Video Game Chatter

[Texas Ace]

Microsoft's Bethesda Dilemma: Will Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Doom Go Xbox Exclusive? - IGN

After Microsoft acquires Bethesda, there are cases for and against making its games exclusive to Xbox - but one case might well be stronger than the other.

www.ign.com

 

[Genghis Khan]

Would that mean future games by them wouldn't be on the Playstation?

That would suck if that happens. Personally I have an Xbox anyway but I think exclusive releases suck and hurt the industry as a whole. I would think the game studio would make way more money releasing it on every console but there must be something in it I guess.

On the other hand, the idea that titles like Starfield, Fallout, and Elder Scrolls will come out on Game Pass immediately is great for me.

 

[Foobio]

I stumbled onto this guy's YT channel today. I subscribed right away after watching this one on Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (my current obsession). In it he mentions this fascinating sci-fi story on SB Nation titled "What football will look like in the future" which I haven't read yet but I definitely will.




Then after watching that I watched his most popular video about a game called "Shadow of The Colossus".

I have never played this game in my life but I definitely found myself admiring the passion of the players who obsess over the intricate details of the game. Kind of like we do here over the Cowboys. Stellar storytelling about something I would normally side-eye and say WGAS. It definitely stripped away my inner cynic for a moment and had me smiling.


I have no idea who this Jacob Geller dude is but he makes compelling content about games and life in general. Check it out.

 

[DontCryWolfe]

It could, yes.

I know a number of Bethesda titles are big deals, but I personally have never cared for any of them so it's no big deal to me.

However, there were rumors that Sony was looking to acquire Rockstar for 4 billion and now those rumors are resurfacing after this announcement yesterday.

This could be bad news for gamers.

To directly answer your question, the head of Xbox said they would still honor the exclusive deals Bethesda made with Sony regarding two games. The head of Bethesda was pretty vague when asked that very question, but the way he worded it made it sound like their games would still be on multiple consoles.

Either way, the truth of the matter is that Xbox most certainly has the power to make titles like Elder Scrolls and Fallout exclusive to Xbox if they want to.

Well see how it turns out.

I think Sony was hovering around 2 billion in revenue from Playstation last year, so 4 billion for Rockstar might be a hard sell to that board. Obviously, 7.5 billion is nothing for Microsoft to throw around. If they go exclusive with Fallout and Elder Scrolls going forward, not to mention the clear technological advantage that MS has with the Series X over the PS5, and things could leak bleak for Sony in the near future. Especially if MS can gain any sort of traction in Japan whatsoever.

Personally, this obviously sucks for gamers, but as primarily an Xbox owner for the past 10 years or so, Sony can suck it. I’ve been dealing with all their exclusive shit for a while now, so to see all the Sony Ponys run around and cry is hilarious to me.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

That would suck if that happens. Personally I have an Xbox anyway but I think exclusive releases suck and hurt the industry as a whole. I would think the game studio would make way more money releasing it on every console but there must be something in it I guess.

On the other hand, the idea that titles like Starfield, Fallout, and Elder Scrolls will come out on Game Pass immediately is great for me.

I've been a Playstation guy but I'd like an answer to this before the systems are released. It could literally sway me to Xbox even though I don't want to. Which my guess is it would do for others as well. I doubt I'm going to purchase both and would be really pissed if I've got a PS5 but can't play a Fallout or Elder Scrolls game down the road. IF they are going to make it exclusive they should release that info now because it could impact sales dramatically. Skyrim and Fallout were two of my favorite all time franchises.

I don't play a lot of games anymore. So I'm really buying a system for a few key games. Would really suck if Bethesda was only on Xbox mostly because I'd have to get used to a Xbox or just wait to buy a counsel until a compelling game gets released that I feel like I just have to have.

 

[DontCryWolfe]

I've been a Playstation guy but I'd like an answer to this before the systems are released. It could literally sway me to Xbox even though I don't want to. Which my guess is it would do for others as well. I doubt I'm going to purchase both and would be really pissed if I've got a PS5 but can't play a Fallout or Elder Scrolls game down the road. IF they are going to make it exclusive they should release that info now because it could impact sales dramatically. Skyrim and Fallout were two of my favorite all time franchises.

I think it’s going to be exclusive. A lot of people suggest that MS could go the Minecraft route and keep it multi-plat, but for 7.5 billion I don’t think they will. When you factor in the revenue they stand to make from Game Pass, especially with all these new titles being there on day one, they have no incentive not to crush their competition.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

I think it’s going to be exclusive. A lot of people suggest that MS could go the Minecraft route and keep it multi-plat, but for 7.5 billion I don’t think they will. When you factor in the revenue they stand to make from Game Pass, especially with all these new titles being there on day one, they have no incentive not to crush their competition.

It's definitely a game changer because it looked like Sony was going to crush Xbox on sales of the new counsels. To me this creates an opening for Xbox to make a serious move. Not sure why they wouldn't leverage it as an exclusive. But maybe the sales of the games makes more sense.

 

[DontCryWolfe]

It's definitely a game changer because it looked like Sony was going to crush Xbox on sales of the new counsels. To me this creates an opening for Xbox to make a serious move. Not sure why they wouldn't leverage it as an exclusive. But maybe the sales of the games makes more sense.

I think at the very least they would do what Sony has been doing, and having them delay their release to Playstation, along with the ensuing DLCs. If it wasn’t for Game Pass I would say there’s no way MS hoards those titles, but they just hit 15 million subscribers, a number that may hit 30 before the end of next year.

MS has been on a spending spree this year in terms of developers. I don’t think they are taking any prisoners going forward, especially considering how badly they got bitch slapped by Sony during the PS4/XB1.

 

[Texas Ace]

I think Sony was hovering around 2 billion in revenue from Playstation last year, so 4 billion for Rockstar might be a hard sell to that board. Obviously, 7.5 billion is nothing for Microsoft to throw around. If they go exclusive with Fallout and Elder Scrolls going forward, not to mention the clear technological advantage that MS has with the Series X over the PS5, and things could leak bleak for Sony in the near future. Especially if MS can gain any sort of traction in Japan whatsoever.

Personally, this obviously sucks for gamers, but as primarily an Xbox owner for the past 10 years or so, Sony can suck it. I’ve been dealing with all their exclusive shit for a while now, so to see all the Sony Ponys run around and cry is hilarious to me.

Unless Sony loses their entire first party lineup, which they won't, they'll be fine.

Even with Bethesda, Sony still has the better selection of titles.

Until you can play God of War, Uncharted, Last of Us, Spiderman, Ghost of Tsushima, The Show, Bloodborne, Nioh, Days Gone, Horizon Zero Dawn, or any of the other of the massive AAA games that are made by Sony studios on an Xbox console, I'll have no reason to get one.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Unless Sony loses their entire first party lineup, which they won't, they'll be fine.

Even with Bethesda, Sony still has the better selection of titles.

Until you can play God of War, Uncharted, Last of Us, Spiderman, Ghost of Tsushima, The Show, Bloodborne, Nioh, Days Gone, Horizon Zero Dawn, or any of the other of the massive AAA games that are made by Sony studios on an Xbox console, I'll have no reason to get one.

Yeah I guess it depends what you're really in to. I don't even know when the next Elder Scrolls (Not the online stuff) or Fallout is coming so I'm not sure how much it will impact sales anyway.

 

[yimyammer]

I stumbled onto this guy's YT channel today. I subscribed right away after watching this one on Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (my current obsession). In it he mentions this <--------------THIS LINK

that link brings up a weird calendar thing, what's that about?

that flight simulator is incredible!

 

[DontCryWolfe]

Unless Sony loses their entire first party lineup, which they won't, they'll be fine.

Even with Bethesda, Sony still has the better selection of titles.

Until you can play God of War, Uncharted, Last of Us, Spiderman, Ghost of Tsushima, The Show, Bloodborne, Nioh, Days Gone, Horizon Zero Dawn, or any of the other of the massive AAA games that are made by Sony studios on an Xbox console, I'll have no reason to get one.

Well, that’s precisely why MS has been snatching up developers like it’s going out of style. Frankly, Sony doesn’t have the revenue to compete with them long term if they maintain this frenetic pace of acquisition. Outside of FF, MS damn near has the RPG market cornered now. The sheer amount of studios under their belt now means that come sometimes late next year, and moving forward, we could be seeing a first party title released every month or so, not to mention those titles being Game Pass ready at launch.

I’ll give you God of War, but Uncharted 5 is rumored to be developed by an entirely new studio, and The Last of Us 2 was a laughable mess that was widely panned. The rest of those games I haven’t heard much of admittedly, but in that same regard I would say they aren’t exactly system sellers.

Sony doesn’t have anywhere near the money that MS has. Like I said, if Xbox gains a foothold in Japan, or if Playstation falters this console cycle, it’s going to be difficult for them to keep pace. Especially now that MS is actually throwing its weight around.

 

[Foobio]

that link brings up a weird calendar thing, what's that about?

that flight simulator is incredible!

That's chapter one of the story, which is actually a few years old now. Here's a better explanation of it:

The Experimental Fiction That Imagines Football-Obsessed Americans in the Extremely Distant Future

A viral multimedia project written by Jon Bois combines text, YouTube videos, and eerie graphics to explore sports, boredom, and immortality in the year 17776.

www.newyorker.com

I hesitate to give much more of a description of this odd, captivating story, because the first chapter, titled “Please answer me,” puts the reader into a dizzying state of incomprehension. It presents a dialogue between three space probes that have long outlived their original missions, and which have, in the intervening years, become sentient as they drift farther and farther away from Earth. Two of the probes are knowledgeable of the universe as it is fifteen thousand years from now; the other, Pioneer 9, which was launched from Cape Canaveral, in 1968, is just waking up to that world—and the reader, after a lot of scrolling, learns the details along with it.

 

[Foobio]

that flight simulator is incredible!

It's so real it's unreal. When I was a kid I played this one until my dad finally took the power cord to my Apple IIe because I wouldn't do anything else but goof around with the game. I ended up becoming an airline pilot so it had more value than whatever they were trying to teach me in grade school/high school. I haven't played a home computer based sim since that time, but when I saw this I made an exception.

 

[Texas Ace]

Well, that’s precisely why MS has been snatching up developers like it’s going out of style. Frankly, Sony doesn’t have the revenue to compete with them long term if they maintain this frenetic pace of acquisition. Outside of FF, MS damn near has the RPG market cornered now. The sheer amount of studios under their belt now means that come sometimes late next year, and moving forward, we could be seeing a first party title released every month or so, not to mention those titles being Game Pass ready at launch.

I’ll give you God of War, but Uncharted 5 is rumored to be developed by an entirely new studio, and The Last of Us 2 was a laughable mess that was widely panned. The rest of those games I haven’t heard much of admittedly, but in that same regard I would say they aren’t exactly system sellers.

Sony doesn’t have anywhere near the money that MS has. Like I said, if Xbox gains a foothold in Japan, or if Playstation falters this console cycle, it’s going to be difficult for them to keep pace. Especially now that MS is actually throwing its weight around.

They'll never be in a worse state than they were during the PS3 era were they were second to Xbox in the US -- and yet, they still outsold the Xbox globally and rebounded to dominate them during the current gen.

Again, so long as they don't get arrogant as they did when the PS3 launched and keep churning out the best 1st party lineup in all of gaming, they'll be fine.

The LoU2 was a laughable mess, huh? And yet it is still the fastest selling Playstation-exclusive game EVER. It is the 2nd highest selling game of 2020. My point is, Sony 1st party titles move units whereas Microsoft games do not.

Yeah, they have Bethesda but their reputation is not so great right now and it's been quite some time since they made a game that was widely praised. And that's there this little gem comes from:



And about the gaining a foothold in Japan thing? There's a better chance that Donald Trump becomes the head of BLM than there is of MS gaining any traction in Japan. There is so little interest in the Xbox in Japan that most major retailers don't even carry it in stores.

MS has all the money in the world, yes. But it's not that simple as just spending it.

They don't really know what gamers want over there and that is why they got so left behind by the PS4.

 

[Cotton]

Holy hell, this is the most activity I have ever seen in the Video Game thread. Lockdown got you fuckers bored, huh?

 

[DontCryWolfe]

They'll never be in a worse state than they were during the PS3 era were they were second to Xbox in the US -- and yet, they still outsold the Xbox globally and rebounded to dominate them during the current gen.

Again, so long as they don't get arrogant as they did when the PS3 launched and keep churning out the best 1st party lineup in all of gaming, they'll be fine.

The LoU2 was a laughable mess, huh? And yet it is still the fastest selling Playstation-exclusive game EVER. It is the 2nd highest selling game of 2020. My point is, Sony 1st party titles move units whereas Microsoft games do not.

Yeah, they have Bethesda but their reputation is not so great right now and it's been quite some time since they made a game that was widely praised.

And about the gaining a foothold in Japan thing? There's a better chance that Donald Trump becomes the head of BLM than there is of MS gaining any traction in Japan. There is so little interest in the Xbox in Japan that most major retailers don't even carry it in stores.

MS has all the money in the world, yes. But it's not that simple as just spending it.

They don't really know what gamers want over there and that is why they got so left behind by the PS4.

TLoU2 also experienced an 80% drop in sales in just its second week, not to mention the loads of bad PR they got for being super woke. And while Bethesda is admittedly notorious for buggy games, and crap like Fallout 76 fell flat on its face, Elder Scrolls 6, like Skyrim before it, is probably going to be a generational title. And it’s not just Bethesda under Zenimax. Doom and Wolfenstein go along with it, giving MS a holy trifecta of shooters. COD will always be multiplat... unless MS buys Activision.

And I wouldn’t be so sure about the Japan thing anymore. Since Spencer took over Xbox, they have done a complete 180 on what had been their typical M.O. in the past. The guy who launched the X1 was so out of touch with gamers, that MS had to claw their way back from a deep ass hole. It wasn’t so much was PS4 did right, but all the things that MS did wrong. They’ve acknowledged a lack of success over there, and if Sony continues to stick their heads in the sand and not try to bring anything to the table to rival Game Pass, it’s going to hurt them. It’s the best deal in all of gaming right now, and nothing else is even close.

Microsoft’s CEO came out yesterday and said to expect even more studio acquisitions in the future. Considering that Sony’s operating profit from PS4 is at about 8 billion for this cycle, and MS just bought Zenimax for 7.5, it very well may come down to just spending money. If they were to make a play for Ubi Soft or Take Two, things would get even more drastic. Their deeper wallet is also why they have no problem selling the Series X at what is essentially a loss for $500. Sony had no choice but to match, though I don’t know if the PS5 is also selling at a loss at that price, with the slightly inferior hardware.

 

[Genghis Khan]

Even with Bethesda, Sony still has the better selection of titles.

That's entirely subjective. For me, Bethesda trumps everything in gaming except possibly CD Projekt Red. I'd have zero interest in a console that didn't offer Bethesda games.

 

[Texas Ace]

That's entirely subjective. For me, Bethesda trumps everything in gaming except possibly CD Projekt Red. I'd have zero interest in a console that didn't offer Bethesda games.

To each their own.

I know Bethesda games have big followings but they just don't appeal to me much.

Same with Ubisoft games, but theirs aren't as big as Bethesda.

Of the 3rd party devs, I'd say FromSoftware and Capcom make the games I enjoy most.

 

[Foobio]