timed exclusives (Rise of the Tomb Raider) - who the F*** are you kidding!?

[LAwLz]

Exclusivity deals... For when your own product isn't good enough to compete by its own merits and you instead have to make the competitor less appealing.

How is this still legal? All it does is give a middle finger to consumers.

[Notional]

This. It kinda shows a change in attitude from MS, they aren't really viewing PC gaming as a competitor to Xbone. They could have easily delayed it for PC to the same release time frame as PS4.

 

Microsoft would do considerably better if they just moved Xbox from a Hardware platform, to a service that is cross platform, in my opinion. I think they've started to realise that tbh.

I find it interesting that they specify Windows 10. Are games really going to go Windows 10 only this early? Well I like it, and it is a free upgrade so that might be why we them move this fast

 

Tomb Raider will be a DX12 release, so it makes sense for Microsoft to use it as a title to show off DX12. That will make it WIndows 10 exclusive (unless it supports DX11 too), ut should not be a problem as W10 is a free upgrade anyways. So yeah releasing W10 as a free upgrade makes the entire Windows eco system more homogenous, as you will get a fast adoption rate very wide. That also means DX12 will be used much faster (or 11.3 for the less technical developers).

 

Aesrock you do kinda bring up a good point, as MS could get a very nice and very large gaming platform by fusing Xbox and windows. They could do that by making the console similar to a steam machine. However they did try that once with game for windows live, that even included a yearly subscription. That worked about as well as a condom made of swiss cheese.

[Murdoch]

Aesrock you do kinda bring up a good point, as MS could get a very nice and very large gaming platform by fusing Xbox and windows. They could do that by making the console similar to a steam machine. However they did try that once with game for windows live, that even included a yearly subscription. That worked about as well as a condom made of swiss cheese.

 

Yeah, Games for Windows Live was a piece of crap, largely because it was just underdeveloped and poorly implemented. Meanwhile steam created the ecosystem that people came to realise they wanted, remember that many many people thought Steam was annoying as hell, and incredibly inconvenient DRM back in the day, myself included. But we've come to love it, because it has evolved into something well beyond what it started as. This is how it looked in 2004.

 

 

Microsoft got left behind in the PC gaming market, for the same reasons they got left behind in Mobile and Tablet markets, they stayed still while others moved forward. Nadella says all the right things, I think he gets it. But there's a couple of problems, firstly nothing much has changed, there's an Xbox app on windows 10, yet another DRM client, which really doesn't offer much more than what GFWL did. Secondly other companies like Steam already do it better, while other bigger publishers already have their own DRM clients (uPlay, Origin etc). So as it stands, not much has changed since the GFWL days.

 

If they merge Xbox console & Windows platforms, at least publishers would have to make all their games available on that service going forward, instead of the fragmented situation we have on PC at the moment, where every publisher in the world is bringing out their own DRM client. They could also stipulate that games could not have dual DRM if sold through the Xbox marketplace. I mean, it would be a bit of a powerplay based on market dominance, but if Google or Apple were in that situation, it's exactly what they'd do.

[Trik'Stari]

Not surprising, no one buy it until it's on sale for at least 25%

 

 

Also, isn't this old news?

[atrash]

Not surprising, no one buy it until it's on sale for at least 25%

 

 

Also, isn't this old news?

 

Exactly. It's mainly a single player game. PC gamers are more than willing to wait for it to go on sale before buying anyway.  

[Humbug]

Yes but the difference in release date more than likely has to do with porting it to PC, not as a specific exclusivity for the XBO. Windows 10 and Steam get it Early 2016 (Hopefully Q1, like January).

 

If they are going to take the time to do a proper PC Port, then hell yes, I'm alright with the PC delay.

 

Would I prefer they released at the same time? Sure. But not if the PC Port suffered as a result.

If they made their own decision to delay the PC version that's fine. But all signs have pointed towards the exclusivity deal being the reason. The fact that it's launching before the ps4 version doesn't really change that.

 

Phil Spencer

"I have Tomb Raider shipping next holiday exclusively on Xbox. It is Xbox 360 and Xbox One. I'm not trying to fake anybody out in terms of where this thing is. What they do with the franchise in the long run is not mine. I don't control it. So all I can talk about is the deal I have. I don't know where else Tomb Raider goes."

Is there a time limit on the exclusivity period?

"Yes, the deal has a duration. I didn't buy it. I don't own the franchise."

Can you tell us how long the duration is?

"No. It's not because I'm trying to be a headfake on anybody. It's a deal between us and the partner. People ask me how much did we pay. There are certain things I'm just not going to talk about because it's a business deal between us and them.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-08-13-microsoft-confirms-rise-of-the-tomb-raider-xbox-exclusivity-deal-has-a-duration

[BrianPena]

I am pretty sure this was announced a long time ago, it sucks but at least we are still getting the game.

[Deletive]

It takes a lot for me to play through a whole game. i'm okay to pick up the next one too.

[Commander Llama]

Xbox One players get access to the beta, then PC gets the fixed version later?

 

Okay sounds good.

[Trik'Stari]

Xbox One players get access to the beta, then PC gets the fixed version later?

 

Okay sounds good.

As long as you wait until it's at half price or below I guess.

 

 

Wait, make them lose money, the game isn't going anywhere. Send a message.

[zMeul]

 

Microsoft got left behind in the PC gaming market

no, MS abandoned the PC gaming market - quite the difference

and they're still ignoring it! their vision of PC gaming resumes to the PC as a streaming client for the XB1 - fck them!

[evilarceus]

Microsoft has been getting VERY competitive recently. Not surprised, and I would expect the PS4 to get delayed massively. It also seems like Microsoft has valued players on PC a bit more, so that would come before PS4.

[Murdoch]

no, MS abandoned the PC gaming market - quite the difference

 

If I wanted to play the semantics game, I would point out you can abandon a race (and get left behind) by standing still.

 

I agree though, they deliberately let it rot.

[Humbug]

no, MS abandoned the PC gaming market - quite the difference

and they're still ignoring it! their vision of PC gaming resumes to the PC as a streaming client for the XB1 - fck them!

There is a lot of money to be made on PC gaming. If they can use the windows store to provide a PC game delivery service as good as steam, and then they can take a cut.

I am sure that Microsoft greatly regrets that this market got taken by steam, Origin and GOG etc. Back in the early-mid 2000s it was common belief in the industry that PC gaming was dying and consoles were the future. Microsoft probably believed that too and didn't invest in this infrastructure. They were proved wrong by the rise of digital platforms and with it the explosive resurgence of PC gaming which we now enjoy.

Microsoft can still do it with the windows store but now they will have to fight an uphill PR battle because people will just claim that they are now trying to cash in after seeing the success of others. I believe they can still do it but they need to get the right people in the right places. Companies like Valve are smaller but they make up for it by the fact that everybody there is a gamer and in-touch with gamers needs/issues, innovation in gaming and game distribution happens more easily there, they live and breathe gaming. For Microsoft gaming is just one concern, so they can still do it but they need to carefully get the right people in the right places and get the us on their side.

[kuddlesworth9419]

They won't sell that many just because people would have lost interest when it comes out onto PC.

[zMeul]

I am sure that Microsoft greatly regrets that

I quite sure MS regrets nothing, otherwise they would be doing something about it

as I said, their idea of PC gaming revolves around XBox services - will not be long until PC users will pay a monthly fee for the service of playing PC games

[Linusinium]

It's been known for a while that temp exclusivity will take place, that's not even what pisses me off, it's the flat out lying that MS tries to pull off. Here is a quote from Edge magazine's interview with Phil Spencer: 
 

Edge: Is the parity clause dead now?

Spencer: I think so. There's this idea that's been named 'parity clause', but there is no clause. We've come out and been very transparent in the last four or five months about exactly what we want. 

If there's a developer who's building a game and they just can't get the game done for both platforms - cool. We'll take a staggered release. We've done it before, and we work with them on that. If another platform does a deal with you as a developer to build an exclusive version of your game for them, and you can't ship on my platform for a year, when the game comes out in a year let's just work together to make it special in some way. People complained about that, but you did a deal with somebody else and you got paid for it and I'm happy - we do those same deals, so I'm not knocking you. It's going to be better for you, actually, because people don't want last year's game, they want something special and new.

 

 

I want that nun from GOT's last season 5 episode walking behind Spencer, ringing her bell and shouting "SHAME" every time he speaks.

 

 

I quite sure MS regrets nothing, otherwise they would be doing something about it

as I said, their idea of PC gaming revolves around XBox services - will not be long until PC users will pay a monthly fee for the service of playing PC games

 

 

Imposing those fees worked on mouth breathers, it didn't work on the PC crowd hence why they abandoned the market to begin with. They may think they can try again but it simply won't work.

[SteveGrabowski0]

[niofalpha]

I find it amusing how people complain about broken games on release, and when a game gets a late port for PC the same complain about how they have to wait...

 

OT: As long as the game is as good as Tomb Raider 2013 I don't care. Quality > Release date.

[dalekphalm]

I find it amusing how people complain about broken games on release, and when a game gets a late port for PC the same complain about how they have to wait...

 

OT: As long as the game is as good as Tomb Raider 2013 I don't care. Quality > Release date.

I 100% agree with you. As I said earlier in my post above, the delayed PC release is most likely just dev time to get the PC port properly finished. They ARE using a separate Dev team for the PC port, after all. The Dev team is the same guys who did the TR 2013 PC port, which was pretty good, so I have faith that the PC port will be pretty kickass.

[Notional]

Yeah, Games for Windows Live was a piece of crap, largely because it was just underdeveloped and poorly implemented. Meanwhile steam created the ecosystem that people came to realise they wanted, remember that many many people thought Steam was annoying as hell, and incredibly inconvenient DRM back in the day, myself included. But we've come to love it, because it has evolved into something well beyond what it started as. This is how it looked in 2004.

 

Microsoft got left behind in the PC gaming market, for the same reasons they got left behind in Mobile and Tablet markets, they stayed still while others moved forward. Nadella says all the right things, I think he gets it. But there's a couple of problems, firstly nothing much has changed, there's an Xbox app on windows 10, yet another DRM client, which really doesn't offer much more than what GFWL did. Secondly other companies like Steam already do it better, while other bigger publishers already have their own DRM clients (uPlay, Origin etc). So as it stands, not much has changed since the GFWL days.

 

If they merge Xbox console & Windows platforms, at least publishers would have to make all their games available on that service going forward, instead of the fragmented situation we have on PC at the moment, where every publisher in the world is bringing out their own DRM client. They could also stipulate that games could not have dual DRM if sold through the Xbox marketplace. I mean, it would be a bit of a powerplay based on market dominance, but if Google or Apple were in that situation, it's exactly what they'd do.

 

It really was bad. GFWL was buggy, dumb, extra layer of DRM and they wanted yearly subscription for it. It was just horrible and annoying in every way. But so was Steam and I know, my profile will be 11 years old this September. Who not older? Because I hated that pointless bloated POC back then, that I postponed making a profile as long as I could. Ended up caving when HL2 came out steam exclusive.

 

Your picture is actually a newer version. This is a better representation of Steam at launch:

 

 

Notice there is no profile as we know today, no steam friends list, no store, no nothing. It was literally a program you launched to launch shortcuts afterwards. A very useless piece of DRM. Steam became great when it became useful as more features were introduced. Specifically profile, friends lists and proper upgrade/store of games.

 

This is also why I think most people have been too critical of Origin and to some extent Uplay. Steam was a steaming (heh) pile of DRM back then (PS notice the IE logo in the news window, yup steam was based on IE).

 

I think the general problem with MS is they got torn apart with the launch of the original XBOX. Now their entire focus on gaming was on the console, and not let their OS be a good competitor to the console. That idea has survived for far too long, even despite promises of the opposite. MS has said it again with Win10 and yeah I won't believe them until I see it. It is ironic though, that it MS introduced such an XBOX PC store, that they would exactly do what pissed off Gaben. That was the reason (windows 8 store), that Gaben coughed up his cheese burger and went rampant on MS and made SteamOS (Linux).

[sqwidee]

"Release on PC in early 2016" actually means "ship broken shit to Steam and have it blow up in our faces because we forgot that they can get refunds now. Better pull the game and try to make it functional before selling it again, might not be ready until Summer 2016 or later sorry gaiz <3"

[dalekphalm]

"Release on PC in early 2016" actually means "ship broken shit to Steam and have it blow up in our faces because we forgot that they can get refunds now. Better pull the game and try to make it functional before selling it again, might not be ready until Summer 2016 or later sorry gaiz <3"

Perhaps if this was Warner Brothers or Ubisoft. But the team handling the port did an exceptional job with Tomb Raider 2013 PC version last year. There are literally no indications that what you've described will happen.

[Ex14]

man this community can be so damn toxic.