In this month's IGN Unfiltered interview, Phil Harrison revealed a big reason why the PlayStation 3 released a year after the Xbox 360.
Dear team,
Xbox has always been different.
We started with a simple idea. Games should bring people together through shared experiences. That led to the first Xbox in 2001, Xbox Live in 2002, and new ways to connect, from friends lists and achievements to parties and play across devices. Today, Xbox reaches over 500 million players around the world, with some of the most important franchises in entertainment.
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If they go back to exclusive games it at least shows that they are finally getting it. They would be turning down immediate money for something that will potentially workout in the long term.
Only issue is they've already opened Pandora's box. A lot of their base has moved to PC or jumped to PS. So will be a long road to get back on track.
We have been saying this from day one exclusives are a must if you are going to be selling hardware look at Nintendo and Sony before Jim Ryan. That's the proven formula. You had some that were deluded and blinded by loyalty accepting that multiplat was the future and that MS was merely getting ahead of where the industry was headed, but at least they can finally see the light and agree with what everyone has been saying for a decade+
True, blame it on the rabid fanboys. MS can do no wrong and spinner this multiplatform move. While the actual fans moved on.
I feel like with the new Xbox coming they are hoping to bring back those old fans and then if it goes well. Bring back exclusives.
If the new console is performing like series x and one. Naw they staying multiplatform.
Actual fans dont move on... they can add to their hobby while waiting for the next new release. If you believe what you typed then I guess PS fans moved on too.... you know, since its been a Sahara for 1st party games this gen.
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I think it's too late, xbox sales were diving even before ABK, they got even worse since then even long before the full multiplatform push. I'd be surprised if they even went back to timed exclusivity at this point, Helix is basically a PC and is going to be expensive, they already struggle to sell cheaper xbox consoles, it will be low volume and they'll have a very small 'console' base to sell to, which has already been conditioned to just play via gamepass anyway.
I don't see them removing PC from the equation. Considering MS has a heavy enough investment in the PC market, it would be foolish to abandon them. I could see them taking away games from PlayStation or ensuring they are timed exclusives at the very least. Say what you will but if Call of Duty ends up becoming a timed exclusive to Xbox machines, that would hurt PlayStation, don't pretend like those games don't sell millions.
They would lose out on a lot of CoD sales tho. Doesn't PS make up most of the sales?
@Outside - possibly, but it might push people to want Xbox hardware so they can play with their buddies day one.
Who knows.
Their lifeline of solely the Xbox consoles is dry. Good-Great games on a 1st party scale can't be made at a loss so willingly - sent to the Xbox to only sell limited copies.
They invested billions scooping up studios and need to start making returns.
Sucks that nearly every company is publicly traded and have to be so shareholder biased but that's how it is.
Their words are strong but it'll take time to see what their actions accomplish. Lowering the cost of Game Pass and taking CoD off of it was a good clear start.
More like, allot of their base just played game pass. So now they need to encourage them to start buying again.
What exactly is the long term goal with exclusives though?
Because for the most part, the hardware side of things has never been the most profitable, even sometimes being subsidized for a period before breaking even. And that’s before the hardware component nightmare we currently live in.
The whole point of exclusives was to get more people to buy your console in order to have a bigger install base, which meant even bigger software sales.
But if their ports to PS5 are selling (for the most part it seems) quite well, then other than negating the cut Sony takes there, unless you are REALLY increasing your software sales on your own console, it probably doesn’t make that much of a difference?
Honestly I don’t even understand Sony’s decision to scale back on it for PC unless they weren’t even recouping the port expenses. They released ports when the hardware sales never really dropped, and now that all consoles will undoubtedly take a noticeable drop in sales due to the ridiculous prices, that’s when they decide they don’t want to sell to a larger install base to more easily recoup dev costs… it’s just weird
I agree. I mean once they went multiplat, in theory there should be no going back especially when you have games that have sold really well on other platforms.
Microsoft are the ones that announced that they are reevaluating. So I'm just guessing on what their end goal is. Right now Xbox as a hardware is not a must buy for anyone but fans of the brand because their games can be played elsewhere. Going exclusive would solve this, but you lose out on a ton of money instantly which has always been what the company does not want to do so not really sure what their "reevaluating exclusives" means unless they are pulling a Phil Spencer and are just saying what people want to hear and will continue to do what they are currently doing.
Their ports to PS5 are selling because Sony's output has been so dry... the fans are thirsty, and MS is the oasis.
Microsoft still has a name with Xbox the issue is the casual games are not looking at the console because its not the same console their friends have. Look at that poll on how many users upgraded from xbox 365 to one and then the X. Part of Microsoft's downfall was thinking that the Wii was the market they had to be in when really it was the core market. If you get the core gamers you then get the market to. As I posted a few minuets ago on another post Microsoft putting exclusives on PS this gen could bold well if they hit next gen with all our games are staying exclusive from this new gen. They will then get gamers wanting Halo, Forza Gears but this is also where Microsoft fell over with the xbox one and X in terms of they did not have may quality 1st party games affter they fell into the Gears, Forza and Halo cycle. If they can get some old IPs back to bring back the old core gamers as well as fresh ips to bring in new gamers things could improve next gen. But as I said in my last post its all if buts and maybes at the moment. No one knows if the next home consoles will be to expensive that people move to pc as we are now seeing or look at the stem deck as a cheepier alternitive.
"Only issue is they've already opened Pandora's box."
That's very optimistic. It's not the only issue, far from it. There is a serious rupture between Microsoft generally and the public caused by their weird Game Pass price fluctuations, taking down physical game space in stores, and being the first to go nuts on hardware price hikes that they themselves played a big part in.
They're also charging beyond a premium for Helix which is just vile at a time when the economy is in shambles.
The company itself is really not doing itself any favors with the approach they're taking Windows. Even France is looking to ditch Windows in favor of Linux.
But the most offensive thing is this AI push. They're doubling, tripling, and quadrupling down on the very technology they're using to replace a considerable proportion of their workforce... And the slap in the face is how they bake copilot into everything when nobody likes it—they couldn't even make Bing stick, so why on earth are they trying so hard? You know it's bad when people would rather use ChatGPT than Copilot which is killing their OS. But aside from their snatching up of farmland to build data centers (and reduce the agriculture capacity of whichever country allows them to build them), they made an AI-generated gamer gurl that loves AI the head of Xbox.
Even if we grant them the full benefit of the doubt, it hardly matters what Xbox wants to do if Nadella says no, and that includes exclusive games. Microsoft's relationship with Xbox is the opposite of Sony's relationship with PlayStation—Microsoft pulls the reins of Xbox, but Sony damn near went under for the PS3.
Despite all of that, it's clear that Microsoft's Xbox division is broken beyond repair.
PlayStation is currently draining money on flop after flop. It's Sony that needs to re-evaluate their strategy
Wonder how much money was lost on perfect dark, hellbalde 2, 300 million lost revenue
by putting cod on gamepass. The recent Jason schrier news that Xbox has cancelled dozens of projects, spent 70 billion just to see Xbox sales further collapse and gamepass see little growth.
The fact is this has been PlayStation's most profitable generation and they are making loads of money and selling plenty of consoles and games. While MS won't give you any sales figures or profit numbers for Xbox, says it all really.
It isnt. But I dont think they mean in 'games', rather, footprint.
They own the OS but as far as gaming is concerned, Steam dominate. I imagine the VAST majority of people who use the Xbox app/launcher are PC gamepass subs. No ones buying their 3rd party PC games through Xbox PC.
and many gamers prefer SteamOS for gaming over Windows too. If only Valve would be more uncompromising to the anti-cheat makers that locked out non-windows players, more pc gamers would have moved onto SteamOS by now and not looking back to Windows. overall, Win11 is a terrible, bloated, unoptimized OS which is not what many people want
Why did Sony push Shuhei Yoshida out of his role leading PlayStation's first-party games? He'd overseen some huge successes. Well, apparently, he didn't listen.
Yeah I can see that for sure. Shuhei Yoshida should have been in charge not Jim Ryan.
It should be free highway for him now.. but Sony are too stupid to see this, especially that moron Hulst
Wtf why all that anger. PlayStation is dominating on every level. Besides I think there is a little more to hiring a CEO than just who is available. Its not like its a athlete your team wants to buy.
S2Killinit
live service failures, chasing trends, closing studios. yes dominating
Sony is Dominating because competition is not existing. Compared to previous gens this is the poorest in terms of software offerings.
Last gen we got Uncharted 4 Lost Legacy and TLOU2 from ND alone.
This is so far a remasters gen, with no competition to lift up the quality
..."PlayStation is dominating on every level"....
...Really???
PlayStation are soon heading into a new generation in the not to distant future. They currently have the worst customer satisfaction they've ever sustained as a company. The company is heading for a huge crash while at the same time they'll need to be planning how they are going to try and win back that favour and the build up to their new releases.
Yes financially they're winning but they're going to have to ride out this complete public corporate disaster. No one has faith in the company or the product anymore. They've damaged their public image so much this generation. Greed can kill anyone.
He would've done the same thing and fire Jim Ryan and Shuhei would be the villain. Why?
Because Elite creates the narrative and distraction for gamers, users and citizens.
More confirmation that Jim Ryan is the culprit for what has happened to Sony. Hulst needs to go too. What sucks is that a lot of the good top heads at Sony are no longer there. I wish that guys that were forced out prematurely by Dumbo Jimbo like Shuhei and Layden came back.
Yep. Yoshida was responsible for bringing one of the best games of this generation to playstation (Stellar Blade). He is an actual gamer and is in touch with what gamers want (creative, fun games, not GaaS and agenda pushing). He also seems like a genuinely nice guy if you watch some interviews. Of course they got rid of him.
Makes you wonder if MS even thought about hiring him after Phil and Sarah were leaving. He certainly couldn't make their situation any worse.
All the gamer/consumer lead heads are gone across PS and Xbox. shuhei gone phil's gone (questionable) but gone. The future of gaming is somewhat uncertain across the board.
At Capcom, Hiroyuki Kobayashi helped build franchises like Dino Crisis and Devil May Cry, as well as original games such as P.N.03 and Killer7. Now, more than 25 years after his first credited game (as a programmer on Resident Evil 1), the producer is relishing the challenge of creating an original IP once again.
It’s exciting to see Hiroyuki Kobayashi return to original IP after such a long and influential run on major franchises. Given his track record with stylish, offbeat titles, Stupid Never Dies sounds like it could lean into that same bold, experimental energy. The mix of “bonkers” zombie action and his experience with both horror and character-driven gameplay could result in something really unique—especially in a market that’s full of safer, formula-driven releases. If he’s truly being given creative freedom, this might end up being one of those cult-favorite games people talk about for years.
I’m glad Sony didn’t rush PlayStation 3’s launch. Microsoft did so for Xbox 360 just to get an advantage over the competition and their console had one of the worse hardware malfunctions in history. Scratched discs, overheating and RRoDs out the wazoo. Add that to the no HDMI out of the box on launch units, no WiFi & myriad of other cost cutting decisions showed Microsoft cheaped out on so many things just for that headstart.
Another interesting reason for the delay was that the first batch of chips which Sony funded and ordered were defective, where as Microsoft bought backups from a 3rd party. So Microsoft got chips Sony funded even before Sony did, as Sony didn't consider the chance of Microsoft asking IBM for a chip, with IBM showing them what they were working on for Sony
Neither company had great luck during RnD last gen
- PS2 launches ahead of Xbox: PlayStation outsells it
- Xbox 360 launches ahead of PS3: PlayStation outsells it
- PS4 launches alongside Xbox One: PlayStation outsells it
Seems no matter what timeframe Microsoft releases their console they’ll still have less marketshare than Sony.
Even if PS5 were somehow delayed a year behind the next Xbox, I’m certain it’d still outsell it just like PS3 did to 360. Unfortunately for Microsoft the PS5 will release alongside the next Xbox.
And still against all odds the PS3 surpassed Xbox 360. Xbox has finished last in each of their console generations.
PS3 launch was a fail. $599! Riiiidge Racer! Backlash!
Xbox One launch was a fail! The system will always be online. Backlash!
If these two consoles are taking turns on launch fails. PS5 launch will be a fail.
Oh no!