Did Microsoft strategy really pay off? - Exclusives related

Phil Spencer has done a great job these years to resurrecting the Xbox brand from the ashes after Don Mattrick fiasco.

He finally put Kinect to rest, introduced good services like Play Anywhere and Xbox Access, it overall made the console more appealing to the eye of core gamers.

He also addressed the exclusive games matter a couple of times and he stressed the fact that he was not in favor of a platform- bound exclusives, but rather of an idea of exclusivity that would embrace the Microsoft environment as a whole, hence including Windows and somewhat even smartphones, I believe.

This was theoretically a good concept and strategy in my opinion, but ultimately it only partially paid off, seeing how this may have created a scenario in which gamers split to either play on Xbox One or on PC, since these latter didn't really see a reason to own an Xbox.

Platform exclusives, as old a concept as it may seem, might still matter more than what Microsoft thinks.

What's your opinion on that?

Based on developer acquisitions and moves with gamepass I'm guessing MS are going to leverage exclusives next gen as a reason to buy in to their gamepass service, aside from developer acquisitions I wouldn't be surprised to see MS commission games from 3rd party devs in the same way netflix commissions a show, the idea being to position gamepass as a value option offering exclusive content on day 1 for a low monthly cost.

To me the strategy is going to be get people invested in the MS ecosystem whether it be via PC or Console and go from there.

I expect Sony to do something similar.

No, no he really hasn't

Yeah I think he has done really well. You can’t tell so much this gen cuz of all the mess he had to clean up but next gen is looking very interesting for Microsoft. All they lack is exclusives and he is making strong moves with these new acquisitions to really shake up the console wars. Might have to get my first Xbox next gen. I absolutely adore what they have done with BC all the way back to the OG Xbox. That is seriously being kind to your fans.

@tgob89: Go away troll.

If Streaming services take over it will be a shitshow. It's already happening with movie services. Imagine Every third party company running their own service for a monthly fee. You will pay $70 a month just to play the games you want and at the end of the day you will own nothing.

Oct 2018 NDP with release of highly anticipated multiplat RDR2

PS4: ~345k

Switch: ~260k

XBO: ~215k

Men lie, women lie, Lemmings are pathological liars...numbers don't lie.

Deal with it.

k thax bye

I dunno how any one can look at MS' failures, cancellations, and droughts this gen and say with a straight face that their strategy has paid off. It most definitely hasn't. They are only now buying studios after getting completely bodied for the past 5 years.

Up by 64% from last year. Try harder next time.

Last year was their worst year yet this gen though.

It's not hard to be up YOY when you're coming from rock bottom. Being up YOY for them is a reflection of just how disastrous last year was for them not necessarily that they are doing well relative to the competition and thriving. For example, Switch is slightly down YOY but last year was one of the greatest years in Nintendo history with the launch of a New Mario and Zelda coming off rave reviews. Nintendo is slightly down compared to their stratospheric numbers last year but they are still doing better than MS.

64% up from last year and still ends up in last place? That's pretty sad actually.

Think its working for MS. Giving gamers options and creating new services like Gamepass, Xcloud, Backwards Compat. and Play Anywhere. Then you have MS constantly adding new developers to the studio. Seems like every few months MS is doing something in the gaming world and bringing new ideas.

Phil and Satya on the same page is beautiful for gaming.

@zappat: Trending up instead of down. Try again.

@kenshiro3948: I know it hurts to relent to the fact the Xbox is trending up and things have greatly improved for the system. Time to take a seat and be quiet. ?

The WiiU or the Vita also trended up at some point, that doesn't mean much.

Yea it "hurts" to watch things go up YOY for the system and it still ends up in last place....? WTF are you smoking?

Losing so much this gen has really made you guys lose your marbles.

Are you kidding?

He dropped kinect pissing off some of the early adopters who dished out the extra.

Made all games multiplat alienating PC/console gamers and to the ones who had an Xbone, it effectively turned into the world's most expensive Netflix player.

And now sales are slow struggling to breach 40m still.

It's so easy to see why PS4 is the console gamers choice this gen.

Also to add:

• Xbox One costing $500 over PS4 $400 was a huge difference and it didn't help Xbox One was weaker then PS4.
• MS waited the last minute decided to port all MS games on PC, it hurt MS supporters who went out and got Xbox One.
• Cancelling new IP game Scalebound in early 2017 hurt MS reputation.
• Barley any killer app games.

MS really wasn't ready for this gen at all if they thought everyone will jump blindly how they set up Xbox One from the start and Sony didn't need to do anything at all, MS did the work for them and Sony didn't need to do much convincing gamers PS4 is the right choice. I did buy an Xbox One a year later after launch when they got their shit together and when they finally announce all of MS games will be on PC, I ended up giving my Xbox One to my Daughter so she can use it for watching Blu-Ray movies.

Let this be a lesson to MS, first impression is last impression. I do hope they do better in next-gen.

This ^

My opinion is this isn’t a sprint it’s a marathon. There’s no point wondering what has or hasn’t paid off now when they are buying studios to increase the output in their eco system. Remember everytime someone mentions they don’t need an Xbox to play a first party game MS is still gonna get paid if those people buy them on PC or use gamepass.

Where have all these idiot cowssprung up from?

Phil has said time and again that Consoles are their 1st priority, and I believe him. But Phil would not be VP of Gaming @ Microsoft if this was just about Xbox, and MS would not be buying all these studios if this was not about something bigger.

MS keeps talking about the billions of gamers and how they are trying to get to them. Fellow System warriors you have to stop thinking about this is the old console war ways, and measuring sticks. It really is about number of people actually interacting, and active users. MS cares about the console space, but they want to be accessible every where. You don't want to buy the console great. Just spend your money with us a different way, just as long as your buying or using our products.

Amazon and Google are looking into this, have deep pockets and are chomping at the bit to make billions off this market. If anything the Big 3 should be sticking together to keep them away.

What makes MS so different than Google or Amazon? The three are huge corporations which interests lie primarily elsewhere other than in gaming. That's why I prefer 1000 times companies like Sony and Nintendo that are invested in gaming as their primary income. That assures me that they will keep gaming a priority. A thing I wouldn't expect from MS, Amazon or Google.

Well so far, so good I think. I like a lot of what they have been doing so far with things like backwards compatibility, Game Pass, and Xbox One X. They’ve just recently acquired a number of very talented developers so I think the future looks very promising. They could really knock it out of the park when their next console launches.

If you think Sony has never had anything else going and got into this business out of passion I got a bridge to sell you. I remember when they first got into the business and I was excited too, as Sega and Nintendo never did it for me.

PlayStation's whole business has been taking advantage of other's mistakes. They were working with Nintendo saw what they were $ making and saw Sega failing and got into the biz. They have tied down great exclusives and never looked back until PS3 when their hubris got the best of them. Don't be surprised if it happens again.

I'm not saying Sony can't **** up but gaming is their most profitable division so you know they will take care of it and they do. With MS, Amazon or Google, gaming is just another division that gives them some side earnings, it's not a priority. I just don't see why be scared of Amazon and Google entering the business and not have the same reservations with MS which is a similar type of corporate giant.

With Microsoft buying multiple studios, they seem to be aiming for quantity games instead quality games.

MS is playing the long game not some stupid made up fanboy war.

MS has been going from strength-to-strength this gen. They're still struggling with the market, considering it's heavily leaning one way. I think their focus on next-gen is gonna be great... Solid dev acquisitions for more first-party support.

In more ways then one.

Don't tell people the console is about Kinect and then drop it. It didn't instantly work out, tough shit, that should be M$s problem, not mine.

Then making all games multiplat, that's another move that shouldn't be done mid gen. I would never have wasted my money on it, had I known about these changes. As soon as they announced all games going forward would be multiplats at e3 2016, I cut my loses and got rid of mine the next day. I have a PC and Xbox 360 in the same room.

What people don't get, is that we aren't saying these practices in themselves are bad, just that doing it once the console is released is really messed up. Then people have bought the console on misinformation and spent a lot of money. M$ don't care, a launch console cost people a lot of money and a lot of people can't afford to make mistakes about what they're buying. I can respect Sony and Nintendo who stuck with the PS3 and Wii U despite the tough time. The problem is, what M$ did was such a middle finger, I'd never go back.

Sometimes I learn lessons the hard way, and I've learned to never early adopt. Always going to wait 1 year to 18 months before buying a console now.