Let's Talk About Games

I'm fortunate enough to own both systems (Xbox is mine, PS5 is my partner's) and with that said I'm delighted by this recent trend.

I'd prefer a firmer commitment to it, because I wouldn't feel entirely comfortable with only buying the one console for now, but it's a good step forward. That said it's probably an admittance that Microsoft and to a lesser extent Sony agree that at some point the idea of having a dedicated box under your TV for games is going the way of the Dodo.

If I was in a position where I could only afford the one system, I'd be much happier if it was in-house games that remained exclusive. I know I'm not playing the new Sony Spider-Man game if I own a Xbox, and I know I'm not getting HALO if I play on a PS5. Where it gets tricky Is when 3rd party titles get exclusivised (I'm making this a word), or even time..... exclusivised. You can't really predict that, and it just seems incredibly anti-consumer.

As a reminder, Microsoft had to go through all kinds of hurdles to acquire Activision Blizzard, due to "monopoly" concerns or whatever it's called.

Microsoft is surely going to continue buying up studios. And when those studios make games, why limit it to Xbox? They own the game and studio, it's literally all profit after that.

The console itself isn't even a revenue stream iirc. Wasn't there a report that said they barely made any money off them, and it was just a way to get people into the Xbox ecosystem

Tldr: buying studios up and the games they make, gives them more money if they don't make it exclusive

I've been on the Sony side of things my entire life. I have the disc version of the PS5. I however also have a gaming PC and play a select few titles there.

What concerns me is the lack of physical media that we are headed towards. The entire Software as a Service model drives me crazy because at anytime licenses can change and you'll lose access to things. I've read about it happening with things recently on PS where people that bought and owned movies from the PS Store suddenly the license expired and Sony didn't renew so they just went in and removed those from people's library. Then there's the whole issue some people have with their PS+ games not working suddenly despite having a current subscription and the game in their library.

I've seen it happening with Streaming Services as well and I understand that all of them are just paying for limited term licenses of the content. But at the end of the day I can go to my physical game/movie library and pop the disc in and they can't take that away from me.

I think if some sort of consumer protections were in place to stop those kinds of issues. I could get on board with not owning the disc. I saw the winds of change coming when Google made Stadia. I also knew that Google wouldn't be in it for the long term as I've watched them start and stop services for close to two decades now. So I didn't buy into it.

I will say though I have some friends that have XBox Games Pass and I can understand the appeal. You buy a controller and any PC with a decent internet connection can play a massive library of games. So that is definitely the future of gaming whether I like it or not.

As for the exclusives I for one welcome a day when everything is cross play and we all can game together in one happy ecosystem. Except that m&k will always be superior to a controller and I don't know how they could level that playing field.