By now, we can say Quantum Break coming to PC is well-known news (heck, at the time of me writing this, there are two articles talking about it on the front page). Now, I would be hesitant to call this a bad move. It's actually a smart move for Microsoft, although somewhat at a cost to Xbox One.
Perhaps a PC release serves as something of an insurance policy for the game's success. Honestly, I would say that's a great thing to do. The game looks like it has a pretty hefty budget, after all.
So anyway, let's look at history and see where Microsoft might be going with this decision...
Historically, Microsoft has struggled to rightly defeat their opposition. The Xbox was beaten mercilessly by PlayStation 2. Despite the Xbox 360's headstart, it was outsold by Wii and eventually, PlayStation 3 on a global level. Where Microsoft succeeded, however, was taking market share away from Sony. Nintendo managed to do the same on a larger scale. In this capacity, Microsoft and Nintendo gained a lot and Sony lost a lot. Fast forward to the present, Nintendo chose to capitalize on the Wii's success with the Wii U, which, as we see now, has not played out entirely favorably. Microsoft appears to have succumbed to the "third console curse" and did what Sony did last generation: see what you can get away with. Microsoft made the mistake of riding on the laurels of a widely acclaimed predecessor and believed they established a very sizable loyal fanbase. Today, we see that Sony has made an amazing comeback and has been besting the nearest competitor by about 2:1.
Now, the issue at hand is Quantum Break's Microsoft exclusivity, which extends to Windows. For the aforementioned reasons, it's a great course of action. Microsoft keeps the game in their catalog, but at the Xbox One's library expense.Then you begin to look at the bigger picture: Microsoft often shares their exclusives with PC. This much is not news and has not changed from previous generations. So what's new now? For starters, Microsoft owns Mojang. Mojang also still supports the other platforms, meaning Microsoft is still supporting other platforms. Financially, you're tapping into your competition's market. It comes at a bit of a cost to them with associated platform holder fees, but they stand to make more money that way than trying to hoard Minecraft exclusivity (even though they could). Now with Windows 10 integration, Xbox One has a somewhat symbiotic relationship with PC. So what's the angle?
Can't say for sure, but here's my hunch: Microsoft has given up competing directly with Sony...for now. I suspect Microsoft has plans for a multi-phase takeover. By allowing many of their titles from Xbox One to be available on PC, they are devaluing the Xbox One, which I would say is not exactly a bad move, financially speaking. From here, we have a community of people who are probably going to invest in a PC and play that over buying an Xbox One. Not to mention, DirectX12 and Windows 10 integration with the games, so there's incentive to stick with a Windows Operating System for gaming needs. Add to the fact that it's heavily marketed as a great gaming operating system and you're in business. Then we look at Sony, who has gotten comfortable with having console exclusives with PC releases (think Final Fantasy XIV and Street Fighter V). Back to the Xbox, if more people from Xbox flock to PC, you have an established PC market--in fact, it makes me wonder if giving away Windows 10 was the means for this very end. Now if you have a PC that runs any of Microsoft's Xbox/PC games well, you can probably run plenty of games that are on PC and PS4 as well. The question then becomes: why buy said game on PS4 if I can get it to run better/with mods/etc. on PC? It would actually function in taking away business from the competition and affecting their sales. Eventually, people would only buy consoles for the exclusives. And frankly, PCs are multi-functional. It's a reliable market and people may not have high quality PCs, but it very well may inspire some market changes. This move could have been in the works for a while with Sony's recent activities forcing their hand on the issue sooner. It makes sense this was the plan for a while though; consider the Xbox One supports DirectX12 and its own variant of Windows 10, it puts Microsoft in a prime position to increase their sales. It's likely, but we'll never know for sure.
The question at the end of the day then becomes what of the Xbox One? Was its primary purpose to be a harbinger to Windows 10 and their gaming ecosystem with PC? It would be taking a leaflet from Sony's use of the PS3 as Blu-Ray's Trojan Horse. In short, I believe that, based on Microsoft's talks about what information they share with NPD, they have moved into a very meta-gaming space where they are no longer selling Xbox One, but Windows 10. The possibility of streaming Windows 10 games to Xbox One as well still produces a console experience for those who are a little reserved in moving away from the console space. Oh, and Oculus Rift being bundled with the Xbox Elite controller? It's actually a damn clever idea to get you gaming on PC with an Xbox controller and also step on Sony's toes with VR (Oculus, I believe, is argued to be a better experience, but I'm not here to debate that).
All things considered, if I'm correct in my hunch, Microsoft has created a very elaborate game and it'll be interesting to see how competition responds. Considering neither Sony nor Nintendo have the right means of competing with Windows directly, it should make for interesting developments regarding the platform after NX and PS5. Competing with Windows is something Chromebooks and Macs can do. Competing with the entire ecosystem though, that would provide an incredible challenge (unless Sony and Nintendo team up with Android and Apple--even then, the market share is heavily slanted towards Windows, meaning the others would be operating at a handicap). We only know Sony has streaming services which, if we're being honest, is a very hard sell versus PCs where everything is run on local hardware. Assuming Windows 10 becomes Microsoft's next-gen platform and Sony is stuck using Gaikai to compete, we would likely see a very different outcome in the next generation. On one hand, with local hardware, they could demand games on PC being connected to the Cloud which would actually allow them to aid PC hardware power. But with Gaikai streaming, Sony may be able to have hardware with indefinite power with its weakness being connectivity.
I'm certainly no pundit or affiliated expert on these matters but, regardless, there has to be some systematic reason for Microsoft's motions so far. From games on the "struggling" Xbox One being reliably developed for PC as well to a heavily integrated ecosystem, they've got something up their sleeves and, frankly, I'm interested in knowing what.
If you read all of this, thanks. Feel free to agree or disagree below.
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Saw this coming since the first nerf to the meta. Anyone that had any sense and wasn't a fan boy knew this was gona happen. Knee jerk reaction nerfs to the meta made the game boring.
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I have to say that this makes me very happy. Great games coming to the PC is a reason to celebrate. I have always loved the Fable series and loved that the Lost Chapters came to PC.
This is just more good news. I can convince my spouse that a console is a worthy purchase, but with the plethora of titles that are cross platform, it only means that I can use the cash on one.
Now, my prayers are answered because I can play great Xbox games on my PC but also play great PS games on my TV.
One hole in your premise that is fairly large...the Steam marketplace. If Sony continues w/ PC releases for third party deals, they will all go through Steam, of which MS doesn't see any profit from beyond those that are running Win10 as their OS.
Your argument would have to assume that MS can some how wrestle that much larger market share from Steam, and they would be doing so w/o any of Sony's partnerships on exclusives, which kinda brings us back to square one in that regard. Also, if MS goes to such strides towards building up PC, what happens if an amazing new OS hits the market tomorrow & Windows falls completely by the wayside? It's a risky prospect because Windows has been the leading OS for a long time, but that is by no means a sheer given. If they build up the PC a competitor can come in & present a better product & essentially grab all of that foundation for themselves & MS will receive nothing as they don't own the concept of a Personal Computer.
Another plausible potentiality that results in sheer profit & satisfaction for the many shareholders looking to dissolve the Xbox hardware division entirely: MS as a software publisher. MS could essentially be the next EA tomorrow. Looking at how much money their is in software vs. Hardware & seeing how profitable a giant like EA is, it would make far more sense for MS to be using this gen to bolster their exclusive portfolio, beyond the existing franchises like Forza, Fable, Rare, Gears & Halo, MS have taken strides towards owning the ip created by every 3rd party dev, they have purchased the rights for games like Gears & studios like Mojang along w/ the Minecraft rights...they also purchase the Havok engine...essentially Phil has been using his tenure to build IP. Trying to throw that IP at the Win10 store would be taking a gamble in multiple instances, namely that PC can kill consoles in a few short years & that the Win10 store can somehow defeat Valve & the Steam marketplace as the industry leaders...becoming a software entity cuts all risk out of the equation & overnight you'd have a massive moneymaking success. Imagine if Halo went multiplat, would it not essentially be the first franchise to potentially truly compete w/ CoD? Could Forza not compete w/ GT given the time to grow? If we are strictly talking the bar none simplest & smartest business move that would result in the largest guaranteed profit for MS, it would hands down be switching to software...it's what MS has always been known for, they've tried to make a splash in the hardware market & failed commercially on multiple occasions, between the Zune, Surface & now the XBO. Software is where they make their money now & it would be the best bet as to where they make it in the future. I'm sure a lot of people would disagree w/ this read but that can only be down to pure denial of the facts from where I stand. XBO may not be MS last console but I'd put good money on it personally, that makes e most fiscal sense for MS moving forward.
I feel MS has to face some pretty big challenges on making the Xbox brand a thing beyond just the hardware.
First, let me say, that if people weren't interested in building or buying a PC to play games by now, then I doubt they're going to just because MS is now releasing games on the PC. There are plenty of great games on PC which could provide that push, and while MS does have quality games, the PC already has them in abundance also. The only reason people might do so is if they're invested in the XBL eco-system.
That being said, MS still has to compete with Steam, and their own published titles are a way for them to make their market place unique. It's quite likely 3rd party publishers will offer their games up on the Windows Store, because they have no interest in whether one reigns supreme. It might even be good for them, because now they could have more competition in where to release to. However, it also means, outside the OS sales, and the sales that it gets from it's Windows store, that it receives no revenue from gaming except for the places that it controls. This method does allow them to make more money overall, but it's primarily geared towards the adoption of the Windows OS, and likely their hope to make the Windows Store more dominate within the PC gaming space...something they've wanted to wrestle away from Steam since day one.
Third, when it comes to their console hardware, it does remove sections of potential customers, as those people can now reasonably say that they don't need an Xbox console to play Xbox games...but that means they need to have a PC to play them. However, when doing so, and if they become PC gamers, it means their options for a market place open up, and Steam has a lot of good will among gamers, so people may opt to go with them, and MS would only make money on it's store exclusive content. However, with more games on PC being available, it could also mean that those people may skip it until later, or not at all because it's not like MS published games are so hot that everyone is just going to build a PC for them, or consider them over the many other choices out there. I don't feel that MS itself is such a force in the publishing field that people simply have to play most of their games. Maybe some of their staples, but otherwise, on PC, I feel they are more akin to Ubi or EA, where they just happen to have games that appeal to people, but nothing that makes people go...I have to have it.
About the only people MS keeps with it's Xbox console hardware are those who just prefer console, have no desire to play on PC, Those who can't afford or don't want to spend money on a well equipped PC, and those likely already interested or own an Xbox console. They aren't opening up new markets for the hardware, rather removing the need for people to move into the only market available. This could play out in several different ways, and if not handled properly, could ultimately devalue the entire Xbox brand(PC and console) as a whole, as MS would just not have much to differentiate itself from other publishers outside of just happening to be the platform provider. Being a major hardware provider gave their games much more attention than they likely would have received otherwise...something I refer to as the exclusive bump. MS as a publisher though, would lack that benefit, particularly if their focus on the console hardware changes into something different.
It's a bold move on MS part, and ultimately, I think it's a good one. However, they have to handle it properly, and keep the positive momentum they have to remedy much of the negative perceptions that current PC gamers already have of them.
How about its just as simple - "simple" being a contradiction - as after all their original launch plans going belly up, namely always online being made not mandatory which then killed several things planned for Kinect which would have created a number of passive revenue streams, MS has decided to make the X1 their last physical console. A this point there are media streaming devices under a $100 that could do a better job than a console, and add in their cloud servers its very likely that the X2 will be an app.
Sony has to be headed that way with their PSnow - or whatever their game streaming is called - but the PS5 will still be a physical box because Sony needs the physical presence in the livingroom or wherever people game, whereas as MS just need what they've dominated - monopolized - where they've been since the first version of Windows: PCs.
Regardless, its going to be very telling if QB sells better on PC than the X1.
Firstly, although it's very cynical marketing towards the masses (of Remedy and/or Microsoft) how they had 'Exclusive to Xbox One' all this time just to increase console war rivalry, I do think simultaneous PC release is natural and good in a grown up industry - it's best to play it at its most powerful settings when the game is still at its freshest.
I wish that Microsoft would now be bold and make an Xbox that is the first non-fixed console (apart from Sega's Mega CD and 32X addons). Where they make it designed in such an ingenius way that you can just add extra bits outside the console, that would be Xbox branded, to bring it up to the level of a top PC if you have the money. So Xbox and PC become truly on a par. This whole buy an Xbox until you've got the courage to build a PC rig is not very user friendly if you already have the extra money but not the courage.