@goldenelementxl said:
@Antwan3K: You’re misunderstanding my stance on “value.” It’s not irrelevant as far as the consumer is concerned. But in the grand scheme of the competition, it has very little to do with the outcome. We’ve seen the least “consumer friendly“ company come out on top time and time again. And that’s not just in video games. It’s across the board. Value minded consumers might weigh perceived value heavily, but most consumers don’t seem to even consider it. Brand name and recognition get most consumers to spend ridiculous amounts of money on inferior products. (Looking at you PS5)
And I like how you’ve pushed “competition is good” in your last few posts. It completely contrasts with your “they aren’t in competition with Nintendo and Sony” narrative from the past. Which one of your podcasts started pushing this new narrative recently? I know RDX has been on this competition is good kick lately, but you barely listen to them, right?
And if Xbox stays in 3rd for any long stretch of time, there’s gonna be major changes to things like Game Pass and XBL. Xbox isn’t a charity. They’re in this competition to make money. That’s what you don’t seem to understand. If they keep throwing things at the wall, and consumers don’t seem to be responding, investors and board members are going to demand changes. That’s where SW, competition and the industry all tie in together. The standings might not matter to you, but they sure as hell matter to Phil and Xbox.
What you’re proposing, Xbox staying in “3rd” and keeping up this value proposition going isn’t realistic. We already know there’s folks behind the scenes looking to raise prices and change the way the current services are structured. They‘ve been messy about letting things leak for years now. And what happens when they “value” is gone? Do you drop your Xbox fandom, or do you move the goalpost again?
and you seem to misunderstand that discussing the value a company provides to gamers versus another is a fair conversation.. period.. if Nintendo makes an anti-consumer move, it's up for discussion.. when Sony raised prices for their games to $70, it's up for discussion.. and when Game Pass is arguably representing the best deal in gaming, that's also up for discussion.. i don't have to come on this forum and only discuss what matters most to you (ie "revenue").. please get that through your impossibly thick skull..
these companies are no longer in direct competition from a strategy standpoint but they are all still gaming companies.. i really hope you aren't this dense.. You probably also think McDonald's in direct competition with Red Lobster because they both sell food..
gamers have a wide variety of choices now with "the big three" all incorporating different gaming strategies.. but ultimately, there's only so much money an individual can spend on this hobby which means there's still checks-and-balances to consider for any of these three.. so even though Sony and Nintendo have diverging strategies at this point from Microsoft, they are still "competing" for the mindshare and money of any given gamer.. I've openly said that in terms of a person only having $500 to spend and they are looking at an Xbox Series X|S or a PS5 on the shelf, they are indeed in competition for that sale.. but in terms of the traditional view of how the PS2 was competing with the original Xbox and GameCube?.. those days are over.. and if you don't know that, it's pretty sad at this point.. and it's pretty telling that you think the concept of "competition is good" originated on RDX.. you're a joke and your obsession with that podcast is strange to say the least..
let me make this crystal clear: Microsoft doesn't need you to buy a console to get you playing their newest games.. Sony does.. it's a fundamentally different strategy.. so comparing console sales, apples-to-apples, is increasingly meaningless.. moving forward, Microsoft's strategy is Game Pass subscriptions and Sony's strategy is console sales.. those two strategies are not in direct competition.. if you can't understand the difference there, you're just hopeless..
and "3rd place" doesn't mean Xbox isn't running a healthy business.. please spare us the "Xbox is doomed" talk.. Xbox just turned in their best quarter ever and they haven't released a single first party title yet.. i think they are doing just fine despite the success of Sony and Nintendo.. that's the part you don't seem to understand.. "3rd place" doesn't mean anything if your business is successful.. and again, Microsoft is a Trillion dollar company that's more committed to Xbox than ever before.. unless you actually think "Xbox is doomed", there is nothing to discuss here.. and creating a cloud based gaming service is Microsoft playing to their strengths and a strategy that actually has the chance of providing them an install base much larger than just sticking to consoles.. that's a much better strategy than continually going head-to-head in a console war with Sony that they can never win..
and to answer your last question: if the "value" is gone, i'll reevaluate.. it's not that big of a deal.. i like the idea of my gaming be shared across multiple devices with a single account with cross-saves.. i like the idea of getting brand new games for a single subscription fee.. i like the idea of being able to discover tons of games that i haven't played yet for that same subscription fee.. right now Xbox is providing that much better than the "competition".. until that changes, i'm good.. if that indeed changes, I'll take a look elsewhere.. is this concept really so complicated for you to grasp?..
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TL;DR:
Discussing value is a fair topic and is one of the many topics that can be discussed on this board..
Any gaming company is competing for your money but all three of these companies have different strategies.. Microsoft's strategy is Game Pass and Sony's strategy is console sales.. a software subscription service isn't directly competing against selling hardware..
Unless you think "Xbox is doomed", all the talk of "3rd place" doesn't matter.
If Xbox is no longer providing me the value i want in gaming, I can look elsewhere..
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