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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Microsoft announced yesterday that four Xbox-exclusive games are coming to PS5 and Nintendo Switch soon, opening up a new strategy for Xbox to be on more screens. Just two hours before Microsoft’s big announcement, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer explained the company’s new Xbox vision in an internal memo to employees.

It’s the first time Spencer has fully outlined a new strategy “where every screen is an Xbox” to employees, after an internal town hall meeting earlier this month didn’t address multi-platform games directly.

Microsoft didn’t directly mention “Xbox everywhere” or “every screen is an Xbox” during its official Xbox podcast yesterday, but it’s not too dissimilar to what the company has been saying for years about its push for Xbox games across consoles, PCs, and cloud gaming. The big difference this time is that the vision has been adjusted to include bringing those Xbox games to rival consoles.

I spoke to Spencer earlier this week about the new Xbox vision, next-gen hardware, and more. You can read that interview here, and Spencer’s internal Microsoft memo, below:

"Today at noon Pacific, we’ll be posting a special episode of the Official Xbox Podcast.

In this episode, Sarah Bond, Matt Booty and I will share with the community our plans for the future of Xbox. We’ll also discuss how our vision will benefit our players, creators, and the industry as a whole.

When we look at the state of our medium, we see players increasingly gaming on multiple devices, but their experience is defined by the fragmentation created by platform silos. Multi-device players have to navigate multiple identities, entitlement libraries, communities, wallets, and reward programs. Similarly, the industry’s biggest franchises increasingly ship across multiple devices, requiring creators to build and manage multiple instances of their games, leading to higher costs and fragmented communities. All of this friction creates a tremendous opportunity for us to meet the needs of multi-device players and creators.

We have a different vision for the future of gaming. A future where players have a unified experience across devices. A future where players can easily discover a vast array of games with a diverse spectrum of business models. A future where more creators are empowered to realize their creative vision, reach a global audience, unite their communities, and succeed commercially. A future where every screen is an Xbox.

This is a future where Xbox is everywhere—consistent with our promise to empower players to “play the games you want, with the people you want, anywhere you want.”

Read Phil Spencer’s Microsoft memo on “Xbox everywhere”

Microsoft gets ready for a future of Xbox games everywhere.

www.theverge.com

 

[Badlucktroll]

So its a drip feed of ports?

 

[Tsaki]

Yeah that sure sounds like 4 games and that's that and all you'll get...........

"This is a future where Xbox is everywhere—consistent with our promise to empower players to “play the games you want, with the people you want, anywhere you want."

I bet this type of PR speak by MS executives will be quite prevalent in this year's "E3" and beyond.

 

[Punished Miku]

We’ll also discuss how our vision will benefit our players, creators, and the industry as a whole.

They totally dropped the ball on this part. I do believe they demonstrated how it benefits creators and the industry. They didn't say a single thing that benefits current Xbox customers.

 

[Kuranghi]

I can't wait to rewatch that podcast on hallucinogens, it's going to be terrifying.

That part where Sarah Bond starts looking back and forth rapidly between two of the others like a robot caught in a loop was already quite scary, then when she turns to stare straight into Matt Booty's soul like a demonic entity I just burst out laughing.

All that aside I'm excited to see this new ultra powerful HW, if its closer to a PC of the time in power but doesn't cost me 3000 then I may consider it since end of this year was my upgrade time. Unlikely obviously but can dream.

 

[Ozriel]

They totally dropped the ball on this part. I do believe they demonstrated how it benefits creators and the industry. They didn't say a single thing that benefits current Xbox customers.

Yes, they did.

- Confirmed GamePass is there to stay, with Day one releases continuing

- Additional revenue from late ports will increase funding available to Xbox for games and hardware

- upcoming hardware for Holiday 2024, and a commitment to next gen hardware meaning your library remains secure.

- Additional unannounced games for 2024

What else did you expect?

 

[Skifi28]

That part where Sarah Bond starts looking back and forth rapidly between two of the others like a robot caught in a loop was already quite scary, then when she turns to stare straight into Matt Booty's soul like a demonic entity I just burst out laughing.

I need a gif of this.

 

[Kurotri]

They totally dropped the ball on this part. I do believe they demonstrated how it benefits creators and the industry. They didn't say a single thing that benefits current Xbox customers.

Gamepass day 1 releases are not going away, multiple devices can be your Xbox and cross-saves are cool. I think these are great things to have. Problem is still the games themselves. The mention of the next-gen console being the most insane leap just made me think back on the Series X or One X marketing. "It eats monsters for breakfast" lmao. I really like their consoles, but the problem was never the hardware. I wish they'd stop focusing on hardware every time Xbox has negative news cycles.

 

[Roxkis_ii]

If every screen is an Xbox, does it matter how powerful their hardware is?

I've been good on Xbox since the 360, and nothing they have said recently is convincing me that their ecosystem is worth investing in.

Talk is cheap and Xbox does a lot of it.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Does anyone notice he simply pivots back to the humble days of the ill fated Xbox One, reaching out to Sony (and Nintendo)?

His narrative when the Series failure wasn't so obvious yet, was quite different. He was purchasing Zenimax and ABK for different reasons.

 

[RoadHazard]

Internal PR fluff, with the real motivation being that "we need to make more money and can't with our current strategy". If they were #1 you wouldn't hear Phil talk so passionately about bringing players together across platforms. That's not really what he cares about, it just sounds better.

 

[Punished Miku]

Yes, they did.

- Confirmed GamePass is there to stay, with Day one releases continuing

- Additional revenue from late ports will increase funding available to Xbox for games and hardware

- upcoming hardware for Holiday 2024, and a commitment to next gen hardware meaning your library remains secure.

- Additional unannounced games for 2024

What else did you expect?

Gamepass day 1 releases are not going away, multiple devices can be your Xbox and cross-saves are cool. I think these are great things to have. Problem is still the games themselves. The mention of the next-gen console being the most insane leap just made me think back on the Series X or One X marketing. "It eats monsters for breakfast" lmao. I really like their consoles, but the problem was never the hardware. I wish they'd stop focusing on hardware every time Xbox has negative news cycles.

Things just staying the same is not doing anything for Xbox customers. That's the lowest possible bar ever. GP staying is nice. That's literally what it has been for several years now. Additional revenue is not my concern and does nothing for me. That is for the industry and creators. Additional games for 2024 was already a thing and is not anything new. Additional games and hardware are planned for years, so that was already going to happen.

They didn't announce a single NEW thing FOR PLAYERS. What did I expect? Real simple. Full dual entitlement on PC for all purchases. If every screen is an Xbox, then they have to actually mean that. What they want is Xbox players locked into a closed ecosystem funding them while they put games on everything and every other customer gets the same games without being locked in. That means every single other screen has an advantage on games. They had one thing to do, open up digital purchases to move between Xbox and PC and I would consider the whole conference a slam dunk. Tina directly asked him about digital libraries, and they all punted.

Literally not one thing changed for existing Xbox customers. We already had gamepass, cloud, more games in the pipeline, and a console coming next gen. A change would be something to make owning an Xbox better than it was 2 days ago since the exclusivity arrangement that drove the purchase of the hardware just vanished.

They even straight up said Xbox is the "only place to play GP," which is a non-sensical lie. It's nearly half price on PC, and has additional games. It's also available on any device through cloud. You can play GP on literally anything connected to the internet.

 

[RoadHazard]

I can't wait to rewatch that podcast on hallucinogens, it's going to be terrifying.

That part where Sarah Bond starts looking back and forth rapidly between two of the others like a robot caught in a loop was already quite scary, then when she turns to stare straight into Matt Booty's soul like a demonic entity I just burst out laughing.

All that aside I'm excited to see this new ultra powerful HW, if its closer to a PC of the time in power but doesn't cost me 3000 then I may consider it since end of this year was my upgrade time. Unlikely obviously but can dream.

That big upgrade they're talking about isn't coming this year, it's in the future (2026 at the earliest, more likely 2027-2028). This year is just the digital XSX etc.

 

[MisterXDTV]

So much for the nothingburger

 

[Kilau]

No mention of Xbox being stronger and more alive than ever?

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Yes, they did.

- Confirmed GamePass is there to stay, with Day one releases continuing

- Additional revenue from late ports will increase funding available to Xbox for games and hardware

- upcoming hardware for Holiday 2024, and a commitment to next gen hardware meaning your library remains secure.

- Additional unannounced games for 2024

What else did you expect?

I expect people to not be do gullible. But apparently that's too much to ask.

There will be more ports. But keep being a tool.

 

[kyussman]

I just can't get my head around this at all......it seems like a great strategy in a world where PlayStation and Nintendo don't exist,lol......but they do and they are competing in the video game space with you,and they want to be successful....and they make better games.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

 

[MisterXDTV]

Things just staying the same is not doing anything for Xbox customers. That's the lowest possible bar ever. GP staying is nice. That's literally what it has been for several years now. Additional revenue is not my concern and does nothing for me. That is for the industry and creators. Additional games for 2024 was already a thing and is not anything new. Additional games and hardware are planned for years, so that was already going to happen.

They didn't announce a single NEW thing FOR PLAYERS. What did I expect? Real simple. Full dual entitlement on PC for all purchases. If every screen is an Xbox, then they have to actually mean that. What they want is Xbox players locked into a closed ecosystem funding them while they put games on everything and every other customer gets the same games without being locked in. That means every single other screen has an advantage on games. They had one thing to do, open up digital purchases to move between Xbox and PC and I would consider the whole conference a slam dunk. Tina directly asked him about digital libraries, and they all punted.

Literally not one thing changed for existing Xbox customers. We already had gamepass, cloud, more games in the pipeline, and a console coming next gen. A change would be something to make owning an Xbox better than it was 2 days ago since the exclusivity arrangement that drove the purchase of the hardware just vanished.

They even straight up said Xbox is the "only place to play GP," which is a non-sensical lie. It's nearly half price on PC, and has additional games. It's also available on any device through cloud. You can play GP on literally anything connected to the internet.

 

[Kuranghi]

I need a gif of this.

I don't have the facility to gif it but here is the clip:



Start at 21:08 if the url broke

 

[Cyber_hunter026]

 

[Kuranghi]

That big upgrade they're talking about isn't coming this year, it's in the future (2026 at the earliest, more likely 2027-2028). This year is just the digital XSX etc.

Oh. I misunderstood, oh well. Ta for clarifying.

 

[Three]

Not long ago



Xbox's survival truly in question /s

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

I don't have the facility to gif it but here is the clip:



Start at 21:08 if the url broke

I got u fam

Skifi28

 

[H From Steps]

Things just staying the same is not doing anything for Xbox customers. That's the lowest possible bar ever. GP staying is nice. That's literally what it has been for several years now. Additional revenue is not my concern and does nothing for me. That is for the industry and creators. Additional games for 2024 was already a thing and is not anything new. Additional games and hardware are planned for years, so that was already going to happen.

They didn't announce a single NEW thing FOR PLAYERS. What did I expect? Real simple. Full dual entitlement on PC for all purchases. If every screen is an Xbox, then they have to actually mean that. What they want is Xbox players locked into a closed ecosystem funding them while they put games on everything and every other customer gets the same games without being locked in. That means every single other screen has an advantage on games. They had one thing to do, open up digital purchases to move between Xbox and PC and I would consider the whole conference a slam dunk. Tina directly asked him about digital libraries, and they all punted.

Literally not one thing changed for existing Xbox customers. We already had gamepass, cloud, more games in the pipeline, and a console coming next gen. A change would be something to make owning an Xbox better than it was 2 days ago since the exclusivity arrangement that drove the purchase of the hardware just vanished.

They even straight up said Xbox is the "only place to play GP," which is a non-sensical lie. It's nearly half price on PC, and has additional games. It's also available on any device through cloud. You can play GP on literally anything connected to the internet.

To be fair, they addressed what the Xbox players were concerned about, which was Game Pass and hardware. Since everyone before this podcast was saying Xbox was going out of business and becoming multi platform with gamepass ending, this wasn’t a podcast to announce stuff; it was to address the concerns, and they did a fine job. Stop looking at it in a different way.

 

[Withnail]

Gamepass day 1 releases are not going away, multiple devices can be your Xbox and cross-saves are cool. I think these are great things to have. Problem is still the games themselves. The mention of the next-gen console being the most insane leap just made me think back on the Series X or One X marketing. "It eats monsters for breakfast" lmao. I really like their consoles, but the problem was never the hardware. I wish they'd stop focusing on hardware every time Xbox has negative news cycles.

This. It’s clearly a diversion tactic and it’s not the first time they’ve used it. But I guess it seems to work for the Xbox fanbase so who can really blame them.

 

[DryvBy]

Yeah that sure sounds like 4 games and that's that and all you'll get...........

"This is a future where Xbox is everywhere—consistent with our promise to empower players to “play the games you want, with the people you want, anywhere you want."

I bet this type of PR speak by MS executives will be quite prevalent in this year's "E3" and beyond.

No company is going to let those rumors go on that long and then that be it.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Yes, they did.

- Confirmed GamePass is there to stay, with Day one releases continuing

- Additional revenue from late ports will increase funding available to Xbox for games and hardware

- upcoming hardware for Holiday 2024, and a commitment to next gen hardware meaning your library remains secure.

- Additional unannounced games for 2024

What else did you expect?

I didn’t watch most of it, what was this?

 

[Withnail]

Not long ago



Xbox's survival truly in question /s

This is Xbox in a nutshell. If you don’t like this strategy don’t worry, they will have a new one soon.

 

[MisterXDTV]

Not long ago



Xbox's survival truly in question /s

But according to Xbox faithful, nothing changed yesterday

Now that 30% fee that Sony gets, it's no problem at all

LOL

 

[avin]

What did I expect? Real simple. Full dual entitlement on PC for all purchases.

You "expected" that? I'd guess you're moving to PC and wanted that, but it strikes me as nuts to have expected it.

If they were to stop making Xboxes, then yes, I'd understand that hope and even expectation, but it seems we're not there yet. Down the road, who knows.

avin

 

[Punished Miku]

You "expected" that? I'd guess you're moving to PC and wanted that, but it strikes me as nuts to have expected it.

If they were to stop making Xboxes, then yes, I'd understand that hope and even expectation, but it seems we're not there yet. Down the road, who knows.

avin

Down the road is now for me. Exclusives are going/gone. Console sales will decline. 3rd party support declines after that. GP declines after that. Then hardware.

 

[T-Cake]

Wait a minute. How are we going to log in to Xbox from PS5 in order to have cross-save functionality or achievements?

 

[Ozriel]

I didn’t watch most of it, what was this?

They teased a hardware reveal for Holiday 2024 (which most certainly means it goes on sale in that window) and committed to making a very powerful next generation console after this cycle.

 

[avin]

Console sales will decline. 3rd party support declines after that. GP declines after that. Then hardware.

You really need me to spell out the difference between your words, and "now"?

avin

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

They teased a hardware reveal for Holiday 2024 (which most certainly means it goes on sale in that window) and committed to making a very powerful next generation console after this cycle.

Commitment is worthless. It is about as binding as those worthless roadmaps that GAAS games release.

 

[Bond007]

Love the spin that they need to port games to create revenue for additional games.
Microsoft? Microsoft? The dudes that just buy games? Need to port games to competing consoles to FUND games? LOL

Yea, this will be gradual. They can afford to do this gradually. Sega could not.

 

[Ozriel]

What did I expect? Real simple. Full dual entitlement on PC for all purchases. If every screen is an Xbox, then they have to actually mean that. What they want is Xbox players locked into a closed ecosystem funding them while they put games on everything and every other customer gets the same games without being locked in. That means every single other screen has an advantage on games. They had one thing to do, open up digital purchases to move between Xbox and PC and I would consider the whole conference a slam dunk. Tina directly asked him about digital libraries, and they all punted.

Wow, you must really hate Xbox then. Because that’s one surefire way to put them out of business.

Basically insisting MS has to pay every major publisher for a digital license on PC for every single purchase you make on console. So when you buy FC 25, or Hogwarts Legacy 2 or Dragon’s Dogma 2, MS has to pay for a PC license for you…including payments to release the games on Windows Store in case the publishers were going Steam alone. Do you even imagine how much this would cost?

Try to put some more thought into these things.

 

[@gkTH]

Finally, Xbox joins Playstation.
Welcome to the family, Xbro!

 

[Ozriel]

Love the spin that they need to port games to create revenue for additional games.
Microsoft? Microsoft? The dudes that just buy games? Need to port games to competing consoles to FUND games? LOL

When did Microsoft say they needed to port games to stay afloat?

 

[MisterXDTV]

When did Microsoft say they needed to port games to stay afloat?

Yesterday, when they announced they are publishing their games on competing platforms

 

[Punished Miku]

Wow, you must really hate Xbox then. Because that’s one surefire way to put them out of business.

Basically insisting MS has to pay every major publisher for a digital license on PC for every single purchase you make on console. So when you buy FC 25, or Hogwarts Legacy 2 or Dragon’s Dogma 2, MS has to pay for a PC license for you…including payments to release the games on Windows Store in case the publishers were going Steam alone. Do you even imagine how much this would cost?

Try to put some more thought into these things.

It's not my job to keep Xbox in business. If you can get Xbox exclusives on every other box, the ones that offer that plus more games have more stuff to offer. If they don't want to take any steps to remain competitive as an ecosystem then it will vanish. Has nothing to do with me really. If you can buy their games anywhere, Xbox as a closed ecosystem is effectively gone because its not competitive.

 

[Kilau]

 

[stuminus3]

When are we going to start questioning why Xbox executives have names that sound made up?!

 

[Pelta88]

- Additional revenue from late ports will increase funding available to Xbox for games and hardware

The world's richest company by market cap needs funding for one of its divisions?

Or are we doing the same meaningless PR dance.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

 

[GHG]

They totally dropped the ball on this part. I do believe they demonstrated how it benefits creators and the industry. They didn't say a single thing that benefits current Xbox customers.

Aren't of you to sustain their current strategy. And of those customers they currently have, not enough are contributing to the pot by actually making purchases outside of their subscriptions. That's why.

 

[Duchess]

I'll repeat what I said before: MS will see the PS5 port sale as "within expectations". Some could well "exceed expectations".

That means more ports will happen, and they'll happen sooner.

 

[mejin]

 

[Ozriel]

It's not my job to keep Xbox in business. If you can get Xbox exclusives on every other box, the ones that offer that plus more games have more stuff to offer. If they don't want to take any steps to remain competitive as an ecosystem then it will vanish. Has nothing to do with me really. If you can buy their games anywhere, Xbox as a closed ecosystem is effectively gone because its not competitive.

You want them to ‘take steps to remain competitive’

You also want them to take a step that would certainly not be financially viable.

This makes no sense.

Might be a good time to sell your Xbox and move on if this ‘threading the needle’ stuff they’re doing bothers you that much.