Reaction: Seriously, Microsoft Doesn't Care About Using Call Of Duty To Sell Xboxes

Whilst COD is on Playstation sales will remain pretty much same as before.

Aren’t you missing the part where Call of Duty will be on GamePass? That certainly is a big plus for Xbox and may sell consoles.

@awp69 that's what I was going to say. In turn, selling more consoles. They sound like they're taking the high road, but they know what this acquisition means. People will switch. Just a matter of how many and when...

COD makes a lot of money from PS players, Microsoft aren't stupid to ignore that revenue stream. They have plenty of other Activision IP's that they can make Xbox exclusive

They want to maintain the community they have while getting more Gam Pass subs. People will be able to play via tv, phone, pc, cloud, or xbox.

As @JustinSane and @awp69 noted, they simply don't need to lure those CoD gamers with exclusive stuff. That concerning number of people on Playstation who just play CoD will naturally drift to wherever the "best deal" is and a sub that gives them all the CoD games, all year and every year, is just going to make so much sense to them.

Give it a generation, maybe 2 and Xbox will "naturally" be where CoD gamers play.

I reckon some, not many but some, of them might even be sold on cloud streaming via Gamepass (assuming their internet or local infrastructure means it's viable).

They will find a way to make Xbox a better choice to play it on. Trust me. Sure they already have a plan in mind or working on one as we type.

Microsoft just slow rolling at moment. Staying under radar as low as possible so can buy few more developers without issue again.

@Buckster666
Exactly my take. Xbox will keep the established games that sell millions on PS5 and also Microsoft look good for doing this.
Just like Minecraft on Switch etc.

The accountant’s at Microsoft will have all the graphs and charts, profitability etc and there will be a cross over point with all costs etc considered when Xbox might as well leave the hardware market unless they sell more consoles to bring the hardware and gains of hardware profitability against selling just gamepass and games.

It's like Minecraft, it's such a massive money maker why would you remove it from other platforms? MS are first and foremost a software company, COD is software, and it makes huge amounts of money. It's obvious. 💁🏻

The point is that if people want to buy a Playstation to play their favourite IP's and with their 'Playstation' friends etc, that they won't 'need' to buy an Xbox or Subscribe to Game Pass to play CoD as well as all the OTHER games Playstation gamers enjoy.

They can still buy the game, just the same as they can on Xbox, same Price to OWN their favourite game and won't 'miss out' or feel like they are not getting the same treatment just because they 'choose' to play and continue playing on Playstation (or whatever other Platforms now can offer CoD)

Its just like Minecraft that everyone 'feared' would become an Xbox Exclusive - especially on 'newer' hardware - yet MS has grown its Community across more platforms now and is the biggest 'selling' game too. Even spin-offs were multi-platform!!

Those also came to Game Pass but doesn't force the Minecraft community to now jump to Xbox because Game Pass...

Xbox isn't the platform now; Game Pass is. An Xbox is just another tool to access game pass, just like a PC, or via the cloud on your phone or an app on your TV. Not saying Xbox isn't important, but it's no longer the driving force.

Why is this such a hot topic?

@Tasuki It's dead, Jim

I love that this comes up immediately support pretty much what I was saying in:

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2023/10/redfalls-recent-60fps-patch-might-not-be-the-last-if-bethesda-gets-its-way

We probably have one more generation of Xbox before they abandon hardware aside from maybe a Gamepass dongle.

Maybe you should....i mean when your down sony didnt pull out any punches (buying big 3rd party games exclsuivity left and right) and + there first party xbox one was like a punching bag

@JustinSane There are various degrees to which MS could turn the screws. No exclusivity, not even content (early access, skins, weapons, operators, modes, DLC). No cancellation of the advertising contract. XBox is subject to content and advertisement disadvantage still. MS could have flipped the tables. The regulators were so uninformed and/or biased that they ignored the current ongoing advantage enjoyed by PS.

Ownership and Game Pass will help to sway customers, but Xbox should be free to go further.

@awp69 Totally agree. Philly boy specifically said -

"We have no goal of somehow trying to use Call of Duty to get you to buy an Xbox console"

Not

"We have no goal of somehow trying to use Call of Duty to get you to buy a Game Pass subscription"

The latter would be a complete lie and at the moment, GP drives Xbox console sales and vice-versa.

@Kaloudz call of duty attracts a pretty casual audience. I don't think they really care if you get 100s of games with gamepass. A lot of those players literally just want call of duty.

Microsoft doesn't have to try and use COD to sell consoles, it will sell consoles regardless. And sell Game Pass subscriptions even more, which ultimately means much more than console sales.

The acquisition was about making boat-loads of money off mobile and Call of Duty MTX!

Microsoft knows software sales earn more than hardware sales, so why would Microsoft take money off the table because....console wars?

@abe_hikura Hopefully no one tells those casuals that it's cheaper to buy the new Call of Duty outright (even with the price of Game Pass Core for online) than to pay for a year of Game Pass Ultimate to play Call of Duty. 🤣

@BacklogBrad

This right here is the right answer.

The vast majority of CoD players play pretty much that ahd maybe have one or two other games in their library. They honestly couldn't care less about any other games.

Not saying that is a bad thing, that's just their mentality. And honestly? I'm jealous of it.

I miss the days of just using Halo as a gaming and social hub with everything else being extra. But, well, we saw what they did with Halo. :/

@Romans12

Nah. Majority of players are on Playstation with more and more moving that direction. They'll sell plenty of copies, but with CoD being multiplat, it won't be selling any Xboxes. Especially if they bring it to Nintendo they way they've talked about.

@InterceptorAlpha It may not move Xbox consoles, but it will still move that bank account!

Cha-ching! 🤣

I am OK with PlayStation players subsidizing GamePass.

CoD will sell Game Pass, but Game Pass does not sell Xboxes, it’s the other way around. Xboxes sell Game Pass to an audience that prefers a setup box under their TV instead of a PC or streaming.

At the end of the day, game pass PC is way cheaper than Game Pass Ultimate (if you want to play CoD online you will need that tier.)

Xbox will use other games to sell Xboxes, like Starfield and RedFall🤪. Seriously, though, games like Forza Horizon or Fable will only be on Xbox if you want to play them on a setup box, that’s what MS plans to use to sell Xboxes.

I think it's obvious he would say this fresh on the heals of the merger closing. Duh.

He definitely knows having future CoD games will sell more consoles, but console sales are no longer the primary focus for MS IMO. Streaming is the future and MS has seen the writing on the wall. GP will become the focus and he's already dropping hints about trying to get GP on as many screens as possible, including PS consoles. (Imagine for a moment, a future where there is no console battle. You buy a PS console, but play mostly GP games on it. 😂)

Nvidia could have become a much bigger competitor, but MS is already bringing GP to their platform. I'm guessing we'll see maybe two more console generations before they are obsolete. MS will continue to beef up it's streaming catalog and I'm betting they'll start offering similar back end services like Nvidia to guarantee fast streaming and lower lag.

My guess, MS will continue to lock down solo player games as exclusives, while allowing multiplayer games to be more cross platform.

ms hates the console business. thats been proven by phil over and over. i bet most folks at ms hope gp does not meet the required subs and streaming becomes too much of an expense so xbox becomes just a publisher.

Nintendo should become just a publisher so I can play games not at 560p and 20fps... Ahem. Microsoft doesn't hate hardware at all. If you have read the Digital Foundry previews of Xbox One X and Series X at Microsoft's headquarters, you know how much they love to make consoles. They are also really serious about Surface hardware. The thing is that they don't care if you play Xbox games or Game Pass games on Series X or on your phone and they are willing to bring games to Nintendo and PS, not just Call of Duty but remember Minecraft, one of the best-selling games worldwide.

On the other hand, Sony is obsessed with hardware as someone pointed out above: now a streaming handheld console and PSVR2 which are both kind of dead on arrival. Sony's strategy is pushing casual players into their hardware ecosystem with third-party perks, limited exclusivity, etc. It worked wonderfully for PS4 but also because Microsoft and Nintendo messed it up back then (Wii U and Xbox One Kinect). On top of that, Xbox One was more expensive than PS4 (100 more).

I’m not a CoD player, but I did buy a Series X for Starfield. It’s cool that CoD players on PlayStation and Nintendo can keep playing on the console of their choice.

@Banjo- yes, I agree. It will probably never happen, but I would love Xenoblade Chronicles on my PS5 or Series X. Same for Zelda.

Booting up my Switch feels so slow and the graphics just don’t feel like 2023 by comparison to my other consoles.

@8bit4Life Yeah! That's a good example. I'm playing Tears of the Kingdom in spite of not liking Breath of the Wild very much but what really distracts me is the frame rate. I swear it's around 10-15fps in some cases, e.g., in the Fire Temple (which doesn't deserve that name but I digress) and also in the Wind Temple when the monster appears (another glorified shrine with boss battle). Whenever you're gliding, riding something and a few things are happening or a big monster appears, the frame rate tanks worse than in the Wii U version of Breath of the Wild. It's literally a slideshow. The resolution gets lower too, I think it uses dynamic resolution. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3 show similar issues.

@awp69 The person who chooses their console for CoD will switch to Gamepass to pay $215.88 for CoD and the ability to play online instead of $150 ($70 for the game and $80 for a a year of PS+ essential) only if they are bad at math. Also, they will either give up their current friends list or hope they all migrate over to Xbox too?

...Why would they have a problem? they are a corporation after all.

@Serpentes420
I think the decision comes more at the start of the next generation. Do you buy an XB X or S, or a PS / PS Digital to play the next generation of CoD. The math makes sense to switch to XB where CoD will probably ship on GamePass.

@Serpentes420 They get CoD plus a ton of other great games on GamePass, including many new releases from first party titles Forza Motorsport and Starfield to Lies of P and Cocoon. And by the time CoD starts coming day one, there also will be other ATB titles like Diablo.

It would be incredibly bad math to only take CoD into consideration.

sony use call of duty marketing rights to sell PlayStations

if your not in the future going to be using call of duty to sell xboxs then frankly whats the point in buying Activision then

I would love to stream to YouTube on Xbox directly, I think that would move consoles slightly too.

@themightyant CoD may well be £70 on BOTH Xbox & PS5 to OWN, to keep playing month after month after month and that is the SAME regardless of which Console someone can choose to play CoD.

However, Xbox may have an option to 'rent/borrow' the game for £13 a month (as Ultimate is 'required' for online). The game is never yours and you can only play whilst it is in the Service. They could choose to remove the older game(s) when New games release to 'push' Subscribers into the 'new' game or buy the Old one to keep playing that. Some people would rather own their games than borrow.

It will likely be £70 on Nintendo too. Those that want the 'traditional' Console experience where they Buy the games they want to play will not be affected by MS owning CoD. CoD shouldn't really factor in as CoD will be available with the SAME content regardless so it will come down to whether you would also prefer to play Spider-man, Wolverine etc or Starfield, Forza etc and if you do prefer MS exclusives, then maybe they'll have 'enough' a year where Game Pass makes sense.

Paying £13 a month is more expensive over a year than £70 up front for a 'lifetime' of accessibility. MS own Minecraft too and those games are on Game Pass too, but its still selling on many platforms and Playstation Minecraft fans weren't 'forced' to buy an Xbox just because 'Game Pass'. I'm sure some 'casuals' maybe will be influenced but Hardcore Playstation fans won't give up their Digital Playstation Libraries and playing their favourite Sony 'Exclusives' just to play 'CoD' on s Subscription Service instead...

@trev666 let's put it this way, with it only being possible to play online by subscribing to gamepass and with call of duty coming to it in the future, if people have purchased call of duty (which would be dumb) and they only play call of duty they're theoretically still paying for that game, plus if they are playing it via game pass only for 2+ years, they have either spent between 200 to 300 wads of cash including the purchase and the micro-transactions, compared to a measley 70 beans, it's easy & better money for Microsoft/Xbox in the world of capitalism.

@Kaloudz

This.

When someone sits down and does the maths, they will quickly realise paying for 1 year of gamepass is better than buying the new COD game every year especially if that's all they play.

The vast majority of gamers don't come to places like this. They play Fifa, COD and maybe one or two exclusives here and there. Getting those games on Gamepass Day 1 is going to be way cheaper than buying outright.

@InterceptorAlpha totally agree ,ms has wanted to get out of the console market for years ,the shareholders don't like it ,the top guys don't like it ,game pass is a more viable alternative ,the dongle idea is a great one ,like a fire stick but game pass,make it cheap everyone will buy one.

@themightyant The Value proposition only comes into effect if there are OTHER games on Game Pass that someone wants to play and therefore will be willing to sacrifice ownership for a rental service.

If those that play CoD want to play Spider-Man, Wolverine or any of the OTHER Playstation games, then buying a Playstation will still make sense. You aren't going to get those games on Game Pass/Xbox so why abandon those when CoD will STILL be available as it ALWAYS has been, as they have ALWAYS had to buy first etc - nothing 'changes'.

Yes some may opt to switch as MS is now much more Competitive - it isn't 'just' Halo, Forza and Gears anymore, but a much greater variety of IP's and some of those will be available on Playstation anyway.

As CoD will remain on Playstation, much the same as it does today, then it will still come down to which games are 'exclusive' - would you rather play Sony's Exclusives or Xbox Exclusives - because games like CoD, Minecraft etc will be playable on BOTH.

Maybe there are some gamers that ONLY play CoD and will switch Platforms, switch back to Xbox after leaving when Sony picked up CoD from 2015 onwards because they didn't want to 'miss out' on 'perks' that came with that. Just like they wanted the DLC map packs early throughout the 360 era, they want the early access and other 'perks' only on Sony Playstation.

You are also assuming that MS will run Activision in exactly the same way as Kotick, ensuring they throw out CoD annually regardless just to 'sell' in the Holiday Season at its most expensive when MS have a different business model and want more 'variety', more 'games' dropping into Game Pass. ABK aren't 'productive' or particularly 'creative' in recen years because Kotick wants a 'new' CoD every year so 'every' Studio is tied up in CoD.

MS may decide to make it F2P (like H:I, Fortnite etc) or make a Single Studio responsible for CoD - like 343 are responsible for Halo or the Coalition has Gears, freeing up those other Studio's to get back to being creative and producing their own games. You don't know that MS will continue the Annual £70 release and not really adding to their Productivity and as CoD releases on 'every' platform, won't add to their 'unique' Library of Exclusives to compete against Zelda, Mario, Pokemon, Last of Us, God of War, Spider-Man, Horizon etc that only Nintendo or Sony will be using to get you into their Ecosystem to play games - inc CoD, Minecraft, Diablo, OW2 as these will remain for the foreseeable future...

Some people are understating how free gamers are. Xbox 360 sold more hardware than PS3 until the end of the generation, then Sony kept selling cheap PS3 revisions. Only 13m people in the world are loyal to Nintendo and bought the Wii U. Also, most gamers haven't upgraded to the current generation. Of course, most players are going to switch platform without a second thought, depending on what they want to play and for what price. Only a minority of players are loyal to Xbox, PS or even Nintendo. Call of Duty players will play on Xbox or PC if that's the better value.

About online friends lists, do you really believe that most matches are played against your real friends and not random people? Or that friends wouldn't switch platform? Not with Modern Warfare III because the lack of parity deal that Sony paid for is still in effect, but it will happen in a few years.

@BrilliantBill Right, most games are cross-play, anyway.

@themightyant

Also Game Pass is £10pm, only Ultimate costs £13pm.

Minor nitpic:
GPU is required for anyone that wants to actually play CoD since it’s primarily an online game, so £13 is the correct figure to look at in context.
1 month if GP Console is £8.99
1 month of GP PC is £7.99

If someone already have a PC, they are extremely unlikely to buy an Xbox to play CoD on GP, they will just play it on GP PC.

@themightyant Of course the 'long term' strategy is going to benefit MS - owning those IP's if they continue to remain relevant is far more beneficial than relying on third party support.

However, they cannot throw out a new CoD every year AND get those Studios creatiing their OWN games - Activision themselves couldn't so whilst ABK may have MORE staff/Studio's than Sony and MS combined, their output is atrocious. MS and Sony have both released more Games from fewer Studios.

Those '9' Blizzard Studios have basically released OW2 and Diablo (immortals on mobile 4 on PC) whilst Activision have released CoD and some Crash games (as well as a few remasters) in recent years so hardly 'productive'. It was worth listening to that Podcast too...

Phil:
And to me, when I think about where we're trying to go, it always starts with the teams. The teams have to feel motivated. They have to feel inspired. They have to feel safe. They have to feel heard. Because their passion, their commitment to the things that they build, the way they run their games, that comes from the culture of who they are.

I've said it many times. I think teams ship their culture and everything they do, whether it's implicit or explicit. You can kind of feel the dynamic on a team and the creative output, whether it's a band, whether it's a writer, or whatever. So spending time with the teams and getting to hear from them, where they're going-- I have some of my own opinions, of course. But they're just opinions. This is getting time with the teams, thinking about where we're trying to go.

Talking about new Games from these 'Studios':
Yeah, the first thing, as I kind of mentioned before, is to go spend time with the teams. Because I just don't think that a team working on something that isn't their passion leads to the best result (not being 'forced' to make CoD and ONLY CoD every year?)

But you are looking at least a good few years where things are not 'changing' and you can't predict whether MS will bother with 'Console' Hardware next gen, can't predict where Sony or Nintendo may be or even if CoD will still be releasing annually at £70 - they could integrate MP into Warzone F2P and sell Season Passes, MTX bundles etc etc instead. Add a Forge and/or Portal mode, and you have the ultimate CoD Online package...

I think for most gamers, especially the college aged and younger crowd coming up with $70 per big game they want to play is kind of tough. However coming up with $16.99 a month for Game Pass Ultimate is much easier.

@Banjo- the Surface comparison is an interesting one. Its a bit of a pet project where they get to show off their industrial design, which is what they're ultimately saying Xbox is here. They will still sell Xbox but its not what they are basing their ability to generate revenue on. They need Xbox, PC, Cloud, Sony and Nintendo for that in the gaming space.

@themightyant

When COD: BO4 released, without a campaign, it was the worst selling COD in a decade.

It still was the second best selling game of the whole year. And that only because Red Dead Redemption 2 also launched that year, taking the #1 spot. I don't argue that some players do indeed only play the campaign, I myself would play the campaign and never jump online, but we are the minority for this IP.

£6 more per month is now just £72 more a year to play COD, basically the same as buying the game on Xbox, or PlayStation... plus you get the rest of Game Pass.

...if you already own an Xbox, in that case this won't sell that person an Xbox, it will just sell them Game Pass.

My point is not that this game won't sell Game Pass, it's that it won't sell Xbox consoles, not on its own. If I already have a device that can play CoD, it's cheaper for me, even over the long run, to keep playing the games on that device until a generational upgrade is at hand. Even then, only a small percentage might convert due to digital libraries they can't trade.

It's up to actual console exclusives like Fable and Elder Scrolls 6 to sell more Xbox consoles.

@themightyant That's why I don't think 'Game Pass' would matter so much - if its no longer Annual, even every '2' yrs, that's a 2yr Subscription fee for something you don't own and have to give up your PS Digital Library to switch to Xbox to 'save' money on CoD.

If it was me, I'd be saying to those Studios, either 1 will be the 'home' of CoD and you'll get 'new' games as and when they are ready - whether that's every few years or longer. Or they 'form' a CoD Studio from the Staff at those Studio's who want to keep working on CoD, freeing up the rest to make their OWN games - not be 'support' Studios. They want at least 4 big games every year so ideally need Studios working on their OWN content they are passionate about, having their own identity etc.

Therefore the gaming landscape could be very different in 5-10yrs time and it may not 'suit' CoD only gamers to switch platforms just to get their game on a Sub service instead, never 'own' their game. Its not about having the 'cheapest' access - cloud will do that, but about being able to play where you want, where you 'prefer' - which maybe where your Library exists, where your friends are, where you prefer the Controller or Exclusives on offer...

The simple fact is, and always has been, that it doesn't matter. It comes down to basic business sense. COD being on gamepass WILL increase xbox console sales, of course it will. But when those with PlayStation buy it, use microtransactions etc, Microsoft will make money. That's why Microsoft were never in a million years make cod an xbox exclusive. It would be an awful business decision.
I always shake my head a little reading this stuff. The hype about cod on gamepass. I don't even play the game and will continue not to play it when it's on gamepass lol.
A console version of candy crush would be nice to chill with though! If that were to happen, I wonder if they'll find a way to link your mobile games across mobile/xbox? Like I'm STILL waiting on Antstream Arcade doing 😂

@themightyant Whilst I do agree in principal - maybe we are united in concept even if the words aren't coming across to each other as we hoped.

I am not denying that in 10yrs time, especially as any 'deals' made before they took over expire, that this is of course beneficial. If we do get that 'All Digital Streaming Subscription' future, this of course will benefit MS having those big games on their Service but in 10yrs time, Sony too could have built up a bigger list of IP's offering Movies/TV/Games and even Music. Maybe Amazon, Google, Disney or Apple decide they want to Compete too and buy up Publishers/Studios so you'll need different Subscriptions to play CoD, Tomb Raider, GTA, Battlefield/Fifa, Final Fantasy, Spider-Man etc. If Sony for example buy Capcom, Sega or Konami, that changes the argument again.

MS may now have CoD, but unless MS make 'new' games its still going to be about 'exclusives' - whether those gamers would prefer Forza, Halo, Gears etc or Last of Us, Spider-Man, Gran Turismo. Sony also own Destiny and Marathon now and still own 'more' IP's than MS does, even if they don't have the Studio's making 'new' Resistance, Killzone, Wipeout, Driveclub, Sly Cooper, Sunset Overdrive, Twisted Metal, Uncharted etc games right now.

Its going to be at least a year before CoD releases Day 1 on Game Pass - may even be longer if things 'change' under new management. I can't see those CoD gamers quitting their PS5 to move across to Xbox so they perhaps won't switch this Gen (if at all). Those, like me, who own both may 'choose' to play on Xbox so Sony 'lose' a sale but I'm still likely to buy a PS6 for their 'exclusives' and Sony have at least 10yrs to formulate a strategy to Compete with MS, build up their own portfolio to appeal.

CoD 'may' factor in along with MS's other Exclusives but if Sony and/or their Playstation hardware appeals more, I can't see them abandoning their 'preferred' platform with their Back Catalogue of Digital Libraries, their friends, their favourite controller etc just to get CoD on Game Pass - especially if things change and you don't get a 'new' game every year - they'll still want to play the 'new' season - which doesn't just mean some new Maps, a new Season could change Eras - jump back to WW2 for a season or two. Maybe do a different Era every year using Maps, Weapons, Killstreaks etc from the 'History' of CoD - one Season is 'Black Ops 2', another Season is Modern Warfare...

But ultimately we just don't know what the next few years will actually be, let alone 5 or 10 yrs time. But ultimately the point I first made is that for Playstation CoD gamers, nothing actually changes - except the fact the Game will now have Parity across the Community - no 'extras' for them (or others). They can still buy the game as they always have, still play on their Platform with their friends as they always have etc. The only thing that 'changes' is that MS will certainly offer it on their Sub service - but then did people not buy Deathloop, Ghostwire, Minecraft, PayDay3, Lies of P or ANY of the Games on Game Pass Day 1 on Playstation but went out to buy an Xbox and Subscribe instead to save money??

@JustinSane i don’t think anyone will switch for COD. They likely buy a Series S if COD is all they want Xbox for. A lot of Playstation owners already own Series S in my opinion. Of the 22 million Xbox Series console sales 75% are Xbox Series S. I’m a COD fan but it def not as good as Playstation exclusive games.

@BAMozzy Well said.