Microsoft are Yet Again, Giant Douchebags

[kawaiku]

Just discovered this over at another forum... I cannot believe how much douchebaggery is going on over at Microsoft over their crummy Xbone release and their attempts to make something of it. And this new move to make the next Tomb Raider game exclusive for their own CONSOLE platforms is just absurd. I'm amazed they did not invest in creating a new IP but instead decided to steal away an IP from everyone. It's a timed exclusive but the way they rolled it out was just... aperbag: worthy. Not to mention that they community backlash against their actions has forced them to yet again, renege on their initial statements and claims.

Microsoft confirms Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbox exclusivity deal "has a duration"

*Whole Article*

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has confirmed to Eurogamer that Microsoft's controversial exclusivity deal for Rise of the Tomb Raider "has a duration".

However, he declined to confirm how long that duration is set for.

Last night, during its Gamescom press conference, Microsoft and Square Enix made the surprise announcement that Rise of the Tomb Raider would launch holiday 2015 exclusively on Xbox. That, Spencer confirmed, means Xbox One and Xbox 360.

But the wording of its statement caused some to wonder whether the game would eventually launch on other platforms. Spencer wouldn't speak for Square Enix on this, but did compare the deal to that it had for Xbox One games Dead Rising and Ryse, which will also launch on PC.

Spencer's comments confirm Square Enix, owner of Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, is free to do whatever it wants with the game and the franchise after the exclusivity deal ends, including releasing it on other platforms.

Here's our conversation:

"When people want me to say, can you tell us when or if it's coming to other platforms, it's not my job," Spencer told Eurogamer. "My job is not to talk about games I don't own. I have a certain relationship on this version of Tomb Raider, which we announced, and I feel really good about our long term relationship with Crystal and Square.

"I get the reaction I see. If I'm a PlayStation person all of a sudden I feel like, the franchise has gone. I didn't buy the IP. I didn't buy the studio. It's not mine. Where this thing will go over time, just like Dead Rising or Ryse, we'll see what happens with the game. I don't own every iteration of Tomb Raider.

"I don't own them building Tomb Raider on other platforms. I can't talk about the franchise that way. I can talk about the deal I have."

So, what, exactly, is that deal?

"I have Tomb Raider shipping next holiday exclusively on Xbox. It is Xbox 360 and Xbox One. I'm not trying to fake anybody out in terms of where this thing is. What they do with the franchise in the long run is not mine. I don't control it. So all I can talk about is the deal I have. I don't know where else Tomb Raider goes."

Is there a time limit on the exclusivity period?

"Yes, the deal has a duration. I didn't buy it. I don't own the franchise."

Can you tell us how long the duration is?

"No. It's not because I'm trying to be a headfake on anybody. It's a deal between us and the partner. People ask me how much did we pay. There are certain things I'm just not going to talk about because it's a business deal between us and them. Obviously the deal does have a duration. I didn't buy the IP in perpetuity."

Angry gamers have directed many of their comments towards Square Enix, accusing the publisher of selling out and alienating their PlayStation and PC owning customers.

"Our friends at Microsoft have always seen huge potential in Tomb Raider and have believed in our vision since our first unveil with them on their stage at E3 2011," wrote Darrell Gallagher on the Tomb Raider tumblr. "We know they will get behind this game more than any support we have had from them in the past - we believe this will be a step to really forging the Tomb Raider brand as one of the biggest in gaming, with the help, belief and backing of a major partner like Microsoft."

I don't own any of the newer systems (just purchased a Gamecube lol) so I'm a bit out of the loop when it comes to the current console wars but here is something that sheds light on the current... landscape:

Question:

What do devs think about PS4 being so much more popular then Xbox One? Are they indifferent or are they scared about their sales? I ask that because when looking at statistics, while both PS3 and Xbox 360 had similar market share(with Xbox slightly winning), it wasnt the same with sales of games. Some games sold twice as much on Xbox as on PS, some even 4-8 times more. And that were big internationally popular games, and not just some US exclusive ones(as US had much bigger share of Xbox compared to PS) and they were released long after PS optimizations problems were solved. I once saw an statistic on news that told that PS3 sold 3-4 games per console while Xbox360 6-8 or so.

Answer:

Ps4 and XBO are very similar, so much easier to work with from a development standpoint. The 360 and the Ps3 were radically different, architecture-wise, and the Ps3 was significantly more expensive than the 360. This lead to the 360 having a large lead on the ps3 until fairly late in the lifecycle, and to better sales on the 360, simply because more people had one or games came out earlier on it. The inverse seems to be true this generation, where the One is more expensive than the ps4 and not as widely availabe; some territories won't even get it until next month, nearly a year after the original release. MS's product strategy for the XBO early on seemed to be to focus on its abilities outside of being a box that played games, but it wasn't sophisticated enough to replace the other appliances already filling those roles in the household (cable box, BD player, etc.) and wasnt marketed heavily enough to people looking for something like that to drive sales.

On the other hand, the Ps4 is -more or less- completely focused on playing games, and doing that well. Sony's marketing -rightly- points out that it is the most powerful console, and focuses completely on its gaming abilities, which has proven to be a more effective product strategy than Microsoft's, so far. MS has started to focus more on its gaming efforts recently as a result of this; xbox original programming has been severely cut back (only quantum break and halo companion properties survive) kinect has taken a significant step back, and they're doubling down on exclusives. Somewhat unfortunately for MS, their biggest sales driver is still Halo. It will sell, but MS will need more to close the gap with the Ps4. We'll have to wait and see if Sunset Overdrive will perform well, critically and sales-wise.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Good post, Kawaiku. The news just isn't good for MS:

Sony's Boring PS4 Is Winning The Console War Despite More Exciting Competition


Gamers want a quality gaming machine from a company that doesn't treat them as peons. Remember the high-handed arrogance of MS when they unveiled the XBone? How the whole presentation was about TV and Kinect and other garbage nobody wanted? It's not that Sony didn't innovate - the hardware inside of the PS4 is pretty impressive - rather, it is the fact that Sony didn't confuse gimmicks with innovation. Gamers want to play games first and foremost. Sony made a solid machine that does that very well, and didn't try to shove it down gamers throats whether they liked it or not. As usual, the MS marketing team misread the market and confused strong arm tactics for advertising.

FAIL