2024 will forever be known as the year of layoffs and studio closures in the games industry, but I think it will be remembered as much as it was then Xbox Lost the plot. Every other month, something happens to Microsoft’s gaming division, from an avoidable PR scandal to an all-out doom and gloom meltdown.
Not even halfway through the year, Xbox is already having to allay fears that it will abandon the console market altogether, and unease with the apparent survival imperative behind its decision to release some games on rival platforms. The company laid off 1,900 employees at its gaming unit weeks ago, after promising not to do so while trying to convince regulators to let it become a gaming unit. perfect Activision Blizzard Butler. Just this week, Microsoft continued its ruthless, short-sighted cost-cutting drive, closing four studios, including some responsible for some of its most unique and popular games, even as it continued to make hollow calls for more games. game. This type is to be made.
Over it all hangs a shadow game passa service that Microsoft spent years building and invested millions of dollars to bolster its content offerings, including its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
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Game Pass is Xbox’s trump card and has actually been the company’s line. PlayStation may have evocative, award-winning, zeitgeist-worthy games, but Xbox’s buffet of games big and small, for a fraction of the cost, is unmatched. Ever since Phil Spencer took over the Xbox division after the disaster of the Xbox One’s launch, the company’s approach to gaming has been… just pick a different game.
No one wants an Xbox console? Well, anyway, we don’t care about the hardware; Xbox is now device agnostic! Are there no first-party games with the prestige of The Last of Us or Spider-Man? No problem, we’ll acquire studios that make much bigger games than these. With a console generation and a half out so far, Xbox has struggled to find ways to stay relevant without directly addressing its shortcomings in key areas.
It almost worked. Convincing everyone that it has the right strategy and that Game Pass will be the last thing in existence after the dust settles on the pointless console wars. Of course, Microsoft doesn’t actually believe Game Pass can do this.
This week, a new report from The Verge contains shocking details about the company’s own views on the service, particularly in terms of actually walking the talk. Xbox has reportedly been discussing internally whether it would make sense to launch the latest Call of Duty game on Game Pass, as the company does with its other product lines. Now that it has the biggest game in the world, the considerations surrounding Game Pass have suddenly changed.
Or is there? Well, it’s hard to say.In an interview with Bloomberg during the writing of this article, Xbox president Sarah Bond said, “It’s important that you have access to every game we build on day one in Game Pass.” , and when pressed, clarified Do It does include Activision games.
Of course, the concern is that even though Call of Duty’s biggest platform is PlayStation and Game Pass doesn’t exist, launching on Game Pass could cannibalize the game’s sales revenue.this Very creative There’s even debate about this issue in the Xbox lobby, which is telling.
This can only be seen as an implicit admission by Microsoft that Game Pass is unsustainable as a delivery mechanism for triple-A games. Or, to be more precise, the kind of game you can play well on your own without the help of a GP. See, Microsoft apparently agreed to put games like Hellblade 2, Indiana Jones and the Circle, and even Bethesda’s first new IP in decades on Game Pass because they fit the narrative. The company never has to reveal how many copies they sold because they don’t stand on their own but are part of the Game Pass family of games. But obviously, it’s hard to do that in Call of Duty.
The report also states that one possible way to justify Call of Duty’s inclusion would be to increase the price of Ultimate again. Maybe the shooter could be an upper-tier exclusive, or maybe all versions of the game would get it six months or so after release in order to maximize initial sales.
However Microsoft decided to address this dilemma, one thing is now clearer than ever: the friendly look of the Xbox is quickly falling apart. Not only has Microsoft vindicated Sony’s stance against having some level of gaming on subscription services, but it’s also exhausted new ways to avoid facing declining hardware numbers, software sales, and now subscription growth.
Microsoft has run out of ways to invent and claim leadership. Sooner or later, rock bottom will hit and Spencer’s affable, affable demeanor won’t do much.
