Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
I don't think so. The lack of exclusives hasn't been that big of a deal as they have still moved a lot of consoles this generation. Game Pass is a system seller all on it's own and they now own a lot of AAA games even if they don't decide to make them all exclusive. Microsoft is looking ahead past hardware as with Game Pass for Samsung TV's for example as the money is in games not hardware.
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The lack of exclusives is a big deal though, it's what has them firmly in third place and spending
billions trying to buy big exclusives to claw out of it. It's the one thing their competitors excel at. This gen has played out almost exactly like last so far, where the built in Xbox audience of 20-30 million pick up the console in the first couple years, then it falls way, way behind Sony as time goes on.
Their Game Pass numbers aren't where they want them to be either:
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/...-year-running/
Why? Well, the big draw is exclusive first party games coming on day one, which there hasn't been any of note recently. There's only so many people and so long they'll subscribe for to play indie games and AA's -- and now Sony is offering a decent version of that service too.
I don't think Starfield being a bomb is a make or break for a company with as much money as MS, but they really need something to start shifting the narrative and driving people to the Xbox / Game Pass platform, and everything else they're working seems years away at this point. And no, it's not just about the games and selling games, otherwise it would be on PS5 too.