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Will Microsoft’s acquisitions improve market share?

RCU005

Member
I remember when Microsoft first announced they would be entering the gaming industry with the Xbox, many people thought they would ruin the industry because they would just buy studios instead of making their own games.

In the 360 generation, Microsoft was bully in terms of making Sony lose exclusivity and/or paying for exclusives. This was the strongest generation for Microsoft, however Sony turned out to do a good job and were neck to neck at the end.

If you notice, the 360 was a huge success at the expense of Sony making huge mistakes with the PS3, and the PS4 was a huge success at the expense of Microsoft making huge mistakes with the Xbox One.

I wonder if all these recent acquisitions would actually help Microsoft gain market share. Sony does an incredible job with their own exclusives, as well as Nintendo. I fear that these acquisitions turn out to be a restriction for gamers to play these games el anywhere, more than making people actually buy an Xbox console.

Of course, for Xbox owners, this is a huge deal because they will have these games on Game Pass. However, Microsoft needs to entice people to buy into their ecosystem. Even though the Series X/S are the best selling consoles for them, they are still low on market share.

I’m interested in knowing how many people buy PlayStation for CoD (for example), that will “have” to buy an Xbox because they don’t care as long as they play their favorite game.

IMO, as things are now, these acquisitions seem just a good deal for people that are already Xbox owners. For me personally, what would make me buy an Xbox are new IPs. Also, I believe many of third party games (specially Activition games) were played more in Xbox already.

What do you think this will turn out? Will there be a switch in market share this generation, or will it be noticeable until the next one?

Please comment, make your predictions or just state your opinions. Thanks!
 

MonarchJT

Banned
from 20 to 30% of course it will.
When all the studios will start to pump out the exclusive constantly (and should begin to happen from 2022) people will notice the effect of acquisitions more than before. imagine if Sony hadn't signed contracts before the acquisitions in the last few months ms would have Halo Infinite, Psychonauts 2, Forza Horizon 5, Death loop ... pretty much a game every month and a half
This November and December the NDP and PC game sales have shown how much the MS offer is pleasing to people and the gamepass word of mouth has now started.
If you add that you play as Starfield, Hellblade, ES, Gears, Cod, etc etc they will be exclusive ... and all put on gamepass you will understand for yourself what could happen
 

Riky

$MSFT
Microsoft have new IP as well, they are attacking this from multiple angles. Starfield, Avowed, Redfall and Contraband for starters.
Then you get the likes of Perfect Dark coming back and a low cost entry point with Series S.
Of course all this will generate more revenue and market share.
 
Each game announced is a potential player conversion. For some people, they'll jump on Halo. Some will jump on Call of Duty. Some will jump on a good E3 showing. Some will jump on improved services, like GP. Some will jump on value / pricing. Some people will jump on backwards compatibility.

It's just a bunch of tiny cracks in a dam. Each one adds a little more water to the pool.

All you can say is that they're making multiple correct decisions and few bad decisions. The market will decide the rest.
 

Robb

Gold Member
Sure, I’d imagine they’re going to leverage all of these purchases in order to gain market share over time. Especially in regards to streaming/services.

To me the whole point seems to be to be able to provide a steady stream of AAA content to GamePass.
 

Markio128

Member
It doesn’t matter how many IPs you own, if they all end up being tripe. I’m not saying for one minute that this will be the case, but I’m hesitant to believe that all of these acquisitions will lead to nothing but a plethora of quality games. MS purchased Rare, who were the Nintendo poster boys, pumping out Nintendo IP level quality games. Under MS they have arguably released one successful game in Sea of Thieves. With Bethesda, there is Starfield (unknown) Fallout and TES that will no doubt be quality, but the rest most can live without. Then comes Activision/Blizzard, where only COD is still a big thing.

Also, it is going to be really difficult to manage so many teams, to ensure quality products. And if the majority of gamers jump to Xbox because they swallow up all of the IPs in gaming, then where is the competition to keep you on top of your game? That’s my only concern.
 

Rudius

Member
It would if they made the games exclusive, even if for a limited, but significant time.

But with everything day one on PC I don't think much will change.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
I remember when Microsoft first announced they would be entering the gaming industry with the Xbox, many people thought they would ruin the industry because they would just buy studios instead of making their own games.

In the 360 generation, Microsoft was bully in terms of making Sony lose exclusivity and/or paying for exclusives. This was the strongest generation for Microsoft, however Sony turned out to do a good job and were neck to neck at the end.

If you notice, the 360 was a huge success at the expense of Sony making huge mistakes with the PS3, and the PS4 was a huge success at the expense of Microsoft making huge mistakes with the Xbox One.

I wonder if all these recent acquisitions would actually help Microsoft gain market share. Sony does an incredible job with their own exclusives, as well as Nintendo. I fear that these acquisitions turn out to be a restriction for gamers to play these games el anywhere, more than making people actually buy an Xbox console.

Of course, for Xbox owners, this is a huge deal because they will have these games on Game Pass. However, Microsoft needs to entice people to buy into their ecosystem. Even though the Series X/S are the best selling consoles for them, they are still low on market share.

I’m interested in knowing how many people buy PlayStation for CoD (for example), that will “have” to buy an Xbox because they don’t care as long as they play their favorite game.

IMO, as things are now, these acquisitions seem just a good deal for people that are already Xbox owners. For me personally, what would make me buy an Xbox are new IPs. Also, I believe many of third party games (specially Activition games) were played more in Xbox already.

What do you think this will turn out? Will there be a switch in market share this generation, or will it be noticeable until the next one?

Please comment, make your predictions or just state your opinions. Thanks!

Microsoft doesnt really care whether you play these games on an actual Xbox or on Steam or on the Microsoft Store or the Cloud or on your Samsung TV.
As long as you are playing said games.
The actual hardware is but one avenue...basically another entry point to the Xbox ecosystem.

I dont think Sony or Microsoft are catching up to Nintendo any time soon on the hardware/software side.
But i think in the coming years userbase and revenue might swing into Microsofts favor.


I doubt these last few moves have been even 5 years looking forward.
MS is likely looking atleast 10 years forward to a time when every TV comes with a processor good enough to use the Cloud.
They have cloud ported basically their whole catalog so you dont even need a controller to play Gamepass games.
Their IPs are synonymous with whatever genre they are in i.e

  • Open World Racing game = Forza Horizon.
  • Circuit Racing = Forza Motorsport.
  • First Person RPG = ElderScrolls.
  • RPG in Space = Starfield.
  • "Classic" WRPG = Fable.
  • Twitch First Person Shooter = Call of Duty.
  • Arena Shooter = Halo.
  • MMORPG = Warcraft.
  • BattleRoyale = Warzone.
  • Platformer = Crash Bandicoot/Spyro/Whoever.
 

Sanepar

Member
I remember when Microsoft first announced they would be entering the gaming industry with the Xbox, many people thought they would ruin the industry because they would just buy studios instead of making their own games.

In the 360 generation, Microsoft was bully in terms of making Sony lose exclusivity and/or paying for exclusives. This was the strongest generation for Microsoft, however Sony turned out to do a good job and were neck to neck at the end.

If you notice, the 360 was a huge success at the expense of Sony making huge mistakes with the PS3, and the PS4 was a huge success at the expense of Microsoft making huge mistakes with the Xbox One.

I wonder if all these recent acquisitions would actually help Microsoft gain market share. Sony does an incredible job with their own exclusives, as well as Nintendo. I fear that these acquisitions turn out to be a restriction for gamers to play these games el anywhere, more than making people actually buy an Xbox console.

Of course, for Xbox owners, this is a huge deal because they will have these games on Game Pass. However, Microsoft needs to entice people to buy into their ecosystem. Even though the Series X/S are the best selling consoles for them, they are still low on market share.

I’m interested in knowing how many people buy PlayStation for CoD (for example), that will “have” to buy an Xbox because they don’t care as long as they play their favorite game.

IMO, as things are now, these acquisitions seem just a good deal for people that are already Xbox owners. For me personally, what would make me buy an Xbox are new IPs. Also, I believe many of third party games (specially Activition games) were played more in Xbox already.

What do you think this will turn out? Will there be a switch in market share this generation, or will it be noticeable until the next one?

Please comment, make your predictions or just state your opinions. Thanks!
On US, UK no doubt, Europe and Asia? i'm not so sure.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
From a revenue perspective? Absolutely. From the perspective of number of consoles sold? Hardly matters.
 

Gamerguy84

Member
Of course it will increase market share. It also has a doubling effect, those pubs and IP they bought stengthened MS and weakened PS a bit and that was part of the plan. CoD will end up exclusive or at minimum "first or best" on xbox

COD and Zenimax studios had strong relationships with PS. All of that is under MS hand now.
 

Fredrik

Member
Each game announced is a potential player conversion. For some people, they'll jump on Halo. Some will jump on Call of Duty. Some will jump on a good E3 showing. Some will jump on improved services, like GP. Some will jump on value / pricing. Some people will jump on backwards compatibility.

It's just a bunch of tiny cracks in a dam. Each one adds a little more water to the pool.

All you can say is that they're making multiple correct decisions and few bad decisions. The market will decide the rest.
Yeah it’s the sum of all things that’ll get people to jump in. As with any platform.
Personally I already use PS5 and Switch for the exclusives only and play the rest on PC and Xbox, most through Gamepass, and that seems like a good strategy going forward. Can’t see any scenario where I don’t own all consoles though. I have no idea how one-console-owners will do.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
It would if they made the games exclusive, even if for a limited, but significant time.

But with everything day one on PC I don't think much will change.

This has already been proven to be untrue as people are still buying out the consoles.
Games are still selling well even when they are on Gamepass.
 
Rabid fanboys are a tiny percentage of the actual audience - brand loyalty barely even exists. People might have a preference for a company logo, but they’ll get over it quickly and go where the games they want to play are.

Microsoft knows this which is why they’ve recently locked up the likes of Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Doom and now Call of Duty.
 
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ByWatterson

Member
Absolutely, and I'm one of the converts.

Every time they made a move, I thought about, thought about, got convinced, then set a date, etc. After this week, I bumped the date up to now, convinced of Microsoft's long-term plans. It's so hard not to be impressed with what they've built, and as a family value proposition, it's just insane - even if the price goes up.

My wife finished A Plague Tale a few days ago, and immediately looked for something new to play. She landed on Bioshock, and is really enjoying it, but that little process made me think of a few things:

- the next Plague Tale is Day 1 Gamepass
- Sony's first-party output for last year didn't grab her the way Uncharted/Spider-Man/Last of Us did
- Gamepass browsing seems like something she'd love to do

Throw on Minecraft free for the kid (who has the very not good Switch version), and all the legacy shooters and.....it's just nearly impossible to say no to that value, if you're lucky enough to do PS5 and Series X. I don't know how many people will leave Sony for Microsoft, and I certainly won't, but yeah, the Activision purchase makes it clear Microsoft is operating on a whole other level, and their value proposition deserves my cash and time. No question.
 

Kdad

Member
You're going to see the same thing that happened with Netflix...Gamepass with attract early 3rd party buzz but as new alternatives come forward (Luna, Oculus, Valve, Epic/Tencent, Apple) Gamepass will become more and more reliant on in house (thus the buying spree) and you'll end up needing multiple streaming/gaming services to get the games you want. Ultimately they'll still be at 30% of the market but the market will be much bigger than console.
 

Rykan

Member
I think it will certainly lead to an increase in market share and we should see MS reach at least Xbox 360 levels of success. I do believe that its success is capped as far as hardware sales concerned. The enormous amount of (presumably) first party content and the value of gamepass will certainly sway a lot of the hardcore, but the vast majority of people are not that much into gaming that they pick a console based on exclusive content (Outside of Nintendo) and thats where other factors come into play such as brand loyalty, brand awareness and marketing.

The issue is that Xbox just isn't a very strong brand. The name "Xbox" should have been left in the early 2000's where it belongs. The branding for Xbox just isn't very positive outside of North America and the United Kingdom. The Playstation brand is perceived as much more desirable. It has a much better name, is perceived as "Cool" and "Must have" somewhat similar to Apple products. Microsoft is perceived as a boring company with a console with a dumb name.

MS needs to work on its branding instead if it wants to move serious numbers outside of North America.
 

Three

Member
Don't see why not. How much come 2024 we'll have to see but that's exactly why they bought them. The time that talks started are the exact time gamepass growth was below expectation by 11% too back in October. MS have a big chunk of money that's losing value with all this inflation and the answer is why not buy and grow a division instead of losing value.
 
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Of course. It will not only improves the market share - which was already bound to be improved due to making Xbox One mistakes and having solid first party support. This acquisition really shuffles the board on the gaming market because if company like Microsoft invests 70b into gaming a lot of companies will pay attention. So it will have big effect on the whole console/pc (but not really on mobile) market.
 
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Between Wow, CoD, Diablo and Overwatch that is like 300 million players. Even if only 1/3 of that 300 million are active users then MS is going to sell a shit ton of consoles and Gamepass subscriptions.

The other 2/3rds play on and off. MS is going to try to grab their attention whenever a new game/content drops and hope they sign up to Gamepass.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Right now Microsoft offers more value for money, there is no question. And then I don't even factor in the XSS.

My PS5 is only used when I actually buy a game, which isn't happening that often anymore since a few years. And when Plus drops something good, which doesn't happen that many times either but granted I am playing P5 Strikers on and off right now. I want both GT7 and Horizon 2, but it will set me back over 150 bucks right there. For now i'm leaning towards GT7 and picking up Horizon 2 at a later date.

Xbox on the other hand, you sign up for GPU, which is in its current state not a bad deal considering you need to pay for online play on both PS or Xbox anyway if you're like me and use multiplayer often. So you can buy Gold, or pay a bit more for GPU and have Gold included. From there you have a selection of great games you don't have to pay a dime for. Let it be Halo, Forza, Gears, Hollow Knight, Ori, Yakuza, Hitman. They're all on there. Anything coming out from Microsoft game studios, which is recently expanded with Arkane, ID, Activision etc, will come to this service. So with an Xbox I know I don't have to purchase CoD, Doom, TES, Wolfenstein, Halo and on and on. The situation Sony gets late Feb, MS just had last December. But the difference is I never bought Halo Infinite and FH5 since I had a sub running already (via the 1 Dollar/Euro deal, but even a normal sub would be cancelled out by just these 2 games).

When I started out over a year ago I was still in the minority, most people I know had PS5 pre orders myself included. But I notice that more and more start to see it, and this news, that was picked up by mainstream news outlets also, certainly helps. They know CoD is Xbox bound, and they know it will be on the service from that point onward.

I love Playstation still but I have a hard time recommending it to people. Games are expensive as hell, esp day one (80 euros is not okay). I'd advise them just to sign up for GPU. Plus, MS handle BC better. Sony certainly needs to wake up. Not GP per se but at least a better and more consisent service, I mean there is Plus, Now, EA Play all separate subs. And EA Play is neutered because of non existing PS3 BC. This isn't good. Smart delivery is another thing (anyone tried FFVII? its a fucking outrage.. had to download the PS4 version again just for the saves), BC support...
 

Godot25

Banned
It would be strange not to...
Xbox One sold 56-ish million consoles with first-party output that can be summed as a disaster.

So you have probs around 50 million people who will buy an Xbox no matter what. Then add Call of Duty, Starfield, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Fable etc. and you should have successful gen...
 

Kacho

Gold Member
It's going to take years to see the results with existing contracts and legacy content that continues to be popular. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see the true effect of these acquisitions until the Series Next/PS6 rolls around.
 

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
I remember when Microsoft first announced they would be entering the gaming industry with the Xbox, many people thought they would ruin the industry because they would just buy studios instead of making their own games.

In the 360 generation, Microsoft was bully in terms of making Sony lose exclusivity and/or paying for exclusives. This was the strongest generation for Microsoft, however Sony turned out to do a good job and were neck to neck at the end.

If you notice, the 360 was a huge success at the expense of Sony making huge mistakes with the PS3, and the PS4 was a huge success at the expense of Microsoft making huge mistakes with the Xbox One.

I wonder if all these recent acquisitions would actually help Microsoft gain market share. Sony does an incredible job with their own exclusives, as well as Nintendo. I fear that these acquisitions turn out to be a restriction for gamers to play these games el anywhere, more than making people actually buy an Xbox console.

Of course, for Xbox owners, this is a huge deal because they will have these games on Game Pass. However, Microsoft needs to entice people to buy into their ecosystem. Even though the Series X/S are the best selling consoles for them, they are still low on market share.

I’m interested in knowing how many people buy PlayStation for CoD (for example), that will “have” to buy an Xbox because they don’t care as long as they play their favorite game.

IMO, as things are now, these acquisitions seem just a good deal for people that are already Xbox owners. For me personally, what would make me buy an Xbox are new IPs. Also, I believe many of third party games (specially Activition games) were played more in Xbox already.

What do you think this will turn out? Will there be a switch in market share this generation, or will it be noticeable until the next one?

Please comment, make your predictions or just state your opinions. Thanks!
Legit, if you think a deal like this only strikes a chord with Xbox fans only, and it wont have a major impact on major purchasing decisions for the gaming community in the future - pertaining to - which console to buy if you want to play your favorite games, you're straight up missing the forest for the trees.

This is a disruptor move. The Bethesda deal was also a disruptor move. It shook many people in the gaming community and helped sway their purchasing decisions about which ecosystem to invest in, single handidly. This acquisition is ten times that, with some of the biggest Ip's in gaming history falling under one umbrella on a streaming service that is becoming a monster on a day to day basis. In short: YES! Yes this will sway marketshare towards Xbox gaming division in a big way. It wont be a sudden shift. It's going to take a bit of time. The ramifications of such an acqusition like this wont be "seen" just yet. As this generation continues to expand (it's still early yet, and there's still the chip shortage going on) and when the whole of the Xbox gaming division is firing on all cylinders, it'll become much clearer.

If you look closely, Microsoft was attempting to fit in a space with Sony by doing what Sony does to try to make an impact on the gaming community as a whole. They've figured out that if they want to have the kind of imapct Sony has with gamers, you can't beat Sony at Sony's game. They needed to play to their own strengths and change the landscape. That's precisely what their doing and Sony can't touch them on the same level. They just dont have the capital to go into an arms race with Microsoft.
 
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I think history has shown us that we really don't know WTF is going to happen. You can make projections, make predictions, but you can't really tell whats going to happen. Did we see the 360 dominating the PS3 early on? Not really. Who saw the PS4 coming in and smashing the Xbox One? Who saw these acquisitions coming? After buying up Mixer, a widely touted better streaming platform than Twitch, signing big names like Ninja... who knew that service was going to fall flat on it's face?

You never really know. That's why I don't really sweat it, what happens will happen. In the end I'll get entertainment and some good times out of it.
 

Swift_Star

Banned
Rabid fanboys are a tiny percentage of the actual audience - brand loyalty barely even exists. People might have a preference for a company logo, but they’ll get over it quickly and go where the games they want to play are.

Microsoft knows this which is why they’ve recently locked up the likes of Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Doom and now Call of Duty.
You know you’re wrong, right? Brand loyalty and fanboyism are a tiny percentage? Lol
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
They don’t have an issue in market share. Windows PC’s becoming Xbox’s by running the Xbox platform and games ensured that a while ago.
Windows PC's are not becoming Xbox or running the platform. They just run part of the Xbox ecosystem.
But Windows PC’s ARE MS platforms.
No. Windows is just an OS from MS that can or not have anything to do with the gaming part of MS. People using Eindows with Steam has nothing on MS gaming division...
 
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dem

Member
Buying Ninja didn't help Mixer... because people were invested in the Twitch community.

Is Playstation sticky enough to keep players from moving to Xbox? Maybe.. but I don't think those Sony exclusives are sticky. Social networks are sticky. Call of Duty is sticky. God of War is just another game. I actually think the Sony Discord partnership will be the biggest thorn in Microsoft’s side soon.

Tough road for MS, but they have a chance. The chip shortage is really helping them short term.
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
There was a thread of someone buying a series x yesterday with the game pass plan so it will deffo sell consoles to people. Whether this improves market share is to be seen.

I honestly believe Microsoft have looked at console sales and just thought, in an absolute ideal world we would sell as much as PlayStation and that caps out at like 120 million consoles ina. Generation. It’s nit enough for MS, but If they can get console sales plus gamepass on PC and PlayStation as we’ll as sell games on Xbox and Pc and get people subscribing to game pass to play x cloud on their tv, phone, tablet etc they can go far beyond the console market.
 

Leyasu

Banned
Of course it will. There are probably lots people already now weighing up the potential of COD going exclusive before they purchase their current gen console.
 

dem

Member
Of course it will. There are probably lots people already now weighing up the potential of COD going exclusive before they purchase their current gen console.

But how are they even going to get that message out there? PS is still the home of COD until what... the end of 2023?
 
Yes, by virtue of less people buying PS5s. That's not why they are doing it though. The need lots of content for Game Pass, and you really want to own your IPs as we've seen with Netflix.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Windows PC's are not becoming Xbox or running the platform. They just run part of the Xbox ecosystem.

No. Windows is just an OS from MS that can or not have anything to do with the gaming part of MS. People using Eindows with Steam has nothing on MS gaming division...

If you are buying an Xbox Games Studios game you are part of the ecosystem.
Whether you bought that game for an actual Xbox, the MS Store, the Cloud, Your TV or on Steam.

The point is MS doesnt really care where you play their games just that you are playing their games, they are effectively making it so you really cant avoid playing an XGS game.
 

Iced Arcade

Member
If they make COD exclusive (which they will once marketing contracts are up) then yeah it's going massive.


people literally buy consoles just to play COD and that's it (sounds foolish but it's the truth)
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
If you are buying an Xbox Games Studios game you are part of the ecosystem.
Whether you bought that game for an actual Xbox, the MS Store, the Cloud, Your TV or on Steam.

The point is MS doesnt really care where you play their games just that you are playing their games, they are effectively making it so you really cant avoid playing an XGS game.
??? That's what I said. "just run part of the Xbox ecosystem." Just that.
 
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Leyasu

Banned
But how are they even going to get that message out there? PS is still the home of COD until what... the end of 2023?
The message is already out and the precedent set years ago with studio buyouts.

People that primarily play COD are going to be considering losing access to it in the near future.
 
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