Xbox Business Update Podcast | Xbox Everywhere Direction Discussion

What will Xbox do

  • Player owned digital libraries now on cloud

    Votes: 3 23.1%
  • Multiplatform all exclusives to all platforms

    Votes: 3 23.1%
  • Multiplatform only select exclusive titles

    Votes: 8 61.5%
  • Surface hardware strategy

    Votes: 2 15.4%
  • 3rd party hardware strategy

    Votes: 2 15.4%
  • Mobile hardware strategy

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • Slim Revision hardware strategy

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • This will be a nothing burger

    Votes: 4 30.8%
  • *new* Xbox Games for Mobile Strategy

    Votes: 2 15.4%
  • *new* Executive leadership changes (ie: named leaders moves/exits/retires)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    13
  • Poll closed .
Don't you guys find it strange that the MS CEO and not Phil Spencer publicly discusses the operation of a sub division?
Everything rolls up to Satya. And one if the main roles of the CEO is managing and communicating with shareholders.
 
Black Ops 6 looking really good. Kind of regretting cancelling my gamepass sub. But good to know MS has a great AAA game added to their portfolio.
 
Phil Spencer: Xbox Handheld 'a few years out'; no 'red lines' on what games come to rival platforms says


Spencer is apparently ‘pleased‘ with the results following the launch of these games on rival consoles, advising Xbox would ‘do more of that.‘ For those that surmised that stalwarts of the Xbox brand like Halo would be behind a redline, think again – with the Microsoft Gaming CEO saying he ‘won’t rule out any game in Microsoft’s stable.

I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say ‘thou must not,’ referencing that it’s too early to make any sort of decision on the next version of Halo.

On new hardware.

Longer term, I love us building devices, and I think our team could do some real innovative work, but we want to be informed by learning and what’s happening now.” says Phil Spencer.

Improving the xbox app on handhelds and so on.

Per the folks at Bloomberg, any device of that nature is ‘a few years out‘. Right now, Microsoft engineers are working on improving the existing Xbox app so that it works better than it currently does on existing handhelds like the ROG Ally or the Lenovo Legion Go, saying the Xbox app is ‘good rather than great on some of these gadgets
 
What a lot of us were saying when the first cross-plat games were announced. It's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy, but one Sony is also headed towards it seems. Ignoring the other markets is leaving too much money on the table. Sadly for MS they failed to secure enough XB users to make it worth Sony porting as opposed to keeping their ecosystem, so PS will be the only platform with the majority of games. MS will want to publish on PS, and PS will become the de facto console, I guess. That or PC or whatever Nintendo are doing.

But discrete ecosystems make little sense now the hardware has homogenised. Back when everything was unique and porting hard, it was inevitable, but now it's contrived. So all games on all platforms is the best option for gamers. I guess the ideal future is a 'console' OS and various discrete boxes. If the hardware manufacturer gets a cut of software sales on their box through a portal, it'll be a workable business model, I think.

TBH MS make so much money from everything else the gaming seems pretty inconsequential and will become less relevant over time, both as other revenue grows and a lack of interest in gaming makes it shrink.
 
What a lot of us were saying when the first cross-plat games were announced. It's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy, but one Sony is also headed towards it seems. Ignoring the other markets is leaving too much money on the table. Sadly for MS they failed to secure enough XB users to make it worth Sony porting as opposed to keeping their ecosystem, so PS will be the only platform with the majority of games. MS will want to publish on PS, and PS will become the de facto console, I guess. That or PC or whatever Nintendo are doing.

But discrete ecosystems make little sense now the hardware has homogenised. Back when everything was unique and porting hard, it was inevitable, but now it's contrived. So all games on all platforms is the best option for gamers. I guess the ideal future is a 'console' OS and various discrete boxes. If the hardware manufacturer gets a cut of software sales on their box through a portal, it'll be a workable business model, I think.

TBH MS make so much money from everything else the gaming seems pretty inconsequential and will become less relevant over time, both as other revenue grows and a lack of interest in gaming makes it shrink.
This is not so. Their investment of 70 billion dollars in the gaming industry is for the long term, which means that they have a lot of plans for the gaming industry. And games will always be important, even more so.

As for the Xbox. MS's gaming revenue is closely tied to the Xbox console thanks to Gamepass, as the majority of revenue comes from these GP subscriptions. An Xbox-PC merger is conceivable, I also wrote an agreeing opinion on this earlier, but its implementation raises questions. Because PC Gamepass subscriptions have a lower volume both in terms of number of players and pricing. So the Xbox console is key. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how MS's plans in this direction are realized.
 
Phil Spencer: Xbox Handheld 'a few years out'; no 'red lines' on what games come to rival platforms says




On new hardware.



Improving the xbox app on handhelds and so on.


I think Xbox hardware is going to become a very very niche part of Microsoft Gaming. Sony, Nintendo and Valve are going to benefit from this. We're going to continue seeing Xbox games release day and date on playstation. Meanwhile Sony will not release the overwhelming majority of their major titles day and date on other platforms. Possibly after 1 or 2 years. So consumers will keep on buying Sony hardware and into the ecosystem and MS Gaming will make a lot of money selling software.
 
I think Xbox hardware is going to become a very very niche part of Microsoft Gaming. Sony, Nintendo and Valve are going to benefit from this. We're going to continue seeing Xbox games release day and date on playstation. Meanwhile Sony will not release the overwhelming majority of their major titles day and date on other platforms. Possibly after 1 or 2 years. So consumers will keep on buying Sony hardware and into the ecosystem and MS Gaming will make a lot of money selling software.
It is in MS's interest to have as many Gamepass subscribers as possible. And this is not consistent with their approach to other consoles. If we look at the latest graphs, we see that MS's gaming division is generating more revenue than ever before. So based on the numbers, more revenue = GP = XBOX.

We can't see where those MS games that appear on other console platforms are. Only a handful of multiplatfirm titles have been released for other platforms, and there is one Indiana Jones promised for next year. That's it. What Phil Spencer say, hmm... the rest is just honeysuckle. If they planned so much with the other platforms, they would have many more announced games in this regard than my dozens of major first-party titles. And what to see? They only bring ABK's multiplatform games to other platforms, and they also throw a couple of little dice.... It is clear that the Xbox console is still the main priority, since most of the income comes from it indirectly, thanks to the subcriptions. This is proven by the fact that their first party games still enjoy the exclusivity of their own console.

In addition, COD Day1 Gamepass exclusivity and its success can be significant role in itself regarding the future of Xbox console strategy.
 
This is not so. Their investment of 70 billion dollars in the gaming industry is for the long term, which means that they have a lot of plans for the gaming industry.
But not Xbox. Their playing around with entertainment on the side is best served by publishing (and streaming) games everywhere. The 70 billion investment can be seen as much as just adding value to the company with free cash as spearheading a significant business objective.
 
MS should incentivize staying in their ecosystem with Day 1 GP and timed exclusives, but I'm fine with everything also going to PS. Let PS owners pay for my GP titles. I'm happy with that.

ie. Gears 6 on Day 1 on GP on 11-11-25 or something and $70 on PS5 on 12-11-25.

Every Xbox owner I know sticks with Xbox under those conditions. They love GP.
 
It is in MS's interest to have as many Gamepass subscribers as possible. And this is not consistent with their approach to other consoles. If we look at the latest graphs, we see that MS's gaming division is generating more revenue than ever before. So based on the numbers, more revenue = GP = XBOX.

We can't see where those MS games that appear on other console platforms are. Only a handful of multiplatfirm titles have been released for other platforms, and there is one Indiana Jones promised for next year. That's it. What Phil Spencer say, hmm... the rest is just honeysuckle. If they planned so much with the other platforms, they would have many more announced games in this regard than my dozens of major first-party titles. And what to see? They only bring ABK's multiplatform games to other platforms, and they also throw a couple of little dice.... It is clear that the Xbox console is still the main priority, since most of the income comes from it indirectly, thanks to the subcriptions. This is proven by the fact that their first party games still enjoy the exclusivity of their own console.

In addition, COD Day1 Gamepass exclusivity and its success can be significant role in itself regarding the future of Xbox console strategy.
I think you'll see the upcoming Gears of War, Elder Scrolls 6, Fable 4 will launch either day and date on PS or very close to and guaranteed on PC day and date. No doubt Xbox hardware is important but its not clear Phil sees that nor is certain he needs to make it a focal point moving forward. The ABK acquisition is the reason for growth in MS's gaming division i.e covering up failures if it wasnt there. This is Phil's strategy, to grow through acquisitions and he mentioned it in the Bloomberg interview that he's still looking for acquisitions. Although at this point its going to be much much harder since they already acquired COD/ABK. For me to believe that Xbox hw is a focal point moving forward, there needs to be clear signals from developers. If Phil can continue a successful strategy of growth through services and software sales while also increasing developer and consumer interest and use in their hardware then its a win. But for now I just dont see him balancing the two well.
 
IMHO MS plays on time the next 2 years at least to make their next strategic move. Either what they plan takes more time(2nm/tech, open HW) or they are really unsure about the market and if large investment make sense now due national and world economy.
 
"This is an Xbox!" ad.

No it's not. :)

We'll see how hard and how successfully they push that message.

Yeah this early days for an exit of hw or as I said earlier on making their own hw a very niche product.

They even have a quiz here. https://www.xbox.com/en-US/what-is-xbox


Nothing incentivizes not buying the Series X like saying anything else is an Xbox. As well I think this is the beginning of a strategy to force MS game stores on the Nintendo Switch and Playstation

 
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