Microsoft 'Really Pleased' with Sea of Thieves PS5 Sales

Bring over the new Flight Sim that releases later this year please MS. I could get it for my SS but its too much of a hit to run on SS for my liking.

I expect Starfield will be announced for a 2025 release once the expansion drops.

It will be very interesting over the next couple of years to see how far Microsoft go with this.
So far it’s sort of service games and older games.
And one big AAA Doom, day one.
I can see Bethesda and Activision big AAA day one, well most of them.
But the older initial studios that make Gears and Forza and Halo staying Xbox only.

It's a a great Xbox winning strategy,

PlayStation gamers get to play the games at full price, Xbox GamePass subscribers at a fraction of the retail price and Xbox as a whole gets profit from every angle.

Any game with an online focus should be on as many platforms as it can possibly appear on with cross play being an essential.

It would be great to see Splatoon and Helldivers 2 everywhere.

@DennisReynolds nah i think old gems and new ips will be exclusive but all legacy titles and cod will come over

@DarkCvrle Everything will come over. From what we know nothing is off the table.

That means more video games from Microsoft studios.its all good.word up son

@Shepherd_Tallon Unlike MS who need the PS5 playerbase there's no reason for Sony to port anything to Xbox.

Maybe the dream one day.
Just one console all games the consoles can turn into studio wars to keep that lot happy.
All games Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo studios one console.
Many can make the console like we do blu ray players to specifications.
Lets end this rip off us gamers put up with multiple hardware to play all games day one.

ONE CONSOLE.

Of course MS will continue releasing 'some' of their Games Day 1 on Playstation. Since acquiring Mojang, everything that Studio has released since has remained multi-platform and we already know that Call of Duty too will release Day/Date. Doom, another 'multi-platform' IP that's on basically everything, is also coming in the future. It's not just CoD, but I expect Diablo and Overwatch to remain multi-platform IP's.

Whether or not games like Starfield or Hellblade 'eventually' release on Playstation, that's 'no different' from Sony eventually releasing Spider-Man or GoW on PC. Once those titles aren't selling Consoles or Game units, put them on a Platform you don't own or have a store on to extract revenue from those gamers you couldn't tempt into your platform. With MS, that only leaves Playstation 'realistically' as Switch maybe too difficult to port to. Sony of course have PC, Xbox and/or Switch - although refuse to release on Xbox which is their decision to make.

After 6yrs or so, I doubt Sea of Thieves is selling Xbox consoles, selling Game Pass Subs and probably reached every gamer in the 'Xbox' ecosystem - the 'only' way to grow that community and get new gamers in is to release it to a 'new' audience and that only leaves Playstation.

It's Similar with games like Starfield or Hellblade 2 - although that's more about 'revenue' generated - which will be 'exhausted' on Xbox before they choose to bring them to PS, much like Sony does with their Single Player IP's. Once they have exhausted their revenue on Playstation, sell on PC to extract as much 'revenue' as possible...

@DennisReynolds case by case doesnt mean everything is coming

@CrashBandicoat yea but they arent going 3rd party and that is the point but some people dont get that

@Shepherd_Tallon Agreed live service titles should be on as many platforms as possible to increase the player base. Yeah I could see a lot of PS4 games going to switch. I don't think sony considers Nintendo competition anymore.

@CrashBandicoat But they aren't! They have no plans to release Perfect Dark, Indiana Jones or Fable on PS5 day/date so these games ARE 'exclusive' (at least on Consoles) to the Xbox. Games like Flight Sim, Starfield, HB2 etc are still 'exclusive' and even if they do release on PS5 in a year or so, those games aren't selling Xbox consoles, probably not selling on Xbox anymore as they are 'old' news - so much like Sony's PC strategy - they can release these 'elsewhere' to extract revenue from Gamers outside your 'user' base that boosts your income and ability to invest in your own products/services.

Starfield isn't selling Consoles or Game Pass Subscriptions today as such. Those that really wanted to play would have jumped in when that game released (or the weeks after). MS will be looking at their 'new' releases - MSFS24, Stalker 2, Avowed and Indiana Jones (maybe even CoD too now) to get people to buy an Xbox and/or sub to Game Pass to play 'day/date'.

Sony choose not to bring their games at all to 'Xbox' - maybe because they don't want to give MS 30% of their 'revenue' to release on that Platform, maybe because they don't think Xbox gamers will 'buy' a PS5 to play 'Day 1', don't think the 'work' porting and supporting post release will 'benefit' their revenue, their PR and/or 'brand; enough to justify it. How many PS gamers would lose their mind if Sony brought Spider-Man to Xbox - even if that is now 'old news', a 'PS4' era game not selling much on their own hardware or selling Consoles anymore...

MS's policy could be VERY similar to Sony's - keep all Single Player and/or new IP's exclusive (even if timed for a year or more) to get people in to that Platform but release multi-platform 'IP's' - especially Live Service/online community games Day/Date to maximise revenue potential and grow massive online Communities that allow friends/families to play together regardless of 'hardware' choices...

@DarkCvrle Sure but its clear its happening, MS is the new Sega its just they will keep Xbox around for Gamepass.

Some people are just in denial over this, it's like they are trying so hard to convince themselves it's not happening. But time will tell, if Starfield or Hellblade 2 are on Playstation 5 by the end of next year then basically any game could come to Playstation.

@DennisReynolds why pass up more software sales $$?

@UltimateOtaku91 I'm all for it. More people get to play the games would be a great thing. ✌️

@Shepherd_Tallon i would say not to that. MS needs PS to sustain their business where as PS does not need xbox. Yes they will continue PC likely to increase margins but xbox people are much less likely to buy the game, and the potential returns of say 10 million or so for Sony is not the same as hundreds of millions for xbox is profit from putting on PS. Plus why throw your main console competitor a bone when you could let them flounder and maybe just absorb their lost customers

@OldGamer999 Publishers and developers could end console wars (and consoles) in one stroke if they collaborated and agreed an industry standard PC spec.
Any hardware company could produce them (Dell, Asus etc) to a badged, approved standard.
Stable hardware configuration for as long as the spec meets the needs of gamers and devs, then agreed updates as and when.
PCs continue to be what they are, cutting edge hardware at a premium for the dedicated consumer.
Just a thought, but it's probably unlikely to happen.

Time for some Halo now then

"Those decisions are never made lightly, they're never made quickly, and there are a lot of people and processes and oversight to make sure we're making a good decision."

Okay then how did you still manage to make a bad one?

@DukeeDukems Except its been proving Xbox players rarely buy games and games sales are low on Xbox. Not worth the time or money to port games over to it.

@Mustoe I'm system agnostic personally, been playing long enough not to care who makes the hardware anymore. But I do have a fondness for console hardware and cycles, just something about it I feel isn't there with PC.
I'm also fond of seeing what devs can do within the limits of fixed hardware, having come from the 8-bit home computer era and seeing what could be squeezed out of a 48k Spectrum. Which comes around nicely to your Nintendo reference - people are complaining about the Series S holding back the current gen, meanwhile Nintendo produce absolute magic with a repurposed Nvidia Shield.

Everything will come to PS eventually, but it might take a lot of time. Xbox hardware is currently in its death spiral and they probably had the data that showed this was the likely outcome for a long time. Recent estimates has the Series X/S down to around 200k units a month worldwide. That’s basically dead already.

Well go ahead and bring over sunset overdrive and killer instinct since both of those deserve second winds, and south of midnight

@Mustoe Hmmm, can't really argue with that view of current console hardware. Probably should bite the bullet and move over to PC, the thought of how much money I'd burn on it scares me though tbh...
Also had the +2, mine had a dodgy magnetic head on the built in tape deck - had to hold it in manually for the duration of loading. Painful but nostalgic memories.

@Shepherd_Tallon actually hell divers is one of the few games i could actually see sony bringing to xbox. multiplayer games would make sense , maybe even concord. i mean if they can put them on pc i can't see why they can't

@kill_Nil @Mustoe To be fair, while we're both in the same "return to PC" boat (between Xbox's stance and Sony's handling of PSVR it kind of became essential for me), I've seen just as many if not more PC gamers fleeing to consoles this generation because they're finally "good enough" and a $500 console is a boatload cheaper than even a midrange RTX card these days. 4 years ago, in some ways was a better argument for PC than now. A 3080 was $700 at launch. A 4080 was $1200 then down to $1k. 5080??? LOL. And the OEMs upcharge a few hundred on that. Though, also to be fair, a 3070TIs at $800 actually beats a 3090 at $1800, so the numbers don't really line up the way they look.

What I think will surprise people is what the price of the next consoles look like. I don't think we're seeing $500 consoles again. Or anything resembling it. For Xbox Phil more or less directly hinted at it. PS...IDK, they're in a better market stance to capitalize on subsidizing, but they're also on razor thin margin as-is and don't have the cashflow to subsidize it. This gen we got away with 2020 pricing before rapid inflation. Next time we'll have to pay 2026/7 pricing and it isn't going to look pretty. That'll restore the balance a bit. And really everything depends on Battlemage now for dedicated GPUs and Snapdragon/WoA just replacing GPUs in general, while Nvidia plays with sky's the limit prices.

But how much money you burn depends on if you're trying to build to beat PS5 or beat PS6 pre-emptively....and if you care about VR lol. You can build a "PS5-killer" for under $1000 which is cheaper than a PS5 + XSX. If you want to curb-stomp PS5 it'll cost visibly more. If you want to make the VR rig you dream PSVR was but it never was....LOL.....what are the current interest rates again?

@NEStalgia On the whole PC & Pricing, there is also nothing stopping you from upgrading as and when you want/need. You could start with a PS5+ XSX cost PC that 'beats' those and has DLSS too. Then of course, do you play on a 4k or 1440p monitor? Then targeting 1440p instead of 4k, you can turn the settings up higher or target higher Frame rates too.

Then as time goes by, you can upgrade maybe the CPU because your more CPU limited to get the frame rates you want even with DLSS doing the 'heavy lifting' to make it look good. A few years later, maybe the GPU and by then, you've got a PS6/NextBox beater that can play a far wider range of games - no worries really about 'preservation' or whether or not one Console has 'better' PQ or more Consistent frame rates that still won't match your PC....

It's just whether or not you can wait to play the Games that Sony chooses to bring or would rather play them 'first' on Console. If you don't have a PC, then maybe the games you get to play first and can subscribe to Game Pass to play those 'at no extra cost' is enough to tempt people to Xbox even if some of those 'exclusives' eventually end on Playstation. For some it might, for others they'll still prefer Playstation and happy to wait for whatever MS chooses to release there and pay whatever it costs to play it.

MS made it clear that their 'Console' is just one of their 'MS Windows' based platforms you can play their games on so anyone with a Windows based gaming device, like a PC, has no reason to spend £500+ on Consoles and online Subscriptions (both require a minimum Subscription fee for Online gaming) when their PC will play everything the Xbox will - even if its not quite at the same level, its still not worth buying a console over maybe upgrading and saving you that console + ongoing online console Subscription fee. If they have to buy 'a' console for games, its not going to be the Xbox so they've cut their 'market' and basically given that to the 'PC' gamers who want to play everything they want to 'first'. PC and PS5 and/or Switch. Xbox is for those who don't/won't PC game and/or wants to play Xbox console exclusives 'first' or via Game Pass as its better than Cloud streaming.

@OldGamer999 I wouldn't mind that myself, it costs too much to keep buying new consoles and they end up taking up too much space. I think I'm leaning towards going the upgradeable PC route in the future. Most Xbox games are on PC and Sony is porting more and more games that way. Pity Nintendo wouldn't do that too.

@DennisReynolds this is such a fan boy dripped comment. Like an I ejection of potential players from a 30 million ppl install. Base and 34 million gamepass subscribers is just nothing.
Hell divers player counts have fallen off a cliff. It totally would be a good idea to try and breathe new Life into it via porting it over.

Especially with how easy it would be to do so with a pc version already out.

Really hoping Microsoft put Hellblade on PS5...

@KundaliniRising333 I'm saying what Devs are saying. Why do you think so many games skip Xbox? Its because unless you're a big AAA game the playerbase won't play it unless its on Gamepass. Helldivers 2 is hardly Spider-Man 2 there's a good chance it wouldn't sell well on Xbix.

@DennisReynolds that's true it may not sell well, but perhaps it could boost Mtx revenue via it launching on go.

@KundaliniRising333 Yeah but is it worth the time and money to port it to the competition? MS need the PS5 playerbase but Sony don't need the Xbox playerbase that's the difference here