Microsoft admits it lost the console war

That doesn’t even make sense. You said, “Sony fannies seem to be the only folks fighting in this console war.” Meaning you’re taking the thread title/topic at face value. Microsoft executives have expressed interest in “spending Sony out of business.” Meaning they are very much in the console war, despite telling the FTC, they’ve “lost” the war. This acquisition is an attempt to spend Sony out of business… Their plan is in motion…

For the nth time, Xbox has admitted that they have exited the console war and we still have cows claiming otherwise.. ☝️🙄

Xbox wants to spend a competitor out of business, but they’ve exited competition with that competitor… Makes sense… 🙄

@loudheadphones: what i still don’t Understand is MS sits on a lot of money and they have not been able to create their own original IPs with the studios they have. I guess we should blame Sony for that too.

Explains why they are keeping games off competitors consoles.

@Chutebox: Because they are supporting their platform. They have more games on PS than Sony has on Xbox(I can only think of one), which undermines your questioning.

@Chutebox: the traditional ideal of a "console war" is that company X needs/wants to sell more hardware units than company Y as a primary business strategy of establishing an install base..

Meanwhile, Microsoft/Xbox is proudly saying "you DON'T need to buy our console in order to play our new games; You can play them on PC and cloud".. Heck, they even sacrificed Xbox Series X supply in order to bolster cloud support..

This is in stark contrast to Playstation where they are saying "if you want to play our new games, you NEED to buy our console"..

Polar opposite strategies.. There is no longer a home "console war" in the traditional sense.. Even Nintendo has openly left that home console concept with a mobile/handheld strategy..

As far as keeping games off other platforms, there is still an Xbox exosystem across consoles, PC, and cloud.. That ecosystem still needs "exclusives" to drive consumer interest.. It's not really more complicated than that..

TL;DR:

in order to play Playstation's biggest "system seller" this year in Spiderman 2, you NEED to buy a PS5..

In order to play Xbox's biggest "system seller" this year in Starfield, you DON'T need to buy an Xbox Series X|S..

This is all the evidence you need in order to understand the fact that Xbox has exited the "console war" ..

Their brains run on headlines and PR…

Xbox nerfs the flagship console and negatively impacts product availability in order to grow the cloud servers. Years later they reveal the cloud features are mostly used by the CONSOLE users, and that as a whole the service is “underperforming“ and “not the ideal experience.” Yet folks on this board will not only defend the move to nerf Series X performance and availability, but say it was the right call moving forward… Its Looney Tunes in here…

lol :P

hmmm, this is indeed concerning.

Maybe you should read your tweet.😎

@Antwan3K: Cool and all, but this is about consoles, not PC. They are in court because of consoles, not PC.

If console war was truly over, MS would have every game on PS5, but they won't. Because they want certain games to be system sellers for their console.

@Chutebox: Cool and all, but ABK isn't strictly about consoles.. it's also about cloud and mobile..

and again, both PlayStation and Xbox have their own ecosystems.. those ecosystems, to varying degrees, exist across all gaming platforms.. so clearly both Xbox and PlayStation want/need "exclusives" to drive interest in their ecosystems..

again, not very complicated.. especially if you take a step back from a console war that's already been over since 2016 when Xbox no longer required the purchase of their console to play their new games..

So when you guys selling your xbox series Atari Jaguars and getting a man’s console?

Not really about selling their console. It's about gamepass subs: that's MSs main motivator. They, like all companies, LOVE reliable recurring revenue. X people paying Y month after month. Ideally X grows constantly and Y gets a bump up from time to time (er....due to inflation. Yeah that's it :P). Companies really really love it and MS, at the end of the day, are a services company.

The only reason MSs games are not on PS currently is that they can't sell gamepass subs on Playstation and their games can't run their online components through Xbox Live. If Sony agreed to allow gamepass and xbox live on Playstation then MS would absolutely ram their entire catalogue onto PS as fast as humanely possible. It's the same reason they don't have their games on the switch.

MSs main objective is to drive gamepass adoption, not console sales (though, yknow, both would be nice of course).

Yeah, Microsoft’s “system” is Game Pass. Xbox is just one of many platforms for GP.

@osan0: The problem is, Xbox consoles have been, and continue to be the main driver of Game Pass subs and XCloud. Sure Xbox aspires to have a significant PC and mobile base. But when console numbers go up, Game Pass subs go up. When console sales slow down, Game Pass subs slow down. The Xbox potential userbase expanded by hundreds of millions of users. Yet here we are… Missing targets and all but waiving the white flag with XCloud.

Ya, I get that. However, putting their games on other consoles, gamepass or not, won't hurt..again, if the console war is over.

@ghostofgolden: Oh yeah absolutely. Currently the strategy is not working well for MS. It's not ideal that the success of gamepass is tied so much to the success of the console. They want to decouple that. They want gamepass everywhere. Part of the problem, from MSs perspective, is they can't bring gamepass to PS and the switch: 2 huge gaming platforms. They would do it right now if Sony and Nintendo gave them the thumbs up.

But any opportunity they see....GAMEPASS. The ROG ally comes with a month free i think (And some wild speculation on my part, but i suspect Asus are also getting those windows licenses for nothing as part of gamepass promotion). It was also promoted with the Ally. I think MS have instructions floating around somewhere to get Gamepass streaming working on the steam deck. The only reason they are not making linux builds of their games is the market is too small to bother chasing for now. Do they have anything for the ARM based Macs? I'd be surprised if they are not promoting a way to use Gamepass on those too.

@Chutebox: It would potentially hurt gamepass adoption if they do it. If, say, starfield is a huge hit and LOADS of people decide to buy the playstation 5 version. Sure MS will rake in the cash short term (while paying sony 30% from PS5 sales). But they wont get growth in Gamepass subscribers since none of those PS5 owners of the game can subscribe on their PS5.

For MS: every game is not just a chance to sell loads of that game, it's a chance to also get buy in into their platform (gamepass and xbox live) That's the main reason exclusives exist at all on any platform. MS are saying the console war is over. But MS are also not fighting a console war...they are fighting a services war.

MS basically said it a couple of years ago. They will bring their games to other consoles if those consoles allow for gamepass subs and Xbox live can be the services backend for the game.

Xbox has decoupled it in practice. The services are on PC and multiple mobile platforms. We are talking hundreds of millions of platforms with the ability of playing Xbox games via Game Pass and/or XCloud. You’re proposing that in order for Xbox to be successful with decoupling the performance outcome of their service and to grow in the way Xbox is intending, they have to then couple their services with the competitions consoles? That’s a ridiculous thing for a company to need or expect. It’s completely asinine!

At some point we have to entertain the idea that if Game Pass was gonna blow up in popularity, it would have done so already. The service isn’t tied down to the Xbox console platform, yet that platform is the only demo that is engaged in any meaningful way. Which is why Xbox had discussed “spending the competition out of the industry.”

I thought ms were moving away from competition in the console market and maximising the profits from the pc market as well. Console sales are not important as they once were.

@osan0: yep, yet some "concerned" fanboys want to see results overnight.. 🙄

the longterm play is cloud and Game Pass.. dedicated hardware becomes redundant as cloud becomes more viable.. that's just the longterm reality.. these pieces have to be put in place at some point and they are currently doing so..

the console business is still huge and they obviously want to stay relevant in that business.. and despite what naysayers will try to moo, Xbox has 150 million monthly active users currently.. that's more than PlayStation and that's more than Nintendo.. and that number certainly didn't come from console sales alone.. that came from aggressively expanding on to PC and cloud..

ABK is just another step in that direction.. there's no greater advertisement for Game Pass than Call of Duty..

yep, this guy gets it.. 👍

It’s been 6 years of Game Pass and nearly 4 years of XCloud “overnight.” 🙄

Or some “standard less” fanboys don’t require results at all. They just wanna save a few bucks 🙄

Game Pass =/= Cloud Gaming..

Game Pass is already profitable.. on the other hand cloud gaming is clearly still in it's infancy and is clearly not ready for the mass market..

it's amazing how "concerned" fanboys can be without actually knowing what they are talking about..

Gets what? Now Game Pass needs PlayStation? What about COD? COD has a MUCH higher demand and bigger reach, and Xbox says it wouldn’t be financially beneficial to make it exclusive on consoles. Xbox hasn’t committed to ES6 even being exclusive. Y’all just throwing random shit at the wall at this point.

It's just the usual pendulum swing. It'll eventually come back to them. Although, Game pass is a win.

damn, someone really needs to be more "concerned" with their reading comprehension.. 🤭

Savage.😂

Sure gamepass is certainly everywhere bar switch and PS. But where it's available outside the xbox console is also hotly contested and problematic.

On mobile, Gamepass is a poor fit currently (that would change if Activison goes through. Much more potential for growth). Gamepass has console games and is ideally used with a controller through a sub. Mobile games growth is driven by F2P games with MTX. It also relies on Xcloud and cloud streaming services have mostly failed so far. So it's currently not a great service for mobile.

PC is very hotly contested. It's up against Steam, GOG and co. Steam especially is already very entrenched. The last i heard, the way it's implemented on PC is also a mess. Relying on that System32 replacment platform and no mods and such like. Maybe they fixed it. But anyway it's also not a great fit currently.

But on Switch and PS it could compete very well with PSN and Nintendo Online. E.g. on Playstation you could subscribe to PSN. Or you could just buy the sony exclusives you want and sub to gamepass for the Multiplats and MS excusives....not a bad deal. If you had the choice of PSN or Gamepass on Playstation then Gamepass would make an awful lot of sense for many.

Basically at the moment it doesn't offer a great reason to subscribe for people who don't currently have an Xbox and a huge market doesn't have a good reason to sub because they play on switch/PS. If they are not subscribed to play on their console then they are very unlikely to subscribe to play on something else.

As i said: Lack of PS and Switch support is part of the problem for a lack of growth with gamepass. The bigger problem is the lack of hits. Gamepass has plenty of content and access to lots of good games (though it's focus is currently fairly narrow). But MS haven't had a Hit, A system seller, since Gears of war (i can't think of anything for the X1). They havent had anything to drive either xbox console sales or Gamepass subs. Hence the spending spree for developers and IP. If activison does go through: that's a lot of very popular IP on PC, console and Mobile that they can put behind Gamepass. MS have learned the painful lesson last gen that all gaming companies go through: Content is king.

Well it has been one-sided domination from Sony, which disappoints me. Sony needs better competition to improve.

Microsoft should buy Nintendo and combine forces so they can create a proper PS5 alternative. Great games with great graphics. not just one or the other

@osan0: i'm certain Microsoft would love to have Game Pass on PlayStation and Switch but it's simply not viable because Sony and Nintendo wouldn't want another storefront taking sales away from their own stores..

it's just not going to happen..

that said, in the past 6 years, Game Pass has already become a PR win and a profitable service for Xbox based mainly on console adoption but there has been saturation in that space.. currently, expanding the service on PC is where they are getting their most growth.. and in the long-term, cloud will be the driving force for Game Pass..

keep in mind that "cloud" doesn't just mean "mobile".. current Xbox One users can stream next-gen only games like Starfield without the need to buy a new console.. SmartTV owners with support for the Game Pass app can stream brand new Xbox games without any additional hardware paywall.. and any PC with a supported web browser can also stream these games..

again, once streaming is "good enough" for casuals to pick up and play on the devices they already own versus buying a $500 console, Microsoft will be way ahead of the curve.. that's where the true growth comes from.. and that's when talking about console sales becomes pointless..

sure, this is probably another 5 to 10 years down the road but the ultimate goal seems pretty clear..

@Antwan3K: Oh yeah no chance in hell Sony and Nintendo will let it happen.

On the other stuff in your post though.....ehh i wouldn't call either XCloud or Gamepass a success. When MS are looking at Gamepass...they are looking at Netflix numbers. they want 100s of millions of monthly subscribers (not just users on a free tier...actual subscribers paying money every month). Their growth in subscribers is not where they want it. Getting more people to use it on TVs doesn't seem to be much of a thing too which is strange. I would have thought they would look to work with TV manufacturers and/or retailers to sell Xbox controllers at a discount with TVs that can support gamepass.

To be honest their current strategy isn't really working. They want to be the Netflix of gaming but the way they are going about it is very messy and unfocused. Gamepass should be doing better than it currently is.

Also just for the record: I don't support MSs direction. I don't think it's good for us. I also consider game streaming to be an afront to gaming.

@osan0: I think we can all agree that Game Pass is a PR success.. and Microsoft/Xbox are the ones that said Game Pass is already profitable for them.. That's the official stance from the company itself.. Anything beyond that is just speculation..

As far as cloud, that's the nature of a longterm play.. Cloud Gaming is not ready for primetime.. But when it is, Microsoft/Xbox is waaaaay ahead of the curve..

Regardless of if you personally like it or not, speaking strictly of growth potential, cloud is huge.. "Netflix numbers" come from the fact that people don't have to buy dedicated hardware and can stream to the devices they already own.. Game Pass won't truly be the "Netflix of gaming" until that reality is fully realized and that is a long way from now.. but that goal remains clear and cloud is the key.. and, yet again, that is a reality where comparing console sales is meaningless..

until then, Game Pass is already profitable at 10-15% of their total revenue according to Xbox.. that debate is already over..