Support NeoGAF

[Leviathicus]

https://pkinsight.com/xbox-creator-says-power-race-does-not-work-anymore-exclusivity-is-the-key-now/

Amidst Declining Xbox hardware, the company has raised hopes by saying that its next-generation Xbox console will have the largest technical leap. However, Xbox creator Seamus Blackley is skeptical about this strategy. According to him via VideoGamer, advertising a console as the most powerful is old-fashioned; hence, it does not work anymore.

It was the concept that worked in the era of PlayStation 2, and when Xbox was released, it was the most powerful console, given that it was the only console that could run games including Kotor, Halo, and others. However, now, if we compare the raw power of Xbox series X and PS5, they are very close. So, this concept is not reliable anymore.

“Being the most powerful was also important to get the guys going into the future,“And then, you know, how they managed that brand and the story going forward is not my f**king fault, and it’s not, you know, I would not have done things the same way I don’t know if it would have been more or less successful but I certainly think that this narrative around being more powerful is not helpful today.”
Seamus Backley

The only things that could make a console stand out in the competition are the content available on the console and its features. He reflected back on Nintendo Switch, which, despite being less powerful because of underclocked 2013 hardware, is still the best-selling console worldwide. The reason is that a large amount of content is available exclusively on the console. Exclusives like Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, Pokemon, and others helped the hardware become the world’s best-selling console.

Moreover, the creator also swiftly discusses the battle for content, from technical achievements to exclusive games and experiences. For example, Previously, consoles that could play high-resolution games with good performance had the upper hand in the competition; however, the trend has now shifted to exclusivity.

“I remember seeing, like, Gran Turismo, when it came out for PlayStation, and I had to buy it just because I couldn’t believe what was happening on the screen was happening on the screen right and that was compelling and that doesn’t exist any more,”
Seamus Backley

That said, Xbox is now pushing a multiplatform strategy, releasing more and more titles, even its biggest exclusives, including Halo, Forza Horizon, and others to PS5 and Nintendo Switch. Hence, Xbox’s current strategy does not match the ideology of Xbox creators, which makes it difficult for it to stand out in the competition.

Moreover, it’s not only Xbox pursuing a multiplatform strategy as Sony is also looking to release its games to other platforms to increase revenue.

All in all, it is only Nintendo that is sticking to exclusivity, so relying on the creator statement only the future of Nintendo, which is survivable.

 

[R3TRO]

They are a confusing bunch.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

The old guard really did get it. Shame they're all gone.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Bahahaha! Didn't Bond come out recently and brag about the biggest generational leap next time right when they put all their exclusives on PS5?

WTF?

Seems like they are going the exact opposite route of this. No exclusives, chasing power.

According to this, Ninty doing it right.

 

[Cr1ptkeeper]

Good games are the key.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

No shit.

That's why it'd be smart for Sony to move towards exclusivity again, with Xbox becoming a 3rd party publisher.

 

[Hookshot]

But they said they wouldn't keep their games exclusive and started putting them on all the competing devices?

 

[Fake]

Make sense, like Xbox.

 

[AJUMP23]

IP ownership matters. Nintendo has IP that moves product. The others do as well. But if Nintendo released sub par property it could affect their sales.

 

[tusharngf]

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Ecosystem and libraries are important.

Like Phil Spencer said, people built their digital libraries during the PS4/XBO generation, getting people to switch is now an impossible task.

The gaming industry has matured and Nintendo and PlayStation are the coca-Cola and Pepsi of the console business.

 

[Gorgon]

 

[Syphon Filter]

Ecosystem and libraries are important.

Like Phil Spencer said, people built their digital libraries during the PS4/XBO generation, getting people to switch is now an impossible task.

The gaming industry has matured and Nintendo and PlayStation are the coca-Cola and Pepsi of the console business.

I dont think its impossible. 360 had xbla, then by that logic people would move to xbox one to keep their xbla library and even their other games they sold near the end like halo and gears of war on the marketplace. MS isnt giving a reason for people to buy the console, that is their issue.

 

[onQ123]

Being the most powerful has never won a generation, PS4 won but it wasn't because of power alone.

 

[SkylineRKR]

PS4 won because of price and availability. And it didn't forcefeed a camera. The system being more powerful than X1 was just cherry on top.

I dont think its impossible. 360 had xbla, then by that logic people would move to xbox one to keep their xbla library and even their other games they sold near the end like halo and gears of war on the marketplace. MS isnt giving a reason for people to buy the console, that is their issue.

Yeah but on 360 there was a lot less digital content. At first it was barely even there as the old model only shipped with a 13gb HDD, and a model without HDD. I only owned a few Arcade games on my system back then. It was nothing major.

Day one digital really started on PS4 and X1. The biggest digital libraries are there, and pretty much 99% of them continue to work seamless on Series and PS5.

 

[LectureMaster]

 

[HRK69]

 

[The Infectious Paradox]

Quality games are the fucking key now...

 

[bender]

And staying far outside the power race let's you successfully have exclusives.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

I dont think its impossible. 360 had xbla, then by that logic people would move to xbox one to keep their xbla library and even their other games they sold near the end like halo and gears of war on the marketplace. MS isnt giving a reason for people to buy the console, that is their issue.

Digital libraries were small in the PS360 generation, we saw a huge shift to digital the following generation.

 

[Shifty1897]

It's really sad that Microsoft has all these high paid executives, fighting over everything and changing the business strategy and message every other year, and no one has their shit together enough to even compete with Sony anymore.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

nope. This dude is delulu. Phil Said that games dont matter on a gaming console, only the power of the community and its content creators.

 

[Puscifer]

It never worked and you'd think it was a lesson learned all the way back to the original Xbox where there were titles that blew the PS2 out the water graphically (remember when splinter cell would launch on Xbox and PC and then have to be ported to everything else later cut down?) but the PS2 still smashed it cause of the game collection.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

My initial reaction was, that makes too much sense, there's no way he still works there.

 

[Neofire]

As much as I dislike the Xbox creator and the reason him and Bill Gates greenlit the project, he is right exclusivity is and always be the key combined with making compelling and fun experiences. Nintendo knows this, they just pull back way too much on the power side and it limits creativity too much.

Hopefully the new Sony leadership with the restructuring will go back to this thinking.

 

[Fess]

They can’t do true exclusives anymore, they need the money flowing from other platforms unless they start focusing only on AA titles. AAA games is too expensive for exclusivity. Sony do ports as well but can manage with PS+PC since PS5 is bigger than Series. MS can’t do just Series+PC. Nintendo can do true exclusives because they don’t go for that AAA market and because they have a 160m userbase. We’ll see how they do after Switch 2 launch, I bet they’ll do last gen ports for a long time.

 

[DeepEnigma]

 

[Oppoi]

They can’t do true exclusives anymore, they need the money flowing from other platforms unless they start focusing only on AA titles. AAA games is too expensive for exclusivity.

All those IP's they bought, all those AAA games turn into AA (or lower, if anything at all) games but you're happy because you got call of duty on gamepass. Keep it up eriksson.

 

[DAHGAMING]

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

"Exclusivity Is The Key Now"
With no red lines and everything is a xbox.

 

[Danteyke223]

They are a confusing bunch.

So this is confusing or at least sounds like it cause this guy was there during the Xbox OG ERA but then left. He's not part of the current and Xbox One Era

 

[skit_data]

Wake up honey, Seamus is talking about games again

I thought he was busy making 1000 year old yeast sourdough bread

 

[rm082e]

So now they've realized how important it is to have a collection of high quality exclusives if you want to sell console hardware?

 

[RAIDEN1]

Look at Nintendo they pulled out of the horsepower race circa 2005/2006 and never looked back....much before that with the release of the Gameboy in 1989...it still trounced the competition who had more powerful hardware, ie Atari Lynx and Game Gear..

 

[Ozriel]

They are a confusing bunch.

But they said they wouldn't keep their games exclusive and started putting them on all the competing devices?

It's really sad that Microsoft has all these high paid executives, fighting over everything and changing the business strategy and message every other year, and no one has their shit together enough to even compete with Sony anymore.

So now they've realized how important it is to have a collection of high quality exclusives if you want to sell console hardware?

Seems you guys don’t know Seamus Blackley left Microsoft in 2002.

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

thats because PC has all your games and you cant compete with a GPU the size of a cereal box.

 

[TBiddy]

Seems you guys don’t know Seamus Blackley left Microsoft in 2002.

I'm amazed by the ignorance of people in what is supposed to be a gaming forum.

 

[rm082e]

Seems you guys don’t know Seamus Blackley left Microsoft in 2002.

I misread the title. I didn't realize this was about Seamus.

 

[Kacho]

I'm amazed by the ignorance of people in what is supposed to be a gaming forum.

It's just how the internet works in general. Read thread title and react.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Bahahaha! Didn't Bond come out recently and brag about the biggest generational leap next time right when they put all their exclusives on PS5?

WTF?

Seems like they are going the exact opposite route of this. No exclusives, chasing power.

According to this, Ninty doing it right.

She was careful with her wording saying biggest technical leap which just could mean adding AI

 

[SlimySnake]

Power race didnt help the OG Xbox, but it did help the OG PS2 against the Dreamcast. Xbox came out almost 2 years after PS2 came out in Japan in March 2000. By the time Xbox came out, Sony had effectively killed Sega.

Power race did help the Xbox 360 attract the hardcore who in turn attracted casuals and made it the defacto console for CoD. Granted it was also exclusives, but every single game for the first few years ran better on the 360.

Power race helped Sony win the generation after a relatively lean first few years. It was not the only cause, but it definitely helped.

Power race this gen didnt materialize because MS had a retarded console that they overshipped while undershipping the so-called most powerful console. Not to mention, completely botching the launch with poor performing launch titles. Had they focused on one console and managed to ship a decent amount of units of that 12 tflops console, things might have been different. Especially considering just how no one could find the PS5 in the early days. The only console on shelves was the 4 tflops shitbox and no one wanted it. That 12 tflops XSX was a great fucking console despite the early issues and would've at least helped them keep up with the PS5 had they focused on shipping more than the PS5.

And lastly, and Nintendo fans dont like to hear this, but the power race effectively knocked Nintendo out of the console market. They realized they couldnt fight the power war and literally bowed out making handhelds literally 2-3 gens behind in power. Yes, they are selling more than ever, but they dont have the massive piece of the pie Sony and MS carved out of these massive CoD, Fifa, Madden, AC, RDR2, and GTA releases. Because they simply couldnt compete on power anymore.

 

[RoboFu]

Seamus Blackley isn't with MS anymore to those who think this is about someone CURRENTLY at xbox saying something.

 

[Barakov]

He's absolutely right. If you're selling a box you need to give people a reason to buy that box. This is something that current Xbox suits and to a lesser degree PS suits and investors do not understand.

 

[Shifty1897]

Seems you guys don’t know Seamus Blackley left Microsoft in 2002.

My comment stands regardless.

 

[Loomy]

Should have emailed that to Phil 10 years ago.

 

[Beechos]

Nah at this point they can pull all the act, bethesda, minecraft and make them exclusive to the next xbox and ps6 will still trounce it. Only a Nintendo not going with cdrom type of screw up by sony would give ms and opening.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Seamus Blackley isn't with MS anymore to those who think this is about someone CURRENTLY at xbox saying something.

No, what's saying something is how accurate he is for what makes a home console appealing in a sea of competition.

 

[RafterXL]

In 10 years exclusivity won't exist. Games are too expensive and development too long to keep giant AAA games on a single platform. Microsoft is already basically a 3rd party publisher and Sony will follow sooner, than later.

 

[mayham2199]

In 10 years exclusivity won't exist. Games are too expensive and development too long to keep giant AAA games on a single platform. Microsoft is already basically a 3rd party publisher and Sony will follow sooner, than later.

In 10 years AI will have advanced enough for these companies to take advantage of it. Speeding up development times and getting rid of a lot of lower level staff that's not needed anymore. The shorter timelines and less people will drop cost drastically. You see we can all make up a future for the next 10 years.

 

[Fess]

So now they've realized how important it is to have a collection of high quality exclusives if you want to sell console hardware?

He left in 2002 and has been baking sourdough bread or whatever lately, so nah they’re still going multi to bring in more money than they can get from just Xbox.