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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Xbox Head Phil Spencer Said "The Business isn't About Selling How Many Consoles "

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Do you agree with Phil

Yes 15 29.41%
 
No 27 52.94%
 
In between 6 11.76%
 
Somehow 1 1.96%
 
I don't have any clue 2 3.92%
 
Total:51

Interesting statement from Phil Spencer with the Verge, Phil also explaining about next gen, how the business will work for Xbox about Scarlet, and other detail.

"Do you think you can release these too quickly? If the Xbox One X is the most powerful console, and then, two years later, there’s a new more powerful console, doesn’t that diminish what that means?

What I want you to think about in this is the players, not the specific version of a console they have. I think the question there is, “Is there a customer for the highest performing console, and are there enough customers where that makes sense?” If somebody bought an Xbox One X yesterday, I want them to feel completely that they can have a great experience for years and years. I also want to be as transparent as I can with them about the road map. So if somebody is sitting on the original Xbox One now, and they’re thinking about an X, they can make their own decision about what platform they want to have.

I don’t need to sell any specific version of the console in order for us to reach our business goals. The business isn’t how many consoles you sell. The business is how many players are playing the games that they buy, how they play. So if somebody bought an original Xbox One from us on launch day, and they’re buying and playing games, I don’t need to sell them an S. I don’t need to sell them an X. If they want to stay on the Xbox One they have and stay as a great member of our community or subscribe to Game Pass, that’s a great business for us.

I think it’s easy from the outside to judge the health of our business around how many consoles any company sells. In the end, how many subscribers you have to something like Game Pass, how many games people are buying, those are much better metrics on the health of the business.

So is Scarlett one console? Or is it like the Xbox One where you have a high-end, a middle class, and a cheaper one?

The video that we showed is talking about Project Scarlett. That’s the focus that we have, on that console and hitting that specification. That’s the console that we’re talking about.

Right now, there are only a few variations of the Xbox One, and now Scarlett is coming. As you have more of these devices, does it make it harder to hit your goal of having games that work across everything?

Not really. If you think about games that are in development today, most of the studios out there are using engines that span multiple platforms, whether it’s Unreal or Unity. Many of the games are using engines that are on multiple platforms. You’re probably shipping your game on four or five platforms if you’re trying to reach as many customers as possible anyway. You’re going to ship on PC, which means multiple GPUs. You’re obviously going to ship on PlayStation, you’re going to ship on Xbox, you’re going to ship on Switch.

So I think the developer pipeline today has figured out how to build highly immersive, great games on different specs and different platforms. Frankly, the highest fidelity game that we usually find today is on PC, which is the most variable of platforms. But when you think about buying a greatly tuned game on PC, it usually has more resolution options and more frame rate options than any other ecosystem. It’s the ecosystem that has the most CPU and GPU options than anything. This has just become a skill that studios have.

Can you explain in simple terms what xCloud is? There seems to be some confusion around it and how it’s split into different parts with streaming and Remote Play-like functionality.
There are two things we’ll talk about: console streaming and xCloud. xCloud is us putting Xbox motherboards, in an Azure data center, and allowing you to connect to those motherboards and play games on hardware that is ours. So if you don’t own an Xbox or your Xbox isn’t available, you can connect to xCloud and play those games. xCloud is us putting Xboxes in the cloud, and you’re accessing those through a phone, which is our first focus. That allows you to take the gaming experience wherever you are. That’s xCloud.


Now if you already own an Xbox One, you’ve already effectively bought the same hardware that we’re putting in the cloud. So we challenged ourselves and said, “Well, can we allow you to turn your Xbox into your own data center, your own xCloud.” So then you can stream the games you own from the console that you already bought to your phone for free. So that’s what console streaming is. It is streaming from your console out of your home, the games that you own to your phone.


In the end, how you play is going to be the same. You’re going to be sitting there on a phone, you’re going to have a controller in your hand, and you’ll be able to play those games. Console streaming means the source of those games is your Xbox at home; for xCloud, the source of those games is us. The end user experience, I want to be the same. I want to connect to Xbox Live, the games that I have access to, my friends, and I want to play wherever I go.


So game streaming is free... 
Yes."

Very interesting interview,  what i can gather based on my reading comprehension are

1. Probably Scarlet is one model and one variation or perhaps they cancel lockheart ?

2.All Xbox Scarlet game probably going to be available for Xbox One original as well and there will be no generation that separate them beside some graphic upgrade like PC or perhaps Xbox will be focusing on Direct X and optimize for all device?

3.They will support console, but Xcloud is their future

4.Subscription and service is their primary goal and focus to get revenue 

If i am wrong please tell me , and also if you have opinion tell me as well.

you can check directly on The Verge



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The business is about revenue and profit. Selling more consoles certainly helps that, but it isn’t the only factor. Nintendo made a lot of money selling much less console amounts during the N64-GCN era.

You’re going to see all three companies go all in on subscriptions and recurring revenue. It’s the future, just like it has become in pretty much every other entertainment avenue. It will become less and less about selling the boxes.



From my perspective as a gamer the business is about games. Great games. Games of great quality. Since Microsoft puts quantity over quality they fail in this regard.



Hunting Season is done...

Pretty sure it's always been about games, there are only ever really 3 companies selling consoles, yet they are thousands of companies making games, if it was about consoles it would be done more. How you get those games is the future. Whether you want to sub to a service like XboxLive or PS+ and get games which you download, keep and play whenever you want, stream via the internet or own digitall or as a disc, the 2 former being that you don't actually own the games. Up to the consumer how they consume games.



Hmm, pie.

Well their releasing their games on other platforms so it makes sense. They probably still want to sell consoles bit their main focus is getting as many people playing Xbox games as they can.



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No it's about making money, and I guarantee Nintendo and PlayStation are both making a lot more. Selling consoles helps when it comes to that. Selling games also helps, Nintendo and Sony are pumping out 10m+ sellers while Xbox is pushing a subscription that limits their first party earnings potential.



This is the usual banter when you are sitting as a distant number 2 ...about to be number 3 soon in the console wars. Now obviously from what I gather Microsoft is slowly but surely going towards the third party developer/publisher route which is profitable especially if they get trashed again in the next gen race. It has been a tough road since that fateful E3 in 2013 where the brand took a hit it hasn't recovered from.



I mean, he's right. It's about profit, and profit comes from software sales. It doesn't really matter which Xbox someone is using as long as they're still buying games for it.



I think he just avoided saying Xbox One basic will lose support when Anaconda/Scarlet/Lockhart launches. Either that or their end model offering will have more limitations on the quality of the first party than what Sony will show on PS5.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

Barkley said:

No it's about making money, and I guarantee Nintendo and PlayStation are both making a lot more. Selling consoles helps when it comes to that. Selling games also helps, Nintendo and Sony are pumping out 10m+ sellers while Xbox is pushing a subscription that limits their first party earnings potential.

Those subscriptions are huge money makers though. Live is successful and likely lifts the entire bottom line. I don't think MS breaks down the numbers like Sony does in that regard, but if PS+ subscriptions bring in more revenue than all of Nintendo, then surely MS is doing just fine.



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