Xbox's Comments About 'Gatekeeping' Are Met With Heavy Criticism

Haha I enjoy the Sony fanboys using that as gatekeeping.
When reports show if Xbox didn't step in Bethesda was looking at closing a few studios .
But alas that is not gonna be the narrative

Somedays I think the gaming community is full of toxic children. Most days I know that to be true.

@Halucigens
Most of the toxic children are from sonys camp judging from the replys on twitter.

I have no issue with any studio purchases but this was a stupid thing to say. Maybe the Twitter account is run by a PlayStation fan.

Lool, Twitter is the best thing God invented

Why even report on twitter comments? C'mon PureXbox, you're better than this.

With xCloud already available for a wide variety of platforms — it's available for PC, iOS, and Android as a dedicated app, and hopefully it will make its way over to Linux, Retroarch, Roku, etc. soon — Xbox games are a lot easier to access than Sony and Nintendo games are, so I personally think these "gatekeeping" claims about Xbox are exaggerated.

and if people wanna bring up Xbox purchases lets bring up sonys like Bluepoint games, Housemarque, Insomniac Games.....

i'll never stopped being amazed that the same people who cheer every time their favorite console maker keeps games locked to their console are STILL salty that it's happened to them.

Twitter commenters are angry. who gives a flying expletive deleted about Twitter commenters?

Every complaint come from sony fanboys who never touched an Xbox in life and now are crying because MS bought their favorite studio. They seem to forget how spiderman used to be a multiplatform game, or all Timed exclusive deals like street fighter and Final Fantasy.

@RedKnight34 PlayStation fans legitimately think only they should have exclusives. they really thought Bethesda should somehow be FORCED to keep releasing games to their platform.

Smells like a whole lot of butthurt to me....keep it up xbox 🙌🏻😅

I own all three gens of Xbox - I think it’s a stupid tweet to put out. I wish people wouldn’t accuse anyone that says anything against their fave plastic box as being a fanboy.

I think all three companies have made terrible decisions and all three have hurt the industry with decisions.

Wow made themselves look foolish there

People will defend this acquisition likes its nothing but this is the first acquisition on this scale and this is why its more talked about and such a hot topic, sonys purchase of insomniac which seems to be the only example people seem to give is nowhere near the same, insomniac didn't have games that were that popular and have massive hits across xbox, playstation and nintnedo not until sony bought them have their games been blockbusters titles that people get hyped about.

Whilst Bethesda was a huge third party developer who made games that sold easily combined over hundred million copies on xbox, playstation and nintendo consoles so this is definitely gatekeeping, but xbox only players don't see the issue but would be the other way round if Sony/Nintendo bought EA, Ubisoft, Square Enix, WB, Rockstar or CD Project

Bitter Sony fanboys lol..

This is a weird inflammatory article to publish right after halo released its campaign trailer. Odd

@XxEvilAshxX Its weird right?

For my reference, who has Nintendo bought? And playstation bought people who were only making games for them and were funded by Sony

Yeah, this wasn't a good tweet to put out because all companies are guilty of certain things in most people's minds. Even if I don't mind that Microsoft bought Bethesda, it is a fact that future games won't arrive on PlayStation and a lot of people won't like that. Even Sony and Nintendo are guilty of a lot of things and it would not be a good look for them either if they started to tweet things like this.

I mean, imagine if Nintendo decided one day to tweet: "The best place to play Nintendo 64 games is on Nintendo Switch". That's a very controversial statement considering how expensive it is to access N64 titles, not to mention that there aren't any cheaper options like only buying one month of Switch Online. Or imagine if Sony tweeted: "It is important to preserve video games", which is also controversial considering they were about to close down the PS3 and Vita stores earlier this year, and they don't offer PS1-PS3 backwards compatibility on PS5.

The point is that companies like Microsoft should be more careful in the future with regards to what they tweet because they shouldn't be highlighting topics that could be associated with them in a negative way.

As far as I know, Xbox Games are NOT limited to just the Console and in the last 5-6yrs or so, MS have made a concerted effort to expand Xbox across as many devices as possible. It started with Microsoft merging their 'console gaming' into their entire corporation. That led to Xbox on PC and even rebranded their Studio's from 'Microsoft' to 'Xbox Studio's'

Xbox is the 'entire' Microsoft' Gaming brand - NOT the console. That is an important difference as Bethesda didn't sign up to make 'Console' games exclusively but for the 'reach' of 'Xbox' as a brand - that includes Xbox on PC, Xbox Game Pass for Mobiles etc. Yes you can look at it as 'reducing' the number of 'Consoles' their games are on but also expanding to ALL the potential Mobile users that can now play via streaming and reach a larger audience. From their perspective too, there is still a 'console' version on the market. MS have talked about streaming to other devices (like Smart TV's) so from Bethesdas perspective, if people really want to play 'Starfield' for example, chances are, you already have 'hardware' in your house that can (or will) have 'XBOX Game Pass' on it.

If Bethesda had signed for Sony, it would seriously impact their 'reach', be limited to just the Playstation, with PC maybe getting a version a few years later. When MS buy a Studio, yes the 'console' owners benefit, but so does the PC and Mobile gaming community. MS even made a 'cheap' next gen Console and bringing streaming to XB1 so you have 'cheap' options IF you must play on console. You can even stream to a Mobile/laptop and use your DS5 if you want.

So MS may well have 'stopped' Bethesda porting a Playstation version to release 'natively' on that platform, but I bet most PS owners have a 'platform' they could play their games on - not their 'first' choice, but still an option - unlike Sony's studio purchases.

At the end of the day, I have needed multiple platforms to play ALL the releases I want and today is NO different. MS though is very different to Sony in that they want 'Xbox' on as many devices as possible and want you in their 'ecosystem' on whatever devices you have where as Sony want you to buy their Hardware specifically and the only way to ensure that is to lock games and features to their 'hardware'. Want VRR on PS5, you have to buy a Sony Bravia TV, want to play Wolverine, you need a PS5. Want to play Starfield, well you can play on Console (inc last gen hardware without a 'native' port), PC and (maybe) mobile...

Right now there is an arms race to buy all the big 3rd party studios so I don’t really fault them for want to grow the Xbox family of studios. Xbox live sucks to pay for but with it included in gamepass ultimate I’m not complaining. Also, when you have free online play people have no repercussions for acting like jerks- ban their account and they just make another free one.

Cry me a river.

@UltimateOtaku91 I agree, at the same time, and maybe it's slight bias here, Gamepass does make the games more accessible. And, MS had to do something to show people they were serious. But, if I hadn't got a series X I would be mad about the Bethesda acquisition. It's not cheap, these consoles, and some can only afford one. I played Fallout 3 and 4 on PS3 and PS4, if I got a PS5 not being able to buy both consoles, I would be quite upset about being restricted.

That said, the narrative these days seems to be "get all three consoles" in which case I don't see a point in complaining about acquisitions.

I recognise your point, and I'm inclined to agree with it. But really, I don't see this as an issue. But then I'm probably being bias as I have a Series X and I'm a huge gamepass user

@UltimateOtaku91 also on a side note, as much as I benefit from the Bethesda acquisition, I'm also concerned what kind of playing field MS has designed 🤔 what's stopping Sony doing something similar as a counterbalance 😶 so, I refrain from rejoicing too much, Sony just might respond with equal fire

@FriendlyOctopus yeah I see what mean, with the price of two next gen consoles plus the switch we're talking easily £1200 which I dare say over 50% gamers can't afford. I believe if Microsoft purchase one more "big" developer then sony will respond even at a loss (money wise).

Its strange how Nintendo are so dominant, they never purchase any studios yet easily have 10-15 exclusives every year and the majority sell like crazy.

@RedKnight34 Ah.....Spiderman....cant even get to play him on Xbox in a Marvel game

A few of my games I bought on Xbox gave me PC versions as well. No one else has done that.

@UltimateOtaku91 Nintendo just bought Next Level. They have a lot of people like Mercury Steam and Wayforward that work on games for them. The biggest difference is Nintendo makes a lot of AA and family games. This means even people that think of gaming as a basement dweller’s realm will buy a Nintendo and their games. My sister literally just bought an N64 and they buy games for it like I do with the Switch.

Remember the first Nintendo was called the “FAMI-ly COM-puter” in Japan for a reason.

@UltimateOtaku91 Nintendo have actual real life wizard's 😂😂😂

Seriously they put there games on Xbox and pc and now even the cloud so everyone can play them for dirt cheap

While PlayStation restrict you to just PlayStation and then sometimes years down the line a PC release

And the double standards and hypocrisy when it comes to the Bethesda....but but it's different when PlayStation buy 3rd party studios because erm erm they aren't as big studios as Bethesda or erm erm they already had a strong working relationship with PlayStation

Nothing more than ponies being hypocrites and crying

@mousieone Mercury Steam and Wayforward are coups for Nintendo in that they're the exact opposite of Microsoft buying Bethesda - insofar as they've produced any Nintendo-exclusive games, it's been not because they've been bought out or moneyhatted (to my knowledge), but either because they've been eager to work on valuable IPs Nintendo developed from the ground up, or because Nintendo has fostered vibrant and substantive collaborative development partnerships with them.

That's netting exclusives the right way.

@Fath I know that and I think you missed what I was responding to. I wasn’t comparing Nintendo to Xbox. I was responding to the statement that Nintendo hadn’t bought any studios but somehow managed to produce 10-16 exclusives per year.

@Stocksy I completely agree it's a stupid tweet from Xbox & it would be the same if playstation or Nintendo tweeted it

funny cos i took the meaning of gatekeeping to be around the snobbery of ‘hardcore’ games/gamers and also the physical barriers preventing play, which i think XBOX have made good strides in trying to break down

Also it irks me when i hear the criticism of xbox buying a studio, i play all systems and Playstation have been doing this for years, it was their whole strategy for years.

@mousieone Hmm, yeah, looks like I misread which comment you were replying to. My bad!

@UltimateOtaku91 I've stopped trying to figure the Nintendo market out. It's dynamics just make no sense according to normal market pressures. Of course their secret to volume of output is most of their games are actually low budget indie type productions but with enough charm to be unique and in demand. But it still doesn't explain their market.

A lot of people seem to be misreading the complaint by the tweeters here. This isn't a bunch of Sony fanboys complaining. This is the xbox account jumping on some high horse to talk about gatekeeping when they are very much a part of the problem same as Nintendo and PlayStation. Nobody has the higher ground here because they all do it. It's business and the way the industry has been for a long time.

And for those saying MS came in like some white Knight to save some Zenimax studios. They were performing poorly which is why they were looking at closing studios. Better still, why would fans on other platforms care if they can't buy them on their console anymore? You want them to be grateful for what?

Xbox have been doing a lot to make things accessible which I think is great and I applaud them for it but I'm not so delusional as to think this would be anything but on their own terms. They are OK with all games being multiplatform in some way as long as they benefit from it end of.

Sony did exactly the same for years and nobody complained.

Keep saying this, but they need to remove the paywall from online gaming now. Those same games hit pc, usually with cross-play. Yet for all the talk Xbox does about how 'valued' we are, and that pc versions day and date are good for all of us...they still treat us second class by charging us extra fees or locking us out of content we've paid for. This has been going on years now and nobody seems to question them on it. Hopefully this is the start of those questions being asked.

As for console exclusives. Exclusives will always be the biggest incentive to invest in one consoles ecosystem over the other. To suggest otherwise is naive. Xboxs bigger picture is subscription services...I'd argue exclusives are even more important now for xbox. There's a reason why Netflix/Amazon ect invest in exclusive content. It's proven to bring in subscribers. Just like exclusive games have been proven to sell hardware...which in turn sells subs or digital sales ...which in turn gets you into their ecosystem. Not exactly rocket science.

No-one ever uses the term gatekeeping, as restricting a property that you own. I've never seen gatekeeping thrown at a company like Disney for buying a company, or for selling a product for money. Both of which can effect access to a product.

Gatekeeping is more or less strictly used for a group of fans telling another, equally entitled, group that they aren't entitled to access that community, for arbitrary reasons.

This is just an excuse to target xbox.

This is the difference between From Software not including difficultly options because they don't do that, and the fans complaining that people being able to play a game on an easy setting somehow dilutes the experience for them.

Can we throw the word “gatekeeping” in the dumpster?

I don’t know if this is media coverage’s fault, trying to portray the argument for gatekeeping completely incorrectly, or gamers are as stupid as they are being portrayed, using a false equivalence.

Here’s the REAL arguments, in the comments: https://www.purexbox.com/news/2021/09/xbox_says_lgatekeeping_and_elitismr_have_no_place_in_gaming

Not one mention of Bethesda because that’s not the kind of gatekeeping anybody was ever talking about.

Sooo they are deliberately misunderstanding and bringing up irrelevant topics to game gatekeeping to take shots at MS? Sigh.

If they wanted to combat gatekeeping, they'd stop allowing games on their platform to require separate registration to play. Anything licensed to my Xbox account should play with my Xbox account, NOT try to force me to register with the publisher. Screw every publisher that does it. They should be happy we buy their ***** at all. Instead, they have to keep screwing around and making things more annoying.

@Spiders This comment 💯

I think Microsoft should be proud of the strides they have made in making "gaming for everyone" They are not talking about exclusives, that will always be an industry standard as part of the business model.

Microsoft with the likes of cloud gaming, Xbox and PC game versions with one purchase, adaptive controllers and (as in the article you linked) difficulty settings means more people can enjoy the hobby of gaming which we all love so much.

@misterfpga Sony didn’t put out a tweet condemning it, Xbox did. You can’t be hypocritical if you never state it. Xbox did, that’s the point.

The only bigger waste of time than reading gamer tweets is reading about and commenting on gamer tweets.

@Terrin Sony fans are HILARIOUS. crying over this, meanwhile Persona 5 is probably never coming to Xbox, FF7 Remake as far as we know, never coming, FF 16 probably coming a year later... Sony has been doing this for YEARS and YEARS, but now it's wrong lol