If you think about what you are saying for more than 5 mins, this makes no sense in any way shape or form. How or why would MS rush to get the game to Xbox when 1. it can only be played on the newest Xbox and 2. Xboxs are sold out absolutely everywhere with no chance of this availability getting better any time soon. This would be like selling tickets to a concert which is already sold out. This theory makes NO SENSE. If anything, if they wanted to push consoles with this game they would wait till there is way better market availability.
Update: To those who dont read threads:
Yes The Xbox-s is fairly available, the xbox-x is not
No this does not change the fact that:
It is a stretch to argue that they released the game SOLELY or MAINLY as a means to sell consoles, therefore throwing pc users under the bus.
MS wanting to start reaping additional gains through their in-game marketplace is far more likely a reason for a push to Xbox (As well as gamepass subs)
If the main goal was to sell consoles then the objective would obviously be to wait till both Xboxs have high market availability. Otherwise what are you doing trying to push system sales when 1 out of 2 skus is MIA
Even if they successfully made breakthrough console sales because of this game. A person who is buying a console purely for a flight simulator most likely was never interested in consoles in the first place and is less likely to buy additional games, specifically first party games at that.
Xbox has sold OVER 6 million next-gen consoles to date, it is a stretch to think that they would be depending heavily or even specifically on this game to bring in a sizable amount of consoles relative to what they already sell. Here is some reasoning as to why this probably wouldn’t be much of a console pusher in the first place:
MSFS is a VERY niche game, with around 20,-40,000 concurrent users (On Steam).
MSFS has been projected to sell 2 or so million over 3 years.
Using the sim on controller alone is quite cumbersome and thats an issue that cant be avoided without addition periferals. Will ppl push past that? sure, will some buy peripherals, sure. But when the main tenets of a console is lower cost than pc and less space requirement than pc, there will be a good amount of ppl who pass on the xbox version, simply because those barriers will dissuade them, only lessening the amount of ppl who pick it up on console.
In summary:
PPL are quick to think when I say its not the MAIN reason that I am say its not A reason at all and they would be absolutely wrong. I’m saying that it certainly CAN be a reason to push release to Xbox, but there’s no way its the MAIN reason.
I think it does more harm than good that some in the community keep saying things like “MS only rushed this patch/game out in order to sell Xboxs, and is therefore going to forget about PC users, or neglect them” because its a childish way of thinking, and can’t be backed up in any way that makes remote sense. It is also very toxic, in that from what I’ve seen in the forums is that it only leads to people bashing new Xbox players or in some way putting the blame on them.
I dont know where you are but I can go to my local BestBuy and pickup a series S right now.
It is true that the S has become more available, but even if both were fully available. Even if you were to make that stipulation… XBOXs are sold at a loss! Meaning they make no profit currently from the product itself…
Wright answered that all Xbox consoles are sold at a loss
So how exactly would using a game like MSFS help them currently. Now you could argue that once ppl buy one for MSFS that they might buy some other games thus giving profit to MS. The problem with that is that this is antethetical to the type of player who would be buying a console just because of MSFS. As it is HIGHLY unlikely that a person swayed by MSFS would be buying a ton of other games bc if that were the case they wouldn’t be buying the XBOX bc of MSFS, they would have already been looking into getting a console anyway.
On top of all of this, The fan base of a flight sim, specifically the base without PCs is surely so laughably small compared to other fan bases that there’s no way those new users are moving the needle in profits respective to their overall sales. The theory doesn’t make sense, business wise or even from a common sense framing.
In general this “PC vs Xbox” competition that exists in the minds of some people here doesn’t really exist in Microsoft’s strategic thinking. PC means Windows, and who makes Windows? Microsoft releases all of their “first party” game titles (including FS) on both Xbox and PC and has for several years now because they want both platforms healthy.
You understand they get a cut of all marketplace items … that’s where the whole scheme gets sexy.
It’s not about the box or the game, it’s 14% of $9.99 or even much more on detailed planes like the D-6 again and again with little effort and no responsibility.
I made this exact argument in an earlier posts. This wasnt for Xbox sales. It was for the marketplace. (MOST LIKELY). Thats simply what makes the most business sense.
If we do bring this up I also have to give mention to the fact that on the unexpected good sales of the PC version MS revisited their “cut” as it were from half to 14% (from memory I may be off) to make the endeavor of building add on projects more attractive to third parties.
Steam still takes 30% AFAIK which makes me sad I own a Steam version.
It is true that the S has become more available, but even if both were fully available. Even if you were to make that stipulation… XBOXs are sold at a loss! Meaning they make no profit currently from the product itself…
Wright answered that all Xbox consoles are sold at a loss
So how exactly would using a game like MSFS help them currently. Now you could argue that once ppl buy one for MSFS that they might buy some other games thus giving profit to MS. The problem with that is that this is antethetical to the type of player who would be buying a console just because of MSFS. As it is HIGHLY unlikely that a person swayed by MSFS would be buying a ton of other games bc if that were the case they wouldn’t be buying the XBOX bc of MSFS, they would have already been looking into getting a console anyway.
On top of all of this, The fan base of a flight sim, specifically the base without PCs is surely so laughably small compared to other fan bases that there’s no way those new users are moving the needle in profits respective to their overall sales. The theory doesn’t make sense, business wise or even from a common sense framing.
Second of all re 3., Are you trying to suggest that there is a single country outside of the US with MORE Xbox stock or better availibility? If so that’s quite delusional.
Xbox is available for sale internationally as well.
In Europe you can pick it up on Amazon right now.
Also, the launch date for MSFS on Xbox was decided a long time ago.
Just saying.
So it’s more like selling concert tickets globally with plenty of venues still available, and the tickets were printed a while back
MS clearly added MSFS to Xbox in order to sell more Xboxes and Game Pass subscriptions.
It was merely planned long in advance for a release date of July 27th.
To what end??? They are selling it at a loss and as I explained, not only is the number of ppl would buy an xbox bc of MSFS so small relative to other to regular sales, but the type of person who buys a console STRICTLY for a flight sim is hardly going to be the type of person to translate into gaming in general and magically become a “gamer” who builds a console library.
