إسلام إبراهيم | Islam Ibrahim

(I'll use this post in the future for future reference as people *keep* asking me on my thoughts on this topic. These are my thoughts -- again -- on Xbox' multiplatform strategy.) It's funny they call it Project Latitude, because that suggests they primarily only see the growth width their strategy might give them. Modern Microsoft is almost completely driven by data and research, not so much by the ability to recognize intangible effects or broader social developments, something many of us would call common sense. Over 20 years of Xbox legacy have proven that again and again, unfortunately. Releasing a game on multiple platforms, making it available to more potential players, will result in more up-front revenue in any kind of possible calculation. That's just maths. The side effects beyond those numbers are a completely different story though. The new multiplatform approach by Xbox comes with its own costs, from added development challenges (hello Sea of Thieves in 2024) to the most important one: the potential loss of your own identity and with that the loss of customers to other ecosystems. There is a very strong belief within Xbox that players locked into an ecosystem won't change their platform because of their existing library etc (which 20+ Million Xbox players barely build anymore these days because of Game Pass). Not only do I believe is this nonsense especially mid- to long-term -- as new games will always matter more the longer time goes on -- more importantly, it also completely ignores new players joining gaming every day. The gaming community today is not the same community it is in 5, 10 or 15 years from today. Players decide which ecosystem to invest their money in every day. And if there is one ecosystem where I can play Marvel's Blade and one ecosystem where I can play both Marvel's Blade and Marvel's Wolverine, people sure as hell would know where to put their money in. Halo, Gears of War, Forza Motorsport/Horizon, Sea of Thieves, Fable etc... These IP became multi-million IPs on Xbox. And only on Xbox. The same goes for dozens of successful IPs on Playstation and Nintendo systems. I said it again and again: in an ideal world, there wouldn't be exclusive games and everyone can play everything, everywhere, on every device. But that's not the reality, and with Sony and Nintendo, it won't be any time soon. This is a one-way street, and Xbox might simply be way too early... again. I do feel like Xbox can not do roundtables or business updates and say things like "our fans should know this is all about delivering exclusive games to platforms where Game Pass exists" or "this is not a core change to our strategy to exclusives" when... A few months later, none of that is true. That feels like a punch in the face to those who carried this platform for over 20 years. People are starting to call this is them lying, and honestly, while I wouldn't go that far... I get it. I'm highly energized by the games Xbox has cooking. Their line-up is incredibly strong, I do believe they are on the right path here. I'll keep sharing my excitement for these teams and their games, because at its core, I'll be able to play all of these and great games is everything this should be about. Following the acquisition of ABK, Xbox has growth pressure. I think we all get that. The way to get there is highly debatable though. Exclusives matter, period. You don't see Netflix, Disney+ or whatever working without exclusives either. I question their strategy or at least their selection of games and the corresponding announcement strategy. Gaming is a pillar at Microsoft and that won't change. The only question is whether that future is called Xbox or... Microsoft Gaming.