Until Xbox can get AAA studios and exciting indies to organically support 'Xbox Play Anywhere,' Microsoft's current gaming strategy will not pay off

[Windows Central]

Without exclusive games, Xbox needs to bank on exclusive features. So far, those features aren't the best.

Until Xbox can get AAA studios and exciting indies to organically support 'Xbox Play Anywhere,' Microsoft's current gaming strategy will not pay off : Read more

 

[Gabe Szabo]

One point I think many seem to miss is that Play Anywhere, or rather, cross-buy, is the enemy of the huge publisher. It essentially takes money out of the pocket of the publisher, because users don't "double (triple etc.) dip". Is GTA 6 going to support Play Anywhere? Obviously not. It would make them losses in the millions, maybe even billions.

Play Anywhere is very consumer-friendly. Read: it makes consumers spend less. Publishers hate it. That's why Microsoft has to money-hat games supporting it.

Currently, it only makes sense for the scenarios where publishers think the consumer would probably not want to buy another version on PC, or that giving away a Microsoft Store Windows version of the game doesn't prevent them from buying the game on other PC storefronts.

 

[fatpunkslim]

Such nonsense. Their current gaming strategy seems to be doing just fine. Journalism truly is dead in the gaming community.

Exactly!

The first nonsense is saying "Without exclusive games." I don’t know where he got the idea that Xbox has no exclusives when I can count dozens, and several exclusive games are about to be released, like Avowed or South of Midnight, just to name a few. Even if they port some old games to other platforms, their production of new games, their case-by-case strategy, and their timed exclusivity approach ensure they will always have an edge. Xbox players will always have a solid lineup of exclusive games, and when it comes to timed exclusives, they will always have the advantage of playing them first.

If he's talking about the future, what timeline is he referring to? Two generations from now? Why speak about it as if it’s happening now? I bet that in two years, he will still be saying the same thing while Xbox continues to make exclusive games. I’m willing to bet him one Bitcoin if he wants.

Second nonsense:​

When he talks about the "This is an Xbox" campaign, he speculates (once again, his favorite sport) that the end of this campaign is a sign of a lack of conviction. By definition, an advertising campaign has a start and an end. Almost everyone has heard about it, it has been widely covered, so the campaign achieved its goal. Why continue if the message has already been heard?

Third nonsense:​

When he says "Xbox taking the focus off hardware more than ever," while Xbox was the first to announce the next generation of consoles with a significant technological leap. And I’m not even talking about the ridiculous speculations about the end of Xbox and other nonsense.

And I’ll stop here because reading him is exhausting—it’s always the same with him. He’s probably the biggest reason for the doom and gloom around Xbox, even though Xbox is doing just fine. But because of people like him, Xbox consoles don’t sell better.

He has serious psychological issues—he’s always in panic mode, turns speculations into present facts, confuses past, present, and future, and makes wild mental associations that ultimately make no sense.

 

[fjtorres5591]

Plays Anywhere has several purposes for Microsoft that don't necessarily matter for the publishers In the way the OP thinks. And there might be hidden benefits.

First, it distinguishes the Microsoft store from Steam for consumers. Lower fees already distinguish it for publishers. When you're a distant second distribution channel visibility matters more that just raw revenues.

Two, it supports the adoption of cloud gaming. XCloud streams the XBOX version of PC games and, realistically, double-dipping is rare. Most gamers will buy and play just one version. This is particularly true with one-and-done games. There is little lost revenue to the publisher that might just be compensated by the lower store fees. Until we see meaningful numbers on double dipping the downside to Plays Anywhere is just speculation.

Third, it paves the way to a Windows game-compatible console generation. Self-explanatory, right? If the next generation XBOX is compatible with Windows games, consumers will be able to play the native Windows version instead of relying on backwards compatibility. And this in turn frees MS from being locked in to AMD in designing the NEXTBOX. This has multiple benefits to MS but the biggest is they can hold auditions for the hardware and look for the best mix of capabilities and cost.

Spencer has already said he wants a bigger difference between XBOX and PlayStation. That is a strong hint that he is not happy with AMD. The dirty secret of this generation is that while MS waited on AMD to finalize RDNA to implement the full spec, Sony went with a subset of the spec that discouraged developers from truly optimizing for ANANCONDA and LOCKHART which is why some developers have trouble with Series X and why few games fully exploit SeriesX. Implementing full RDNA raised to cost of the SOCs with little benefit in return.

Much like the way MS pivoted away from Intel and NVIDIA off-the-shelf components in the original XBOX to licensing tech for proprietary SOCs, they may look to license tech from Intel (no longer so high and mighty) and/or NVIDIA without worrying too much about backwards compatibility.

The advantages? Intel CPUs are generally less power hungry than AMDs.
Their newer NPUs seem somewhat better than AMDs.
Their GPUs and XESS are also looking pretty good these days.

Now, MS ditched NVIDIA way back when because they needed to cost reduce the SOC over time and NVIDIA was not open to licensing. Things are different now. NVIDIA AI graphics are looking to be years ahead of AMD (as much as 5 years according to DF pixel pimpers) and they are manufacturing capacity constrained so they might welcome a deal that brings in revenue, doesn't eat into their manufacturing allocations, and expands the value of their graphics IP to developers by getting it into consoles and handhelds that so far are an AMD stronghold. And since the console market can no longer rely on price cuts to goose sales in the out years a fixed generation-long royalty may not be a deal breaker.

Bottom line, making player libraries include windows versions of games, Play Anywhere future proofs gamers and MS while costing the publisher little if anything.

We just need to remember that the MS store (reportedly) charges as little as 12% instead of 30%, even to the major publishers. Until we see double-dipping numbers above, say 10%, there appears to be little downside to publishers now that games can be PURCHASED FOR XCLOUD instead of having to be in GAME PASS. A whole new market that doesn't require added hardware costs.

Actual math might get complicated but odds are that Plays Anywhere is a win-win-win. Just another break from the ossified old ways.

 

[Papictu]

I think the Xbox platform is in the worst moment of its history, I don't know what they are supposed to want to achieve, or even care about the platform anymore, but I'm tired of this scenario: present of incompetence, future of promises.

 

[CadErik]

I would be shocked if Steam publishing agreement doesn't include an exclusivity clause for PC/Windows platforms and be the real cause of all of this. But definitely disappointed not to have KCD2 with Play Anywhere. I like my series X but it slowly feels like having my games inside a Steam library has more value.

 

[fjtorres5591]

I think the Xbox platform is in the worst moment of its history, I don't know what they are supposed to want to achieve, or even care about the platform anymore, but I'm tired of this scenario: present of incompetence, future of promises.

What's your yardstick?
Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[fatpunkslim]

What's your yardstick?
Inquiring minds want to know.

Don't feed the troll

 

[fjtorres5591]

Don't feed the troll

Some simply are misinformed.
Others...