MS, Our New Xbox One/PC Features Not In Response To PS4's Lead

At E3 2016 last month, Microsoft made some major announcements related to its platform strategy going forward. One of these is a new feature called Xbox Play Anywhere, which will bring Xbox One and PC closer than before.

Now, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has spoken up to say Microsoft's efforts to partially unite console and PC are not in response to Sony's commanding lead in the Xbox One vs. PlayStation 4 race.

"Sony is doing incredibly well with the PS4 but they're doing something fundamentally different from us," he told The Guardian. "We're not building a strategy in response to what they're doing; we're building a response to what I see customers and gamers asking us for."

For its part, Sony's Andrew House recently suggested that the company is not going to follow in Microsoft's footsteps and unite PlayStation 4 and PC.

"I always hesitate to be drawn into discussions of someone else's strategy," he said during a meeting with analysts and investors this month. "I'm more than happy to talk about our own strategy. Yes, there was a big emphasis from the folks at Microsoft on Xbox and PC cross-play. It remains to be seen whether there is latent large consumer demand for that.

"But we don't see it as really effecting or prompting any change in our thought process and strategy," he continued. "We've always tended to believe that a proprietary ecosystem offering a very well crafted, unified client experience is the way to go, and that sort of remains our strategy."

Also in the interview, Spencer said Microsoft is not trying to "turn PC gamers into console gamers or console gamers into PC gamers." The Play Anywhere feature is all about choice and catching up with other forms of media.

"So if you're at school and want to play a couple of rounds of a game and then you go back home and want to continue on your couch, that seems normal," he said. "Every other kind of media--your music, your movies--everything else works that way."

As part of Play Anywhere, users can buy a game digitally on Xbox One and get the PC version free or vice versa. As Spencer mentioned, your progress will move with you wherever you're playing, though there isn't always going to be cross-play support.

Play Anywhere kicks off in September with Mega Man designer Keiji Inafune's ReCore and continues with Forza Horizon 3 later in the month, while October's Gears of War 4 will also support the feature. Some non-Microsoft games, including We Happy Few and Ark: Survival Evolved, are also included in the Play Anywhere catalog.

In other news about Play Anywhere, Microsoft recently cleared up some confusion about the supported games, saying only the ones discussed on stage at E3 are confirmed for the program so far. A blog post from Microsoft previously stated that that all future Microsoft-published games would be Play Anywhere titles.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-xbox-onepc-features-not-in-response-to-ps4s-le/1100-6441679/

The thing is that I believe MS for the most part. It is just another way to push the always on and no used games purchases that console gamers have enjoyed for some time. They say buy this game digitally and get the PC version free digitally, now that's is some bait and switch. Lems say that was all The Great Don Mattricks idea and that Phil isn't with that strategy. These guys are smart.

It's a fundamentally great concept and idea and I can do nothing but praise them for it.

I liked his example relating to other media, you can use it on multiple devices, why not games as well?

its not really a response but more a consequence.

games like gears of war are not cheap to produce and the X1 is not selling as well as expected. they have to mitigate the risk.

It's just MS trying to get people back in their ecosystem. They have fallen behind in mobile phones, gaming, and the PC/Laptop market is shrinking. MS has to adapt and they know it, and right now they aren't doing very well.

Trouble is Google/Apple have huge leads in phones, Sony is dominating home consoles, and Steam dominates the digital gaming front for PC. They have an uphill battle in every new market they try and get into.

It was something they should have been doing back on the Xbox 360. There is no need to split their platforms up like that. Console sales are largely independent from PC sales. Breaking down barriers and opening up the amount of platforms a player can play their games on at no extra cost gives more intensives to buy their games. Knowing that I can play Forza 6 on my PC or Xbox One, and switch between the two platforms as I feel like it, is pretty damn awesome. Sometimes I want to play on my TV, other times I want to play on my PC. Now I can with no hassle. That's a really cool system.

From a PC gamer's perspective, the Xbox One can become an extension of the PC if a lot of games can be bought on one platform and played on both. From a console gamer's perspective, this is a way to more easily get into PC gaming (which Microsoft is dominate on already and has just expanded its services with their own DD store).

Terrible decision. Good for people like me though that can now throw away my Xbone.

Anywhere like music and movies? Cool. So when are they releasing their games on PS4?

If you see it as anything other than a hedged bet against another market they floundered at breaking into, you are naive and wrong. The undeniable fact of the matter is that the third parties would dictate their publishing rights to a platform and exclusivity. XBox is no longer in a position to bargain for exclusivity. Any argument to the contrary is pure lunacy. Simultaneous publishing to PC is the only way they are able to woo games away from being PS4 exclusive from third parties. With HD game development budgets on the rise, the age of successful sub 30M consoles is long over.

Every Lemming that says 20M consoles in 3 years is a success is living in a Gen6 pre-HD mindset and should know better.

@flyincloud1116: No doubt. Sony did the old bait and switch with PS+ being a service on PS3 but being mandatory to access MP on PS4. That's big business folks.

I'm guessing this is taken from the interview in this article mostly : Scorpio Rising

As usual the cows here cant see the forest for the trees. The 'hedged bet' is on the fact that MS has primarily shifted their business model into selling services, and they are pretty successful at it. Xbox Live is the service they are selling. Scorpio is the product they came up with based on what devs said they would need if they wanted to deliver.

Just like in the other thread where you cows were saying they were backtracking, thats not the case and is explained in the article above.

Arguments based on console sales numbers is kinda moot since no cow here could have predicted the PS4 would sell like it did, not even Sony predicted that. And if its any indication, the PS4 sold primarily based on the fact that it was more powerful. It wasnt exclusives driving PS4s huge sales numbers they literally didnt have any worthwhile for almost the first two years. It was the combination of cheaper price and blundered X1 launch that catapulted the PS4 not exclusives. Sony's entire marketing strat was market multiplats like first party games and tell everyone to wait for greatness and it worked. Especially when the power difference was factored into the marketing. Sony made 1080 a marketing term this gen, even when a number of games didnt do 1080 on PS4.

You'll always have people that say stuff like, 'derp now I can throw out my xbox' but these same people seem to consistently overlook the fact that everyone doesnt have a gaming PC or want one. Theres definitely a niche market here to be exploited that probably a lot sweeter than most cows are willingly to admit. Just like the Surface made its mark in the tablet/pc market after a rough start, the Xbox is becoming a branded pc in the same vein. Not to mention MS has Windows Holographic and will potentially have access to both Vive and Rift on Scorpio, which could completely crater PSVR.

We shall see. My money is on the people that jumped on the power bandwagon staying on the 'moar powah' bandwagon and going to Scorpio. Sony exclusives arent really what drove the herd to PS4 this gen. SW Cows like to think that but if it were true Bloodborne and Uncharted 4 would be selling 20 million copies and they arent. They are selling comparable numbers to Xbox exclusives.

"We're not building a strategy in response to what they're doing; we're building a response to what I see customers and gamers asking us for."

So much bullshit is not even funny,since when xbox fans have being asking to lose their exclusives to PC,it was MS after they started trailing sony badly,in fact they started this gen exactly where they left off,COD exclusivity some time exclusive content keep out of the PS4,it was a by the book move,it wasn't until sales of their games started to bomb one after the other that they came with this policy so true it is that they hide on the freaking closet until it was 1 month from release basically that Quantum Break was also coming to PC.

Who ever eat that crap is a true moron.

Third party devs are more likely to pick xbox going forward. I would not be surprised more devs jump on board when they know their game will end up on PC and not be stuck to one place of play ( just xbox) I couldn't give a crap exclusives end up on PC. The xbox community will have the bigger community for competitive multiplayer and its controller only.

Hahahahaaa...

Live is free on PC.

And the xbox one isn't selling as the PS4.

Yes we did specially after MS super crap policies were leak,even more when we learned it was waker and cost $100 more than the PS4 we predict it would outsold the xbox one badly and it did,even pre orders were a give away,why you think MS changed their policies gamestop pre-orders and other stores were dirt low.

Yes $800 PC VR will destroy sony $400 Vr...lol

Even when VR works on normal PS4 as well,does it work on the xbox one.? lol

My money is on Scorpio being another failed unit from MS who will do little to stop the PS4 ass kicking of the xbox brand.

Uncharted outsold Halo 5 on launch that should say something...lol Uncharted has never being as big as halo...lol

Bad move for the Xbox brand. It now has no exclusives. It's gonna sell worse than it is now.

Its really going to sell worse when they have console next year that can output at 4K native. Be real xbox gamers have zero reason to buy a PC for gaming.

But PC gamers now have zero reason to buy an Xbox.

Actually Totalbiscuit a well known PC elitest on Youtube, who has millions of subscribers said the announcement of the Scorpio was excellent. He said most PC gamers don't buy consoles because they lack power. The Scorpio addresses that he said. The hardcore may not buy a console, but the guys running their games on cheaper hardware might? And who's to say those xbox gamers that left after the 360 and bought a PS4 will not return when the Scorpio releases?

@loe12k: Placing all your hopes on Scorpio I see. Scorpio is gonna fail tho. hehe

@dynamitecop: YOU can ONLY use it WITH windows 10! not just PC. so its play anywhere LIMITED ;^D

don't think it works that way

however they did try cross consol play rocket league and sonny say no

Halo5 sold 5mill after month 1

16.5mill now sooo yea but no

Exactly my thoughts.

That being said, this kind of unity with Windows appears to have been one (of several) of the visions for the XBox brand since the beginning, and it's very pro-consumer. Not much you can say that's bad about it

Anyone claiming that xbox games on pc is anything but good is simply a microsoft hater. I have a killer pc but I still play xbox games a lot of the time. The reason why? Multiplayer games! I have a nice pc but none of my friends do. I wanted to play the division with my pc but I played on xbox because that is where my friends were. I'm thrilled that I will get to play Gears 4 on my pc and still get to play with my xbox live friends. The best thing ever is if games like COD/Battlefield would allow cross platform play too. Then I really would be able to get rid of my xbox. The benefit to MS for this? I would have to buy my games from there store. I'm a loyal steam fan but if I could play COD with xbox one players on my pc I would buy it from their store. (Even if I had to pay full price which is something I never do. Best Buy Gamers Club!)

Well, MS is the one that compared it to music and movies, and I can watch them on any suitable player regardless of manufacturer. I've also seen posters claim this "Play anywhere" was to reach a bigger audience than just with the Xbox One, and PS4 would add another 40 million or so machines. This is hardly "play anywhere" if you can't actually play anywhere, only a few selected wheres.

Also, Sony didn't say no. They said,

"PlayStation has been supporting cross-platform play between PC on several software titles starting with Final Fantasy 11 on PS2 and PC back in 2002,” reads the statement from the corporation.

“We would be happy to have the conversation with any publishers or developers who are interested in cross platform play."

Not a no, but not a yes without knowing what MS would require for it to happen and the details of match-making and such.

So much bullshit, I can almost smell it through my computer screen.

They want larger profit margins, and getting people to buy digitally will help immensely.

He's lying. EVERYTHING they've done from day one has been in response. So they just so happened to abandon everything they had going for them at the beginning? Don't think so. They're finding a new way to compete, or finding themselves a new place and everyone they've taken for a ride since the beginning is just collateral damage. At least have the balls to tell the truth. Telling me, if things were going amazingly, the Xbox One wouldn't be a very different console? Piss off.

Changing direction after you release a console, is the lowest move a company can make.

I just don't buy it. I guess different PC gamers. From my point of view, I now have zero interest in the Xbox One. I need exclusives to justify having a console, otherwise, why not have something else in its place which does have exclusives.

I certainly don't buy the 'sales being largely independant from each other'. I used to think that, but now I'm in a position of a PC gamer, if I have a game on my PC, I'm not interested in buying it else where, so there goes the sale I would have given to the console.

It's a pretty expensive extention, isn't there other ways such as the Steam Link? Sure it might not work for MS store games, but it's an expensive solution to have an Xbox One just for those games.

True dat... And done that. Lol the day after MSs e3 presentation.

Whether its physical hardware or not, youve still bought into their format.

Personally, I like the idea of having options. I know its system wars and all, but if you feel like its scam, then don't buy it.

Obviously they can't be blind to the market, it goes without saying. However they have a website devoted entirely to customer feedback and have regularly implemented ideas from there.

1) first off IT XBOX PLAY ANYWHERE not GAMES PLAY ON ANITHING

2) your late Sony did awnser that but that answer was completely irrelevant if at the end of the day (1) its not cross pc/ps4 (2) it was about cross Consol and they dint sing up and say NO

Skip to 32:01 they even took a shot at Sony because of it

sony loves to look good but behind the scenes

rocket league is now cross play betwing Xbox / win Store /Steam / Movile BUT NOT SONY they dint allow it

Yep, if you want the game in our ecosystem then you will have to by from us. Cuts down on used sales.

you are missing the point, Microsoft is not interested in Exclusive games anymore, they are interested in Bringing there games to as many platforms as they can which is a smart move because Games are where the money is NOT hardware.

You lot are just so full of conspiracy theories and Paranoia that you cannot see the woods for the trees you all come out with the most Convoluted and Complicated reasons as to why MS are doing what they are doing yet the most simple of explanations seems to completely eludes you.

You lot take this so seriously you fail to realize that the so called 'war' between SONY and Microsoft only exists on Gaming forums like this one, there is no war in the real world Microsoft is in the Business of making money not beating it's competitors into the ground and as far as making money is concerned MS is doing just fine.

As much as i don't like the idea because i trade a lot of games, you have to concede that used games will soon be a thing of the past.

Things change and you ether change with them or get left behind.

Gaming is going digital it's inevitable and no amount of complaining about it is going to change that.

The thing is digital is the future, and I don't' know why gamers are fighting it to be honest. Look at music. Cds are pretty much obsolete. Big music stores have all but shut down. Mobile gaming is huge and thats 100% digital. Blu rays/ DVDs are much less of a market share then netflix and other streaming services. All companies want us to go digital. It's cheaper and makes everything easier.

If teh moneez wuz in teh sawftwarez, den y dey mayk a cawnsowl en teh furst playse? Awl u did wuz mayk teh cays dat theyz iz gunna lews teh moneez makeeng hardwarezz soh teh eggsbawx iz teh utter fayulz. Derp herp.

Why are you being an immature dick and completely disingenuous? you have been in gaming long enough to know that the Games bring in more revenue than the hardware it's common knowledge amongst most gamers, the hardware was always sold at a loss or with very low Profit margins and is just a means to push the software.

don't talk down to me you condescending little twat.

As @Wasdie has mentioned earlier this was LOOOOONG overdue. I am glad to see that this feature is finally being implemented. The success of this strategy would be felt by both Sony and Nintendo. Exclusivity for entertainment based on a device is archaic bullcrap and consoles have been plagued with for decades. Its time to abandon that business structure and allow gamers to just game, whenever and wherever. This is a move in the right direction.

Global hardware market revenues 2014= about 31 billion dollars

'PC gaming hardware is now worth over $21.5 billion (£12.6bn) globally – over double the value of the console gaming market.'

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/pc-gaming-hardware-worth-21-5bn-twice-that-of-console-market/0135289

global games market revenue 2014=83.6 billion dollars

https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/us-and-china-take-half-of-113bn-games-market-in-2018/

PC is not an Xbox, yet it's involved. Words have meaning, if they say "anywhere", it should be "anywhere", within reason of course. And there's no reason the games that play on the Xbox One can't play on the PS4; only MS's decision to not make it happen.

Movile? The Brazilian mobile commerce company? What do they have to do with Rocket League? It also, is not available on the Windows 10 store. It's only available for PS4, PC and Xbox One. It was also cross-play between PC and PS4 from the very first day, MS was the one that said 'no". But nice try, attempting to rewrite history and paint MS as the white knight for finally allowing PC to Xbox cross-play. So do you have a link of Sony actually saying no? Do you have any actual information of why it didn't happen? You realize there's more to linking two closed networks than flipping a switch, right?

I'm inclined to believe them this time around, as the Xbox's original purpose was to get DirectX to a point where it would make Windows better for gaming. That's the whole reason why Gates allowed the Xbox to exist and not it's finally happening.

Really. Do you have proof of this claim?

do you know what Anywhere means

it call "XB0X" play anywhere

1) Ps4 dont have xbox

2) I can play Halo Spartan Assault ANYWHERE

on a living room on xbox one

on s room on PC

outside on a phone

at a club on a Tablet

its xbox (as in devices that have xbox ) play anywhere (as in any location ) not anything

The only people who will see anything negative in MS supporting Xbox and Windows 10 equally, are people who think owning a console entitles them to games that people who don't own that console are excluded from.

The first 'cross platform' game, I can think of, was Shadowrun and it was between Xbox 360 and PC. MS did eventually kill it as well though but that's [suspected to be] mostly due to Xbox 360 players not being able to compete against KB/M players on PC.

Yep. I don't see why anyone think this is a bad idea for gamers. You will think they will be elated because they don't need to buy an Xbox.

Looking at those numbers it still isn't LOL.

@BigShotSmoov007 said:

@panda30 said:

@tormentos said:

@oflow said:

I'm guessing this is taken from the interview in this article mostly : Scorpio Rising

As usual the cows here cant see the forest for the trees. The 'hedged bet' is on the fact that MS has primarily shifted their business model into selling services, and they are pretty successful at it. Xbox Live is the service they are selling. Scorpio is the product they came up with based on what devs said they would need if they wanted to deliver.

Just like in the other thread where you cows were saying they were backtracking, thats not the case and is explained in the article above.

Arguments based on console sales numbers is kinda moot since no cow here could have predicted the PS4 would sell like it did, not even Sony predicted that. And if its any indication, the PS4 sold primarily based on the fact that it was more powerful. It wasnt exclusives driving PS4s huge sales numbers they literally didnt have any worthwhile for almost the first two years. It was the combination of cheaper price and blundered X1 launch that catapulted the PS4 not exclusives. Sony's entire marketing strat was market multiplats like first party games and tell everyone to wait for greatness and it worked. Especially when the power difference was factored into the marketing. Sony made 1080 a marketing term this gen, even when a number of games didnt do 1080 on PS4.

You'll always have people that say stuff like, 'derp now I can throw out my xbox' but these same people seem to consistently overlook the fact that everyone doesnt have a gaming PC or want one. Theres definitely a niche market here to be exploited that probably a lot sweeter than most cows are willingly to admit. Just like the Surface made its mark in the tablet/pc market after a rough start, the Xbox is becoming a branded pc in the same vein. Not to mention MS has Windows Holographic and will potentially have access to both Vive and Rift on Scorpio, which could completely crater PSVR.

We shall see. My money is on the people that jumped on the power bandwagon staying on the 'moar powah' bandwagon and going to Scorpio. Sony exclusives arent really what drove the herd to PS4 this gen. SW Cows like to think that but if it were true Bloodborne and Uncharted 4 would be selling 20 million copies and they arent. They are selling comparable numbers to Xbox exclusives.

Uncharted outsold Halo 5 on launch that should say something...lol Uncharted has never being as big as halo...lol

Halo5 sold 5mill after month 1

16.5mill now sooo yea but no

Looking at those numbers it still isn't LOL.

16mill confirm at RTX 2016 by 343 Industries

Have fun

@Pedro: I would think by now, it's common knowledge that the Xbox One and the PS4 have compatible architecture, with the PS4 being more powerful.