Für das Zögern gibt es einen plausiblen Grund: “Call of Duty” ist das Zugpferd von Activision und die meisten Studios sind an der Entwicklung beteiligt. Die hohen Kosten rechnen sich am Ende, da “Call of Duty” in jedem Jahr zu den meistverkauften Spielen gehört. Eine Milliarde US-Dollar Umsatz erzielt man oft schon nach wenigen Tagen.
Sollte Microsoft tatsächlich damit beginnen, alle First-Party-Spiele des übernommenen Publishers sofort in den Game-Pass aufzunehmen, wäre es ein erheblicher Verlust. Dem gegenüber stehen Entlassungen und Studioschließungen, mit denen Microsoft für eine Kostenreduzierung sorgen möchte.
“Soweit ich weiß, wird diese Debatte intern schon seit geraumer Zeit geführt, wobei einige befürchten, dass die Einnahmen, die Call of Duty normalerweise für Activision Blizzard generiert, durch den Game Pass untergraben werden könnten“, so Tom Warren, der als gut informiert gilt.
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Wetten werden btw. noch angenommen welches Logo dieses Jahr auf Spencers Hemd prangt um zu zeigen das er "einer von uns" ist.
Xbox Game Studios’ pirate-themed co-op multiplayer game Sea of Thieves was the best-selling game on the digital PlayStation Store in Europe last month.
I spoke to two former longtime Xbox employees, separately, and both lamented the current state of the business. One told me, prior to this week’s awful studio closures, “I had lengthy conversations with a bunch of Xbox founders, and we all came to the same conclusion: it’s no longer Xbox, but Microsoft Gaming.” Ouch.
The other chatted with me at length after the Bethesda bloodbath, and believes Xbox is now too big to quickly or easily get its house in order. “There is just too much surface area. You have, effectively, three huge companies at play and Microsoft never really finished [the] integration with Bethesda. [And] Activision is like three times the size Xbox was.” They added, “Xbox 360 launched with a few hundred people. Last I heard Xbox is now almost 30,000 people.”
And that growth has led to, in this Xbox veteran’s opinion, increased oversight and meddling from further up the Microsoft food chain. “The reason this seems so inconsistent with previous Xbox leadership team statements is that these decisions probably aren't being made by Phil. This is all getting dictated by [Microsoft CEO] Satya [Nadella] and [Microsoft CFO] Amy Hood, and it all stems from the Activision acquisition.”
The long-tenured ex-Xboxer continued: “The situation Xbox was in when they made this call was much different. [They] couldn't keep consoles in stock, making money hand-over-fist with Game Pass growth – [the Activision acquisition] seemed like a no-brainer.
"Now, console sales are down. Post-COVID recession. Game Pass slowing. The acquisition was more costly and time-consuming than anyone expected. And the focus on fighting the FTC probably cost them time they would have spent thinking through the people and studio implications.
That’s not to absolve Spencer for his role in all of this (unlike the tone-deaf “Won’t someone think of the multi-millionaire executives?” response of former Xbox higher-up Mike Ybarra). He is, after all, the person in charge of the entire organization. The buck stops with him. The Bethesda and Activision-Blizzard acquisitions happened on his watch. As such, he is no more shielded from criticism for being, by most accounts (including my own), a nice guy than the star professional athlete is for underperforming on the field/court despite regularly signing autographs for kids before games.
Xbox president Sarah Bond confirmed to Bloomberg on Thursday that an Xbox mobile store will be launching in July 2024. This store will not be an app, but is instead set to be available through the internet, providing an alternative to the Apple and Google storefronts.