Phil Spencer Wants Sony and Nintendo Games on Xbox, But Says He Doesn't Expect It (videogameschronicle.com) 19
Microsoft announced this week that four of Xbox's previously-exclusive games are going cross-platform to PlayStation and Switch. Xbox head Phil Spencer says in a new interview that he'd like to see Sony and Nintendo bring their games to Xbox -- but that he isn't holding his breath. From a report: In an interview for journalist Stephen Totilo's Game File newsletter, Spencer said the decision to bring four Xbox games to other consoles wasn't intended to make its rivals follow suit. "This is not for me, like, some kind of bartering system," Spencer explained. "We're doing it for the better of Xbox's business." Despite this, Spencer said he would of course welcome other consoles' games on Xbox, and noted that it would be beneficial for multiplayer games in particular, where building a large online community is important for a game's lifespan.
"I will say, when I look at a game like Helldivers 2 -- and it's a great game, kudos to the team shipping on PC and PlayStation -- I'm not exactly sure who it helps in the industry by not being on Xbox," he said. "If you try to twist yourself to say, like, somehow that benefited somebody somewhere. But I get it. There's a legacy in console gaming that we're going to benefit by shipping games and not putting them on other places. We do the same thing." Spencer also noted that Helldivers 2 -- which Sony released on PlayStation and PC on the same day -- is doing well on the latter. "I will say shipping more games in more places and making them more accessible to more people is a good part of the gaming business," he said. Further reading: Phil Spencer Puts Apple's Money Where His Mouth Is.
"I will say, when I look at a game like Helldivers 2 -- and it's a great game, kudos to the team shipping on PC and PlayStation -- I'm not exactly sure who it helps in the industry by not being on Xbox," he said. "If you try to twist yourself to say, like, somehow that benefited somebody somewhere. But I get it. There's a legacy in console gaming that we're going to benefit by shipping games and not putting them on other places. We do the same thing." Spencer also noted that Helldivers 2 -- which Sony released on PlayStation and PC on the same day -- is doing well on the latter. "I will say shipping more games in more places and making them more accessible to more people is a good part of the gaming business," he said. Further reading: Phil Spencer Puts Apple's Money Where His Mouth Is.
What I want (Score:2)
I want to see Steam running on an XBox!
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Because they can sell more games. It's not like they'd be making XBox-exclusive games.
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The newest XBox generation has sold more than 20 million units. That's a lot! PS5 has maybe twice as much, but increasing potential game sales by FIFTY PERCENT would be huge!
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Where did I say it should be the priority? What I'm saying it would be profitable for more Sony and Nintendo games to come to XBox because the additional sales will go well beyond the cost of porting and any potential losses from people picking an XBox over a Switch or PS5 because of the availability of the title.
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The Switch has mediocre specs and probably wouldn't appeal to XBox users. PS5 though...
Phil Spencer wants the FCC (Score:3)
The FCC is still trying to block the Activision sale with a last minute hail mary. And You can bet your ass Phil's eyeing all those Embracer Group properties for a cheap buy.
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If they block the purchase of any further studios by sony after blocking the activision sale that could be worthwhile. Otherwise it's pretty hard to justify the double standards when it was sony that pushed the trend of buy studios and make titles exclusive (which worked a treat for them).
Probably there are reasons Xbox is not disclosing (Score:3)
There are reasons why Xbox has fewer exclusives than Sony even though Microsoft has been buying more studios. 3rd party developers say that developing for Xbox is harder. One reason: Microsoft requires feature parity between both current generation consoles. That is not an issue for games that do require performance like Nintendo exclusive Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It makes sense from Microsoft's standpoint in that they do not one of their consoles to have disparate features, but there is a large difference in performance between the Series S and the Series X. This causes problems for developers who have to spend more time optimizing.
Larian Studios noted this when they were asked why they did not release the Xbox version of Baldur's Gate 3 the same time they released the PC and PS5 versions. They simply could not get both Xbox consoles to perform acceptably without dropping features if they launched with other platforms. Or they had to spend more time optimizing their game for Xbox and delay launch on that console. Bear in mind the majority of current Xbox consoles is the Series S as it was cheaper. In the end Larian had to get permission to get an exception to this rule to launch their game.
When it comes to exclusives, Microsoft has poorly managed this aspect of their business. This is seen in how they have handled the Halo series which was the game that helped launch their console. Bungie made the first 5 Halo games and chose not to proceed after their contract ended. Microsoft created the studio 343 Industries to continue the Halo series and this studio worked with Bungie on their last title, Halo: Reach. Halo 4 was 343 Industries first title and it was not well received by fans. Changes in the art style, the story, and the game play had many fans criticizing that it did not feel like a Halo game.
With subsequent titles, Halo 5 and Halo Infinite, fans expressed more dissatisfaction with the direction of Halo. One criticism is that with each new Halo, they got fewer features than the last version, and 343 Industries was making Call of Duty: Halo edition. The problem for fans is if they wanted to play Call of Duty, they would play Call of Duty. After launch of Halo Infinite the player count has dropped significantly. There are times that on Steam more people are playing Halo: The Master Chief Collection (MCC) than Halo Infinite. Halo MCC is the collection of remasters of the first six Halo games.
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"Changes in the art style, the story, and the game play had many fans criticizing that it did not feel like a Halo game. "
This started right with Halo 2, minus art style, as it diverged in story (Sergeant: survived even though he was next to the explosion AND Cortana herself said there was NO survivors) and gameplay (too many points to list).
The only person who knew what a Halo game was left Bungie after Halo CE, he was the executive producer. The rest of the team drifted so much without him, they sank so m
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As it diverged in story (Sergeant: survived even though he was next to the explosion AND Cortana herself said there was NO survivors) and gameplay (too many points to list).
Is Halo perfect with no plot holes? No. What I am talking about the story is major points of the Halo. At the end of Halo 3, the Covenant is defeated and the Elites through the Arbiter sided with humanity. In the beginning of Halo 4, humans are still battling with the Covenant and the Elites. None of it is explained in the game. It was explained in other content that there was a civil war amongst the Elites but none of this was in the game.
In the beginning of Halo CE, it is stated Master Chief is the last