Sony and Microsoft first party strategy

[Deleted member 11852]

I'm not holding my breath on Microsoft bringing more games to other consoles. For many, Minecraft is about multiplayer so you have enable others, even those not on your platform, to get in otherwise you're limiting the online potential on the people who are on your platform.

Shout when Halo 5 (not just Forge) is playable on Windows. Microsoft haven't brought their biggest franchise to their biggest platform, when even Halo was releases on Windows and Mac.

 

[iroboto]

https://venturebeat.com/2018/01/17/...craft-leader-matt-booty-to-no-2-job-in-games/

Microsoft has promoted Matt Booty, a leader in the Minecraft games business, as corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios, making him one of the top game executive reporting to his boss, Phil Spencer, executive vice president for games.

In an interview with GamesBeat, Spencer said that he will be in charge of the grand strategy for games, while Booty would be in charge of executing that strategy in games publishing. Booty will report to Spencer, while the rest of the studio chiefs will now report to Booty.

Pretty big deal and it would also appear I got Shannon Loftis' job role incorrect, I thought she was responsible for this, but apparently not.

The appointment fills a key post within the games group after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella promoted Spencer to executive vice president in a strategic role overseeing all games, game hardware, and game platform strategy at Microsoft. That promotion left the job of overseeing game development and publishing open, and now Booty has filled that post.

So I assume this position was approved because game development and publishing was taking up too many cycles and they need Phil to focus on hardware, overall library and game platform strategy. That's a pretty big deal, for several reasons, but the main one being that it's clear games is a key focus for MS. You're not hiring more and more people into it if you plan to abort.

Xbox is certainly maturing, will be very interested to see where this goes. I'm expecting a lot more platform changes in the coming years as a result of this announcement. My expectations have changed now for MS, I'm certainly expecting more as a result of these changes. Though I don't expect to see major results for at least 3 years.

The call to move Matt Booty into this position seems like a good fit according to what I can read from the article.

“Back in the fall, Satya Nadella, our CEO, made clear — both organizationally as well as far as importance — the role he wants gaming to play inside of Microsoft,” Spencer told me. “Consequently I became a member of the senior leadership team at Microsoft, which has been great. I’m learning a lot, and the conversations we’ve been having at the Microsoft level about the role of gaming have been inspiring.”

Spencer added, “As part of this, Satya asked us to think end to end about the role of gaming on the planet, the role that we can play with our content and services that we build, and the all-up opportunity that gaming affords Microsoft in the consumer space. He asked us to make sure we’re aligned to do our best work in this place.”

@Shifty Geezer as per our discussion about 'long term'

 

[AzBat]

https://venturebeat.com/2018/01/17/...craft-leader-matt-booty-to-no-2-job-in-games/




Pretty big deal and it would also appear I got Shannon Loftis' job role incorrect, I thought she was responsible for this, but apparently not.

So I assume this position was approved because game development and publishing was taking up too many cycles and they need Phil to focus on hardware, overall library and game platform strategy. That's a pretty big deal, for several reasons, but the main one being that it's clear games is a key focus for MS. You're not hiring more and more people into it if you plan to abort.

Xbox is certainly maturing, will be very interested to see where this goes. I'm expecting a lot more platform changes in the coming years as a result of this announcement. My expectations have changed now for MS, I'm certainly expecting more as a result of these changes. Though I don't expect to see major results for at least 3 years.

The call to move Matt Booty into this position seems like a good fit according to what I can read from the article.



@Shifty Geezer as per our discussion about 'long term'

This article might offer a little insight into choosing Matt Booty from Mojang...

http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-minecraft-100-year-brand-2016-9

I think it's a great way to bring in a different view. Will definitely be interesting to see the results a few years down the road.

Tommy McClain

 

[iroboto]

This article might offer a little insight into choosing Matt Booty from Mojang...

http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-minecraft-100-year-brand-2016-9

I think it's a great way to bring in a different view. Will definitely be interesting to see the results a few years down the road.

Tommy McClain

There's a lot in this article.
this was made me say j**** f*ck

Since the beginning of this year, Mojang says, people have bought 53,000 copies of Minecraft every single day.

That shit prints $$$$
Really tells you a lot about the value of an exclusive if you're printing these types of numbers.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

@Shifty Geezer as per our discussion about 'long term'

I'll still be (moderately) surprised if they release a console and then have no exclusives because they release them on PS too.

Spencer added, “As part of this, Satya asked us to think end to end about the role of gaming on the planet,

To make companies lots and lots of filthy lucre.

 

[DrJay24]

Looking at Game Informers top 50 games of 2017 and you can see MS's problem. I don't think there is one of the XB1 game that isn't on the PC and none were full retail AAA games.

Console exclusives
Sony: 11
XB1: 4

 

[iroboto]

https://twitter.com/x/status/955803220688896000

well damn. That changes things for me. right @Shifty Geezer
Man... its almost like they are setting their service up for streaming on any device


https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/23/...s-subscription-future-games-microsoft-studios

Microsoft is planning to bring its own exclusive Xbox games, published through Microsoft Studios, to the company’s Xbox Game Pass subscription. Future games, including Sea of Thieves, will be available via subscription on the same day they’re available to purchase at retail stores or through the Microsoft Store. “The number one request from our customers... was to get new blockbuster games into Game Pass,” explains Microsoft’s games chief, Phil Spencer, in an interview with The Verge.

Sea of Thieves will be the first title available on launch day, March 20th, through the Xbox Games Pass, and that will “follow through with State of Decay 2, Crackdown 3, and the rest of our portfolio,” says Spencer. “Not just those games, but our future Halos, our future Gears of War, future Forzas, and other games. Our plan is to launch those to our Game Pass subscribers at the same time they go to retail.”

 

[bunge]

What is “Game Pass”?

EDIT: “When we launched Xbox Game Pass in June 2017, we knew we wanted to craft a service with gamers in mind. That meant a diverse, expanding library of over 100 games and counting, matched with one monthly price and unlimited access to download and play full-fidelity experiences.”

 

[Shifty Geezer]

well damn. That changes things for me. right @Shifty Geezer
Man... its almost like they are setting their service up for streaming on any device

That'll expand Game Pass but doesn't point to a platform agnostic future at all. When these games are playable on non-MS ecosystems, you'll have a point. Until then it's no different to any other company trying to expand its ecosystem across devices to leverage software as a lock-in.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/17...-let-ios-apps-run-on-the-mac-in-2018---report
https://www.sonymobile.com/gb/apps-services/remote-play/

Remote Play is a good example where it could be rolled out to all smartphones but Sony have tried to use it as a brand differentiator in the Android space. At the moment, MS want people to buy their games on Windows Store or subscribe to Game Pass. With gamers using Game Pass, they'll want to continue buying devices that supports that library, which'll be Windows PC, and future XBox, and potentially even Windows on mobile. That's a great incentive to attract users onto MS's ecosystem - why would they give that up to let people play Game Pass games on PlayStation or iPhone (and would Sony or Apple allow it?)?

MS has billions of PCs out there and the chance to convert all those PC users to Windows mobile users and XBox console owners. That's in fact their only chance to push their ecosystem into new markets, to get everyone from Windows PC to buy into MS mobile and console and TV boxes etc. Giving up one of their major USPs doesn't make much sense.

 

[AlNom]

Throw in Game Pass + Office + Gold for $20/mo or $200/yr. :3

 

[iroboto]

That'll expand Game Pass but doesn't point to a platform agnostic future at all. When these games are playable on non-MS ecosystems, you'll have a point. Until then it's no different to any other company trying to expand its ecosystem across devices to leverage software as a lock-in.

It's coming, just waiting to see it happen. Might still be a long time out. You'll need a lot of GPUS to support this type of thing I think.

Spencer previously teased Xbox game streaming within the next three years, and it appears that the Xbox Game Pass and subscription services are an important part of the future of Xbox. Referencing Sony and others, Spencer says game streaming is a “part of our future as well,” but warns it’s not quite ready yet. “We’re not there today from an experience standpoint, and a value standpoint,” explains Spencer. “One of the advantages we have at Microsoft is an investment in data centers and capability through out Azure business. As we look at the future of Game Pass, and frankly where we’re going in allowing people to play games that they want to play and where they want to play them, we think streaming is part of that, but not the only choice.”

 

[JPT]

It's coming, just waiting to see it happen. Might still be a long time out. You'll need a lot of GPUS to support this type of thing I think.

But GPUs are cheap now....... ehh

I guess AMD haven't gone down this path yet, but they could -> https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/nvidia-bans-consumer-gpus-in-data-centers/

 

[Scott_Arm]

But GPUs are cheap now....... ehh

I guess AMD haven't gone down this path yet, but they could -> https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/nvidia-bans-consumer-gpus-in-data-centers/

How would that EULA even be enforceable?

 

[AlNom]

How would that EULA even be enforceable?

Their SpyForce drivers totally don't track things.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Their SpyForce drivers totally don't track things. View attachment 2431

But are they going to send lawyers to reclaim their gpus?

 

[AlNom]

They can float16 and sputter. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Shifty Geezer]

nVidia's EULA being discussed elsewhere. Not here, thanks.

 

[dobwal]

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/m...iter-and-de/1100-6461106/?ftag=GSS-05-10aac1i

Microsoft has hired one of the lead producers of God of War and one of the lead writers and designers of Red Dead Redemption.