Xbox leadership and the Xbox brand evaluation *spawn

[Deleted member 11852]

A lot of games have less active players than Skyrim, though. Also, are you only looking at Steam numbers? Xbox doesn't publish raw numbers to my knowledge, but if you look here, they list the most played games in order of most played to least played. Starfield is currently #10, Skyrim is 27.

What would be useful, and what I did try to find but couldn't as Steam's monthly user counts don't seem to go back that far, is knowing what the three-month play count curve was for the original Skyrim in 2011. As others have said, Skyrim is probably artificially buoyed by mods so you really need to look at a Skyrim launch (not SE or Anniversary) where mods were in the same place as Starfield is now, e.g. PC-only and a bit messy.

lso, according to Steam, less than 70% of Skyrim SE players gat the first achievement (Unbound). That's the achievement you get for getting past the tutorial. This isn't that uncommon of a ratio for a Bethesda game.

It's got scary spiders, man. No aracnophobe is getting past that tutorial. Or arkoudaphobes!

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Could you elaborate which parts of it are great for you as a gamer?

Well, for $360 (3 years of GP) I've played and completed:

Call of the Sea
The Medium
Gears Tactics
Ori & the Will of the Wisps
What Remains of Edith Finch?
Dragon Quest XI
The Artful Escape
A Plague Tale 1 & 2
Power Wash Simulator
Scorn
Guardians of the Galaxy
Tunic
Death's Door

Then I've had a ton of time with (still working on):

Vampire Survivors
Forza Horizon 4 & 5
Wasteland 3
Starfield
Doom Eternal
The Witcher 3 (which I purchased to later finish for $12)
Gears of War Ultimate (co-op)
Halo (1 on MCC & Infinite multi)
MS Flight Sim

I've dabbled in:

Persona Series
Forza Motorsport
Pentiment
Grounded
Age of Empires Series

It's amazing value and only going to get better when they add Hellblade 2, Avowed, Outer Worlds 2, Fable, State of Decay 3, Call of Duty games, Diablo IV, Elder Scrolls IV, new Doom, new Wolfenstein etc... you get the idea. So many great games and franchises coming to GP with these acquisitions. I'm betting Cyberpunk comes to GP in 2024 as well and maybe Elden Ring too. MS are relentless in servicing GP. I'm expecting the price of GP to go to $15 per month at some point, but who cares? It's incredible value. For the price of a couple of games annually, I'm getting all of the above right now. Acquisitions are the energy powering GP.

 

[Nesh]

Well, for $360 (3 years of GP) I've played and completed:

Call of the Sea
The Medium
Gears Tactics
Ori & the Will of the Wisps
What Remains of Edith Finch?
Dragon Quest XI
The Artful Escape
A Plague Tale 1 & 2
Power Wash Simulator
Scorn
Guardians of the Galaxy
Tunic
Death's Door

Then I've had a ton of time with (still working on):

Vampire Survivors
Forza Horizon 4 & 5
Wasteland 3
Starfield
Doom Eternal
The Witcher 3 (which I purchased to later finish for $12)
Gears of War Ultimate (co-op)
Halo (1 on MCC & Infinite multi)
MS Flight Sim

I've dabbled in:

Persona Series
Forza Motorsport
Pentiment
Grounded
Age of Empires Series

It's amazing value and only going to get better when they add Hellblade 2, Avowed, Outer Worlds 2, Fable, State of Decay 3, Call of Duty games, Diablo IV, Elder Scrolls IV, new Doom, new Wolfenstein etc... you get the idea. So many great games and franchises coming to GP with these acquisitions. I'm betting Cyberpunk comes to GP in 2024 as well and maybe Elden Ring too. MS are relentless in servicing GP. I'm expecting the price of GP to go to $15 per month at some point, but who cares? It's incredible value. For the price of a couple of games annually, I'm getting all of the above right now. Acquisitions are the energy powering GP.

You are talking about GB, but most of the games you mention are not the result of consolidation, at least how I understand the OP ment it

 

[see colon]

Well, for $360 (3 years of GP) I've played and completed:

How many games did you find that you didn't like, though. And I don't mean this as a negative. I find games on Gamepass that I just don't like. Some of them are games I would have wasted money on. Finding games I don't like, even if they are considered good games by others, is one of my favorite things about Gamepass because I haven't directly invested money into a game that I don't care for. Gamepass has allowed me to try more games without an added financial risk, continue to play the ones I enjoy, and move on from the ones I don't, and that's the best thing about Gamepass for me.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

How many games did you find that you didn't like, though. And I don't mean this as a negative. I find games on Gamepass that I just don't like. Some of them are games I would have wasted money on. Finding games I don't like, even if they are considered good games by others, is one of my favorite things about Gamepass because I haven't directly invested money into a game that I don't care for. Gamepass has allowed me to try more games without an added financial risk, continue to play the ones I enjoy, and move on from the ones I don't, and that's the best thing about Gamepass for me.

Yup, I've saved money on games I thought I'd like (and might have purchased) but didn't (thanks Game Pass!). And, of course, the flip side is I've tried games that I never would have purchased by ended up really liking.

That's something that isn't talked about much, GP is about finding games that you like and don't like ... without the risk of fully committing to buying the game.

I'm at the point now where I'll try something on GP I think I won't like just in case I might actually really enjoy it.

Regards,
SB

 

[Johnny Awesome]

You are talking about GB, but most of the games you mention are not the result of consolidation, at least how I understand the OP ment it

Well that depends on how far you want to go back. After all, even Halo and Gears were acquisitions.

Speaking of which, Sega and MS have both said they have a major announcement at TGA. Put those hands together perhaps?

To answer the other point: Yes GP is good for eliminating edge case games and finding hidden gems like Tunic or Vampire Survivors.

PS: Doesn't anyone else think it's strange that Australia has already rated Hellblade 2? Maybe it's done and that's MS' surprise at TGA?

 

[cheapchips]

PS: Doesn't anyone else think it's strange that Australia has already rated Hellblade 2? Maybe it's done and that's MS' surprise at TGA?

It was first revealed at the Game Awards, so would be thing to do I guess.

Four years ago! Game development times are just broken.

 

[SmooTh]

PS: Doesn't anyone else think it's strange that Australia has already rated Hellblade 2? Maybe it's done and that's MS' surprise at TGA?

Wasn't it the automated IARC system?
Which "rated" GTA 6, Clockwork Revolution, South of Midnight and other?

So no official rating

 

[Metal_Spirit]

A lot of games have less active players than Skyrim, though. Also, are you only looking at Steam numbers? Xbox doesn't publish raw numbers to my knowledge, but if you look here, they list the most played games in order of most played to least played. Starfield is currently #10, Skyrim is 27. I think there is a large amount of data missing if we are only looking at Steam numbers, because Starfield launched into Gamepass day 1, and we also know Gamepass subscriptions were higher than expected because of Starfield.

Also, according to Steam, less than 70% of Skyrim SE players gat the first achievement (Unbound). That's the achievement you get for getting past the tutorial. This isn't that uncommon of a ratio for a Bethesda game.

As I told before, I will not defend any argument, since they are not mine, but a colection of arguments from lots of my webpage readers.
But Gamepass growth is not known! Microsoft anounced 25 millions users about a year ago, and made no chenges to that number since then. Is it bigger than 25 million now? Starfield may have brought lots of people to Gamepass, but was the service retaining previous users? Were the ones that entered more than the ones that left?
No one knows!

 

[Nesh]

Well that depends on how far you want to go back. After all, even Halo and Gears were acquisitions.

Speaking of which, Sega and MS have both said they have a major announcement at TGA. Put those hands together perhaps?

To answer the other point: Yes GP is good for eliminating edge case games and finding hidden gems like Tunic or Vampire Survivors.

PS: Doesn't anyone else think it's strange that Australia has already rated Hellblade 2? Maybe it's done and that's MS' surprise at TGA?

Even as such, Gears is not the result of consolidation, and Bungie is not owned by MS. Your experience reflects someone who is a fan of a particular console and enjoys only the consolidations your platform provider does.

 

[Nesh]

As I told before, I will not defend any argument, since they are not mine, but a colection of arguments from lots of my webpage readers.
But Gamepass growth is not known! Microsoft anounced 25 millions users about a year ago, and made no chenges to that number since then. Is it bigger than 25 million now? Starfield may have brought lots of people to Gamepass, but was the service retaining previous users? Were the ones that entered more than the ones that left?
No one knows!

Xbox spends "over a billion dollars a year" on Xbox Game Pass

Xbox spends "over a billion dollars a year" on its Xbox Game Pass subscription service. That's from Xbox boss Phil Spen…

www.eurogamer.net

Holy crap that's a lot.

 

[cheapchips]

Seems like a proportional amount to spend against 25m+ subs / 3bn+ revenue?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Well that depends on how far you want to go back. After all, even Halo and Gears were acquisitions.

Hmmm. Looking at your list, very little seems to be MS owned. You've benefited from GP without the content needing to be owned my MS. that's not a convincing argument that consolidation has worked for you.

Holy crap that's a lot.

Is it? Sony and NetFlix spend lots and lots on content. I guess one aspect missing here is how much MS spends on GP and how much it spends on top for its content creation.

Seems like a proportional amount to spend against 25m+ subs / 3bn+ revenue?

At first glance it seems a good ROI. As I just thought in response to Nesh though, an additional cost is likely game creation.

"over a billion dollars a year supporting third-party games coming into Game Pass"

That's what it's costing for the third parties, and what it tells us they are getting from GP. The cost to MS will be that $1 billion plus their own studio creations. We'd have to add, say, four AAA games a year if that's the target at whatever that costs, offset by sales for those not using GP. Back of the envelope estimates - that should be fairly profitable, I think.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Even as such, Gears is not the result of consolidation, and Bungie is not owned by MS. Your experience reflects someone who is a fan of a particular console and enjoys only the consolidations your platform provider does.

MS bought Gears and Halo IPs. How's that not an acquisition? They were acquired after all.

Btw, quite a lot of it is MS owned, and more of it over time:

Gears Tactics
Forza Horizon 4 & 5
Wasteland 3
Starfield
Doom Eternal
Gears of War Ultimate (co-op)
Halo (1 on MCC & Infinite multi)
MS Flight Sim
Forza Motorsport
Pentiment
Grounded
Age of Empires Series

And I'm also looking down the nozzle of the fire hose of content that is coming over the next few years.

I was asked how MS acquisitions are going to benefit me as a gamer and I think I've answered the question pretty well and in vivid detail.

 

[Nesh]

MS bought Gears and Halo IPs. How's that not an acquisition? They were acquired after all.

Btw, quite a lot of it is MS owned, and more of it over time:

Gears Tactics
Forza Horizon 4 & 5
Wasteland 3
Starfield
Doom Eternal
Gears of War Ultimate (co-op)
Halo (1 on MCC & Infinite multi)
MS Flight Sim
Forza Motorsport
Pentiment
Grounded
Age of Empires Series

And I'm also looking down the nozzle of the fire hose of content that is coming over the next few years.

I was asked how MS acquisitions are going to benefit me as a gamer and I think I've answered the question pretty well and in vivid detail.

To be honest, I don't think you did a good job at all.
The OP talked about company consolidation. You mention some IPs owned by MS instead.
If you are making the point about exclusives, all consoles have exclusive content. So what exactly is your point?
(Speaking of which, your list repeats the same franchise multiple times, so thats not a good list either).
If your point is related to multiplatform titles/companies turned into exclusives, you didnt explain how that benefits you more and how it benefits gamers at large. Would it have benefited you if Sony bought ABK and Zenimax instead?
Did it benefit you that for example FF16 is a PS5 exclusive? How does Starfield being on XBOX only benefits you more than being on both consoles?
If you are talking about GP (which obviously you did earlier since you mentioned GP games that exist on competitive platforms) how is that related to consolidation when multiplatform games end up there anyways?

Your arguments aren't making a good case of how consolidation benefits the gamer. As I said earlier it only points how GP benefits you in general and how you are happy that content becomes exclusive to the platform that you own.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Well we'll have to agree to disagree then. I can live with that. Excuse me while I go try to drink from a firehose...

 

[Johnny Awesome]

On Friday we might learn about the 2024 lineup for Xbox 1st party. I'm hoping for:

Hellblade 2
Avowed
Halo:Infinite Season 6
Sea of Thieves content
Oblivion Remake
Flight Sim 2024
Diablo IV Season 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops
State of Decay 3

 

[see colon]

Releasing Avowed and Oblivion Remake close to one another would be promotional malpractice.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Not if they're 9 months apart.

 

[iroboto]

On Friday we might learn about the 2024 lineup for Xbox 1st party. I'm hoping for:

Hellblade 2
Avowed
Halo:Infinite Season 6
Sea of Thieves content
Oblivion Remake
Flight Sim 2024
Diablo IV Season 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops
State of Decay 3

I hope? That the goal is to have Infinite as just MP and they continue the single player entirely separately from this point forward. Might help them accomplish their goals better