Subscription Growth Has Flattened. Accounts For Only 10% Of Content Spending. Nadella Hinting Going 3rd Party?

Nadella was quoted recently saying, "We think that now, we have the ability to really do what we've always se out to do, which is build great games and deliver them to folks across all platforms, right, which is Xbox, consoles, the PCs, and now even including mobile gaming and cloud gaming"



Mix the consumer spending on subscription services, the recent sales performance on Xbox games on Circana (NPD) and rumors of more Xbox games coming to other platforms soon, and the picture is becoming more and more clear. I mean look at the Xbox faithful even starting to ask questions...

Well, it's pretty obvious by now that Xbox is going 3rd party. with Game Pass being introduced on the last-gen console and still wasn't able to put a dent into the Playstation franchise. Game pass was created to push consoles, and after having on two different generations of consoles, and still comes in 3rd place?? Heck Xbox is down by 18% year to year in the EU which is a darn shame.

Already seeing every lem on here trying their hardest to make it sound like going third party is a good thing, something they always wanted. Xbox having zero exclusives and GP has cricified your system😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

This is the part that I feel like this board needs to read and sit with. "I get that some people want to protect their preferred model, but the idea that subs will become dominant is unsupported by data." There has yet to be any data to support subscription services being the future of gaming. There has yet to be any data to support the idea that consoles are dying or that exclusives are bad. Folks here have these ideas and preferences and just try to reinforce them. I get it. But we are on the verge of a complete 180, and those folks seeking reinforcement are in for a bumpy ride.

This feels familiar...

The truth always comes out, eventually.

@ghostofgolden: this is great news. Actually it's called the Trojan horse tactic, get our games on the desperate Sony Playstation console, and beat them from the inside. Besides that Xbox isn't one console, it's an ecosystem that covers Xbox, pc, mobile, tablet and more.

To be honest, I think hardwenzen is on to something. I've been gaming more and more on pc, and consoles have started to seem real redundant to me at this point. I was able to connect my pc to my tv and play my Xbox games through there. Things are working great

Horizon, TLOU, God of War, ratchet: all going to PC.

Meanwhile cows: loooool, Microsoft is putting their games on another platform 😂

Ripe bunch of cuckoo's

You can say consoles seem redundant, but 2 of the 3 console makers are selling a ridiculous amount of consoles right now. Despite PC gaming becoming more and more popular. And Xbox getting their games on PlayStation and Nintendo platforms is the next progression of their strategy seeing as how they aren't making any real strides on PC. Software sales are keeping pace with the competition and their subscription growth has stalled. They need to make money on their software from somewhere.

Those games come at a later date and aren't going to Xbox or Nintendo consoles. What you're saying and what's coming for soon for some Xbox titles aren't the same thing.

So Xbox is turning into the world's largest third party publisher it seems.

Helldivers 2, day one PC

FairGame$, day one PC

Concord, day one PC

Marathon, day one PC, Xbox

Destiny games/content, day one PC, Xbox

MLB The Show, day one PC, Xbox, Switch

God of War 2018: on PC

TLOU: on PC

Horizon Zero Dawn: on PC

Horizon Forbidden West: on PC

Sackboy Adventures: on PC

Uncharted games: on PC

Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart: on PC

Spider-Man: on PC

Miles Morales: on PC

Returnal: on PC

Death Stranding: on PC and Game Pass

Days Gone: on PC

Now that Sony has gone 3rd party/multiplatform, I assume most people will be selling off their PS5?

Don’t really care which way they go to be honest. If they keep providing an Xbox console then I’ll buy that and get Microsoft games there. If they stop doing that and go third party then I’ll buy their games on whatever console they put them on. Makes very little difference to me. 🤷‍♂️

Meh its not about the games,its sales and profits that count according to cows,sooo with sony already behind xbox in gaming revenue..this move will cement sony in last place!

Most AAA PC ports suffer from traversal stutters, memory leak, and other frustrating bugs. PC gaming is an over-expensive entertainment that provides an underwhelming gaming experience. DF reviews show even 4090 suffers from traversal stutters in games like Dead Space and other UE games.

I have both a gaming PC and console. And playing games on consoles is much less of a hassle as compared to gaming on a PC. I reserve PC for retro gaming.

What does a 4090 got to do with traversal stutter?🤔

@kvallyx: Helldivers2 isn't a first party exclusive. Then 12 of the 17 other games you listed fit my description. But please, continue...

i guess now that "Xbox is doomed", "Xbox has no games", and "Revenue Wars" are all dead, the new narrative is "Xbox is going 3rd party"..

i checked the linked quote from Nadella and he specifically mentioned the ABK deal (ie Call of Duty) and made no mention of PlayStation or Nintendo.. but hey, these narratives aren't going to create themselves..

as far as subscription growth, Xbox already expects Xbox Game Pass to stay at around 10–15 percent of Microsoft’s Xbox content and services revenue and that “it’s profitable for us.”..

I am told that if the IP is owned by Sony/MS/Nintendo, then it is first party. And all the games I posted fits perfectly with my rebuttal. I shall carry on!

The odd thing is, this is from last year. And as you said, was ABK specific. And of course, he never mentioned PS nor Nintendo ;)

@ghostofgolden: Matt has no idea what Game Pass sales numbers are, so his tweet needs an asterisks.

@hardwenzen said:

Already seeing every lem on here trying their hardest to make it sound like going third party is a good thing, something they always wanted. Xbox having zero exclusives and GP has cricified your system😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

That you two actually believe what you post is one of the funniest things I have read this year.

Thanks for the laughs.

@dabear said:

@daredevils2k said:

Well, it's pretty obvious by now that Xbox is going 3rd party. with Game Pass being introduced on the last-gen console and still wasn't able to put a dent into the Playstation franchise. Game pass was created to push consoles, and after having on two different generations of consoles, and still comes in 3rd place?? Heck Xbox is down by 18% year to year in the EU which is a darn shame.

@hardwenzen said:

Already seeing every lem on here trying their hardest to make it sound like going third party is a good thing, something they always wanted. Xbox having zero exclusives and GP has cricified your system😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

That you two actually believe what you post is one of the funniest things I have read this year.

Thanks for the laughs.

When this is how you're laughing, keep on laughing.

I see Lems are turning to their "illiterate and can't read the linked material" defense.

"We think that now, we have the ability to really do what we've always se out to do, which is build great games and deliver them to folks across all platforms, right, which is Xbox, consoles, the PCs, and now even including mobile gaming and cloud gaming"

Jex Corden understands what was said. Xbox Twitter Brigade understands what was said. System Wars Lems "He made no mention of PlayStation or Nintendo.. but hey, these narratives aren't going to create themselves"

Uh oh, cows didn't realize that MS has been putting games on PS and Switch for years 😂

To be blunt, the initial goal is to have constant yearly AAA releases on Xbox. Which is probably starting from this year. And the more of those games are of better quality, the more subscribers GamePass will get.

One has to come before the other. Gamepass isn't going to do it on their own.

Cows are as short sighted as Sony, who put all their eggs in one basket now have no 1st party releases this year, and maybe next year. MS bought Zenimax and then bought ABK, yet two months later they're going to be talking about going 3rd party? :-S

Then what was the point in spending a year in court convincing consumer protection companies of their plans to buy ABK. Having to give Sony a 10 year CoD deal which loses them some control of ABK, because now they are not free to reorganise the studios that work on CoD.

Also, without Xbox, Gamepass would have to cease. Because without Xbox, MS loses control of their ecosystem, which they'd relinquish to other platforms.

Even if they do release content on other platforms, they'd still need Xbox as an anchor point.

TC also interpreting what Nadella is saying for his narrative.

You have to understand, when he says across all platforms and consoles, he's not referring to Nintendo or Sony...

🙄

@ghostofgolden said:

I see Lems are turning to their "illiterate and can't read the linked material" defense.

"We think that now, we have the ability to really do what we've always se out to do, which is build great games and deliver them to folks across all platforms, right, which is Xbox, consoles, the PCs, and now even including mobile gaming and cloud gaming"

Jex Corden understands what was said. Xbox Twitter Brigade understands what was said. System Wars Lems "He made no mention of PlayStation or Nintendo.. but hey, these narratives aren't going to create themselves"

In reference to ABK, Call of Duty is indeed on "all platforms".. so is Minecraft, Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, and more..

also, "Xbox" is the gaming brand.. it's Microsoft's gaming platform.. "consoles" are one of the hardware endpoints that consumers can utilize to access "Xbox".. in 2024, why would this need to be explained to you?..

so yeah, neither PlayStation or Nintendo were mentioned, but "Xbox is going 3rd Party".. maybe the TC is projecting in terms of "illiterate and can't read the linked material"..

That started last year with their onslaught of Xbox Game Studios games that released.

basically.. we were way overdue for an anti-Game Pass thread so TC had to cook something up..

As is Windows Centrals Jez Corden and the majority of Twitter and Era.

Not a Cow but lets looks at some facts. Game Pass launched in 2017. Subscription spending is flat this year. Phil Spencer told us they hit a saturation point last year. Phil Doesn't expect Game Pass to account for much more than 15% of their total revenue. And as Matt Piscatella said, there's no data to support subscription services doing what folks are indicating they will. If anyone put all their eggs in one basket its Xbox. And the market is telling you that subscription services was the wrong basket.

@Pedro: Traversal stutters is the bane of AAA PC gaming at the moment. Here is the video about it.

Thank goodness Minecraft is on other platforms. Xbox wouldn't have any games charting if it weren't

Xbox fandom in panic mode.

@R4gn4r0k said:

But you were comparing apples to oranges. How is pointing that out a goal post move?

And it's along side the chart topping Xbox Game Studio's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III!! Woot!

Oh you're right. I knew I was forgetting something.

Poor Cows having to read too much into a press statement in order to distract from the fact that their precious PlayStation has no games. 😏

It's a good thing if Game Pass subscription only account for 10% of content revenues. That means the other 90% of revenues are content purchases. It means Xbox gamers buy games. Oh, poor Microsoft, people buy games.

I feel bad for cows as PS has no games 😞

Actually the majority of it is microtransactions. The Circana software charts should tell you it’s not game purchases

Which lead to no significant growth in subscriber count and, a 15-20% decline in Xbox console sales.

Xbox and GamePass need more *and* better content. I'm 100% sure we will see both in due time but, 2023 wasn't it.

@hardwenzen said:

@dabear said:

@daredevils2k said:

Well, it's pretty obvious by now that Xbox is going 3rd party. with Game Pass being introduced on the last-gen console and still wasn't able to put a dent into the Playstation franchise. Game pass was created to push consoles, and after having on two different generations of consoles, and still comes in 3rd place?? Heck Xbox is down by 18% year to year in the EU which is a darn shame.

@hardwenzen said:

Already seeing every lem on here trying their hardest to make it sound like going third party is a good thing, something they always wanted. Xbox having zero exclusives and GP has cricified your system😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

That you two actually believe what you post is one of the funniest things I have read this year.

Thanks for the laughs.

When this is how you're laughing, keep on laughing.

If Xbox went away, I'd just use a Steam Deck and Switch.

And I don't give a shit about subscriber growth/count. I care about me. I got great games to play last year. 2023 saw A LOT of great content. In fact, all the first party games on Game Pass combined average 82% (1% short of Sony's 83%) on Open Critic since the start of the Xbox Series X generation.

2024 looks like it's going to continue the trend of MORE and BETTER content over the already stellar 2023.

Guess I don't need my series x anymore.

@dabear said:

@hardwenzen said:

@dabear said:

@daredevils2k said:

Well, it's pretty obvious by now that Xbox is going 3rd party. with Game Pass being introduced on the last-gen console and still wasn't able to put a dent into the Playstation franchise. Game pass was created to push consoles, and after having on two different generations of consoles, and still comes in 3rd place?? Heck Xbox is down by 18% year to year in the EU which is a darn shame.

@hardwenzen said:

Already seeing every lem on here trying their hardest to make it sound like going third party is a good thing, something they always wanted. Xbox having zero exclusives and GP has cricified your system😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

That you two actually believe what you post is one of the funniest things I have read this year.

Thanks for the laughs.

When this is how you're laughing, keep on laughing.

If Xbox went away, I'd just use a Steam Deck and Switch.

At this point its not a matter of IF, but WHEN. And what are you gonna play on a Switch? Little colorful games made for children? Give me a break, you wouldn't survive on that children's ipad for more than a week. And the Steam deck can barely handle anything, its like buying a ps4 in 2024, who does that?

Let me tell you what will happen. When they go third party, you will bitch and moan for a month, and then, accept your faith, and buy a ps5. YOU WILL BE A PS5 OWNER NO MATTER WHAT. Are we clear?

With PS going third party, we don't need a PS either.