GRcade

Merry Christmous Everyone wrote:

Poser wrote:I can't shake the nagging feeling that MS has really got its gooseberry fool together this time round. We've seen Sony spaff a position of strength up the wall before.

The difference with MS is Phil Spencer. He “gets” it and has been making all the right moves.

I can see the Xbox regaining a lot of market share this time round but still think Sony will come out on top.

When you say all the right moves, what do you mean by that? Under Spencer, Xbox has had a pretty poor generation, game pass and backwards compatibility are great, but I don't think that's enough. I'm also really skeptical about the policy of making all Xbox Series X games compatible with the previous gen is a good idea.

It's a shame Sony won't be attending E3 again, it didn't really have the same impact last year, perhaps as a result of their absence, or perhaps because it's losing importance in general.

Zilnad wrote:What do they actually mean by activations? I thought it was a typo of some kind when I read it.

My guess is they've coined the phrase for booths where attendees can be engaged by the booth owners. So either by allowing them to play a game, selling them gooseberry fool and talking to them, etc. So yeah, new phrase, same old gooseberry fool.

Samuel_1 wrote:

Merry Christmous Everyone wrote:

Poser wrote:I can't shake the nagging feeling that MS has really got its gooseberry fool together this time round. We've seen Sony spaff a position of strength up the wall before.

The difference with MS is Phil Spencer. He “gets” it and has been making all the right moves.

I can see the Xbox regaining a lot of market share this time round but still think Sony will come out on top.

When you say all the right moves, what do you mean by that? Under Spencer, Xbox has had a pretty poor generation, game pass and backwards compatibility are great, but I don't think that's enough. I'm also really skeptical about the policy of making all Xbox Series X games compatible with the previous gen is a good idea.

It's a shame Sony won't be attending E3 again, it didn't really have the same impact last year, perhaps as a result of their absence, or perhaps because it's losing importance in general.

Well that's not really fair at all is it? He inherited an absolute clusterfuck from Don Mattrick when he took over, who completely messed up the launch and had to roll back on a lot of what they planned due to the negative response from fans. Xbox was destined for a poor generation following that, but Spencer came in, steadied the ship to an extent and has not only set up something very popular in Gamepass but also made a lot of studio acquisitions to address a significant issue they had with a lack of exclusives versus Playstation. Those kinda things take a lot of time to bed in but we should start seeing the results of that investment next generation.

They also seem to be focusing the Series very much on games (big mistake by Xbox One at launch) and I think the two tier console approach from launch is very clever and will help them cover their bases across demographics. They'll have the power in the more expensive version but also be able to appeal to those who can't afford that.

GamePass is breathtaking value for money and I would put it a step above BC. Spencer and MS deserve huge credit for that. But I would also say that while he's got studio acquisitions right, it was under Spencer's stewardship that Scalebound and Crackdown 3 happened. So imo they still have some way to go to prove themselves. They're definitely going in the right direction though.

Scalebound definitely pre-dates Spencer so that one can't really be held against him, Platinum also stated that they thought everyone, and not just MS, was at fault for why that game failed. Crackdown 3 is probably fair game - but not everything can be a success!

Scalebound started development in 2013. Spencer officially took over in early 2014. But yes, Platnium say it wasn't only MS's fault that caused it to be canned.

Merry Christmous Everyone wrote:

Samuel_1 wrote:

Merry Christmous Everyone wrote:

Poser wrote:I can't shake the nagging feeling that MS has really got its gooseberry fool together this time round. We've seen Sony spaff a position of strength up the wall before.

The difference with MS is Phil Spencer. He “gets” it and has been making all the right moves.

I can see the Xbox regaining a lot of market share this time round but still think Sony will come out on top.

When you say all the right moves, what do you mean by that? Under Spencer, Xbox has had a pretty poor generation, game pass and backwards compatibility are great, but I don't think that's enough. I'm also really skeptical about the policy of making all Xbox Series X games compatible with the previous gen is a good idea.

It's a shame Sony won't be attending E3 again, it didn't really have the same impact last year, perhaps as a result of their absence, or perhaps because it's losing importance in general.

Well that's not really fair at all is it? He inherited an absolute clusterfuck from Don Mattrick when he took over, who completely messed up the launch and had to roll back on a lot of what they planned due to the negative response from fans. Xbox was destined for a poor generation following that, but Spencer came in, steadied the ship to an extent and has not only set up something very popular in Gamepass but also made a lot of studio acquisitions to address a significant issue they had with a lack of exclusives versus Playstation. Those kinda things take a lot of time to bed in but we should start seeing the results of that investment next generation.

They also seem to be focusing the Series very much on games (big mistake by Xbox One at launch) and I think the two tier console approach from launch is very clever and will help them cover their bases across demographics. They'll have the power in the more expensive version but also be able to appeal to those who can't afford that.

I think it's somewhat fair, he did take on a real mess, but I think he fell short in a number of areas, even taking into account how long these things take, but hey, nobody's perfect and he's certainly excelled with GP and BC.
Not sure if you misunderstood, I wasn't referring to the two tier model, I was referring to the policy of all titles being cross gen for a couple of years. I don't think this is a particularly good move, as it will make it somewhat difficult to demonstrate the reasons for purchasing a Series X.

The cynic in me thinks that's borne out of necessity but has been dressed up as customer friendly decision making; they're not going to have enough showcase SX games ready in time.

Saint of Killers wrote:The cynic in me thinks that's borne out of necessity but has been dressed up as customer friendly decision making; they're not going to have enough showcase SX games ready in time.

You may well be right.

Samuel_1 wrote:I think it's somewhat fair, he did take on a real mess, but I think he fell short in a number of areas

Interested to know what he fell short in (in a number of areas)

Seems all a bit vague to me, it’s how these things go tho these days. Resolutions mattered until the X was released and E3 mattered till Sony stopped going.

I can see Xbox Series X slightly beating PS5 in US sales figures, the X1 is only 4m Behind this gen apparently. I think its poor of Sony to negate E3, it’s very elitist.

Photek wrote:I think its poor of Sony to negate E3, it’s very elitist.

10/10

Photek wrote:

Samuel_1 wrote:I think it's somewhat fair, he did take on a real mess, but I think he fell short in a number of areas

Interested to know what he fell short in (in a number of areas)

Seems all a bit vague to me, it’s how these things go tho these days. Resolutions mattered until the X was released and E3 mattered till Sony stopped going.

I can see Xbox Series X slightly beating PS5 in US sales figures, the X1 is only 4m Behind this gen apparently. I think its poor of Sony to negate E3, it’s very elitist.

Perhaps just one area really, but a very important one; exclusive games.

Samuel_1 wrote:

Photek wrote:

Samuel_1 wrote:I think it's somewhat fair, he did take on a real mess, but I think he fell short in a number of areas

Interested to know what he fell short in (in a number of areas)

Seems all a bit vague to me, it’s how these things go tho these days. Resolutions mattered until the X was released and E3 mattered till Sony stopped going.

I can see Xbox Series X slightly beating PS5 in US sales figures, the X1 is only 4m Behind this gen apparently. I think its poor of Sony to negate E3, it’s very elitist.

Perhaps just one area really, but a very important one; exclusive games.

Not his fault at all and looks like he’s fixed that.

Photek wrote:

Samuel_1 wrote:

Photek wrote:

Samuel_1 wrote:I think it's somewhat fair, he did take on a real mess, but I think he fell short in a number of areas

Interested to know what he fell short in (in a number of areas)

Seems all a bit vague to me, it’s how these things go tho these days. Resolutions mattered until the X was released and E3 mattered till Sony stopped going.

I can see Xbox Series X slightly beating PS5 in US sales figures, the X1 is only 4m Behind this gen apparently. I think its poor of Sony to negate E3, it’s very elitist.

Perhaps just one area really, but a very important one; exclusive games.

Not his fault at all and looks like he’s fixed that.

No? He's been in charge for something like 6 years, right?

He didn't help matters by shutting Lionhead down.

Nope, how many exclusives games have been released from the devs since he bought them? Virtually none, these things take time. Playgrounds Fable studio is still hiring, as is Rare and the initiative etc. Hellblade 2 is a while off. It’s pretty easy to see that exclusive games is the area he recognised as being poor and seems to have fixed.

Edit: Lionhead was throwing money away, they killed Fable, Rare and playground hired most of them back on anyway.

Samuel_1 wrote:

Merry Christmous Everyone wrote:

Samuel_1 wrote:

Merry Christmous Everyone wrote:

Poser wrote:I can't shake the nagging feeling that MS has really got its gooseberry fool together this time round. We've seen Sony spaff a position of strength up the wall before.

The difference with MS is Phil Spencer. He “gets” it and has been making all the right moves.

I can see the Xbox regaining a lot of market share this time round but still think Sony will come out on top.

When you say all the right moves, what do you mean by that? Under Spencer, Xbox has had a pretty poor generation, game pass and backwards compatibility are great, but I don't think that's enough. I'm also really skeptical about the policy of making all Xbox Series X games compatible with the previous gen is a good idea.

It's a shame Sony won't be attending E3 again, it didn't really have the same impact last year, perhaps as a result of their absence, or perhaps because it's losing importance in general.

Well that's not really fair at all is it? He inherited an absolute clusterfuck from Don Mattrick when he took over, who completely messed up the launch and had to roll back on a lot of what they planned due to the negative response from fans. Xbox was destined for a poor generation following that, but Spencer came in, steadied the ship to an extent and has not only set up something very popular in Gamepass but also made a lot of studio acquisitions to address a significant issue they had with a lack of exclusives versus Playstation. Those kinda things take a lot of time to bed in but we should start seeing the results of that investment next generation.

They also seem to be focusing the Series very much on games (big mistake by Xbox One at launch) and I think the two tier console approach from launch is very clever and will help them cover their bases across demographics. They'll have the power in the more expensive version but also be able to appeal to those who can't afford that.

I think it's somewhat fair, he did take on a real mess, but I think he fell short in a number of areas, even taking into account how long these things take, but hey, nobody's perfect and he's certainly excelled with GP and BC.
Not sure if you misunderstood, I wasn't referring to the two tier model, I was referring to the policy of all titles being cross gen for a couple of years. I don't think this is a particularly good move, as it will make it somewhat difficult to demonstrate the reasons for purchasing a Series X.

For clarity, I wasn't replying to that, just commenting in general.

I think they've only said "at least a year" for cross gen so far so I guess I'm going to see how it goes. Last time that was pretty much the case anyway. I guess they'll move away from it if they feel it's not working though.

How big is Rare?

They've had a pretty lacklustre generation right? How big a flop was Sea of Thieves or did it end up performing well after the initial disappointment passed.

SoT has huge engagement I think. No idea if that makes it a success, though.

I'm guessing, with MS's planned future strategy, something like SoT will carry on well into the next generation?