@Obscure_Observer

I hope so, we have to wait and see what MS does with all these studios they acquired.

@Cmv38

To focus on game first should be Mattrick´s primary direction for the Xbox One.

Xbox One under Phil Spencer has a identity and aside from focus on games first, is clearly different from PS4.

What´s makes Xbox One very different from the PS4:

Legacy BC
Elite Controller for hardcore gamers.
Keyboard and Mouse native support
Adaptive Controllers
Crossplay with consoles (Sony had it only with PC)
Early Access (Sony followed)
Mods
Play Anywhere
Third party sub services (Sony followed)
Game Pass (Sony followed download option)
Xbox One X (True 4k console)
ID@Xbox
Xbox Game Studios (former Microsoft Game Studios) now with 15 first party Studios

What´s next for the Scarlett:

All of that i mentioned above.
All the accessories for Xbox One will be compatible with the Scarlett
A more diversed and varied line up of first party games that Xbox never had before with a bigger focus on RPG and Single Player games.

@Jin_Sakai

"Perhaps stronger competition but far from REAL."

I said REAL because most of the studios you mentioned has their hands "tied" with PS4 games yet to deliver like Sucker Punch, Media Molecule and Naughty Dog. Bend, Insomniac and Santa Monica are on early stage of development of their next gen games, leaving only Japan Studio, Guerrilla and maybe Polyphony as potential studios to have something ready for the PS5 (I´m not counting MLB games).

Don´t get it twisted! I´m not saying the PS5 will not have first party games at launch. It´s all conjectures on my part at this momment. But i´m really curious to know what Sony has in store for the PS5 on launch based on what i mentioned above.

If Sony is following Microsoft like you say observer, how come Microsoft keeps ending up in third place and Sony keeps ending up in first or near it? How come Sony keeps ending up with the awards and Microsoft with none?

You got it backwards. Sony does something. Microsoft reacts to it. Microsoft does something, Sony out does it or ignores it.

Scarlett needs a miracle. If it doesn't have exclusives or you can play them everywhere else but the console, consider it already in second place.

Everything you listed above has not effected PS4 sales or has helped Xbox one sell any better. Could you tell us where Xbox one sales are? How many One Xs have sold? How many first party games have sold over 10 million because of 4K?

Lol! True 4K. I thought Phil said without compromise. So that means every game on Xbox One X is 4K and not upscaled or checker board. If even **one** game is not 4K, then that makes Phil a lier.

What can Microsoft learn? Basically, not be Microsoft. Be Sony. Be Nintendo. Anything but be like Microsoft. If they keep being Microsoft, they'll end up being like Sega.

@Apocalypse Shadow

"If Sony is following Microsoft like you say observer, how come Microsoft keeps ending up in third place and Sony keeps ending up in first or near it?"

No disrespect, but you´re either new (age) or ignorant. Microsoft has been on console business for three generations, beat Nintendo for two generations (Wii U and Gamecube) and lost only one (Wii). The response for the Switch will be PS5 and Scarlett. Following the competitor is not always a bad thing. Microsoft follows Sony, Sony follows Microsoft. What else is new?

"Scarlett needs a miracle. If it doesn't have exclusives or you can play them everywhere else but the console, consider it already in second place."

Scarlett doesn´t need a miracle. It needs a good hardware and games! Lots of exclusive first, second and third party quality games! Console gamers doesn´t give a crap about PC gaming. Some people has this delusional notion that the average console gamer which can´t afford (be by financial or time reasons) to have two consoles, will goin out to assemble a powerful PC to run PS5 and Scarlett games at higher settings! This is false narrative and you know that! In case Microsoft continues to release AAA quality games like Forza Horizon, Gears and Halo Infinite on a consistent pace day one on Game Pass, it will make hard and harder for Sony to justify PS5 users to cash out 60 bucks (or more) on every single first party game they release! Microsoft´s offering will become too good to ignore! Be that on Xbox or PC, your time (and money) will be spent on Microsoft´s platforms for most of your time during a year!

"Everything you listed above has not effected PS4 sales or has helped Xbox one sell any better. Could you tell us where Xbox one sales are? How many One Xs have sold? How many first party games have sold over 10 million because of 4K?"

Lol! Do you want to dance again? You already has the answer for your questions. We don´t KNOW nothing about Microsoft numbers for their products. You can say they failed! I can say they sold a lot! Your guess is good as mine! FACT!

"Lol! True 4K. I thought Phil said without compromise. So that means every game on Xbox One X is 4K and not upscaled or checker board. If even **one** game is not 4K, then that makes Phil a lier."

Show me the PROOF that Phil Spencer said "without compromise" and I will show you who´s is lying. I´ll wait! ;)

I think spencer had given xbox too many identities. Unfortunately, the most important one....games...is still in the space of not knowing where it will lead, or how long it will take.

They're obviously going to be making games, hence the purchasing of studios, but there is no real foundation to know what to expect from the new studios or acquisitions over the long term

@rainslacker

"I think spencer had given xbox too many identities. Unfortunately, the most important one....games...is still in the space of not knowing where it will lead, or how long it will take."

The same can be said about the games for the PS5. How many games will be avaliable on launch? How long will take to heavy hitters from their best studios achieve gold status? Will Sony invest on new IPs? Will Sony play it safe with sequels for their most popular games? How many AAA, AA, A, Indie? Are they gonna acquire/create more first party studios? There´s no way to know.

I'm not talking about quantity at launch, I'm talking about overall, and for the long term.

I wasn't trying to bring Sony into it, because I know how much that causes contention, but Sony has laid the groundwork for what to expect going forward. They've said quite pointedly that they intend to make fewer big games, but make them bigger, with a commitment to their current track of very high quality driven narratives. They've talked about doing GaaS, but not to the extent of MS, and instead, point to things like GT:S as a service oriented game. They still are making those unique creative games which have cult followings, and are generally highly praised.

That's just not something you get the feeling from when MS talks about their future. Spencer talks a lot about GaaS games, but he doesn't go into full detail about what that means. There aren't specific references to what that entails, or what to expect from it. Is it the games themselves? Is it the services which will make those games a service? Is it a combination of the two? If services, how will the games they release be tailored around a sub model? So on and so forth.

Furthermore, with Sony, there is a level of expectation from their current reputable studios. You know what to expect from ND, SSM, Media Molecule, etc. GG could be an unknown, but chances are, it's either KZ or Horizon. Smaller studios are still an unknown, but they always were, and they lead to surprises. MS reputable studios that aren't recently purchased are all creating known franchises. They've adjusted some to make things like AOE or what not, and overall, you do have a sense of what they're going to deliver like with Sony. But there are fewer devs in this area from MS.

Then you have purchased studios. Which right now for Sony would really just encompass Insomniac. Spider-Man 2 is a given, but then what? New IP? Return to a favorite? Dunno, but it's Insomniac, so chances are it's going to be good. Other purchased studios are centered around smaller experiences, and while Sony has announced them, it's not to the tune of those are going to be major players within their release schedule, and most are for VR. MS, OTOH, has a wide range of studios, mostly respected so no criticism of them, but outside of knowing what some were working on before the purchase, we have no clue what's to come next. I mean, how many were excited about Ninja Theory, only to see a MP game come along which only supported the idea that MS wanted to make shallow GaaS games for a subscription model?

What it comes down to is that we have no idea what to expect from all the acquisitions that MS has made. While there's nothing wrong with keeping things close to their chest for now, it doesn't mean that blind faith should be given to them to be able to deliver on all their talk, because I don't think they've earned that respect, and I believe 100% that that is going to carry over into the launch of next gen, because while they may be ready to announce a lot of games, not all of them are going to be ready for next gen. Obsidian is the golden child right now, and while a great studio, their biggest claim to fame at the moment is a multiplat game, that happens to be a better version of Fallout. But it will be years before their next product. Their new big AAA studio has barely begun production on their game.

There are just too many unknowns.

@MasterCornholio

100 million console sold is not the definitive metric for success anymore. You need ACTIVE PS4 owners! That´s why MAUs is more important for companies nowdays. If a multiplat game like FIFA sells 10 million copies on PS4 (100+ owners) and only 2 million copies on Xbox (45 million? users), then yes, Xbox is a failure. If the said game sold 10 million on PS4 and 5 million on Xbox, the Xbox console is clearly successful! This is called attach rate!

@Obscure

"That´s why MAUs is more important for companies nowdays."

If it was such an important figure Microsoft wouldn't have dropped it.

https://www.gamesindustry.b...

Also Sony and Nintendo still report hardware sales so it's still a very important metric to them.

"This is called attach rate!"

Which is still less important than the quantity sold. Because 1000 copies sold on a system with a higher attach rate brings in less revenue than 10000 copies sold on a system with a lower attach rate.

@Phoenix

"Obviously they’d want more units, but it’s absurd to start labeling one of the best selling systems in the industry as failures."

It's not being in 3rd place that determines if it's successful or not. You can have something that's in 3rd place but sells similarly to whoever is in first or second. You can also have a situation where they are way behind the other two when it comes to sales.

Just because it's in 3rd place doesn't mean that it's selling well. Heck something can be the top selling item and be a total failure.

With that said there's alot more that determines if a product is successful than just it's placements in the charts. Other metrics such as hardware sales, software sales, subscription numbers and comparisons to the competition helps determine if a product is successful or not. But in the end the bottom line is what matters the most and everything that I've stated before helps add to that.

I think that the best way to determine if a product is successful or not is to ask the manufacturers themselves. If they don't want to answer the question than that can be seen as bad news.

@Phoenix

Well I guess we can agree that they were less successful than their predecessors. And usually companies want to do better not worse. Not being as successful as before is usually seen as a bad thing. Which is why Sony and Nintendo are probably really happy with the way their systems are performing compared to their predecessors. Especially Nintendo because Will U was a big failure for them kind of like Sony with the Vita.

@ CB

Wow dude. You have faulty criteria for what’s considered a failure.

By that same flimsy logic every movie that doesn’t outgross Avengers: Endgame is a failure. Or any game that doesn’t sell as well that year’s Call of Duty is a commercial flop

@ Master

Obviously they’d want more units, but it’s absurd to start labeling one of the best selling systems in the industry as failures.

That’s the same misguided mindset that Activision has. If a doesn’t move as much as its predecessor, despite it still being one of the best selling games of that year, they’ll be extremely disappointed.

Not everything can incline, so it’s very pessimistic to write off most things as failures if they don’t outperform what came before even if they on their own performed admirably.