Cognition Dissemination: Publishers Are Asking Predictable Questions About Xbox
Microsoft’s gaming division at Xbox Game Studios has been making several shocking moves.
Okay, they’re not that shocking. The question wasn’t “if” the company would start making their first moves to further expand their software output to other platforms and bow out of the console race as it stands, but “when.” The Xbox One faltered in terms of sales, and the Xbox Series of systems isn’t doing much better. Something different had to be done with their strategy. They’re addressing this by porting more games to other platforms, a more meaningful crop than, say, the Ori titles making their way to Switch.
Right on cue: It was also not a case of “if” third-party publishers would start asking questions about the future of Microsoft’s hardware, but “when.” GamesIndustry.biz’s Chris Dring mentioned on a recent installment of the site’s official podcast that some publishers are starting to question whether future Xbox support is worth bothering with. “The major company who released a big game last year said they don’t know why they bother supporting it,” he said, after noting how publishers acknowledged how Xbox sales have been flatlining in Europe since last year. He also mentioned that retailers are cutting back stock on Xbox goods on their shelves as a result, hardware and software.
As a result, Dring, continued, there are “third-party publishers going: ‘We’re putting a lot of effort into creating an Xbox Series S/X version of a game where to be honest with you the market for us is PC and PS5.’”
This is notably only coming from one publisher and is largely (though not entirely) in reference to Europe. But a big publisher is likely to have big demands for game sales, expectations that perhaps weren’t met through the Xbox versions. Europe has been a key market for Xbox for several years, particularly the United Kingdom, but it’s fallen far since the Xbox 360 halcyon days. Indications suggest that this situation isn’t much better in the United States, especially compared to the PlayStation 5 competition, and PC platforms.
The company’s representatives, including Xbox Studios head Phil Spencer, Xbox President Sarah Bond, and Game Content and Studios president Matt Booty (this is a lot of titles), played coy about how much support they’d provide during an important installment of the official Xbox podcast a month ago. The actual support, however, was just as significant as the biggest rumormongers thought. Hi-Fi Rush has made its way to PlayStation 5, while Sea of Thieves is coming in a month. Pentiment has already released on PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch, while Grounded will be ported to all three consoles in mid-April.
When prior reports got these titles right, it’s tough to doubt those mentioning how future titles could be larger games like Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. When several people hear about big potential system-selling games coming to other platforms, they’re going to think that Microsoft is going third-party with its Xbox games initiative very soon. Some of those people work at third-party publishers. This was bound to raise questions about whether they should continue supporting the Xbox ecosystem with software, particularly if software sales are negligible compared to PS5 and PC.
Current indications, at least, show that Microsoft isn’t giving up on the Xbox platforms just yet — though they are giving up on them in a way that will piss of an audience that cares about preservation and software ownership. Those reports about an all-digital Xbox Series X became closer to coming to fruition, not that anyone should have ever doubted them considering the source for the original documents was Microsoft’s own submissions to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Images of the platform upgrade, if you want to call it that, were leaked, with the system less resembling a cylinder (XCylinder?) and more of a white-colored Xbox Series X. They also appear to be snapped by an old Motorola Razr before being blown up.
Reports suggest that this will come alongside a semi-price drop in the form of more memory, with the system having 2TB instead of 1TB for around $499. This version of the system is planned for release around the summer, and I’d expect the announcement to come at, or around, their not-E3 showcase in June. This is a response to retailers getting rid of their Xbox Series software supply, sure, but it’s also a clear way to push gaming further into an all-digital world.
This is all a big gamble on Microsoft’s part, to see if they can be a third-party publisher with software on other platforms while maintaining the Xbox hardware ecosphere. It’s never been a successful strategy for hardware manufacturers in the past, but you never know; the gaming world always changes. If it doesn’t work out, well, Microsoft can afford to have a few experiments go awry. It’s a pity that blame will fall on the shoulders of the workers and not the execs. Again.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
