of it all. Even if PC's didn't have access to Redfall, Starfield and Forza etc. I still think the Xbox console would be struggling. I think the issues go beyond platform exclusivity, even though that is a factor.

The model is so basic.

Make games people want.

Make people buy your box to play game.

Sell boxes and games.

Nintendo and Sony do it and sell lots of boxes, MS doesn't and shock horror doesn't sell as many boxes.

The unfortunate thing is that MS approach is the most pro consumer, lowest cost and most options to play, its just not very successful or profitable for MS.

Nintendo and Sony treat their customers like crap in comparison but their strategy brings in the profits.

 

[SimTourist]

We hear this every year

 

[Unknown Soldier]

They'll hurt COD more than PlayStation AND it is a breach of contract for the next 10 years.

Realistically, they couldn't give less of a shit about the contracts, they would breach them in a nanosecond if they thought they could get away with it.

The problem isn't Sony or Nintendo, they couldn't care less if Sony or Nintendo sued them for breach of contract. The problem is the government regulators who were already breathing down their necks the last 2 years while they were trying to get the acquisition of ABK over the finish line. You can bet your ass that the regulators would be all over MS with antitrust investigations if they broke the contracts now and took CoD exclusive, and MS doesn't want a repeat of the late 1990's.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

Realistically, they couldn't give less of a shit about the contracts, they would breach them in a nanosecond if they thought they could get away with it.

The problem isn't Sony or Nintendo, they couldn't care less if Sony or Nintendo sued them for breach of contract. The problem is the government regulators who were already breathing down their necks the last 2 years while they were trying to get the acquisition of ABK over the finish line. You can bet your ass that the regulators would be all over MS with antitrust investigations if they broke the contracts now and took CoD exclusive, and MS doesn't want a repeat of the late 1990's.

If they thought they could get away, sure. They know they can't, and that's why they won't try.

 

[Fredrik]

Except it IS a bad strategy if the goal is to move more Xbox units.

Like you I played I played Starfield on PC instead of that 30 fps console.

Yes they would sell more consoles if everything was exclusive to Xbox and if there were no PC versions.

But do we really want Microsoft to go that route? Why would anybody want that??

Their PC strategy is great! And it hurts nobody. Games just get a bigger userbase and there is a solution for those who want better performance and visuals and mods, through Steam Deck and ROG Ally etc we get handheld gaming too.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

i just heard jez corden cope argument about it

 

[Fredrik]

Didn't intend to make PC seem like a bad solution. PC is great. It's even a good strategy for console exclusives. If they're released a good while after the console versions, they don't even cannibalize the sales. The point I was making is more to do with MS being dumb for not pursuing exclusives because of what it does to the xbox brand. You said it yourself that the experience you are getting on Starfield on PC is better than what's available on the Series consoles. While that is understandably great, it's a terrible way to convince people to buy a console. Console exclusives may "suck" but, like it or not, they're a necessary part of the console business model.

Fortunately Microsoft isn’t just focused on the console business model.
As said above, of course they would sell more consoles if every game they do from now on would be exclusive to Xbox, and no PC versions announced until after a year or whatever. We know it works.
But nobody should want that. Not even share-holders. PC gaming is a big platform and it’s growing and now we have handheld PCs too, their PC strategy is literally one of few genuinely good things in the hobby right now. So much else is just about putting up walls and push users into bubbles, but on PC they’re ripping down walls and it’s awesome.

 

[TheBomb]

Amazon just sold out of their PlayStation 5 Black Friday sale.

 

[Rhazkul]

Spain : Week 46 (Nov 13 - Nov 19)

PS5 32,000
NSW 6,000
PS Portal 5,700
X|S 2,000

Wow, that's abysmal for MS. I wonder how it's split between X and S. I guess nobody buys the S at all. 70-30? Same for PS Digital and Disk Edition. Any guesses?

 

[magnumpy]

remember that only 4.23% of the total world population is contained in the US

it's not that the US is irrelevant, it's relevancy is approximately 4.23%. ~4.3% if you want to be charitable.

 

[Alan Wake]

Three years in both PS5 and Xbox Series X/S have been OK regarding new exclusive content but not more for me personally. Both are great pieces of hardware and Game Pass is awesome. 2023 has been an amazing year to be a gamer but my best experiences have all been multiplatform.

 

[Alan Wake]

remember that only 4.23% of the total world population is contained in the US

it's not that the US is irrelevant, it's relevancy is approximately 4.23%. ~4.3% if you want to be charitable.

Population alone is a pretty worthless metric here.

 

[Ar¢tos]

That is some sort of outlet mall where people rent booths and throw anything in any kind of display case possible

But many stores are drastically reducing the display space for Xbox. The biggest electronic store in my region has 3 or 4 Xbox items in the bottom shelf of one of the shelves of the Nintendo corridor.
While Playstation has 2 entire corridors.

In a medium size store there is only a sign for Xbox in the console section, you need to ask at the desk and they'll get whatever it is you want from the back (console, controllers, etc).

 

[Alan Wake]

But many stores are drastically reducing the display space for Xbox. The biggest electronic store in my region has 3 or 4 Xbox items in the bottom shelf of one of the shelves of the Nintendo corridor.
While Playstation has 2 entire corridors.

In a medium size store there is only a sign for Xbox in the console section, you need to ask at the desk and they'll get whatever it is you want from the back (console, controllers, etc).

Feels a bit like when looking for games as a Wii U or Sega Saturn owner.

 

[Thirty7ven]

But many stores are drastically reducing the display space for Xbox. The biggest electronic store in my region has 3 or 4 Xbox items in the bottom shelf of one of the shelves of the Nintendo corridor.
While Playstation has 2 entire corridors.

In a medium size store there is only a sign for Xbox in the console section, you need to ask at the desk and they'll get whatever it is you want from the back (console, controllers, etc).

What’s the point of dedicating shelf space to Xbox when the hardware barely moves and people don’t come back to buy games in store?

 

[Astray]

This has to be a joke, Xbox management has been terrible at predicting the direction and timing of the market for the vast majority of Xbox history. Looking at the emails around PS5 announcement they haven't foreseen shit.

One of the strangest things is watching Phil Spencer incisively describe the problem with AAA gaming in an email that mainly focuses on publishers like Bethesda and Activision, the analysis is incisive and absolutely to the point.

Reading it you would expect that a person who understands the long-term problems of traditional AAA publishers would try to use Microsoft's energies and monies to find a way around it.

Instead his solution is to buy both companies and try to milk properties that have already been milked to death, he essentially bought their problems and added them to his own when you think about it.

Somehow both smart enough to see the issue, yet dumb enough to pay billions to inherit the problems of 2 of the big 3 of the US market.

 

[Ar¢tos]

One of the strangest things is watching Phil Spencer incisively describe the problem with AAA gaming in an email that mainly focuses on publishers like Bethesda and Activision, the analysis is incisive and absolutely to the point.

Reading it you would expect that a person who understands the long-term problems of traditional AAA publishers would try to use Microsoft's energies and monies to find a way around it.

Instead his solution is to buy both companies and try to milk properties that have already been milked to death, he essentially bought their problems and added them to his own when you think about it.

Somehow both smart enough to see the issue, yet dumb enough to pay billions to inherit the problems of 2 of the big 3 of the US market.

True, Overwatch is dead , COD is not in the best state at the moment and Diablo is made for whales now.
But ATK might still be worth it in the long term just for the mobile money.

 

[Astray]

True, Overwatch is dead , COD is not in the best state at the moment and Diablo is made for whales now.
But ATK might still be worth it in the long term just for the mobile money.

So worth it only for 1/3rd of the company?

Also mobile games are at more regulation risk than console because much more of it is meant to be hyper addictive f2p fare.

 

[Ar¢tos]

So worth it only for 1/3rd of the company?

Also mobile games are at more regulation risk than console because much more of it is meant to be hyper addictive f2p fare.

In 30 years, when Xbox makes 71bn from King, Spencer will jump from his wheelchair and shout "I was right and nobody believed me!"

 

[knguyen]

So McDonald's is enough to make you forget about history. Sad.
PS. Most of the components in your Xbox are manufactured in China. Boom!

you must be born in northern Vietnam then? if you were, then I understand, you people like to live in the past. Also, you completely misunderstood my point when I said "Don't you come up in here with your reasoned argument". about the Xbox.

 

[Mozza]

They'll hurt COD more than PlayStation AND it is a breach of contract for the next 10 years.

There are many ways around this, Microsoft could go with timed exclusivity, Like Sony have done many times, of course nobody complained about that.

 

[SimTourist]

Maybe Microsoft needs to buy their own consoles to boost the numbers. 300$ x 100,000,000 = 30,000,000,000. Only 30 billion to brag about 100 million consoles sold, not that much honestly.

 

[Mowcno]

There are many ways around this, Microsoft could go with timed exclusivity, Like Sony have done many times, of course nobody complained about that.

No they can't.

 

[buenoblue]

I said this last gen and I'll say it this gen. Just put full widows 11 on the series x with full mouse and keyboard support. just a standard PC that can play steam and epic games plus Xbox game support. Maybe bring out an air mouse controller like the LG tvs have

A £500 gaming PC that you can do all the productivity and media stuff on would be amazing value. Microsoft have the hardware and the software ready to go.

I think it would sell gangbusters.

 

[sono]

Why though

 

[Fredrik]

Maybe Microsoft needs to buy their own consoles to boost the numbers. 300$ x 100,000,000 = 30,000,000,000. Only 30 billion to brag about 100 million consoles sold, not that much honestly.

Lol 4D Chess move. Could do it with just 10 million and ”win” the Christmas period. And request NPD to add controllers to console sales too and make a couple new ones with Christmas theme, and claim Xbox family devices increased 500% in sales. Ho Ho

 

[Giallo Corsa]

I said this last gen and I'll say it this gen. Just put full widows 11 on the series x with full mouse and keyboard support. just a standard PC that can play steam and epic games plus Xbox game support. Maybe bring out an air mouse controller like the LG tvs have

A £500 gaming PC that you can do all the productivity and media stuff on would be amazing value. Microsoft have the hardware and the software ready to go.

I think it would sell gangbusters.

Not that it would ever happen but i'd re-buy an XSX in a heartbeat

 

[Diddy X]

Honestly the difference is not that big, it's just a matter of MS starting to give a fuck about actually selling consoles outside of US and UK, advertize it, etc

 

[Topher]

I said this last gen and I'll say it this gen. Just put full widows 11 on the series x with full mouse and keyboard support. just a standard PC that can play steam and epic games plus Xbox game support. Maybe bring out an air mouse controller like the LG tvs have

A £500 gaming PC that you can do all the productivity and media stuff on would be amazing value. Microsoft have the hardware and the software ready to go.

I think it would sell gangbusters.

No way it would cost $500. Microsoft isn't going to sell a Windows PC at a loss. More like $1000, minimum, just for it to be worth their time.

 

[Topher]

There are many ways around this, Microsoft could go with timed exclusivity, Like Sony have done many times, of course nobody complained about that.

Microsoft have utilized timed exclusivity plenty of times. And plenty of people have complained about timed exclusivity regardless of which company did it.

 

[jroc74]

Microsoft have utilized timed exclusivity plenty of times. And plenty of people have complained about timed exclusivity regardless of which company did it.

I dont know why some ppl continue to bring that up...like MS wasnt the king of timed exclusivity with the 360. Sony had its share too with the PS3, just not as much.

That Sony now has the leverage to do it or they just wanna do it more with the PS4 and PS5...now its bad?

Please. I also lost count of how many Series console 3rd party games that magically get a PS5 version announced months later. As in it was an unknown timed exclusive....

 

[Humdinger]

Is this worse than it was last gen? I remember ratios of about 3 or 4 to 1 in many of these European countries, last gen. Seems about the same this time around. Maybe a bit worse?

 

[Topher]

I dont know why some ppl continue to bring that up...like MS wasnt the king of timed exclusivity with the 360. Sony had its share too with the PS3, just not as much.

That Sony now has the leverage to do it or they just wanna do it more with the PS4 and PS5...now its bad?

Please. I also lost count of how many Series console 3rd party games that magically get a PS5 version announced months later. As in it was an unknown timed exclusive....

Yep. Don't get me wrong. I hate the practice. But folks need to stop pretending this shit only happens one way.

And this constant bullshit mantra that no one ever complains when Sony does shitty stuff is beyond hilarious.

 

[waquzy]

Xbox 360 was huge in Europe.

Too bad they fucked up the most important generation of all, the one after 360.

This.

Xbox One and the introduction of "Always Online" crap killed the Xbox brand, it has never fully recovered...

 

[Unknown?]

Realistically, they couldn't give less of a shit about the contracts, they would breach them in a nanosecond if they thought they could get away with it.

The problem isn't Sony or Nintendo, they couldn't care less if Sony or Nintendo sued them for breach of contract. The problem is the government regulators who were already breathing down their necks the last 2 years while they were trying to get the acquisition of ABK over the finish line. You can bet your ass that the regulators would be all over MS with antitrust investigations if they broke the contracts now and took CoD exclusive, and MS doesn't want a repeat of the late 1990's.

The regulators didn't go after them after they broke their word about Bethesda. They won't do crap except a slap on the wrist fine.

 

[SenkiDala]

Is this worse than it was last gen? I remember ratios of about 3 or 4 to 1 in many of these European countries, last gen. Seems about the same this time around. Maybe a bit worse?

Yes it sadly is, at least in France the ratio was between 70/30 and 80/20 for the PS4 and now it's 93/7 for the PS5.

I still know people who has XS consoles, 2 who has XSX and 1 who has a XSS. XSS is quite popular among players and to hardcore gamers yes Xbox is not unpopular, just less popular than PS, just because PS 1st and 3rd party games are more popular (because they are better games and also more famous IPs, both are true) but if MS start to releases games that appeal people I don't see why people wouldn't buy Xbox.

For the release of Starfield I was quite surprised to see a noticable increase of interest for the Xbox on the "French Twitter" many people buying Xbox Series X just for it, and even XSS since it's very cheap and running Starfield very well in 1440p.

Sometimes I'm hard on Xbox but the 1st reason about it is the FUCKING SHITTY management of the brand in Europe, honestly if in the comming months / years we heard that from the begining all the European Leaders of the Xbox Brand were in fact paid by Sony or Nintendo I wouldn't be surprised, because that's how bad they are.

Recently since 2 weeks (yeah in France we took your Black Friday thing except that it starts around the 10th of November and last until the end of the week end of the real black friday) there were huge deals on Xbox (on PS5 too though) like 360€/399€ for the XSX pack with Diablo IV and CODMWIII for free, or XSS without any games but prices at 229/219€ and with a coupon for 3 months of XGP.

I mean wtf even if you're quite broke you can have a 4x payment with PayPal or through Amazon.fr, it'll be like 55€ for 4 months and then you OWN THE MACHINE forever, for a kid from the 1990s like me it's such a bargain and reminds me the 99€ GameCube. After this you either pay 15€ for GamePass (it's cheaper than Netflix anyway). That's SUCH a good deal to play games with decent graphics and for teenagers who can just afford a random 1080p or 1440p monitor it's awesome.

But no, Xbox France made no advertise about it. Just 1 tweet to say the deal was also available on their official website but that's all. They could do so much more...

I know they're all in for the Gamepass and honestly it's an awesome deal that offers the GP but PEOPLE WON'T ALL FUCKING SWITCH TO THE CLOUD IN THE COMING MONTHS OR YEARS IT WILL TAKE AT LEAST A DECADE TO BECOME POPULAR. YOU. NEED. TO. SELL. XBOX. CONSOLES. And if they count on PC gamers lol people prefer buy Steam versions of the GP games because PCs gamers for the majority of them just love to have all their games in the same place (Steam) and with all the functionality it has.

I'm very passionate about this subject but it's because I love Xbox (as I love PS and Nintendo machines) and the XSX/XSS are both awesome consoles and Xbox Europe is like not even trying.

Because of course for the mass market exclusives are important too, obviously. But that is not all, even if MS still need some months / years to have their "New MS Studios" working at a good pace, multisupport games 95% of the games that are sold. Look at some of the best games of 2023 :
- Dead Space remake
- Resident Evil 4 remake
- Street Fighter 6
- Harry Potter
- Cyberpunk Phantom Liberty
- Diablo IV
- Alan Wake II
- Jedi Survivor
- Sea of Stars
- Cocoon
- Armored Core VI
- Lies of P
- Amnesia The Bunker
- AC Mirage
- Wo Long
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Persona 5 Tactica
- Chants of Sennaar
- Jusant
- Baldur's Gate III (coming very soon on Xbox)

All those games are on Xbox, so saying there's nothing to play on Xbox is a lie, with exclusives functionalities like Quick Resume (the best functionality of a console since a long time) with the Gamepass full of games to play... Xbox are great consoles to own and play on... But the marketing sucks.