420°

Microsoft's Surprising New Take On The Console War Isn't Surprising At All

Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have been talking about more and more over the past few months "people who want to see others fail in order for the green team to succeed - that’s not me. There were people when the Sony deal was announced, I could see it online, ‘what are you doing helping them out?’" We're also seeing cross-save and cross-play move from gamer pipe dreams to reality, and soon enough they're likely to just be expectations. We see this in all sorts of ways: from Cuphead and Xbox Live on Switch to Minecraft on every platform known to man.

lxeasy1746d ago

I'm all for this new direction. We gamers come out as winners.

1746d ago Replies(1)
Brave_Losers_Unite1746d ago

Lol imagine following the words of Microsoft

1745d ago
1746d ago Replies(8)
2pacalypsenow1746d ago (Edited 1746d ago )

Microsoft and Sony competing is good for gamers, them playing buddy buddy is not good.

lucian2291746d ago

But it isn't even a competition. Xbox this Gen has held zero contest

GrubsterBeater1746d ago

At least there is someone holding Sony’s feet to the fire... at least in theory.

Maybe XBox being around reminds Sony of what NOT to do, and continue to give gamers what they actually want... you know... games. Crazy right?

1746d ago
Petebloodyonion1746d ago

@ Kohox Because Sony care???
I guess you forget who made the 1st digital game only console called the PSP GO.
Or how about Online Passes.
Or Sony Stance earlier on this generation about NOT making AAA games and that we should embrace indies (Remember the indy station 4).

My point is that all these companies want money and to please their Shareholder. They will not hesitate to take a shadier route if they can get away with it and make more money.

1746d ago
GrubsterBeater1745d ago

@petebloodyonion

“Because Sony care???
I guess you forget who made the 1st digital game only console called the PSP GO.”

First off, your premise isn’t even correct..
PSP GO was NOT the "1st digital game only console” considering that it is a HANDHELD, and NOT a console.

Secondly, the PSP GO (being a handheld, not a console) was more of a convenience for PSP games, while giving gamers the option of something cheaper by not including disk-read parts, while also being an OPTION. You could always get a regular PSP that WAS NOT digital only. You had the option. It was up to you, instead of being forced upon you by the company that made it.

Petebloodyonion1745d ago

@ both above
The PSP go is a Gaming Console, portable yes but still branded as a "Portable GAMING console" and made by Sony. So trying to twist that fact to please you doesn't change the truth that Sony too seem to have a degree of interests in a digital-only Era.

Again my point isn't to try to paint Sony evil but just highlighting that these big companies have the investors and share-holders interest first.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 1745d ago
Lexreborn21746d ago

Microsoft isn’t just playing buddy buddy with Sony though. They are playing buddy buddy with Nintendo as well. So, it sounds like they are trying to play nice with the market.

bluefox7551746d ago

Their direction seems to be: Services and quantity over quality. Probably a more lucrative approach, but not for me.

xX-oldboy-Xx1746d ago

Definitely the way forward for a money hungry company like ms, their reliance on subscriptions to make ends meet is a slippery slope. I reckon about 3 yrs into Scarletts lifecycle they'll get caught out after releasing a glut of mediocre titles. People will start dumping gamepass - like they do with Netflix and activate it when a game releases of decent quality.

ILostMyMind1745d ago

I think that would be the right way for Microsoft. I don't think it's a bad idea. Sony and Microsoft can coexist in this way and be profitable for both. Sony with hardcore gamers and Microsoft with casual market f2p (Game Pass).

dcbronco1746d ago

Gamers have a rare but vocal group of morons within them that is so self destructive they actively lobby against themselves. Car people have their favorite cars but they don't hope everyone driving the competition crashes or gets their vehicles recalled. Some gamers are that special brand of stupid that can only end up with them old and angry at the world for how bad their life sucked.

majiebeast1746d ago

it must suck to be an xbox fangirl, go watch Ninja play fortnite.

AngelicIceDiamond1746d ago

I've said this a million times N4G has a special breed of stupid more than any other site I've visited, true story. Only morons constantly dig or find excuses to cry about Xbox every 2 seconds. They can do everything right and ppl, sorry fanboys still cry and complain for no reason either. Only a year and a half left of this ignorant brain cell killing rhetoric from them, all they have is there little disagrees and nothing else, no logic, intellect, 0 arguments just a hive mind of insults and belittle anyone who doesn't either play their console or isn't there main console of choice, very, very, fake gamers who only one console on the market.

Just like @MajieBeast

1746d ago
majiebeast1746d ago

Haha man you are salty its actually pathetic. Must have been a rough gen for you guys ill tell you a little secret the next one wont be much better,

AngelicIceDiamond1746d ago

@Tekiz Quick search of my comment history and you'll see that I barely yay and praise everything MS. What I do like however is MS taking responsibility in taking care its first party. They've never or barely done any work on its first party issues ever in all of Xbox, but its good to see they are finally. My issue is everyone pretends its not real or its fake or something, when its factual, its real. That's my biggest issue with yall.

MS opens up The Initiative and hires former GOW teams for next gen project
Site: Nope its not real. Nothing will change they'll have no games ever on Xbox. Its like I say the sky is blue but the site says nope its purple.

@Majie Naw I still enjoyed myself this gen. But my enjoyment has nothing to do with my issues with ppl like you here. The willfully ignorant type that make it impossible to have real discussion in articles like these. Its like cyber bullying, so Im gonna fight right back. You're not getting an Xbox which is fine, so mind your own buissness, just do that one favor, its really not that hard, its like I'm talkin to children I swear that's literally what it feels like half the time.

AngelicIceDiamond1746d ago

"Must have been a rough gen for you guys ill tell you a little secret the next one wont be much better,"

Since you think this is factual and nothing will change lets bet a full AAA game on it. I'll gladly take a new game from you. Since you're so supremely confident, Can't wait until you give me my 60$ game.

1746d ago
dcbronco1744d ago

It has nothing to do with being salty. It's about people to stupid to know when they're actions can destroy what they claim they love. Like a idiot on steroids.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 1744d ago
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110°

How And Why Online Multiplayer Is Still A Thing For Dreamcast

A trailblazer for online gaming, some players are still holding a candle for Dreamcast.

Read Full Story >>
thegamer.com
purple1011d 3h ago (Edited 1d 3h ago )

such a shame, its my fav console by far. it was way better than ps1, problem was ps2 was due to come out, a year or so later, and many just waited for that, especially after the flop that was the Saturn,. (even though it way okay, it didn't sell well,).

ps1 did sell well, a lot of those fans waited for ps2. thus, the downfall of Dreamcast,,

Jingsing10h ago(Edited 10h ago)

Every console is responsible for its own destiny, You don't go around pointing fingers at him or her or anybody, cowards do that and that ain't you! you're better than that!

lodossrage10h ago(Edited 10h ago)

Not true,

The Dreamcast falling apart was because Sega couldn't make up the pay for the increasing debt from the Sega Master System, Game Gear, 32x, Sega CD, and Sega Saturn. The Dreamcast and Genesis were profitable. But the profits weren't outpacing the debt plus interest.

It had nothing to do with anyone waiting for the PS2

MetroidFREAK219h ago

You're forgetting the most important part of the story. Sega was losing so much money so fast due to their past failures, they couldn't sustain the business. Even if the PS2 did help the demise of the system, the true blame is Sega themselves

lodossrage6h ago

Exactly

Even Bernie Stolar R.I.P (former Sega exect) admitted in an interview past debt was what hurt the Dreamcast.

Everyone says "Sony killed Sega" when that's not even remotely true. Not just that, but most of their debt came from fighting Nintendo, not Sony

ZeekQuattro4h ago

This. The only truly successful home platform Sega made was the Genesis. Every thing else flopped to varying degrees. The real culprits were Sega of Japan and Sega of America which went to war against each other for some odd reason.

Chocoburger14h ago

I bought a DreamPi to play both Dreamcast and Saturn online! So far I'm only played with two people online with Saturn, and I need to spend more time with the Dreamcast community in order to play with them. I miss ChuChu Rocket online, good times!

Profchaos13h ago

P2P there's even Sega genisis games that still connect online based on this.

Hosted servers wasn't really something I saw regularly on non oc platforms until the 360 era.

Ravenkiss9h ago

The Dreamcast was easily my favorite console of all time, home of many good fighting games

300°

Report: Sexual Misconduct Investigation Conducted at EA, Suspects Named and What They Did Revealed

EA senior staff has been investigated for sexual misconduct involving female coworkers, and these said people have been named publicly.

isarai1d 16h ago

Aye just call Phil, i mean he somehow made Bobby Kotick's scandal disappear and gave him a few million dollar high five on the way out.

Cacabunga1d 7h ago

I wonder if it will be censored with some in game ads.

XiNatsuDragnel1d 13h ago (Edited 1d 13h ago )

EA about to go down like Activision and then Phil saves the day saying.this is good for the industry and consolidation will help create competition. /s.

ravens521d 11h ago

What's up with all these horny creeps. You gon be horny, fine. Just not at work take care of that shit before you go in. Rub one out if you have to. Don't be a creep at all. ESPECIALLY at work. But don't be one AT ALL.

Extermin8or3_1d 6h ago

I mean part of the issue is that things transpired outside of work....

KwietStorm_BLM1d 6h ago

You think deviants care where they are? Work sometimes makes it an even better situation for them because they can abuse their power.

mudakoshaka14h ago

Nerds think they are Gods when they are making video games.

NotoriousWhiz1d 10h ago (Edited 1d 10h ago )

"it seems that according to EA, given the events transpired outside of work between two adults, and the fact that once investigation has started that the alleged perpetrators didn’t do it again, the investigation is considered closed. [...] The victim still has to work with the people that harassed her."

Yep, EA is disgusting.

Extermin8or3_1d 6h ago

I mean the fact stuff happened outside of work puts EA in quite a difficult position legally. These women don't seem to have reported the matter to the police which kinda ties EA's hands on what they can do. If they don't file reports of the crimes then yeah from EA's perspective it is stuff that happened outside of work. The only exception is the guy that apparently referenced things in the slack channel for work, spending on what he said proving it may be very hard and he may well be able to get away with plausible deniability. I don't like EA and I think these people need to be dismissed but without any legal action being taken, EA can't really do much without risk of being sued themselves for unfair dismissal etc.

Show all comments (18)
290°

More Job Losses At Xbox, “There’s More To Come”: Paul Thurrott

Paul Thurrott in a recent episode commented on the on-going Microsoft fiasco hinting at more job losses and that "there's more to come".

Read Full Story >>
spieltimes.com
Sonic18811d 23h ago (Edited 1d 23h ago )

There won't be no more acquiring game publishers from Microsoft in the future . Xbox has to pay Microsoft back. It might take two decades to do that.

sagapo1d 20h ago (Edited 1d 20h ago )

I don’t understand what you’re saying. Xbox IS microsoft so there’s no “paying back “.
And MS gross profit in 2023 was over 140 billion dollars so forget your 2 decades.

Unless you mean the money MS invested in Xbox (acquisitions included) and the time it will take for xbox as a brand to gain that money back on it’s own, then yeah, that could take a while.

romulus231d 14h ago

The better term to use might be return on investment, xbox is simply a division of Microsoft one that MS can easily do away with if profit margins are not met. So in that regard he's right, if xbox isn't showing the expected return on investment the higher ups are expecting than it's unlikely Microsoft will acquire any other studios any time soon, especially if they are spending billions buying developers just to shut them down in the end.

MrBaskerville1d 6h ago (Edited 1d 6h ago )

Xbox is a division that they discussed shutting down but doubled down on after Gamepass was pitched.

It needs to make money at some point. Big money.

KwietStorm_BLM1d 6h ago

So you do understand it or..?

rokos1d 4h ago

According to Statista the net income of Microsoft is about $72.4 billion dollars which is a bit lower than last year profit. That is almost as much as Activision's acquisition but I assume that would be a one off since it costs so much plus I see how their focus has been shifted to AI, thus any major future investments will probably be in that area.

Markusb331d 3h ago

i think you are really missing the point

VariantAEC18h ago

@romulus23
That is not why MS buys studios. They might continue to buy because it's about taking that sweet sweet IP out of the corporate husks of their acquisitions.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 18h ago
SonyStyled1d 19h ago

“There won't be no more acquiring game publishers from Microsoft in the future”

No bro, there do be is for Microsoft not acquiring for what is now if not what it be is 😂

1d 17h ago Replies(2)
ChasterMies1d 7h ago

Xbox isn’t a separate company from Microsoft. It’s all Microsoft.

Abear211d 2h ago (Edited 1d 2h ago )

Let’s be real, this is the media spinning all the acquisitions and liquidations of said developers and spinning it to make M$ the villain.

This was bound to happen, a bigger slice of pie and cut costs, when the games come they stand to make more and that’s their agenda—it was the writing on the wall when the sales went through and legally all those who approved the sale and mergers knew this would happen.

Snowflakes need to realize business is ugly and you can cry all you want but this is how capitalism works. And it works.

That said, M$ needs to steer the narrative and grab hold of all this, make their plans known, hype the hell out of all those dead IP’s they plan to revive, and be honest about the timeline. This is likely to involve mobile and IP on other consoles, and most people realize that.

The problem is this company is incapable of being transparent and seems to often want to dissuade and confuse is customer base. The lack of E3 has hurt Microsoft and I don’t think they know how to properly or effectively market their brand anymore.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 18h ago
jwillj2k41d 23h ago

There really needs to be a class action lawsuit here. You buy these companies just to put people out of jobs. And it’s not like something happened to derail their plans this WAS the plan. Microsoft has no business in this space at all.

franwex1d 22h ago (Edited 1d 22h ago )

Microsoft has been doing this for years. They simply want the IPs. Look at Nokia. Look at Skype. This time it simply expanded to games. Gaming is not as important to Microsoft’s executives as it was to the founders too. Bill Gates was willing to sell the og Xbox at a loss. Steve Balmer approved the red ring of death fiasco. This CEO isn’t really a gamer.

-Foxtrot1d 22h ago

Maybe it's time though to put a stop to it and use a big giant like Microsoft as a huge example to the rest of these big companies.

There has to be a line drawn somewhere.

People like the FTC and the like went against Microsoft yet their Actvision deal was still allowed to go through yet look what's happened...it's not even Acitivisions studios aswell, it's Bethesdas.

VariantAEC18h ago

Years?

Try several decades, and in the gaming space 2.3 decades.

Jon615861d 3h ago

You do realize this happens in ALL industries? Or are you just saying this because it is Microsoft? In any case I feel for those that are being let go but the trch industry is suffering right now.

jwillj2k422h ago(Edited 22h ago)

This absolutely does NOT happen all the time. Let me know the last time 1 company with a terrible product track record spent 100 billion onto acquire MULTIPLE successful companies in under a year only to shut them down and stop making their products regardless of how successful they were. Not merge them, completely shut them down.

And you can’t use Microsoft in your example.

Notellin22h ago(Edited 22h ago)

Class action lawsuit? The law is on their side and protects them at all costs. There are no rules to protect the people at the bottom.

jwillj2k422h ago

Not true when it comes to mass layoff do your research.

RNTody1d 22h ago

Ninja Theory, Perfect Dark, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Wolfenstein 3, Dishonored, Prey, Doom, Quake... something tells me that bad things are going to happen to these entities under Microsoft.

MrDead1d 12h ago

ID software, the makers of Doom and Wolfenstein that have been with us since 1991 could be gone and MS will keep the IPs.

I hope some of these studios can buy their freedom from MS otherwise this is going to be even more devastating for the industry and gamers.

Yui_Suzumiya1d 9h ago (Edited 1d 9h ago )

That's exactly what I'm worried about. I've been a fan of id since Wolfenstein 3D and I'm honestly afraid.

lodossrage1d 5h ago

Toys for Bob saw the writing on the wall and bought themselves out.

Wouldn't be the first time a company did that under MS either. Bungie and Twisted Pixel did the same. Considering what just happened, I can see some other devs trying to buy themselves out too.

anast1d 22h ago

Good thing the bosses of all those small studios made their money.

glenn19791d 21h ago

they cant do it right now they will get burned

XiNatsuDragnel1d 13h ago

Phil and his team need to be gone

lodossrage1d 5h ago (Edited 1d 5h ago )

Won't make a difference.

The whole structure needs to be overhauled. Anyone that replaces Phil will be no different than him, Mattrick, or anyone else.

Until the company changes how they go about business, nothing will change

glenn19791d 2h ago

I just don't have any idea what they would do , they have done sooo much damage on their xbox brand, they have a show at July or June I think, but will it even matter even they show amazing games, idkn

lodossrage1d 5h ago

True,

But they may as well get it over with. Whether it happens now or later, the burning is going to hit the same.

Reality is the ONE move that can alleviate a lot of this is the one move they can't make. Remove day 1 from gamepass.

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