Microsoft Bets on Latest 'Call of Duty' To Power Up Video Games Strategy (ft.com) 27
Microsoft is seeking to boost its video games business with the release of the latest instalment of the Call of Duty franchise on Friday, pushing to increase subscription revenues through the new game to offset falling Xbox console sales. Financial Times: Black Ops 6 is the first of the best-selling series to be launched on the tech giant's Game Pass subscription service. It represents the biggest test of the company's gaming strategy [non-paywalled link] since its $75bn deal to acquire Activision Blizzard -- makers of Call of Duty -- received sign-off from regulators last year. Microsoft hopes that the release will help achieve its target of reaching 110mn Game Pass subscribers by 2030, a substantial rise from 34mn in February this year.
The company has shifted its focus towards its subscription games service as hardware sales have slowed in recent years. Xbox hardware revenue fell 13 per cent year-on-year in Microsoft's fiscal 2024, which ended in June. For the first time this year, subscribers to Game Pass, who can already access a growing library of Xbox titles for as long as they keep paying a monthly fee, will be able to access the latest Call of Duty without having to pay a traditional price of $70 or more for the packaged game. Microsoft is still making the game available to buy on PlayStation, after concerns from regulators during the Activision merger probe that it might make the title exclusive to its own platform.
The company has shifted its focus towards its subscription games service as hardware sales have slowed in recent years. Xbox hardware revenue fell 13 per cent year-on-year in Microsoft's fiscal 2024, which ended in June. For the first time this year, subscribers to Game Pass, who can already access a growing library of Xbox titles for as long as they keep paying a monthly fee, will be able to access the latest Call of Duty without having to pay a traditional price of $70 or more for the packaged game. Microsoft is still making the game available to buy on PlayStation, after concerns from regulators during the Activision merger probe that it might make the title exclusive to its own platform.
Do it again, only harder. (Score:5, Insightful)
Their continued attempt to hang their entire business model for Xbox on GaaS will never work.
Re:Do it again, only harder. (Score:4, Funny)
Re: Do it again, only harder. (Score:2)
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I think Game Pass is awesome. I've got way too many (4) Xboxes in my house, all with Game Pass. Me and my 3 kids can all play the same games, play against each other, or not. My kids are never asking for more games because Game Pass always has something new on it. If I wanted to play something with my kids I would normally need to buy 3 copies of a game (my daughter only plays Sims and Fortnite) so we can play together. I don't want to spend $180 just to try out a new game. I was super excited about t
Who would want Spotify when you can buy CDs? (Score:3)
Their continued attempt to hang their entire business model for Xbox on GaaS will never work.
By your logic, Spotify would be a failure and Sam Goody and Tower Records would be thriving. Netflix would be a failure and Best Buy and every electronics dept would get the bulk of their revenue selling CDs and DVDs.
You like to buy...that's cool...nothing wrong with that...I think it's a nice option. I don't. I value my time and many games are worth playing once and very very few games are worth playing twice. Call of Duty is a great example. Given that I have a busy homelife and a lot of adult res
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1) - I was talking about MS's ROI, which will never be positive long term with GaaS, not with your personal enjoyment of the subscription service which is largely irrelevant to the equation.
2) - The amount of people that sit down to listen to music and only music is pretty low, the replay value of any individual track is very high, the length of any individual piece is very low, and the cost of making an album is at the end of the day very low. Thus the subscription music services largely work primarily as
Call of your Credit Card (Score:3, Funny)
Re: Put a chick in it... Modern Games are DEI and (Score:2)
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Ignoring the plethora of female operators in previous entries, the current entry includes a non-binary operator. Then there was the pride bullets that were put on sale for the online service in June. That certainly went over well. Especially with the multitude of trans mass shooters recently.
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"Put a chick in it, make it gay and lame" - South Park. Microsoft are DEI mad, like all the globalists. They want to use games to preach "THE MESSAGE" at us. All this wokery is infecting all the mainstream entertainment industry. Sweet Baby, woke game DEI consultants, have been behind woke disasters like Concord and now, Unknown 9. Both were epic DISASTERS. Go DEI, go woke, and you go broke. (Globalists can subsidise the hit, though).
How do you live when you think all of these imaginary boogeymen are hiding in the shadows? Woke, Globalists, DEI... all I needed was Marxists and Leftists, then I would have had a win on my conservative nutjob Bingo card.
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Just last week I installed a game from ~2021. As part of the intro video they told me how great it was that my character could be any gender or non-binary. I would have full freedom to express myself, etc. etc. That was the top feature they mentioned.
That really was a time where DEI was the most important thing in gaming- rather than the gameplay. It wasn't imaginary boogeymen, it was what was really happening.
Even just 3 years later it seemed horribly outdated. I wonder how the developers feel about t
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"was a time"
Buckle up, because all the game narratives crafted during the 4 years while the influence of ESG was at it's height are coming out in the next 2 years. And while some will take a machete to their narratives and design to remove it given the current backlash, most won't.
Re: Put a chick in it... Modern Games are DEI and (Score:1)
There is no backlash. You phobics are a very loud minority but sales figures don't care about your cries for therapy.
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Suicide Squad, Concord, U9:A, Dragon Age Veilguard, Spiderman 2, God of War Ragnarok. Yep, those spectacular sales figures don't care.