The more I think about it, the more I realize MS doesn't need to have a strong first party

[Twinblade★ 3,891]

Sony has a lot of high quality first party games sure, but Im starting to realize that Gamepass is the perfect counter to it. There are so many good games i've played this year that I would have skipped (or at least waited for deep discounts) if not for Gamepass. Plus, it has enough Xbox/PC only games that it does feel like you're sometimes playing a game that might as well be a MS exclusive.

[Remij 4,670]

Well I mean dude.. it's what's selling any Xboxes at all at this point.  Of course the service is good.. especially for specific types of consumers.. nobody can truly deny that.

 

But it could be way better and more successful than it is, if MS actually had a strong consistent first party output for it.

 

The problem is that MS always squanders anything good they have.  They're basically like AMD at this point.  Xbox and GamePass should have had amazing momentum this generation.  If Halo had released at launch and been a complete product.. then Forza, and then Hellblade 2, and then Starfield, and then Fable, and then Perfect Dark... and so on...  If those games had been properly managed, and released at the right cadence, momentum would have really grew for the service.  Instead we got, Halo being delayed, then Forza and Halo close to each other... then Halo had a lack of content, then Starfield was delayed, then the other games were absent, and no real output from MS.  All that momentum was squandered.

 

It's kinda like that saying that Mark Cerny used "A rising tide lifts all boats"..... if you have strong high quality first party games releasing consistently... then even the mid-tier games start to feel like bangers, because there's a feeling of consistent quality.  A person understands that not every game needs to be a AAA banger... sometimes you like to hit up and smaller game which tries something different.. and each has it's own place.  Games like Triangle Strategy sprinkled in between Zelda and Mario games gives off a massively different feeling than if Triangle Strategy was the best game released all year.

 

That's why Sony is so successful.  Even their mid tier games feel like big releases, and people are more open to enjoying them because they're sprinkled in between huge banger franchises.

 

Microsoft has absolutely no semblance of that.  Despite me REALLY liking a lot of Xbox franchises... they have no consistency.  Doesn't look to be changing any time soon either.  

[sugarhigh 519]

The buffet of games subscription is no longer exclusive to Xbox. Playstation Plus Extra is here, it's mediocre, and the whole concept is for losers. The water is sufficiently muddied and the premise of an all-conquering, platform agnostic Xbox-as-a-service is no longer plausible.

 

A couple years ago the discourse was "Can PlayStation respond to Gamepass?", now the fight is far more subjective, "which library is better this month?". The answer is neither one, because these subscriptions aren't worth the cost. After a few months it's an expensive gym membership you don't use nearly enough.

 

All the worse when you see how badly MS has performed as a 1st party over the last 4 years. Getting their rare exclusives for "free" is obviously not worth it. They've fucked themselves.

[FIREPOWER 710]

A shitty subscription service will never be a substitute for having great first party AAA exclusives. If subscription services like GP were all that existed I’d probably quit gaming altogether on consoles. 
 

The reason MS is getting slaughtered in sales every month worldwide by both Nintendo and Sony is because they lack AAA first party exclusives. Look at how many price drops and fire sales they had this year alone and a $550 PS5 is winning NPDs each month. God of War alone is worth more than the entire GP collection of games for most people.

 

MS realizes their problems and that’s why they are struggling to buy Activision so that they can have AAA exclusives on GP worth a damn because their current first party library sucks ass. Nobody is interested in buying consoles to play shit like Pentiment and High on Life. Those are side dish games that you are supposed to enjoy with the main course meal which should be high quality AAA first party content.

 

GamePass in its current form may work for you but for the majority of gamers it’s clearly not enough and until MS fixes their first party problem they will continue to get destroyed by Sony. Funny thing is that Sony has pretty much matched GP with PS Extra, they’ve been getting better games on that service than MS has been getting with GP especially since MS AAA output the past year has been nonexistent.

Edited December 19, 2022 by FIREPOWER

[TLHBO 2,158]

Of course they don't, lemshits have no taste and xbox is the walmart brand console for people who couldn't care less so a service of mediocre filler like GameAss is perfect for them.

[-GD-X★ 7,729]

I have an Xbox for gamepass. 

[bhytre 2,753]

It cheapens the look and value of the brand when everything is too affordable and not exclusive.

You're not gonna attract rich people or be taken seriously if your business is like a dollar store. Your games will get treated the same too, used for a bit and onto the next. 

 

 

[Playstation Tablet 1,723]

Everyone needs good exclusives wtf.

[sugarhigh 519]

2 hours ago, Team 2019 said:

Everyone needs good exclusives wtf.

Yeah ask Google whether a game system can succeed without exclusives.

[Twinblade★ 3,891]

2 hours ago, Team 2019 said:

Everyone needs good exclusives wtf.

 
Discovering new gems on gamepass that you normally wouldn’t be that interested in playing is great, and not unlike the feeling of having a big new exclusive to look forward to as a PS gamer.

[Goukosan 2,249]

Lmfao what a take. 

 

MS is subsidizing GP to the tune of Billions just to secure 3rd party games on the service. 

 

Whereas if they had first party exclusives on there MS wouldn't need to pay out the nose for games to be on GP because the first party games belong to them. 

 

It's not a sustainable long term unless MS starts putting out first party content. 

 

Why do you think they purchased all those studios? 

 

It's because they know long term they will need a ton of their own content. 

 

[Twinblade★ 3,891]

14 minutes ago, Goukosan said:

Lmfao what a take. 

 

MS is subsidizing GP to the tune of Billions just to secure 3rd party games on the service. 

 

Whereas if they had first party exclusives on there MS wouldn't need to pay out the nose for games to be on GP because the first party games belong to them. 

 

It's not a sustainable long term unless MS starts putting out first party content. 

 

Why do you think they purchased all those studios? 

 

It's because they know long term they will need a ton of their own content. 

 

 

I basically played 2 PS5 games this year: Horizon Forbidden West and GoW Ragnarok

 

I played quite a few more Gamepass games than that, including several PC/Xbox only games (Grounded and Immortality)

 

Add in the fact that both of the PS5 games I played are basically touched up PS4 games that you don't even need a PS5 to play.

 

So if you think about it, MS is offering more with Gamepass than what Sony is offering with PS5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ike★ 2,906]

This is like saying Netflix doesn’t need Stranger Things and HBO doesn’t need House of the Dragon. You need to have a big hook. Slimepass has their first big one with Starfield though soon. 

[sugarhigh 519]

11 minutes ago, Ike said:

This is like saying Netflix doesn’t need Stranger Things and HBO doesn’t need House of the Dragon. You need to have a big hook. Slimepass has their first big one with Starfield though soon. 

 

At this point too much is riding on Starfield. It probably cost a fortune to develop in addition to what MS paid for Bethesda. When the dust settles I think exclusivity is gonna blunt the game's success way more than it helps Xbox.

[Twinblade★ 3,891]

34 minutes ago, Ike said:

This is like saying Netflix doesn’t need Stranger Things and HBO doesn’t need House of the Dragon. You need to have a big hook. Slimepass has their first big one with Starfield though soon. 

 

Except most of Sony's PS5 games this year can be played on PS4. I wouldn't exactly call that a hook or a reason to get a PS5.

[kaz 2,439]

      

[Remij 4,670]

5 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 

Except most of Sony's PS5 games this year can be played on PS4. I wouldn't exactly call that a hook or a reason to get a PS5.

Weren't you laughing at me for playing the last gen version of God of War and stating that it wasn't worth getting a PS5 for?  

[Twinblade★ 3,891]

4 minutes ago, Remij said:

Weren't you laughing at me for playing the last gen version of God of War and stating that it wasn't worth getting a PS5 for?  

 
well yeah I mean you’re all about the latest tech but you played one of the biggest games this year on a 9 year old console  that in and of itself is pretty funny.

[Ike★ 2,906]

18 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 

Except most of Sony's PS5 games this year can be played on PS4. I wouldn't exactly call that a hook or a reason to get a PS5.

Stray made me sub to Sony’s higher level PS+ sub for a year so there’s an anecdotal example right there.

[Remij 4,670]

7 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 
well yeah I mean you’re all about the latest tech but you played one of the biggest games this year on a 9 year old console  that in and of itself is pretty funny.

I'm not all about the latest tech though...

 

I'm damn near 40 years old.  I'm not buying multiple consoles and PC which share 95% of the same damn games anymore.  PC is simply a far better platform to me and I'm done with consoles... so there's absolutely no chance I'm going to buy a console to play a game I can already play on one of the devices I already own... and one that will play it better later on.

 

Miss me with that shit... especially while you're going on about there being no reason to own a PS5... you know I'm right