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[SEGAvangelist]

Although this deserves a separate thread, this shows why Xbox is making these moves. Hi-Fi Rush accounted for less than 1% of engagement in 2023 - despite being available on Game Pass.

Yeah, it's a niche single-player game. Engagement shouldn't be high.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Most MS first party games i dont care about.

But if any old Gears games go on PS or Nintendo, try them out if you never played them. Pure meathead shooter, but the key thing is the slip sliding cover system which you'll be hiding behind tons of 90 degree concrete blocks. It's inane, but a blood splattering good time. Being good at grenade tossing is tough even when it shows an arc. They dont go far like COD where you can throw a football field away. Game gets repetitive so dont burn yourself out playing Gears 1. So if the backlog includes many Gears games, just start with Gears 3. Dont worry about the story. It's space marines vs. aliens where you kill everything that moves.

Got to play Gears 1 or 2 around 2010 or 2011 with friends one time. I liked it but the controller was too different for my tastes. So better going to Gears 3 and not the older ones? Thanks for the advice.

 

[Darsxx82]

No, in that situation this is what I say:

 

[GloveSlap]

I'd be happy if they put MCC on everything. Get that Halo 3 population up.

 

[Punished Miku]

Best Sony CEO ever goes to...

Phil Spencer!

 

[Heisenberg007]

Yeah, it's a niche single-player game. Engagement shouldn't be high.

Do you think it should be in 207th position on Xbox? I bet nearly half of those 206 games will be single-player games.

Not to mention that this is a (1) first-party exclusive, (2) launched on Game Pass, and (3) launched at a time of Xbox exclusive drought. It absolutely must have scored in the top 100, at least.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Most MS first party games i dont care about.

But if any old Gears games go on PS or Nintendo, try them out if you never played them. Pure meathead shooter, but the key thing is the slip sliding cover system which you'll be hiding behind tons of 90 degree concrete blocks. It's inane, but a blood splattering good time. Being good at grenade tossing is tough even when it shows an arc. They dont go far like COD where you can throw a football field away. Game gets repetitive so dont burn yourself out playing Gears 1. So if the backlog includes many Gears games, just start with Gears 3. Dont worry about the story. It's space marines vs. aliens where you kill everything that moves.

But I want to experience all the homoerotic macho bromance!
I can't start with the 3rd game.

 

[THE DUCK]

Ah the classic response of someone proven wrong already. You don't understand what you are talking about so do what people do in this situation.

Explain exactly how I was proven wrong.
Fact: Ps now had no local games until 2019
Fact: Gamepass launched in 2017 with local games

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Got to play Gears 1 or 2 around 2010 or 2011 with friends one time. I liked it but the controller was too different for my tastes. So better going to Gears 3 and not the older ones? Thanks for the advice.

Ya. Just start with 3. The games play so similar you'll get burn out if all of them were unleashed at once. Gears 3 has a survival Horde mode too.

 

[GHG]

Most MS first party games i dont care about.

But if any old Gears games go on PS or Nintendo, try them out if you never played them. Pure meathead shooter, but the key thing is the slip sliding cover system which you'll be hiding behind tons of 90 degree concrete blocks. It's inane, but a blood splattering good time. Being good at grenade tossing is tough even when it shows an arc. They dont go far like COD where you can throw a football field away. Game gets repetitive so dont burn yourself out playing Gears 1. So if the backlog includes many Gears games, just start with Gears 3. Dont worry about the story. It's space marines vs. aliens where you kill everything that moves.

The gears gameplay loop has become very stale over time, and there are other games that have evolved the formula.

 

[Astray]

No, he mentioned both. He said "first party experiences and subscription services."



He said it in the context that "Xbox console audience is not growing" and that Microsoft wants to drive "high-margin sales on PlayStation and Nintendo." (Source)

This was said during Wells Fargo Investors Conference. Full recording here: https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1643204&tp_key=6a9bad458f

You are more familiar with this than me so I might be wrong, but iirc, he referred to PS/Nintendo sales as "low-margin" for ABK games (because they pay %30 to the platform holders) and Xbox-based sales as "high-margin" because they keep %100.

 

[LostDonkey]

Halo Co Op on PS5 with a dualsense.

I'm in.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Do you think it should be in 207th position on Xbox? I bet nearly half of those 206 games will be single-player games.

Not to mention that this is a (1) first-party exclusive, (2) launched on Game Pass, and (3) launched at a time of Xbox exclusive drought. It absolutely must have scored in the top 100, at least.

It was also a shadow drop. Do we know the highest position it has ever been? 207 is low of course, but the game has been out for almost a year.

EDIT: I just looked back at the TrueAchievements most-played lists and it look like it peaked at 11th place.

 

[Heisenberg007]

You are more familiar with this than me so I might be wrong, but iirc, he referred to PS/Nintendo sales as "low-margin" for ABK games (because they pay %30 to the platform holders) and Xbox-based sales as "high-margin" because they keep %100.

He did. And if they port games like Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves and others on Nintendo and PlayStation, those would also be high-margin games on PS and Nintendo. That's the direction they are thinking in now, i.e., high-margin first-party Xbox games on PlayStation and Nintendo.

 

[Astray]

Sea of Thieves is getting further corroboration..

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Although this deserves a separate thread, this shows why Xbox is making these moves. Hi-Fi Rush accounted for less than 1% of engagement in 2023 - despite being available on Game Pass.

I guess there's a lot more Xbox systems out there than I thought.

 

[Astray]

I guess there's a lot more Xbox systems out there than I thought.

This is across PC (Steam+PCGP) and xCloud as well, not just Xbox consoles.

 

[GHG]

I guess there's a lot more Xbox systems out there than I thought.

300 million Xbox consoles.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Sea of Thieves is getting further corroboration..

Makes sense.

Sony is hurting ramping up their GAAS games and Destiny is bombing. It's a win win for SoT to go on PS systems. PS gamers play a game that has legs, while Sony and MS both make cuts on mtx revenue.

 

[Mr Moose]

I guess there's a lot more Xbox systems out there than I thought.

PC.

 

[Astray]

Sony is hurting ramping up their GAAS games and Destiny is bombing. It's a win win for SoT to go on PS systems. PS gamers play a game that has legs, while Sony and MS both make cuts on mtx revenue.

I think it depends on how much traction SoT gets with PS players (I'm guessing Switch would have more adoption tbh).

 

[StreetsofBeige]

This is across PC (Steam+PCGP) and xCloud as well, not just Xbox consoles.

Game is barely played on PC.

https://steamdb.info/app/1817230/charts/

 

[skneogaf]

Makes sense, part of game pass or if you don't want an xbox or pc you can buy the games on your playstation or Nintendo.

 

[GHG]

Game is barely played on PC.

https://steamdb.info/app/1817230/charts/

Wait, you're serious?

Do you need someone to explain to you how that 1% engagement statistic is calculated?

 

[Mr Moose]

Game is barely played on PC.

https://steamdb.info/app/1817230/charts/

There's 4 different sources of players. Xbox, Xbox GP, PC, PC GP. On Xbox (inc. GP) it was less than 1% in 2023 US.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Wait, you're serious?

Do you need someone to explain to you how that 1% engagement statistic is calculated?

So whats the calculation? What is known is less than 1% engagement on Xbox, a Tweet saying 3M total gamers have played it, and PC's game usage is hardly anything.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

So Xbox is just supposed to forfeit their place for some poor sap who can't even begin to compete?? That's not how this works. Stadia already tried. Amazon isn't doing too well these days either.

Some gamers are just too invested in seeing Xbox leave the gaming space for......reasons, I guess?

You didn't hear me. Xbox would never have even existed if SEGA is still here. You only get to be here because someone else left.

I have no idea why you keep insisting it is normal for a business to hang on by the generosity of the parent company. That is not how you run any kind of business.

 

[Mr Moose]

So whats the calculation? What is known is less than 1% engagement on Xbox, a Tweet saying 3M total gamers have played it, and PC's game usage is hardly anything.

In the US 2023*

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

I think we will have a lot of viewers in the upcoming Developer Direct. Nintendo, Playstation and Xbox folks looking at their future games

 

[Klayzer]

I wonder what's Phil take on these rumors. He's unusually quiet for someone who has an opinion on literally everything else.

 

[GHG]

So whats the calculation? What is known is less than 1% engagement on Xbox, a Tweet saying 3M total gamers have played it, and PC's game usage is hardly anything.

The engagement statistic is made up from the total amount of time played across the ecosystem for the year.

I believe this particular one is only applicable for whatever regions the NPD covers.

 

[Shin-Ra]

Rename it “Ugly Pirates Pretty Waves Simulator 2024” before making some proper Nintendo-era Rare games again.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

The engagement statistic is made up from the total amount of time played across the ecosystem for the year.

I believe this particular one is only applicable for whatever regions the NPD covers.

Is it time played or just whether someone has played it or not? The tweet has Mat talking about % of people who have played a game on US Xbox Series console.

 

[Famipan]

I really wish PS5 also gets the Ori 1 & 2 Collection.
I have long been asking for Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment before! HFR even has BUILT-IN PS-button support hidden in the game files lol!

Also, please release a Microsoft Motocross Madness and Monster Truck Madness collection on PS5. That would be so cool!

 

[Nydius]

Do you think it should be in 207th position on Xbox? I bet nearly half of those 206 games will be single-player games.

Not to mention that this is a (1) first-party exclusive, (2) launched on Game Pass, and (3) launched at a time of Xbox exclusive drought. It absolutely must have scored in the top 100, at least.

To add to this, although I know it's not the best of metrics...

According to the Xbox achievement list (from Xbox themselves, not a third party site) which, IIRC, includes all Xbox platforms and PC via the Microsoft Store:

• Less than 50% of players beat the first boss (Start with a Bang; 49.02%)
• Only 16% of players reached the midway point (The Negotiator; 15.74%)
• Only 8% beat the game on normal (Well that was a rush!; 7.78%), a little over 2% on Hard (I think I deserve some praise, here!; 2.24%), a little over 1% on Easy (Easy Listening; 1.21%); and less than half a percent on very hard (And the crowd goes wild!; 0.45%)

For all the chest pounding by the Xbox faithful about how great the game is, how it should have been in the GOTY race, how it was an amazing example of Microsoft capitalizing on their acquisitions, half of the people who downloaded it couldn't be bothered to beat the first boss... on a game that was dropped day one on Game Pass.

These achievement stats are plain embarrassing.

 

[Mr Moose]

HFR even has BUILT-IN PS-button support hidden in the game files lol!

Is that because of PC or because they were originally making it for PS?
I fucking hate it when I get Xbox controller prompts when using DualSense on my PC Where's the A button?

 

[Astray]

I wonder what's Phil take on these rumors. He's unusually quiet for someone who has an opinion on literally everything else.

I think a lot of this isn't something he's personally happy with, it's basically MS low-key admitting that his strategy for this gen has failed hugely.

Wouldn't be surprised to see him leave the company at some point tbh.

 

[GHG]

Is it time played or just whether someone has played it or not? The tweet has Mat talking about % of people who have played a game on US Xbox Series console.

No, its time:

Take your games analysis to the next level with the Player Engagement Tracker

Check out 4 ways to leverage real-time monitoring of player activity

www.npd.com

Unless you seriously want to believe there are hundreds of millions of Series consoles out there and all the sales data is a lie?

What you're suggesting is that it's 1% of the userbase, which would mean 300 million users.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I think we will have a lot of viewers in the upcoming Developer Direct. Nintendo, Playstation and Xbox folks looking at their future games

Assuming Stephen's report is correct, and the timelines haven't changed, Sea of Thieves is expected to launch on PS5 in early 2024.

We may actually get an announcement and a PS5 trailer + release date in this month's rumored Xbox Developer Direct

 

[Dane]

I didn't forget, I actually mentioned the revenue from those royalties. As I mentioned, those are worthless with a massively shrinking userbase.

When that revenue becomes smaller and smaller, they'll end up having to layoff staff and close studios. It's a much better long term bet to pivot on your own means.

Except that you need a severe shirinking userbase, not a a margin of float, to this day and future, it is worth to keep going. You need to stop thinking about "first or bust" as the only viable option.

 

[havoc00]

I think MS would be smart if they treated Japan as a third party market. They've had console failure after console failure there. Might as well maximize revenue and profits and eliminate costs.

Release all Xbox Series S games on Switch 2 (exclusively in Japan).

The Switch 2 will be significantly more powerful than Switch 1, even just natively, based on Nintendo patterns (Wii U was a huge upgrade over Wii, which was a minor upgrade over GameCube, which was a huge upgrade over N64, etc). But factoring in dlss 2.1 or more and suddenly the Switch 2 will probably be able to play Series S versions of games with some minor adjustments.

Why sell 10,000 copies of a AAA games when you could ditch the hardware for the region and sell 2.5 million copies of the game?

 

[GHG]

I think MS would be smart if they treated Japan as a third party market. They've had console failure after console failure there. Might as well maximize revenue and profits and eliminate costs.

Release all Xbox Series S games on Switch 2 (exclusively in Japan).

The Switch 2 will be significantly more powerful than Switch 1, even just natively, based on Nintendo patterns (Wii U was a huge upgrade over Wii, which was a minor upgrade over GameCube, which was a huge upgrade over N64, etc). But factoring in dlss 2.1 or more and suddenly the Switch 2 will probably be able to play Series S versions of games with some minor adjustments.

Why sell 10,000 copies of a AAA games when you could ditch the hardware for the region and sell 2.5 million copies of the game?

One big problem with this idea - The games they make are tailored towards western audiences and western audiences alone.

And that (along with their marketing/localisation issues) is why they have failed in Japan. The games they make are not games that typically resonate with the Japanese market. Theres nothing to suggest that the Japanese public are suddenly going to be interested in or even purchase Microsoft's 1st party games just because they are available on the Switch.

Nothing they have is selling 2.5 million copies in Japan.

 

[havoc00]

One big problem with this idea - The games they make are tailored towards western audiences and western audiences alone.

And that (along with their marketing/localisation issues) is why they have failed in Japan. The games they make are not games that typically resonate with the Japanese market. Theres nothing to suggest that the Japanese public are suddenly going to be interested in or even purchase Microsoft's 1st party games just because they are available on the Switch.

Nothing they have is selling 2.5 million copies in Japan.

Phil needs to answer this mans call

 

[GHG]

Phil needs to answer this mans call

I think he needs to stop wearing branded t-shirts and taking greenberg with him on his trips over there first.

 

[CatLady]

Although this deserves a separate thread, this shows why Xbox is making these moves. Hi-Fi Rush accounted for less than 1% of engagement in 2023 - despite being available on Game Pass.

You are SO desperate to report on anything possibly negative about Xbox aren't you. No it doesn't deserve a separate a separate thread. There are already 2 threads about Hi-Fi rush going to Nintendo, why don't you just include it in one of those threads?

Are you going to give us hourly reports on any and all rumors no matter how unreliable the source about Xbox games being ported or Xbox going 3rd party like you did with Starfield Steam reviews?

 

[Horseganador]

 

[CatLady]

Sorry double post

 

[GHG]

Are you going to give us hourly reports on any and all rumors no matter how unreliable the source about Xbox games being ported or Xbox going 3rd party like you did with Starfield Steam reviews?

That reminds me, we're well overdue an update there.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

That reminds me, we're well overdue an update there.

Call and he shall answer

 

[DJ12]

Explain exactly how I was proven wrong.
Fact: Ps now had no local games until 2019
Fact: Gamepass launched in 2017 with local games

Fact that's not what you said, like I said.

Your words, and I paraphrase as cannot be bothered to find the page it was on is gamepass was the first subscription service.

When proven wrong, shock horror, goal posts got moved.