Microsoft purchases Bethesda

[elevators_rule]

55 minutes ago, MikeT14 said:

I think most of your statement is correct, but I'm not sure Sony will be playing catchup. Unless they're Skype blowing the 10 year lead. 

Yeah, I would be absolutely shocked if Sony doesn't hold a lead in console sales throughout most of this generation. The only thing I could see allowing Xbox to catch up would be one of a few things: 1. Sony having some huge hardware failures 2. The Xbox significantly outperforming the PS5 graphically, where the current estimates are more minor 3. Sony somehow tanking their exclusives after launch and Xbox crushing it 

I wouldn't bet on any of these three, especially that last one. I could see, however, Xbox being much much closer this gen than last gen. For example, if a year from now Sony has sold 25m units, I'd expect Xbox to be around 18m. Last gen, I believe there was significantly more disparity between the two.

Edited September 22, 2020 by elevators_rule

[JBURGE]

10 hours ago, Kiltman said:

Been a lot of reports of Sony throwing a ton of money at getting exclusive content (like Spider-man in Avengers), timed exclusives (like Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo) or Console exclusivity (like Final Fantasy 16). If true, it makes sense... Starfield would've been a big get even if it was just timed. Makes more sense just to buy the companies than pay the amount of money some of those exclusivity deals cost. Know Phil has said he was pretty much done with those for ahile save for a few things for gamepass.

I really hate what Sony is doing, trying to increase the amount of exclusive content. MS doing the exact opposite. I feel we all know which one is a better long term strategy. Selling a subscription service vs trying to sell more individual consoles due to exclusivity. At some point Sony will have to budge

[Kiltman]

31 minutes ago, JBURGE said:

I really hate what Sony is doing, trying to increase the amount of exclusive content. MS doing the exact opposite. I feel we all know which one is a better long term strategy. Selling a subscription service vs trying to sell more individual consoles due to exclusivity. At some point Sony will have to budge

Yeah it’s dumb, especially to the severe degree Sony tends to take it. Feel like just from the money they’ve thrown at this stuff they probably could’ve coaxed Konami IPs away from them by now, which fits in well with Sony’s portfolio well. And that means new games being made from popular franchises.

Feel like a good way for Sony to go is make their version of EA Play basically. After a couple months (4-6?) all their games get vaulted in there for people to play at a subscription price. This would probably help them in the long run. If I remember right their exclusives are not really at the top sales on the platform, maybe that changes if it is made easier to play them? Like if someone never played a series and got caught up they might be more likely to buy the next one.

This also helps people who can’t be dropping $70 per game, which not all family can. Communities like disabled gamers, which I just heard someone talk on how Gamepass is great because they can try games and see if it’s even possible for them to play it. Because a lot of these stores make it not the easiest to return digital games. WhichI know at least Naughty Dog cares about, they got a lot of awards/recognition for their features to help people with disabilities. Was never something I thought of.

[minutemancl]

This may be the move that gets me to buy gamepass. I thought about it previously, but decided against it since I only ever buy a few games a year, normally RPGs, and plug hundreds of hours into them. If all Bethesda games are going to be on gamepass, the price might be worth it just for those games. Two games is already $120, which is a year of gamepass. Then I'll also get to browse the back catalog and play some older games I missed when they came out, but was interested in.

[rob_shadows]

22 minutes ago, Kiltman said:

Yeah it’s dumb, especially to the severe degree Sony tends to take it. Feel like just from the money they’ve thrown at this stuff they probably could’ve coaxed Konami IPs away from them by now, which fits in well with Sony’s portfolio well. And that means new games being made from popular franchises.

Feel like a good way for Sony to go is make their version of EA Play basically. After a couple months (4-6?) all their games get vaulted in there for people to play at a subscription price. This would probably help them in the long run. If I remember right their exclusives are not really at the top sales on the platform, maybe that changes if it is made easier to play them? Like if someone never played a series and got caught up they might be more likely to buy the next one.

This also helps people who can’t be dropping $70 per game, which not all family can. Communities like disabled gamers, which I just heard someone talk on how Gamepass is great because they can try games and see if it’s even possible for them to play it. Because a lot of these stores make it not the easiest to return digital games. WhichI know at least Naughty Dog cares about, they got a lot of awards/recognition for their features to help people with disabilities. Was never something I thought of.

Exclusives can be frustrating to gamers who don't want to be forced into a certain console but you have to look at it from Sony's perspective... They absolutely dominated this console generation and the primary reason why was the PlayStations reputation for having the far superior game library so clearly it's working well for them and there is no reason for them to not try to continue that trend. 

Even with Microsoft having a very different approach they clearly recognize this or they wouldn't have spent billions upon billions of dollars over the last 2 years buying up developers to try to improve the quality of their library of games.

The upcoming generation should be a lot closer and more akin to what we saw with the PS3 and 360 which was a very close and competitive generation as opposed to this current gen which wasn't even a competition.

Sony will still get out to a clear lead early on there is no stopping that with the momentum they already have and the games we already know are coming within the next year but once the studios Microsoft now have start churning out their games they should start to catch up pretty quickly.

I definitely don't think it will be another case like we have now with ps4 outselling Xbox one by over 60 million units.

Edited September 22, 2020 by rob_shadows

[Danger]

1 hour ago, elevators_rule said:

Yeah, I would be absolutely shocked if Sony doesn't hold a lead in console sales throughout most of this generation.

That's a very tunnel visioned way of looking at it. It's not about how many pieces of hardware are sold, it's about how much money is generated from the respective ecosystems.

[Danger]

I'm also more likely to move to gamepass if Games are in fact at $70 as the new norm.

[elevators_rule]

Just now, Danger said:

That's a very tunnel visioned way of looking at it. It's not about how many pieces of hardware are sold, it's about how much money is generated from the respective ecosystems.

Yeah, I'm not necessarily saying that sales = success. Microsoft will find success in it's own path, especially considering it's aggressively impressive push for a PC presence. I was just giving my take on the tried and true metric of console adoption rate. I think the PS5 will still find it's way into more homes based on it's impressive last gen. Xbox will make-up a LOT of ground in that regard, though, as they've been so consumer friendly in the last ~5 years and have a really potentially impressive lineup of exclusives coming in the next 2-3 years.

But yeah, even if they're outsold that doesn't at all mean they've "lost." Game Pass is growing at such an incredible rate that it completely changes the whole dynamic here. PC players now have the same opportunities to contribute to the ecosystem that console players do. I think what we're seeing in the grand scheme of things is honestly the best thing that could have happen to the gaming sphere. This level of healthy competition is so good for gaming as a whole.

[Danger]

Would Microsoft be allowed to put their games on PS5, but charge a "Playstation tax"? Where in they charge more such that say the game new, retail would have to cost $80? 

Playstation gets the game, but it's less expensive (especially with gamepass) on Xbox. 

[elevators_rule]

There's a 0% chance Sony allows Game Pass on PlayStation. While Bethesda has good games, allowing Game Pass on the PlayStation would be directly supporting Microsoft in a colossal way. Not only would Sony make $0 off people playing the game, but Microsoft would make $10-15 for every subscriber, and Game Pass has much more than just Bethesda games. Nearly everybody would be a sub, every single game on Game Pass is a game Sony can't easily sell on their store anymore. And for what? To allow people to play 2-3 exclusives every 2-3 years? That's not nearly enough of a reason for Sony to take that kind of hit and just hand MS hundreds of millions. They'd rather just tell the people who really want to play ESVI go and buy a Series S.

Edited September 22, 2020 by elevators_rule

[Kiltman]

2 hours ago, rob_shadows said:

Exclusives can be frustrating to gamers who don't want to be forced into a certain console but you have to look at it from Sony's perspective... They absolutely dominated this console generation and the primary reason why was the PlayStations reputation for having the far superior game library so clearly it's working well for them and there is no reason for them to not try to continue that trend. 

Even with Microsoft having a very different approach they clearly recognize this or they wouldn't have spent billions upon billions of dollars over the last 2 years buying up developers to try to improve the quality of their library of games.

The upcoming generation should be a lot closer and more akin to what we saw with the PS3 and 360 which was a very close and competitive generation as opposed to this current gen which wasn't even a competition.

Sony will still get out to a clear lead early on there is no stopping that with the momentum they already have and the games we already know are coming within the next year but once the studios Microsoft now have start churning out their games they should start to catch up pretty quickly.

I definitely don't think it will be another case like we have now with ps4 outselling Xbox one by over 60 million units.

I get it, they just really didn’t need to go so hard at some of the exclusive stuff. But it definitely helped them with how they framed stuffed like Destiny, it was staggering how many people thought Destiny was a PlayStation exclusive. But they could’ve had a similar impact with just the marketing deal too. Microsoft had the COD maps two gens ago so they aren’t guiltless. But it’s dumb to shave off content or take games away unless you are directly funding them.

I agree though it’s a great time for gaming. Both sides look to have great next gen consoles, Nintendo has reached a great niche for themselves and PC gaming is always getting better. Fact that one of the biggest companies in the world base spent over 10 billion on studios and who knows how much else to get Gamepass and xCloud going tells you that they see a strong future in gaming.
 

We are all winning by them competing. Everything Microsoft is doing has been Phil flipping to meet what fans and developers want, even if he has to show them why they want it. Xbox blew up 2001-2008 with exclusives and it made Sony step things up with their 1st party, and the last couple years as Sony stepped up even more it’s working the other way around. 

[TXsteeler]

I don't see why Sony wouldn't allow gamepass for a cut. With Gamepass on PS5 there is all of a sudden literally 0 reasons to buy an xbox, so Sony's sales go way way up.

[elevators_rule]

42 minutes ago, TXsteeler said:

I don't see why Sony wouldn't allow gamepass for a cut. With Gamepass on PS5 there is all of a sudden literally 0 reasons to buy an xbox, so Sony's sales go way way up.

Yeah, the more I think about it the more it makes zero sense no matter how you spin it. Of course Microsoft cares about getting subscribers to Game Pass, but if they ever sold it on Playstation, there would literally be zero reason to buy an Xbox. You could get a PS5 and play all Xbox and PS games. Microsoft would essentially be throwing their own console in the trash to make some money off Game Pass in the short term. At first I was even leaning the other way that Sony wouldn't allow it, but for some reason I never considered the obvious fact that people would stop buying Xboxs all together.

[showtime]

1 hour ago, elevators_rule said:

Yeah, the more I think about it the more it makes zero sense no matter how you spin it. Of course Microsoft cares about getting subscribers to Game Pass, but if they ever sold it on Playstation, there would literally be zero reason to buy an Xbox. You could get a PS5 and play all Xbox and PS games. Microsoft would essentially be throwing their own console in the trash to make some money off Game Pass in the short term. At first I was even leaning the other way that Sony wouldn't allow it, but for some reason I never considered the obvious fact that people would stop buying Xboxs all together.

Yeah, but what if that's the ultimate goal?  What if this is Microsoft's last console and moving forward they focus entirely on software?  They just announced there are 15 million Game Pass subscribers.  Imagine what that number would be if they could grow on both the Nintendo Switch and Playstation.

 

For people who keep saying there's no way Game Pass will be on the Playstation, keep saying that.  It's going to happen.  Just like Sony's exclusives eventually coming to PC is going to continue to happen.  There's way too much money Sony is leaving on the table by being closed off like they are.

[Heimdallr]

From a business perspective, a game subscription service is MUCH more lucrative than a console business. Neither Sony nor MS make money off the consoles; they only make them to sell games. If MS gets a big enough catalog and enough subscribers, then the Xbox served its purpose and they don't need to make consoles anymore.