Xbox Business Update Podcast | Xbox Everywhere Direction Discussion

[iroboto]

This article from long ago:

Xbox sets up a game preservation team and wants "the biggest technical leap ever" for its next-gen system

Xbox has established a new team dedicated to video game preservation and forward compatibility.

www.eurogamer.net

Talks about creating a forward compatibility team for games to be preserved as they move into next gen.

The directSR is announced which most people took as a nothing burger.

But with the way we PSSR roll out now, it’s apparent that you do need forward compatibility. Can you launch something today that will benefit from the technologies of tomorrow.

And directSR would be that, an abstraction to allow for future SR algos, that they may not even know exists. It does actually relieve the issue we are seeing now with the PSSR rollout.

This may be useful information to see where Xbox is headed in the future if they roll out more stuff like this

 

[rntongo]

In fact, only MS has data on how many people subscribe and how many people remain subscribers for a high-volume game. For example, those who play COD because of multiplayer are constantly subscribing to Gamepass because of this. I know such situations. But as I said, we can only guess here, we will only know for sure when Microsoft publishes the increase in the number of subscribers.

The other thing is the benefits from having COD will only be temporary. So I understand why Phil is planning on doing more acquisitions. Eventually they'll need to find ways of growing subscriber growth beyond those from the ABK acquisition.

 

[iroboto]

The other thing is the benefits from having COD will only be temporary. So I understand why Phil is planning on doing more acquisitions. Eventually they'll need to fond ways of growing subscriber growth beyond those from the ABK acquisition.

They don’t need to own everything to gain subs. COD was never going to a cloud service. If games are willing to move to cloud or gamepass, MS can take easier routes to obtain it.

MS needed a highly successful game that continually drives engagement back to their platform. They have COD and they have a slew of others. It’s unnecessary for them to just acquire companies to grab their user base. That’s way too inefficient for their needs.

 

[rntongo]

They don’t need to own everything to gain subs. COD was never going to a cloud service. If games are willing to move to cloud or gamepass, MS can take easier routes to obtain it.

MS needed a highly successful game that continually drives engagement back to their platform. They have COD and they have a slew of others. It’s unnecessary for them to just acquire companies to grab their user base. That’s way too inefficient for their needs.

Yes and Phil plans on achieving this at least partly through more acquisitions in the medium term.

 

[Cappuccino]

Yes and Phil plans on achieving this at least partly through more acquisitions in the medium term.

It’s wild to me that even after all these huge acquisitions the answer/path forward is yet more purchases. Does MS need to own 75% of developers to make GamePass make sense?

 

[rntongo]

It’s wild to me that even after all these huge acquisitions the answer/path forward is yet more purchases. Does MS need to own 75% of developers to make GamePass make sense?

Yeah its going to be interesting how they do this because more acquisitions are going to come with more scrutiny. Eventually he'll have to focus on pushing out great new titles from the internal studios or even consider making more deals with external studios, the former which he's not been very good.

 

[Seanspeed]

I don’t think MS has a choice here. A great deal of scrutiny from CMA and others have pretty much halted any direction of buying for exclusivity at least with respect to COD.

The idea situation is that subs pick up in growth market areas. And purchases pick up in traditional areas due to popularity.

Recall that in order to get ABK over the line, all this exclusivity business needed to be addressed.

MS is still playing it safe, as the FTC is still fighting them on things even now. This is probably their limit, whether they chose this path or not. MS is no stranger to anti-trust, they became very hands off everything for a long time to the point where it almost put them out of business.

Putting their games everywhere on every platform is what they promised the regulators. They are, as I can see, following through on that promise.

I imagine the FTC's priorities are going to change hugely heading forward....

 

[iroboto]

And so it begins the cloud wars

Stream Your Own Game with Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) - Xbox Wire

Starting today, Game Pass Ultimate members can stream select games they own, in all 28 countries where Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) is available.

news.xbox.com

Xcloud is now streaming games you own. First list of additional 50 titles added that are not part of the game pass list.

Game Pass Ultimate members can stream select cloud-playable games you own, even if they’re not included with Game Pass Ultimate, directly on various devices. This includes Samsung Smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices, Meta Quest headsets as well as other browser supported devices like PCs, smart phones, and tablets. For more details, see below or check out our support page.

On your PC, phone, tablet, handheld, and most devices with access to a web browser:

• Use a supported browser like Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, or Apple Safari.
• Navigate to http://xbox.com/play.
• Sign into your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership.
• Look for “Stream your own game” to discover games you can play right now, and others you can stream after purchasing them.
• Connect a supported controller. Controllers like the Xbox Wireless Controller, Xbox Adaptive Controller, PlayStation DualSense, or DualShock 4 controller are all compatible. On PC, some games will also support mouse and keyboard input.
• Start playing!

On supported TVs and VR headsets:

• Download and launch the Xbox app (on supported Samsung TV, Amazon Fire device) or the Xbox Cloud Gaming app (on Meta Quest 2, 3 or Pro)..

Decent list. 3 GOTY candidates on it and some very recent titles.
****

1. Animal Well
2. Assassin’s Creed Mirage
3. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
4. Balatro
5. Baldur’s Gate 3
6. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022)
8. The Casting of Frank Stone
9. Cyberpunk 2077
10. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
11. Dredge
12. Dying Light 2 Stay Human
13. Farming Simulator 25
14. Fear the Spotlight
15. Final Fantasy XIV Online
16. Final Fantasy
17. Final Fantasy II
18. Final Fantasy III
19. Final Fantasy IV
20. Final Fantasy V
21. Final Fantasy VI
22. Hades
23. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions
24. High On Life
25. Hitman World of Assassination
26. Hogwarts Legacy
27. House Flipper 2
28. Kena: Bridge of Spirits
29. Lego Harry Potter Collection
30. Life is Strange: Double Exposure
31. Metro Exodus
32. Mortal Kombat 1
33. NBA 2K25
34. PGA Tour 2K23
35. Phasmaphobia
36. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
37. Rust Console Edition
38. 7 Days to Die
39. Star Wars Outlaws
40. Stray
41. The Crew Motorfest
42. The Outlast Trials
43. The Plucky Squire
44. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
45. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
46. TopSpin 2K25
47. Undertale
48. Visions of Mana
49. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
50. WWE 2K24

xcloud all titles:

All games | Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) on  Xbox.com

www.xbox.com