Bloomberg Reports Microsoft Is Expanding Investment In First Party Games and Studios

The company plans to increase investment in developing in-house video games, including starting or acquiring studios to do so, Xbox chief Phil Spencer said in an interview last week. That’s an about-face from its approach the past several years, during which Microsoft has shuttered studios, cancelled games, and faced criticism at an industry conference from gamers for its lack of hot first-party titles.

“We need to grow, and I look forward to doing that,” Spencer said. “Our ability to go create content has to be one of our strengths. We haven’t always invested at the same level. We’ve gone through ups and downs in the investment.” Microsoft on Tuesday will start selling the Xbox One X, a high-end console targeted at hard-core gamers.

But Microsoft will probably debut a streaming service that doesn’t require a console for some types of content in the next three years, Spencer said. A 2012 trial of such a service inside the company was too costly and never made it to the market, but Microsoft’s progress in Azure cloud services over the past few years is changing the economics and quality level, he said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...o-game-investment-as-focus-shifts-to-software

Good news- hopefully, the games are varied, not all GaaS, and stay on Xboxso I actually have a reason to buy them.

....aaaaaannnnddddd they're canceled

Delete this thread immediately. Pro Xbox threads are against TOS. :P

go complain about it

https://www.gamespot.com/forums/ask-the-mods-909361134/thread-lockage-33415326/#1

Someone missed the ":P". Poor thing.

@charizard1605: GaaS is going to be great once Fiber internet is common. It's getting installed in my neighborhood soon.

there wasn't a :P in that thread

The more the merrier! :)

It will be cool to see what kind of talent Microsoft are getting onboard.

GaaS is fine, there is no issue with a GaaS game intrinsically; the issue is trying to make all games GaaS, which is as unacceptable as having all games be linear single player cinematic adventures. There is room for all kinds of games, and all kinds of games need to be pushed to the market.

Looking forward to it. I'm really happy they work on a new AoE. Hopefully we'll see some new Ips out of it.

@appariti0n: What is GaaS?

lol.. Why did they close Lionhead then?

took me a moment, but I believe they mean Games as a Service

Games as a service. Think Overwatch or League of Legends.

It's a start, let's just hope they work with good studios that can deliver.

Yup. There will be the games for PS, studios and games for switch, studios LOL ?

I was thinking more along the lines of cloud based gaming, such as PS Now or Geforce now.

It would be in keeping with other "as a service" terms such as Infrastructure as a service or Software as a service.

Then again, this industry often uses labels for things that make no logical sense.

Cool but I actually like Microsoft when they are not market leaders, dont you own multiple systems already TC? Honestly what do you care if Microsoft convinces you of anything. Would you even have time to play their games? No offense, just that the people dont necessarily have to have it all, you're happy with your Switch and PS4, why do you care about Xbox seriously, not trying to troll.

There was :P in this thread and this is the thread that is the focus of the discussion. If you want to talk about other threads and derail, knock yourself out.

I would definitely make time for compelling MS exclusives. I bought an Xbox 360 for Oblivion (when it was still Xbox exclusive) over getting a Wii for Zelda (I cannot emphasize how big of a deal this was for me at the time), and I would definitely buy Xbox if they had a compelling exclusive like appealed to me- like an honest to goodness Fable 4- and actually play it.

Games as service will be things like Xbox Game Pass.

That would be the logical usage of the term, I agree. Sadly it's not how it is used.

Its like the term RPG.

Yup, diluted beyond belief

@charizard1605: Fair enough, so in other words if they manage to meet your requirements, maybe you will buy their console for a few games? I just don't think their business will be impacted if people like you who already own numerous consoles will decide to buy an Xbox for 2-3 games, I just don't think they should go out their way to attract people like you because I would rather they focus on core Xbox gamers like me who spend a lot on their services.

Please understand I'm not trying to troll, and mean no disrespect, I just don't see the big benefit in Microsoft to attract people like you that's all.

I'm not interested in the Switch or PS4 now, but I dont make threads saying what they should and should not change to appeal to me, I know they have their fan base. I'm not going to ask Nintendo to stop making Mario games and release more serious FPS games(example) to attract people like me, I dont think most Nintendo fans would care about me saying that. Not sure if making sense here, but just saying maybe just forget about Xbox if you are happy with PS4 and Switch, there is nothing wrong with that. The console makers cannot attract everyone to their consoles, I like they are all specialized in something. Oh well not directed towards you, just in general people in your situation who own and are already satisfied with multiple systems.

they should buy the dead rising ip and perhaps capcom vancouver. I doubt anyone word care if Microsoft bought either one after what they did with 4

I absolutely understand where you are coming from, and on a disengaged level, I see no problems whatsoever with Microsoft doubling down on their fanbase and catering to them (and I applaud them for attempting to differentiate themselves from PlayStation better now, after a few years of trying to be an also ran on that front). But with that said, I am rather selfish- for me, having Zelda and Horizon is great, but having Zelda, Horizon, and Fable would be better.

Sadly, the nature of the AAA gaming industry is such that the kinds of games I like are made by very few developers anymore (except for Bethesda, Ubisoft, CDPR, and Japanese developers- bless them); if I want more high quality showings in these areas, I need to rely on first parties, who can afford to push riskier games to drive hardware sales. Sony and Nintendo have been good to me on that front this generation, Microsoft has not, and it's especially frustrating because until a few years ago, Microsoft was best at giving me what I wanted.

@charizard1605: Ok I understand, so you see added value in a first party game(as opposed to a 3rd party exclusive I mean). Interesting point, maybe I'm being narrow minded here. Well nice chat and game on!

Absolutely. The nature of first party exclusives is such that platform holders can afford to push riskier projects that third parties cannot, because even fiscally unprofitable games can have intangible benefits for hardware and ecosystem growth (as an example, Horizon in and of itself may not have sold enough to make back money - just as an example, I don't have any numbers - but if it sold enough systems and caused enough people to look into picking up some other PS4 games, and maybe some subs to PS Plus, it was more than worth it. For EA, Activision, WB et al, sales and revenue are all that matters, so they will naturally not spend their time working on risky projects like this one). That's the reason I want MS to go back to pushing the kinds of high quality games they used to not that long ago.

That said, I don't think you are being narrow minded at all! You engaged in respectful discourse, to try and understand where I was coming from, and you were willing to consider what I said. I think that's the definition of wanting to broaden your horizons by engaging in healthy discussion :)

Sounds good!

Lol, if MS improves their 1st party output then Sony better watch out... that's about all they have over Xbox atm.

If I had a penny everytime I've heard this talk...

Nice. I hope they can resist the temptation to fill those new games with lootboxes and microtransactions. Streaming I couldn't care less about - it's always sucked when I've tried it.

but they won't be exclusive...

@charizard1605: Good points.....I can see how this sort of ripple effect could be beneficial

@me2002: They will be Xbox platform exclusive... not on PS :)

don't be so sure about that...Xbox First Party Games Could Release on PS4 and Other Consoles, Phil Spencer Says

In other word they are saying there is not much money in just selling consoles without gamers buying games and using the services. So the occasional gamer only buying the console and 1 or 2 games a year with no live is not really a win as Prime pointed out. Sony is starting to come to this way of thinking as they announced in Paris.

It's going to be weird but eventually this cloud stuff is going to be everywhere and eventually really will be a service we pay for to stream games. No more consoles, no more physical games. (on games it is happening right before our eyes now)

Great article and this is a message they should have put out months ago. Now sign that contract for Sunset Overdrive 2 already!

4 years ago Phil Spencer says : we will invest 1 billion dollars in games.

LOL

Phil Spencers mouth are just full of shit

LMAO. You complain if don't invest in gaming and you complain when they do. Seems like you are the one full of shit. LMAO.

@me2002: Lol... kinda jumping to conclusions thinking that every MS 1st party game will be on PS. Hardly think Halo 6 will be on PS.

But anyway, I think it's safe to assume that PS and Nintendo will follow suit eventually too.

Weren't they supposed to be doing this over 3 years ago?

Not saying every (or any) MS 1st party game will be on PS, just that they could be.

And no way Sony and Nintendo will follow suit considering how well they're doing right now due to their exclusive games.

@me2002: Yeah and imagine how much more money they'd make if PS and Nintendo sold their games on other devices. Like PC.

But anyway, Phil Spencer just clarified this on Twitter:

Link

Finally a step in the right direction. Let's hope Microsoft has finally learnt their lesson... and doesn't cancel games.

This is good news, and it will start to help Xbox around the tale end of the Xbox One's life and give Scorpio/X1X an extra year of life after PS5 is released in 2020.

However, Microsoft building up its first party studios & games will truly come into play for the next generation Xbox, which I believe will release in 4 years, 2021.

REST IN PEACE SONY PHONIES

The problem here is that it took them THIS LONG to do so. They should've done that the moment they had the XB1X set up, instead of doing it after it's release

Who says they haven't started already? Doesn't mean they started yesterday.

Same thing I thought.

I also thought lems said exclusives and first party weren't important now those lems are suddenly praising this move lol.

LOL. Making more games is now a bad thing and gamers should be angry that MS is investing more into first party games.LMAO. You guys are golden. The salt is so strong that logic is no longer entertained.