Rumour: Microsoft Reportedly Chose Buying Studios Over 'Winding Down' Xbox In 2021

Instead of putting in actual effort with the studios they did have, they chose to consolidate which is pathetic.

You can tell me how tough it is for them all you want but Nintendo and to a lesser extent Sony managed to entirely bounce back from their failings through actual effort or innovation, why can't Xbox do the same?

@TeiGekiLord yes you’re right. MS have a history of just throwing money at problems because they can.

Glad they pushed ahead. Series X has given me some of my favourite gaming memories from Xbox Game Studios

@themightyant @TeiGekiLord From what is being said, Sony's 'master plan' to make Microsoft see XBOX as a money sink and not worthwhile... was close to working.
Sony has made no illusions about how it wants the industry to go, and that it wants Microsoft out. Now, as the report says, they had a choice between making big acquisitions and winding down the entire division.
Effectively, Microsoft had the choice of letting Sony win, which would mean no more XBOX, acquiring some more companies or hoping for lightning in a bottle from what they have, which apparently wasn't coming fast enough at the time.

So, if the report is true, Microsoft went with the option where they didn't cut off their own legs to save themselves. Yes, it was risky, but not the choice Sony wanted them to make. Well, to them, what's one less competitor?

@themightyant

Mattrick left in 2014 and they started gobbling publishers in 2021.

Microsoft had more than enough developers in 2020 to easily compete with Sony and Nintendo but chose to go scorched earth and gobble up entire publishers under the illusion that outspending both Nintendo and Sony will lead them to the complete success and growth these clueless CEO envisioned.

@ValentineMeikin

I love how every single failure of Xbox's part is somehow down to Sony and not inept leadership.

Meanwhile, Phil is still large and in charge... The brand is pivoting what feels like daily, failing financially in most endeavors, and thousands of people losing their jobs, but Phil and higher management are hanging on.

I see the hyperbole train has left the station already in the comments 😂

For better or worse they are doing no different than let's say Apple or Amazon if they were in the same market. Big tech spend their way to being big tech.

But to be honest if Sony had the same spending power to do it I can't really say they wouldn't have done exactly the same thing. They have been buying studios rather than publishers as that is all they can do within their means.

@Cikajovazmaj I think Phil stopped being "in charge" a while back.

Microsoft will be lucky if they can keep the 35 million GP subs they have nonetheless triple that number by 2030? And where are these subs gonna come from…what’s that old saying “u can’t get blood from a stone”

@YeyoFairy Ultimately if they wind down on Xbox as a standalone ecosystem and put Game Pass on other platforms. That's where the numbers will come from.

Whether they go down that road time will tell.

@ValentineMeikin

That’s some weird logic.

I thought it was MS who wanted to outspend Sony, so they collapse.

Perhaps you need to reread the article, @TeiGekiLord. Clearly the choice was consolidate or fail. Attempting to cling on with the few studios they had was not an option. Indeed, just look at the state Xbox is in right now, and then try to imagine where they would be without having bought Bethesda and ABK? I'll help you out; we would not have had the current generation of Xbox because firstly, Nadella would have pulled the plug, but even if he hadn't, the generation would have died after a couple of years because there simply would not have been sufficient studios to give Xbox the much needed self-made content, and Game Pass (which is not as good as it was at the beginning of this generation) would have failed by now...

I think we have all known subscription numbers haven’t been rising in huge numbers for a few years (on either platform).

That’s why we are seeing the big push. Consoles are an afterthought and everything is trying to push GP.

@TeiGekiLord Steady on lad. I said I can't really say they wouldn't. Not that it's a fact they would. And MS certainly aren't my favourite publisher 😂 far from it.

Remember. Sucker Punch, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games for example were all acquisitions originally.

Microsoft have just gone to another extreme because they have the money to.

@Fiendish-Beaver

"The few developers they had" God this is so disingenous that it hurts.

1. 343
2. Coalition
3. Double Fine
4. Compulsion
5. Rare
6. The Initiative
7. InXile Entertainment
8. Mojang Studios
9. Ninja Theory
10. Obsidian
11. Playground Games
12. Turn 10
13. Undead Labs
14. World's Edge

Nintendo has 6 studios that develop games and you're SERIOUSLY telling me that Microsoft couldn't compete with what they had?

@TeiGekiLord Oh, I'm not saying there's not inept leadership. There's elements of it in all parts of the industry right now.

Sony continues to declare third-party exclusivity is the industry standard that needs to be followed, with a raft of exclusives keeping it's market share nice and safe.

Microsoft is hurting in that regard, with quite a few of it's first party studios doing f. all, for whatever reason, which led to the situation of them going full publisher or acquiring some way to improve their portfolio.

It's barely worked, but only since they have a ton of already released games making them a lot of money. If Microsoft continue to sit on the studios they own in 2025, they'll not be able to afford the full rollout on xCloud, they'll not be able to afford a successor to the XBOX Series, they'll still go under.

Sony would love for Microsoft's hail mary to flub, since they'd leverage their unstoppable position to be the console people graduate to after they leave the Switch behind. And there won't be any other choice...

@TeiGekiLord Sony has done no such thing. Nintendo on the other hand, has.

At the end of day they have many market streams coming into the Xbox business.
However these are really slowing down.
Console sales with regards sell a console sell another GP subscription.

GP subscriptions over total, considering there are billions of other devices there are not many GP subscriptions. Low attachment rate.

The issue cloud gaming is terrible I tried on my series x at 200mb/sec and what a bloody messy picture it was. 65” tv.

Yes xbox maybe ahead of their time but they becoming so forgettable in the here and now and becoming a Jack of all trades and master of none, which can work but going on consoles sold, GP and cloud gaming up takes.
Nothing is really doing well in real numbers.

The only reason the Xbox went plus 4% last quarter is ABK deal otherwise it was down yet again.
ABK cannot continue to bale out low console sales and low GP sales and definitely won’t make GP a sustainable product going by the article numbers.

The casuals, the general public the young the old overall just don’t see or get Xbox. Xbox hasn’t done good PR has not created a gel and bond in the mass market. Xbox hasn’t got a thing that sells it to them.

Yes, @TeiGekiLord, they had studios, that wasn't my point, my point was that the last generation was an absolute disaster for Xbox. They were convincingly beaten by Sony, and people began to build their digital libraries. Libraries that people are highly unlikely to leave behind in order to switch platforms.

AAA, or even AA, third party games were less and less likely to be exclusive or timed exclusives as the One generation progressed, and now, in this generation (which extends to over 4 years now) we've seen just one game that could be considered AAA release as a timed exclusive on the Xbox (that game being S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2).

When it came to studios that Xbox already had prior to the acquisitions, it was realised that no matter how much content they put out, there was quite simply insufficient numbers of people on the Xbox to support the cost of making the games. That is why we are now seeing games being ported to the PlayStation. So it was not a question of how many games these studios put out, or indeed the quality of the games, Xbox was just not making enough money from the games to keep going. It was literally a case of stop making games and close Xbox, or buy further game companies.

Microsoft were banking on having 100 million Game Pass subscribers by 2030, and we know that they hit 30 million subscribers last year, but even then that we by using some jiggery-pokery and combining Gold with GP and forming Core. Without that, they would not have hit 30 million. Plus, since then, we've seen reports that GP subscriber numbers are falling, and indeed, GP is losing more games each month than it is gaining and the quality of those games is declining. The Service is struggling right now in terms of the number of games it is receiving, the quality of them, and in subscriber retention.

So regardless of how many Studios Xbox had prior to the acquisition, they simply were not up to the task of keeping GP and Xbox afloat. Indeed, arguably, even following the acquisition, there are real questions as to the viability of Xbox right now unless it puts its games on the PlayStation, which in itself harms brand Xbox too, so it's a double-edged sword.

The real question right now is whether Nadella will now decide that the only way forward for Xbox is as a publisher, and completely pull the plug on the console side of the business, and probably Game Pass too, unless they can put a watered-down version on the PlayStation that features first party games only...

Ugh, well I suppose the third party publisher that Xbox has become now is much more favourable to a complete extinction of Xbox.

Deja vu anyone? This is the second time Microsoft has come close to shutting down Xbox, they were having the same internal discussions last decade after the XBO launch. Makes you wonder what will happen after the launch of the next Xbox supposedly next year if it doesn’t succeed in sales… not exactly reassuring! Xbox as a multiplatform publisher will survive no doubt, but Xbox hardware could be a different story if Satya can no longer be convinced to stay the blade of execution.

It's also said, that studios are more and more turning their back to Game Pass, because it's not worth it and they want to sell their games traditionally.
And i absolutely can see why.

100 million gamepass subscribers?? That reminds me of...:

Kif: Sir? [whispering] There aren't that many human beings.
Zapp: A thought occurs: There aren't that many humans.
Lrrr: We're willing to wait a few weeks while you shore up the numbers.
Zapp: Hmm. 198 billion babies in a few weeks. We'll need an army of super-virile men scoring 'round the clock! I'll do my part. Kif, clear my schedule.

Microsoft shareholders should be encouraging more gamer babies.

I've said numerous times on this site and others, Nadella only cares about the cloud and creating as many over priced subscriptions possibly can.

Nice to see my belief always been accurate. Hopefully he steps down soon or is, some how, some way, internally ousted. He is hurting Microsoft more by the day.

Nadella has never been a fan of hardware and never will be. When he sees an opportunity to gut it, he does.

chooses between ending XBox and buying many studios

buys many studios

closes studios

Profit!

@TeiGekiLord I see you mention Nintendo there only having six studios but produce games, But you fail to mention Sony who have plenty of studios but have only been capable of producing 'One' AAA First Party exclusive game a year for Years now.

Just in case any body missed the actual story.

"As we've already mentioned, this is all rumoured and reported information at present"

Honestly, it baffles me how a trillion dollar company can be beyond incompetent, their only solutions to any problem is throw money at it or abandon it, they literally seem to not know anything else.

@TeiGekiLord That's wildly inaccurate. Nintendo has Nintendo EPD, Nintendo ST, Retro Studios, Shiver Entertainment, SRD, 1-Up Studio, Monolith Soft and Mario Club (which handles testing, QA and debugging). Plus they also farm out a lot of development to external companies; Arika, Bandai Namco Studios, Camelot, Creatures, Good-Feel, Grezzo, HAL Laboratory, Sora Ltd, Intelligent Systems, MercurySteam, to name just a few.

Hats off to Phil Spencer for saving the brand. Xbox is in a better position in gaming than it ever has been before.

@Markatron84

Having fun listing companies that aren't developers huh?

Woah, you mean that Microsoft could....work without outside companies like Sony and Nintendo do to make games?

even it’s a rumor going around, Phil Spencer did save the brand.

@TeiGekiLord I specifically only listed the Nintendo owned companies that develop software.

Considering Microsoft can't manage their gaming studios to save their lives, the plan being just to buy more of them is probably gonna be worse both for Microsoft and the gaming industry as a whole, and end with the Xbox branding being winded down anyways.

This is both true and sort of revisionist at the same time, especially by lumping Bethesda and ABK together when their acquisitions had entirely different intent.

The Bethesda acquisition was entirely to bolster Xbox and Game Pass. 7B was an astronomical figure and they acquired an insane amount of talent and IP. Had Xbox stayed the course, we would be seeing the high quality exclusives from that purchase we were promised now with games like DOOM The Dark Ages, Indiana Jones, and Blade.

However, Game Pass did not continue to grow, and the suits were not willing to wait and so they hedged their bet. We know from the ABK trial that when Xbox went looking for their next acquisition, it was Amy Hood who directed the company to buy ABK. They spent a whopping, unheard of $70B not to bolster Xbox, but to move into mobile gaming which they see as an actual opportunity for growth as Xbox flounders (their own fault). Xbox gains very close to zero from the ABK purchase. A few ancient games on game pass, CoD on game pass, and the end of timed exclusivity map packs or whatever playstation got in CoD. These things combined would cost in the millions. They spent 70 B B B Billion to break into mobile. They wanted Candy Crush. They wanted CoD mobile (more users than all other CoD platforms together). They wanted Diablo Immortal, etc.

Microsoft's position on Xbox shifted the most it could possibly shift from the Series X launch/Bethesda acquisition to the ABK acqusition and where we are today.

How much is the paywall, @Kezelpaso? And is it not something that Pure can pay for? To my mind, this is a significant story, one you would think journalists would want to read...

@Fiendish-Beaver the cheapest option we're seeing is $300... 😑

Oh, @Kezelpaso! I never imagined it would be that much...

I am glad Xbox is still around, they need to be around to keep Sony in check so they don't make more Concord level mistakes and get away with it. I do feel Nintendo will be a good ally to Xbox and a huge threat to Sony over the next few years.

@TeiGekiLord This is such a blind take and to me really shows what Xbox is dealing with.

1) Build up what own studios? I don't disagree that Xbox themselves had put themselves in the position they were in prior to this generation, but they couldn't exactly go back in time and change anything. Xbox only HAD a handful of studios prior to them acquiring new ones AND building a new one. Xbox Game Studios as a new business unit only came into existence in 2019. Prior to that it was Microsoft studios (with a few different "Microsoft name changes"), which predated Xbox slightly. The former internal publishing unit had mostly only worked with third party studios for exclusives. They've always only had a handful of internal studios and they have made it worst by closing and selling a lot during their Xbox One failures. Not to mention that until this generation Microsoft Windows games like Age of Empires and Microsoft Flight Simulator (and only AOM is done by an internal studio now too) weren't part of Xbox or ported to the platform. Prior to their acquisitions and following the One generation failures Xbox had 343, The Coalition, Mojang, Turn 10, and Rare. That's it. Those five studios. Everything else was bought or formed (like the Intiative which they literally built from the ground up) in 2018. Including playground games which had formerly been a major support partner.

2) 2021 was literally the year Xbox was the highest rated publisher by average game ratings even without Zenimax. You'll recall people actually loved Halo Infinite at launch (largely the campaign). People were very happy with Xbox's showing without Zenimax. Microsoft just saw a clear opportunity with Zenimax wanting to sell and took it. Not to mention them wanting a larger pipeline for first party content to support their strategy. And we did see in 2022 that unsurprisingly enough a publisher that only actually came into official existence in 2019, needed time to make games (especially following COVID and the whole industry's downturn).

3) Aquistions aren't new. You say "Sony did it" as if they didn't JUST buy insomniac games in 2019. You know the studio that's put out most of their first party games this generation. They were also on a buying spree toward the end of last gen and start of this. They've also rebranded and have since purchased or founded like 8 new studios. Including the studio behind concord which was bought for concord and shut down a year later (which is really unfortunate for them; I wasn't aware they suffered the same fate as Arkane Austin).

"As we've already mentioned, this is all rumoured and reported information at present, so do bear that in mind before forming any conclusions here."

Hmm. I guess that qualifies as news in the gaming journslism scene. Rather most are combining this story with their own conclusions right in the article title for click bait. I guess wake me up when any of this stuff actually means something and something happens. Forza and Age of Mythology (or was it AOE) were supposed to go to Playstation last year as well. I think Xbox has grown into a massive business and has a lot of ongoing conversations, but in reality that doesn't lead to much. "Is Game Pass sustainable", I'll respond with a "What does it matter if it isn't?" Microsoft ends the subscription service and people... stop paying? If anything that'd set value back for consumers overall and make the industry look kinda bad compared to other entertainment sectors (especially as game prices continue to rise), but I'm not Microsoft. It really isn't my concern how Game Pass is performing in terms of total subscribers. Xbox isn't really in any more fear of being shutdown than they've ever been. They've fought an uphill battle being the smallest unit at Microsoft since conception. Shareholders have always asked why a company as big as Microsoft is supporting a marketing where the BEST they can do is 150 million hardware sales in a 6 to 8 year time frame. In response Xbox doesn't just still exist, but has massively grown since the original Xbox even encompassing former Windows only gaming ventures like AOM bad MS Flight Sim. Xbox leads consumer value in the console market with backwards compatibility and Xbox Play Anywhere. Both features that make Xbox the least likely to nuke your library next gen (something that's always been a tossup and has forced us to keep around old consoles) and future proof it on PC respectively. I'll follow what Xbox actually does and will always hope I like what I see, but I'm not a Microsoft exec. I'm not tied to the success of the brand or the success or game pass.

Bit of a Sophies choice since wrapping up xbox looks to be the outcome of either decision...

The key to growing Game Pass has virtually nothing to do with console sales and pretty much everything to do with Samsung/LG televisions and Amazon Fire Sticks, etc. As console sales continue to slow for everyone, Xbox will need Game Pass subscribers on other devices in order to have a chance. We keep hearing how amazing it is that the Switch has almost sold as many units as the PS2 but the PS2 was 20 years ago – in other words, a lot of devices have replaced console gaming given the growth in the industry and the increase in the number of people playing games. If Xbox can't find a way to get those people to part with their monthly subscription monies, they're pretty much screwed. Personally I love game pass and I'm glad they kept going but I'm not holding my breath that any of the big 3 are conducting business in 10 years in the same way they are today. The market has just changed too much.

I think it's interesting what ways they have tried to still keep it alive/what changed. But yeah some de-suased or scale of the industry/other factors hmm. Whatever to believe/theorise what actually was said/thought up. User bases have limits so 100m by 2030, good luck there.

But mobile for sure. King makes too much money, compare to Halo Spartan Assault/Strike & others of Xbox mobile games. ABK mobile filling in.

Age of Empires/Flight Sim and others on console then PC only changed things too. But leadership, management & decisions show themselves their efforts/it working or not.

Digital libraries is understandable for customers but to me eh I have so few digital to me it means nothing jumping between many.

Sony having many purchased companies in PS2 era, killed by Vita/PS4, Insomniac always there before purchase, House Marque/others before purchases. MS has done fair with few built up & few purchases, trying to fill in gaps & games being hit or miss & good but not sales viable, just critically/customer praised.

it would be sad to see it go like Dreamcast/Stadia so short. But if they can keep it going I think a lot of interesting can happen and a lot has regardless of my thoughts or other customers of how it's been handled.

Sony needs the competition and Nintendo is doing their own thing as the 2nd console or the family console/some people's only console brand they go with and there is a lot of interesting things they can do to compete with Sony then having 2 instead of 3 companies and 1 being the high end and whatever happens and 1 being the cheaper and whatever happens with no 3rd interesting option to exist and challenge things.

That and they have with opening up possibilities for cloud besides Sony's PS Now/PS+, Gamepass and more on anything showing you don't have to be on a console even though Sega did since the Saturn.

Let alone whatever Atari's computers and consoles games (I forget about) or the CD32 tried to do as well and didn't succeed on. But those were slightly different I guess?

The "any places viable to offer it" model like Office/Edge is not surprising of them but they have tried their best even if the games don't excite the coverage to different platforms has been interesting to see even if not boundaries pushed, I guess to many people it is even though like I said Office/Edge let alone other examples in the past or like PC versus MS' GBC or GBA/DS games weren't clear either. That's besides the Sony Imagesoft stuff as well or SNES parts.

They have pushed to keep it around and whether it's working or not hmm who knows despite the amount of users on Gamepass and how much the brand/services work or not and it's an opening of gaming is still there to not close so easily like Google didn't want to stay around long enough.

Amazon has been interesting seeing them still trying with Luna there and server and other solutions for developers and their own funded games. Google just went nah but it's interesting Amazon is still actively trying.

Amazon having a console I doubt and with the way tech is I can see why but still.

Microsoft hanging around with Xbox is still something, I may not care for how it is these days but it is still interesting to watch their directions regardless of my thoughts on them and competition I think is still necessary with them then them cutting it off.

Then again devs could not take so long/have better ideas and budgets be so high of visions.

Well Sony chose to buy studios that haven't released a single game, absolutely nothing has be heard of them since Sony bought the studios. MS has spent big money since the only other option was to close up Xbox all together. MS has taken a interest in remastering older titles and rereleasing them on various consoles. Sony does bring older titles to there modern consoles but they are the exact same game that has been modified to work on newer consoles. Like Dark Cloud 1 and 2 are the exact same ps2 games, the ps2 logo is visible when starting the game and the only thing which is added is trophy support. The reason why Sony can add trophies to older games is because all trophies are added extra content that is triggered after the first trophy is unlocked, or the trophies are checked on the trophies on the Playstation. For the Xbox starting with the x360 achievements are part of the boot code and available when the game is booted up. With the X1 the achievement information is hidden unless you're online.

@swedetrap Both the switch and ps5 have had good console sales but the trick for both Sony and Nintendo is to keep the sales for the ps6 and switch 2 to be compatible to the previous generation of consoles. The potential problem with the switch 2 is that they need to have a powerful enough console and low enough price. And Nintendo has to bring more games to modern consoles that can be purchased rather than only being available via the switch online.

@Rodimusprime13 Good sales, sure, but only relative to one another. 20 years on, the entire market is contracting on the console side, despite overall industry growth. The switch has been a big success, no doubt. PlayStation has only been a success measured against Xbox. Failing to improve sales against each of their past console generations is most definitely not something any business would want to hang their hat on. The global population has grown by 25% since PS2 and the gaming portion of that population by an even greater percentage. If anyone thinks Sony is happy to be touting their 2nd Gen console as the best selling when they're 5 generations in, they're crazy. They'll say they are, sure, but that's a PR spin.

@TeiGekiLord It is not pathetic. They can and should invest in the studios they had, but they simply wouldn't be allowed the time to do so, that's clear.

They needed to acquire because they need a fast stream of new content to boost Game Pass and Bethesda and Activision already have a huge catalog of old titles and new titles in development to help with that.

Microsoft couldn't simple wait 6 or 7 years for their own studios to finish their games so they would finally grow Game Pass.

So they're doing both. They acquired studios and they're investing too (The Initiative, for example).

Also, let's not forget before aquisitions Microsoft only had 343i (Halo), Coalition (Gears of War), World's Edge (Age of Empires), Rare (Sea of Thieves) and Turn 10 (Forza Motorspost).

There is so much Microsoft could do with basically 4 studios, as Age of Empires at the time was PC only.

No matter how bit the amount of money they invested. 4 studios simply wasn't enough to grow Game Pass.

But even if they're not enough, all those studios have current games in development, so it is not like Microsoft didn't invest or supported them.

Halo Studios (New Halo Project)
Coalition (Gears of War: E-Day)
Rare (Everwild)
Turn 10 (Forza Motorsport)
The Initiative (Perfect Dark)

You mentioned Sony, but Microsoft wasn't trying to sell more hardware or recover from a huge financial loss like Sony on the PS3, they wanted to grow a subscription service and to do that you need content.

That's why netflix acquired studios and started their own productions.

They've acquired tons of shows as well, not every Netflix Original was created by them, some are acquired or licensed to Netflix.

That's how you grow a subscription service.

Microsoft only have themselves to blame. They have always had bottomless pockets and regardless of the number of studios they could have farmed things out. The Series X launched with zero system selling exclusives. None. And had they have done so it would have just been a new Gears or Forza, more dull shooting or racing.

Sony had a few cross gen ports but you could always buy yourself Demons Souls or Sackboy to play with the kids and they were still exclusives.

@TeiGekiLord none of what you said is true.

@BigRedPaper

All of what I've said is true, sorry you don't want to read or accept it.

@eduscxbox

It is absolutely pathetic because streaming video games was already a failing idea and based on what information has came out, it is still a failure.

Oh please, how is it not an issue for every other developer in the business but poor Microsoft?

The lengths people will go too to protect this company is insane.

What a pathetic response from Microsoft, they really think of us as idiots, they know damn well that the increase in revenue has been from integrating their 70 billion buyout, if you remove ABK numbers the business has actually shrunk, plus it’s not denying anything at all, it even implies with that quote of being “all in on gaming” that they weren’t “all in” before…

Plus they repeat the exact same BS with engagement at “all-time high” which I just don’t believe anymore.

A decade or so ago Microsoft just started buying developers in the hope they would just make amazing games they had done previously and that it would just work out. The problem with that method is you need someone who has a vision of what studios are doing what and not just let them get on with it. Obviously they expected people to flock to buying an Xbox simply on the previous games the studios they were acquiring made and it just didn't work like that.

They pretty much now have no choice with acquiring publishers to make themselves more of a third party publisher themselves. It just doesn't give me much hope that the next Xbox will even be worth investing it as I can imagine by that point a large majority of there games will also be coming to Playstation either the same day or within several months.

I can understand it from someone's point of view that they either do it that way or essentially lose their job because the division you are in charge of will stop existing.

@OldGamer999 man I am convinced drastic changes are coming for GP next gen. To fully thrive it needs to be everywhere and in cloud but will it survive by then?

Pretty sure at a minimum they will continue milking current GP userbase with price hikes and new tiers.
Down the road I see them getting rid of day 1 or 3rd party in GP.
They will most likely make more money and more profit with just porting games and launching day 1 on PS/switch 2 vs carrying the never stopping train of inestment with GP.
If they dont care about fans, then why they should be giving so much value for 40M-50M users when they can sell for 300M of N/PS of outright sales? Make these xboxers pay too. And if they dont like it - buy other platform. We dont care.
Thats how I see Satya thinking.

Bottom line - enjoy good several years of GP while it lasts. Maybe another 5 years or so. I dont see it surviving further in the current state.

Thats what happens when you decide to compete with money instead of talent.
Good luck with any new hardware.
We will enjoy Ms games on any other platform. There are just few internal studio they actually parented. The rest like Obsidian, ninja theory, minecraft developer, compulsion, double fine, bethesda, ABK- Those were anyways multiplat and in the end stays multiplat. Nothing changes for a player, its just Ms takes the money.

OK i appreciate the GP and will enjoy it until next price hike, new expensive tier, or if they decide to get rid of say 1 or smth.
I am convinced for next gen changes to GP are coming as well as count will decrease

@Millionski I could see Gamepass slowly expanding the pay for early access over time as well. It would not take long for them to expand the £30 early access period from 5 days to 2 weeks and people are already paying for it. Making the gap longer and throwing in fomo mixed with reasons like "its half price / i'm paying for future DLC" and it will push more money their way.

Its probably my least favourite trend from this generation but I can only see it getting worse a way to recoup some cash

@TeiGekiLord You mean you don't like the 'real' story.