Microsoft - Best Version (Bethesda Games) on our Platforms

PC Gamer reports that Microsoft will not make Bethesda games exclusive to Xbox yet but will offer the best version of them.

Speaking at the Jefferies Interactive Entertainment conference, Xbox chief financial officer Tim Stuart talked about the company's plans of growing their customer base, especially following its large acquisition of Bethesda. A transcription of the whole talk is available at Seeking Alpha. When asked whether the strategy going forth would be to make Bethesda games Xbox- and PC-exclusive or whether Microsoft would still support cross-platform play, Stuart said Microsoft doesn't have intentions "of just pulling all of Bethesda content out of Sony or Nintendo or otherwise."

"We highly encourage cross-platform play, simply from this landscape of, if it's good for the gaming ecosystem, it's good for us, classic rising tide lifts all boats," Stuart said. Instead, Microsoft's plan is to offer the best possible experience with a Bethesda game on its own platforms.

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Xbox Donkey Kong



PS/Switch Donkey Kong

Dunno about anyone else, but that seems worse to me... to intentionally make a worse product on other platforms.

Meh no different then made for Nvidia or AMD deals for games.

Remains to be seen how much of a difference there will be between platforms.

I'm wary of this whole gamepass thing. It's quite a good deal for some folks, but I think they'd love to turn the games market into subscription services, as has been done with a lot of software, and of course TV. I'm not so sure that would be good for anybody but them, in the long run.

AllI see here is them saying that games that are already on other systems will remain there and that upgraded versions will appear on xbox, ei enhanced versions for the new system.

Ripper said:

I'm wary of this whole gamepass thing. It's quite a good deal for some folks, but I think they'd love to turn the games market into subscription services, as has been done with a lot of software, and of course TV. I'm not so sure that would be good for anybody but them, in the long run.

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I'm curious why you think this? How is it bad for you as a consumer?

The games that show up on there get more exposure then they would if they were not there, some games get way more players this way. I have it on my Series X and love it. The more subscribers they get the more they make(as well as other companies). Where they make the most is if you sign up and keep paying each month, the heavy gamer who buys lots of games are not the target, it's those that buy one or 2 games a year that will make the difference here, with them potentially making a lot more in the long run.

I've been waiting for someone to come along and work to make the best product available they could given the specs. The whole problem with design for decades was the excuse they were giving to give the same experience regardless of platform. We've been complaining about this for years with weak consoles vs high spec PC's and bad ports.

Lucky Day said:

I've been waiting for someone to come along and work to make the best product available they could given the specs. The whole problem with design for decades was the excuse they were giving to give the same experience regardless of platform. We've been complaining about this for years with weak consoles vs high spec PC's and bad ports.

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He doesn't really say that, though. If you take the current console generation, for example, the Xbox One S is the weakest of the five. It's not as simple, based on what he's saying, as taking full advantage of superior hardware.

Gotta agree with Couchpotato as a user of AMD video cards for the last couple of builds Nvidia optimized games are annoying but quite playable, as for game pass as long as the option to own a game still is there then it's tolerable.

If Microsoft play it smart and as long as the games are worth it and available the majority of gamers will purchase it regardless of the system.
This will generate money for Microsoft from their rivals while giving the impression competitor systems are (whether true or not) inferior.
But it could also blow up a fanboy riot dragging Microsoft through the mud for this nefarious practice.
I'm gonna be watching from the sidelines with my popcorn once Bethesda's heavy hitters start releasing!

That guy certainly needs to learn English if he's to do more PR, hope he'll find that in the game pass…

Ripper said:

I'm wary of this whole gamepass thing. It's quite a good deal for some folks, but I think they'd love to turn the games market into subscription services, as has been done with a lot of software, and of course TV. I'm not so sure that would be good for anybody but them, in the long run.

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That's my concern too. At the end, a good share of the offer will be subscription-only, we'll end up installing those bloated clients for Steam, Ubi, MS, EA, who knows else, probably paying subscription for quite a few of them too. And at the same time, this will kill the competition between games within a subscription service, and outside of it, in what is becoming this oligarchic game industry. Then, let's not forget they must be efficient to survive, each of them will probably require their studios to use a common engine that will allow an easy port to console, and optionally to PC.

Bottom line, I'll stay away from the AAA titles (which are usually haunted by nasty DRM like Denuvo anyway). What is comforting, however, is to see several very good indies or new companies that benefit from crowfunding, and who understand the importance of staying out of the publisher loop. As long as they can. We really have to support them when the product is good

Of course, I hope it won't come to this, but the writing is on the wall. It's not as if gaming were the first and only industry to follow this route.

Well its been many years since we actually owned a game we bought on the PC. Think about that for a while as those game platforms can revoke your access anytime.

Remember owning games? Why you cant buy games anymore.


Now we have consoles going digital only so yeah you guys/girls own nothing.

The problem with mega corps is that right now there might be a great manager in charge of the gaming division but in 5 or 6 years he moves on to something else then there is the possibility his replacement does a 180 turn on how things are done. There is no long term vision it's what ever bill of goods the manager sells to the board of directors.

JFarrell71 said:

He doesn't really say that, though. If you take the current console generation, for example, the Xbox One S is the weakest of the five. It's not as simple, based on what he's saying, as taking full advantage of superior hardware.

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That is true - a typical teen gamer is going to feel the company is cheating them with a bad port. The Donkey Kong is a good example of how Colecovision made owners feel that. But it's also true that the 2600 was falling behind their rivals who were including more RAM and better sound and video chips.

And the fact remains, console first development has lead to terrible ports to PC.

Ripper said:

I'm wary of this whole gamepass thing. It's quite a good deal for some folks, but I think they'd love to turn the games market into subscription services, as has been done with a lot of software, and of course TV. I'm not so sure that would be good for anybody but them, in the long run.

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I was feeling the same (as someone who really dislikes software subscription models in general)... but... I started using GamePass earlier this year and frankly, it's been a great deal for me and saved me a lot money, while getting to play new games sooner.

That said, the two big caveats that really make the model work (for me at least) are:

1. I'm only playing games on GamePass that I wouldn't expect to want to play again in the future. For me, I don't replay a lot of RPGs so those work well, whereas strategy games have a much longer shelf life for me, so I'm less likely to play some of those.
2. I'm not a big purchaser of DLC, so missing those isn't that important to me.

But I appreciate those could be pretty big caveats for some people and if you're not ok with those, it definitely changes the value proposition a lot.

Still, GamePass is fairly cheap and and easy to start and stop your subscription, so even spinning it up for $10 for one month to trial a bunch of games could be a good option for some.

Couchpotato said:

Now we have consoles going digital only so yeah you guys/girls own nothing.

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I'm reading that with the Xbox Series X/S you can't even use the console until it first "authenticates" itself over the internet calling into question if the console itself is merely a $500 rental...

TheMadGamer said:

I'm reading that with the Xbox Series X/S you can't even use the console until it first "authenticates" itself over the internet calling into question if the console itself is merely a $500 rental…

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Microsoft tried that before but it was a PR disaster. If they try it again they have not learned their lesson. Anyway your consoles can be bricked by Sony and Microsoft.

They can already lock you out of your games and online play.