Microsoft and Nintendo have a pretty good relationship, which has allowed for games from some Microsoft IPs to be available on the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Online. Microsoft has also frequently expressed a desire for bringing Nintendo and Xbox fans together. Xbox head Phil Spencer has even mentioned that he considers Nintendo Switch players to be a part of the Xbox family.
That said, Microsoft’s initiative seems to include Game Pass as well. Xbox CFO Tim Stuart has recently said during a Wells Fargo TMT Summit that “it’s a bit of a change of strategy. Not announcing anything broadly here, but our mission is to bring our first-party experiences [and] our subscription services to every screen that can play games. That means smart TVs, that means mobile devices, that means what we would have thought of as competitors in the past like PlayStation and Nintendo”.
I don’t know should other companies allow Microsoft to monopolize the market like this is the real question.
That’s a good really good point
You know, you do have a very good point there. I wonder if they have any type of plans on doing so exactly.
Is it really a monopoly? It’s not like they’re preventing Sony or Nintendo from putting their software on the XBOX. They’re actually welcoming it. They allow EA and UBI’s subscription service on the XBOX. It only seems like a monopoly because Nintendo would never put their software (at least mainline games) on their competitors platforms, and Sony is still testing the waters with their recent jump onto PC. Until they (MS) get in the way of other software from reaching competitors platforms.
Look at it this way. Sony is the only reason you aren’t playing Starfield on your PS5. Because MS has extended the Gamepass Olive Branch to Sony and they keep saying no.
If Game Pass is on “every screen possible” what would be the incentive owning an Xbox when you could just purchase a PlayStation or a Nintendo.
There is none. But Microsoft is more concerned with getting their game splayed than consoles sold these days. More money in it this way.
Eventually there will be no incentive of owning an Xbox, PlayStation or Nintendo console as you you will no longer need to own specific consoles to play the best new games.
All will be needed is your favourite screen of choice, whether this is your oversized tv or top of the range smart device and controllers, just log in with whatever the app will be and buy and play games from all the major developers.
100% this is defo, and sooner than you may think!
Do you have any evidence for this? Because this seems like a pretty big stretch imo.
The evidence is called technology
Wow, what an informative and totally not intentionally vague answer.
You’ve really backed up your argument with that one, well done.
You have to be smoking something fierce if you think dedicated console market will die.
Microsoft is jumping the gun. Regarding what they’re trying to do, it’ll be the epitome of, literally, not owning anything, not even a game copy, since you’ll need to pay subscriptions. Which is the most anti-consumer practice in the industry, and one of the main reasons the Stadia failed (besides being, overall, a big piece of crap). From the looks of it, it looks like they gave up on the console market and are trying to salvage something out of it.
But no, it won’t happen “sooner than we think”. It might not even happen. Playstation and Nintendo are showing that dedicated consoles are still a vital part of the industry. Even Steam, with their Steam Deck, want a portion of that market.
Its so stupid though. Streami g games over cloud and just playing on tv is boring. Compaired to owning an actual consol and not worrying if the game will buffer or skip.
As of right now, it’s Gamepass. But I’ve said it many times, Microsofts goal isn’t to have an XBOX console in every household. It’s never been hardware. It’s software. They are trying to become bigger than STEAM. Look at it this way. They are on their way to making Gamepass to gaming what Windows is to PC.
You know Microsoft used to make games for Windows long before Xbox was even thought of right? And not just games either! Wanna know the REAL kicker?
Of course, , but we’re strictly talking about the XBOX division in MS. If we named everything that MS does we would be here all day.
I wish Microsoft would go back to making exclusive software for their operating system like in the 90s. You walk into a store and by Microsoft Money or Microsoft Picture This.etc.
Game companies make more money from software sales than hardware sales, so it makes sense why Microsoft wants to have their games available via as many avenues as possible. Personally I don’t see it as monopolizing the market by having their games available on “all screens”. It’s no different than indie games or even a company like SEGA that releases a game on every single console, that’s how third parties work.
That being said, I agree that it is still a bit odd and fishy. This is Microsoft indirectly saying that you don’t need an Xbox to play their games, which is technically good from a consumer standpoint, but seems like a terrible decision from a business one. They either are not thinking straight or they have other plans. The most I can think of is exclusive content if you get the Xbox version of games but even though I hope they know that’s barely any incentive to buy a whole console for
Personally, I have zero interest in non-physical, non-offline gaming. None. This culmination of your anti-consumer, anti-art, pro-money worship I will not participate in. I will find something else to do, and somewhere else to put my money. I can’t imagine you haven’t taken my tribe into account. I understand that you don’t care about this branch of fans withering out of the market. That I think youve calculated this and offend anyway I find offensive, to the point that it sours me on your entire ecosystem. Whatever you touch, I want nothing to do with. You want to grab, and choke the fun and ownership out of my hobby, and then steer my decades old hobby off a cliff? Fine, you can afford to attempt to pervert the industry. A few heads will make a few bucks, but the next batch will roll. So many vehemently oppose your greedy path. You’ll see.
The very first one of this service was called Club Kidsoft and it was f’ked up from the start as you were given an unique keycode to each game which if you had a computer crash or had to reinstall Windows 9X for any reason you would lose access to that software and not be given another keycode unless you paid again. After a few issues Kidsoft promptly vanished into the ethers. The claim was consoles were too competitive against them but the real truth is they had a shitty payment system on what otherwise was a very well rounded interface.
You could demo several titles and see videos for others but a lot of people liked the ‘Club’ stuff that was exclusive to the company.
Gamepass is a nothing burger anyway.
I’d like to see a modern version of Club Kidsoft but not the god awful payment system it had that literally was theft.
If you like MS Flight Sim it’s better to put down 10$ for a month to find out your PC is way out of date then to spend 60$ on it to find out the very same thing then you can cancel the subscription or at least play something your PC can handle. I bet you have an old Core 2 Duo PC the way you talk.
So they want people to pay 3 bills total (internet, switch online and gamepass)?
F@#$ outta here with Bs, whoever is running the XBox division should lay off the Crack pipe.
Don’t you do that already when you use Netflix, Hulu, or any other streaming service on your consoles? I mean, given the option, you’ll have 100’s of games for that “outrageous” 3rd bill. I don’t see how that’s a bad thing, plus it’s not like it’s mandatory, you do have the option to, you know, NOT use it.
I don’t have any subscriptions and I don’t plan to either.
Netflix and hulu are trash services along with every other subscription scam.
People who buy into that crap are lemmings that have no individual self awareness and will buy everything advertisers shove in their face.
So you’re just complaining for the sake of complaining. You do t even subscribed to the idea, let alone any actual subscription. Why exactly are you outraged again?
There would still be an incentive to own one console over another for running a game straight from the hard drive, so it runs better etc. But I think it would be better to offer games to be streamed on each other’s brand of device. Stops all this “must buy one console over another to play an exclusive game” chat. People can’t afford that anymore and it means games could potentially get into the hands of everyone. Surely any games developer wants that.