Microsoft might have purchased someone, maybe

They may make billions but that doesn't mean they necessarily need to prop up studios that aren't making money.

Pretty sure you wouldn't if it was your money.

If believed..a lot of staff left with Mikami.
Skeleton crew still trying to pitch a new game and would need to go on a heavy hiring spree. Game would have also taken another 3+ years to complete.

www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-bosses-reportedly-pushing-for-no-red-line-around-which-xbox-games-launch-on-playstation

I read this and I do wonder then what is the identity of Xbox if everything it makes just goes to other platforms. I think bought console exclusives are stupid and uncompetitive but I don't buy the argument that as a platform holder everything you create must go on every platform becasue after that what's the point of making a console. I honestly wonder if there's going to be a next Xbox because people aren't buying them, a lot of 3rd party devs are questioning the need for an Xbox version of their games and the CEO of MS doesn't really seem to care for them.

I saw that. He left in 2015 and worked on rush as a contractor before moving ontoother projects like FF.
Guy wouldn't have been with the studio over the last year.

MS weren't going to spend the time hiring all the new staff they wanted to make a new game(likely Rush 2)

Xbox just don't have the install base to make exclusivity a viable proposition for massive games and that's before you take Game Pass cannibalizing sales into account. They've painted themselves into a bit of a corner really.

We need big games to make GP successful, buy Activision. Wow that was super expensive, don’t put their games on GP, we’ll lose money.

I guess it doesn't really increase the install base if no one's buying the consoles. I don't think people are going to get into a new ecosystem now. As Spencer said before they lost that in the PS4 generation.

Like I said people aren't going to change one ecosystem for another just to play a game like a COD. Things like friends list, subscriptions, digital and disc library. That stuff was all to fight for last gen. It's far too late now. When you can also get MS games on the same day on the pc why would you bother with an Xbox?

Problem solved.

They were always going to have to go multi platform to make Gamepass work, there’s no way that going from £50-£70 revenue per game to £15 per user for all the games is ever going to work out economically unless you dramatically expand your user base. And that isn’t going to be possible while they are tied in to an upfront commitment like buying a console.
Even moving all the PS Cod players to Xbox wouldn’t be enough, they need people who don’t play traditional games to get on board.

I was actually kinda tempted by their All Access thingy, where you get an Xbox and Gamepass for 20ish quid a month, and own it after 2 years. Not probably as cost effective as you could do it, but less of an upfront cost for something that'd be guaranteed to run newer games that my PC can't.

But of course it wasn't available in my region. And then I was looking at the different models of xbox available and it was confusing AF, and then all the different kinds of gamepass available and it was even more confusing.
Their site implies it's available on android, smart tvs, etc.. but I imagine that's bollocks.

Plus they've always been shit at naming things, so I can't tell if my Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Core on an Xbox One Series S is better than my Xbox Gamepass Cloud for PC on Xbox on my Xbox Series X One X S XS s or not. And then I gave up.

Gamepass itself seems like it'd be a great deal, if I could run half the games.

Game Pass price increase bound to happen.