Microsoft has had a significant dry spell in terms of first-party releases over the past year. Xbox boss Phil Spencer even wrote about a “catastrophic situation” in leaked emails. At the same time, the traction of “Baldur’s Gate 3” was misjudged, while interesting numbers were coming in for Xbox Game Pass.
The latest Microsoft leak is huge. In addition to revealing hardware plans, the future consoles and a revised controller include, you will also receive information about the Playing first-party studios and external publishers.
But that’s not all: a revealed email communication between executives that took place in May 2022 makes clear Microsoft’s efforts to find video games that should fill the large first-party gap last year.
“I feel like we’re in a huge hole with our game lineup,” said Phil Spencer, who saw a 16-month gap between the December 2021 release of “Halo Infinite” and the release of “Redfall.”
“This is truly a catastrophic situation for us considering how much we have invested in content for all studios through our GP Content Fund. We have to learn from this and develop a plan for the future,” the Xbox boss continued.
Challenges of game acquisition
Spencer urged his Xbox team to bring third-party games on board to fill the gap: “Let’s roll up our sleeves and start planning games for the next two years.”
Xbox Chief Financial Officer Tim Stuart responded to Spencer’s announcement by listing games planned by third-party developers, including “Dragon Age 4” and Ubisoft’s “Skull & Bones.” They are still not on sale. “Resident Evil Revelations” was also mentioned, which probably meant “Resident Evil 4”.
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Further correspondence between executives addressed the challenges of attracting day-one releases to Xbox Game Pass. In order to finance a game from a major publisher like EA or Ubisoft, Microsoft has to push other areas of the business “hard”.
This includes strengthening existing live service games from first-party studios such as “The Elder Scrolls Online”, “Sea of Thieves”, “Minecraft”, “Forza Horizon 5” and “Halo”.
Baldur’s Gate 3 underestimated by Microsoft
The emails also provide an indication of the amount of money Microsoft usually invests in securing day-one deals for Xbox Game Pass.
What is particularly noteworthy is that in the case of “Baldur’s Gate 3”, the company behind the Xbox came to an assessment that later turned out to be quite wrong. The company literally described the title as a “second run Stadia PC RPG”.
In fact, “Baldur’s Gate 3” became a huge success, at least on other platforms. Xbox players continue to wait for the release. The reduced performance of the Xbox Series S proved to be a hurdle, which ultimately led to a compromise.
Microsoft’s misjudgment also led to the potential cost of adding “Baldur’s Gate 3” to Xbox Game Pass being estimated at just $5 million. The company had forecast significantly more for other Day One releases:
Baldur’s Gate 3 – $5 million Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – $35 million Dying Light 2 – $50 million Assassin’s Creed Mirage – $100 million Suicide Squad – $250 million Mortal Kombat 1 – $250 million Star Wars Jedi: Survivor – 300 million dollars
The low-priced games with an expected recording cost of five million dollars included Loud Eurogamer also “Just Dance” and “Return to Monkey Island”.
In contrast, “Red Dead Redemption 2” and “Grand Theft Auto 5” were estimated to have monthly costs of five million or between twelve and fifteen million dollars per month. This suggests that some games can be had for a one-time flat fee, while other deals have ongoing costs.
Further reports on the Xbox leak:
The likelihood of an Xbox Game Pass deal coming about was also increased rated – in the case of “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor” with “low”, but the wow factor with “very high”. “Mortal Kombat 1” received a “very low” likelihood rating but a “medium-high” wow factor.
The email communication ended with Phil Spencer’s suggestion that Microsoft should include FromSoftware’s “Dark Souls” series in the Game Pass program. In this way, one could benefit from the success of the release of “Elden Ring”. It is not known what costs the Redmond people had in mind for this.
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2023-09-19 19:05:05
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