2024-08-22 04:32:13
Cologne (awp/afp) – With around fifty games showcased and “its biggest booth” ever at Gamescom, Microsoft aims to reassure players after several complicated months, marked by studio closures, the end of exclusives, and price increases.
“We run a business, and it’s true that within Microsoft, the bar is set very high for us in terms of results,” acknowledged Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, Microsoft’s video game entity, during a live brand event at Gamescom, the world’s largest video game fair, on Wednesday in Cologne (western Germany).
“The industry (of video games) is under significant pressure. It has been growing for a long time, and now people are looking for ways to expand,” he also stated to defend the American giant’s strategy.
Microsoft caught many fans off guard with the announcement on Tuesday that its year-end blockbuster “Indiana Jones and the Ancient Circle,” initially planned as an exclusive for its consoles, would now arrive in spring 2025 on PlayStation 5, Sony’s console.
This decision confirms the shift that began in February with the arrival of four of its games on rival consoles, signaling a turning point in its strategy aimed at attracting players to its consoles with exclusive titles.
It is also a way to increase the profitability of its games, amid slowing console sales.
“As gamers, we need to get used to the fact that there will be changes in how games are created and distributed,” warned Phil Spencer, adding that in the end “the games will be better and more people will be able to play them.”
“Bet”
After finalizing its giant acquisition (69 billion dollars) of game publisher Activision Blizzard last October, which has in its portfolio several massive cross-platform successes such as “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” the American giant has faced setbacks.
First, with the elimination in January of 1,900 jobs in its video game division, a direct consequence of the absorption of Activision Blizzard, and then with the closure in May of four studios of publisher Bethesda, which the American giant acquired in 2020 as part of a total investment of about 7.5 billion dollars.
The announcement of the upcoming “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6,” the first in the series to be available on the day of its release on Game Pass, Microsoft’s online gaming platform, also coincided with the increase in prices for Microsoft’s online subscription service.
This service had around 34 million subscribers at the end of February, still far from Microsoft’s goal of 100 million customers by 2030.
“Will this attract more players to Xbox? I think that’s their bet,” believes Mat Piscatella, an analyst for the American firm Circana.
According to him, the performance of Call of Duty on Game Pass should really determine the future of the model and its viability.
“It’s constantly evolving, as the subscription market has not progressed at the rate some had anticipated,” he added.
Microsoft also announced on Wednesday that the new versions of its consoles revealed in June, which include a Blu-ray-less Xbox Series X, would be available starting October 15.
This could perhaps give a boost to the brand’s console sales.
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