E3 - Sony Main Stage

Going into the Sony Press conference, I have to say me expectations are … Mah.  I mean, I don’t expect a bad press conference, but I also don’t expect anything that’s going to be overly exciting.  Sony is going to show one or two big exclusives, and they are going to spend a lot more time on non-gaming.  We’re going to see PlayStation now in the forefront, and more Vita news then we should.  I also expect a more arrogant main stage; don’t expect Sony to be thanking Nintendo and Microsoft or the haters, and do look forward to a lot of talk about just how great the PlayStation is doing.  As a fun drinking game, take a shot every time they say “1080P”.  I’m most interesting in seeing how much 3rd party they have on the stage, given the amount of them MS gave to them.

9:00 – Sony starting late, to the shock of absolutely no one

9:03 – The opening theatrics have exactly the amount of blue I was expecting.  It’s going to be interesting to see who walks on stage first, and I think it will be a big part in setting the tone

9:04 – Looking like Destany is the first thing on stage, and that’s not shocking; this game is huge and is giving a full 4 days of beta to Sony before anyone else.  That might not sound like a big deal, but is really is; people who are interesting in things like beta really don’t like to wait.

9:06 – Nothing against Sony as it’s not there thing, but this trailer is horrible.  I’m LESS excited about the game after seeing that, and the house reacted much the same … no clapping, just puzzled looks.  The last trailer we saw was breath taking, this was lack luster.

9:08 – Speaking of House, it looks like that who we are going with.  To be honest, I would have like to see a Dev or just a paid promoter, but not a bad choice.

9:10 – They mirror the message of Microsoft, we want to be the best place to play, but say they know what “best mean”, talking to higher resolution.  Looks like I was spot on with the arrogance comment.

9:10 – Destiny Alpha starting today.  That’s great news.  Also a new Sku, a white PS4 with Destiny included.  Looks nice.

9:11 – Showing an exclusive now.  I would expect Order 1886

9:12 – What might as well be a space marine walking through a dark hallway.  Looks CG to be honest, much nicer then the game play we saw on PS4 last month.  Either that’s Sony up to old tricks, or a fantastic preview of what’s to come, because visuals are incredible.

9:14 – DON’T SHOW QUICK TIME ACTIONS IN YOUR GAME PLAY REVEALS.  NEVER.  JUST DON’T DO IT

9:16 – The game play looks genearic and almost lacking in interaction.  I don’t think this is representive of the final product, but instead a result of trying to show gameplay before this game is really ready for it.  Still very excited about this game, but want to know what I saw was produced on PS4.

9:17 – A visual trailer for new game called “entwined”.  This seems to be something Sony is able to do exceptionally well, finding new and breathtaking games with fantastic visuals early in the console life cycle.  I really like what I’m seeing here, although I’m sure it’s no more complex then Flower.

9:19 – Entwined released today at $9.99.

9:19 – The mention of the PS3 release of Entwined makes me realized that Microsoft didn’t even mention the 360 once.

9:20 – Looks like my drinking game should have been “breathtaking performance” rather than simply 1080p.

9:21 – Single player DLC for second Sun, looks like its stand alone.  Sure … more Infamous is not a bad thing

9:22 – LB3P!  The first game on PS4 my wife is going to care about.

9:22 – Visually, this in only a small upgrade from the previous entries.  Not what I would have expected.  I wonder if this is a port and on PS3 as well.

9:24 – Sony is having tech problem, to the surprise of exactly no one

9:25 – Far more charming then the spark trailer, but the multiplayer looks more frustrating than anything else.  I think this would have shown better with one person playing it.

9:26 – I like it, but again, the multiplayer is getting in the way and this has gone on too long.  I want to hear about creation tools and what platforms this is on.  Can I use my vita to make things while playing them on my PS4?

9:28 – No mention of what system it’s on, so I’ll just assume PS4 and that it will look better at release.

9:29 – Ah, that’s why it looks old, fully compatible with the old game levels, so they are just upgraded visuals.  Still, that’s a trade I’m more than happy to make.  That makes the game SO much more valuable to people who don’t have other in the series.

9:30 – From Software is showing a game as a reveal.  There was no direct mention of it being exclusive, but I think we are still in the “all these are on PlayStation only or first” part of the show.  This is big news, but JUST a tad to ninth to call a real “wow” moment.

9:31 – CG trailer, looks fantastic.  Captures the darkness and horror you would expect from From Software.  Defiantly creating a lot of hype.

9:33 – Far Cry 4 on stage, I wonder if Sony will get anything exclusive or if this is just a showing.

9:34 – Not able to get confirmation on Blood born exclusivity.  Given Sony’s relationship with From Software, my gut says it is.

9:35 – Far Cry 4 looks like Far Cry 3+.  Please don’t in any way think I mean that as a bad thing.  FC3 was outstanding and needs refinement, not reinvention.

9:36 – Haha completely unrealistic vehicle hijack that was just awesome

9:37 – Looks like you’ll have the ability to jump and parachute, that’s a welcome addition.

9:39 – They seem to be cycling though VPs.  I really don’t like that.  I would rather have one voice to get used to, or cycle though developers.

9:40 – Exclusive mode for PS4 where you can invite friends without the game to play Co-op with you.  I see no value in that, but A for effort.  I can see that having value to a lot of other people though, and to families.

9:41 – Very odd zombie game being shown.  Looks like they are going for a feel that combines Dead Raising and Dead Island, which is like going for a feel that combines hot and cold.

9:42 – Wow, that’s Dead Island 2?  I don’t think that’s the tone is a step in the right direction for the series.  Again, not Sony’s fault, and good on them for getting the showing

9:43 – Beta and character level exclusive to Sony.  Seems Sony thinks there is a TON of value in beta access first, while MS thinks think is a TON of value in getting DLC first.  I think they are both wrong, but Sony is less wrong.

9:45 – Hardline.  Yeah I just saw like 15 minutes of this a few hours ago.  It looks great, but you don’t need to show it again.

9:45 – Exclusive NFC figures for infinity.  Why even bring that up at E3?  It’s a big deal, and a great score given how valuable a partner Disney is, but no one in the room cares.

9:46 – Sony is having more tech issues

9:47 – Paradox exclusives for PS4.  I’m a big paradox fan, but I’m not sure what they can offer a console.  This looks like a Magika game.  Sure, I can get into that.  Of all the games they make, it’s likely going to work best on the big screen

9:49 – Haha, my wife joked about Sony re-making a double fine game this morning.  I laughed, and laughed and laughed.  Great score for Sony, and a great for us as gamers.

9:51 – A bunch of Indie timed exclusives.  It’s not showing as well as the @ID montage, but there are some very established teams in the bunch.  I think this will not get the credit it deserves.

9:53 – I’m not digging the letter thing.  The pace seems much slower, and it seems like there is less content then there is

9:54 – Another exclusive called Let It Die, from GungHO.  I’ll reserve judgment until I see it; it looks good, but GungHO is generally goes for the pay to win FTP model.  Mind you, they do it better than anyone else, and I enjoy a lot of their games.

9:56 – Another psychedelic non-game game from Giant Squad.  Very impressive look, and I like the undersea theme.  Timed exclusive.

9:58 – Another timed exclusive indie game

9:59 – Looks interesting enough, but not exactly drawing me in.  Looking like a simplistic space shoot / exploration game called No Man's Sky

10:00 – 2/3 of the way in, no big first party or 3rd party exclusives, but some good news for Sony on things we already knew about getting better.  I’m not disappointed, but I really hope the next 30 minutes has more AAA

10:03 – Back to House.  I have a feeling we are done with games for a while

10:04 – DRINK

10:04 – Needless shot at Microsoft.  As someone who hate the console wars, this has really turned me off Sony this generation

10:04 – Project Morpheus.  This deserves no stage time.  Thankfully it didn’t get any.  You can’t show of VR on a stage.

10:05 – Pleasant surprise as we are back to games already, with Layden on stage.  If anyone can bring a big shocker I think it’s him.

10:07 – Shut up and show us what you’re here to show us.

10:08 – Oh … PSN news.  Guess we are not back to gaming after all.

10:08 – Meaningless stats ftw!

10:09 – PS4 direct uploads to YouTube.  Neat!

10:09 – Umm … he’s telling me I’ll be able to interact with people while watching games on twitch.  I can already do that.  It’s kinda what twitch is.

10:10 – I don’t really get the core message being delivered here, and the presenter is very weak.  PSN can do networky things and that’s good?  Yes, I knew that.  You don’t need to waste E3 time with that message.

10:11 – Did he just take a shot at the Gold Pay wall?  Someone should tell him that’s a bit out of date

10:12 – “Free to play means FREE TO PLAY” follow immediately by a montage with the words “Some features available at a cost”.  Ha.

10:13 – Why is loadout in a montage!  That deserves its own stage time.  That game is fantastic and it’s coming to PS4 is big news.

10:14 – Moving on to PlayStation Now.  A great service, coming at the end of the month.  I’m interested to see they talk pricing.

10:15 – Passing the buck on pricing.  Currently, there is a 1 day, 7 day, and 30 day rental option, starting at $4.99 for one day, with a month in the $20 range.  Hopefully not talking about it is because they hope to bring that down by the time the service is live

10:16 – On to Vita.  I feel a bundle coming on!  A commitment to keep PSV as a “key pillar” to Sony

10:17 – PSTV in US and UK!  Fantastic news!  I think this is the best news from E3 this far.

10:18 – $99 price point, fantastic

10:19 – haha, PSTV uses memory stick.  How horrible.  Honestly, that’s just shameful.  Holding back the system and gamers to force the use of a failed preparatory item.  Just have a freaking HD.

10:20 – It’s all about the games isn’t it?  Which is why we haven’t talked about any for 20 minutes!

10:20 – Mortal Kombat X.  Great game, shows well.

10:24 – More non-gaming.  Original content on PS4 from Sony pictures.  Powers is a great frontrunner for the service, but again, I don’t know why this is getting stage time.

10:28 – We are still talking about Powers.  Sony has paid 10s of thousands of dollars to advertise this guy’s graphic novel, and I don’t think they are getting value for that money.

10:29 – “well get to watch the first episode for free” … wait what?  I don’t get them ALL for free?  I thought this was a value add to the PS4.   Ah, ok, I get it with PSN+.  Sure, good enough.

10:30 – ratchet and clank movie coming to theaters … they have official run out of PlayStation items to talk about I guess.

10:31 – Re-master of Ratchet and clank, re-master of TLOU.  Why’s the trailer have spoilers?  You don’t want to sell this game to new people?  Looks great … but I mean, it looked great on PS3.  I guess it looks … greater-er?  I’m very happy to see this title, but I don’t think it adds much value to the PS4, more like the PS4 add value to TLOU.

10:35 – MGS5.  Fantastic trailer, I’m sad it got leaked, this would have been a great way to end the show if we didn’t all see it yesterday.

10:40 – GTAV coming to PS4 in fall!  Great to be the ones to announcement this!  Plus the ability to move from both PS3 and Xbox 360 to PS4 is great.  If MS doesn’t mirror that, it’s a big miss for them.

10:42 – New Batman, been talked and hyped for almost a month now.  Good to finally see it on stage, but not as big as GTAV.  Not sure why they didn’t end on that.

10:43 – Sony is over time.

10:44 – Who is voicing batman?

10:45 – exclusive modes for batman on PS4.  No shock there

10:46 – One last thing!

10:46 – Uncharted.  Sure.  That’s awesome.  But … we knew this was a thing.  This isn’t a show stopper.  It’s also CG.

Well, that was absolutely mediocre.  I wasn’t impressed at any point, and I was board a few times.  All and all, I still don’t see a lot of gaming coming to PS4 that are exciting, although credit for scoring early beta’s and exclusive content for some truly high profile releases.  The presenters were bad, and the overall theme was very hard to place.  It seemed almost haphazard, like they went in thinking they didn’t need to do anything to keep the hype going, and I just don’t agree with that.  The PSTV and GTAV moments were the best of show, and I’m sure that’s not the way they wanted things to play out.

Against the Flow: May 2014

At the end of the month I like to take a look at what the industry is talking about and see where I'm going against the flow.  These are opinion that seem to be prevalent in the industry with both fans and insiders, but I just can't seem to get my head around, important questions that are not being asked, or opinions that seem to run counter to what everyone else is saying.

I think “Child of light” is horrible news for Indie developers

I really, really enjoy indie games, and have dozens of them.  I play a lot of video games “for work”.  Sometimes I’m writing an article or a review, sometimes I’m just playing something because it’s so relevant to gaming that I won’t be able to blog effectively if I haven’t experienced it.  Time is a huge factor, and it’s not often I get a chance to just play something for no other reason than the game itself.  “A” list games rarely work for me.  Sure, I would love to put 20+ hours into Monster Hunter, Dragon’s Dogma, or any other huge game just south of the “must play” territory, but I simply don’t have the time to invest.  For this reason, I find more and more of my free gaming time going to Indie games that offer “bite sized” experiences that only take a few hours to fully digest.

The games themselves are often incredible.  As an older gamer, I miss things like turn based action and RPGs with simple core mechanics, or mindless twitch two stick shooters ... the genres no big publisher is willing to gamble on any more.  With the number of games I play, the willingness of Indie developers to try radically new ideas is also a huge plus as it breaks down the monotony of AAA experiences.  Best of all, the games are cheap.  Sure, you get what you pay for; production values are horrible, graphics are bad, and game play is never as refined as you would like, but I can live with that.  Or at least I could.

This month, Ubisoft delivered a giant “screw you” to the indie community in the form of Child of Light, a game that flawlessly hits all the high points of indie gaming with a risky genre lacking mass appeal and the bold design choice of making the entire game (even the menu screen) rhyme.  It’s also a very short game at a reduced price, but that’s where the “get what you pay for” ends.  The graphics are breathtaking, the production values are though the roof, and the game play has the refinement you would expect from a top tier studio.  It literally is everything that is good about indie titles, without any of the bad.  And I hope it’s just a fluke.  The future is not bright for the 8bit graphics minimalist platformer trying to get by on a unique premises and a $10 price tag if top studios starts green lighting similar projects.  Kickstarter was the first nail in the Indie coffin, with high profile developers turning to it to get the money for games big publishers wouldn't fund, resulting in A list games released independently (but not by “indie” studios). With the break out success of Broken Age, Shadow Run, and several projects yet to be released, it looks like the big publishers learned their lesson and are not going to say “no” quite as often.  I’m honestly not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing for us as gamer, but for the indie developer already facing long odds, it’s a kick in the head for sure.

I remember how much everyone sucks at E3

With E3 right around the corner, it’s no shock that many a message board and even a few professional articles are vigorously discussing who is going to have the better press conference this year.  And why not?  This is the World Cup of gaming, the one time of year we get to see our favorite teams firing on all cylinders and putting it all on the line with everyone watching.  Sony has a lot to live up after what most consider a dominating performance at E3 2013.  Microsoft, on the other hand, is fielding a new star player (and possible divine being) in the form of Phil Spencer and the hype train has been going full speed ahead for a month already.  We can’t even discount Nintendo this year.  Sure, they don’t have the main stage but they do have a Zelda game for the Wii U and a NFC announcement which could be the biggest thing to happen in a very long time. With all the excitement and anticipation it’s easy to overlook that the safe bet to answer to “who’s going to be awesome at E3 this year” is pretty obvious; no one.  Traditionally, E3 main stages are complete horror shows.

I’m not saying their haven’t been some highs points in the past, but when you look at E3 year over year you find most main stage press conferences are mediocre at best and there have been a  lot more exceptionally bad then exceptional good.  Even the Sony 2013 conference was a lot weaker then we are remembering it.  They started late slow, didn’t really show any games, and they were just “going though the monitions” before a single slide attacking a Microsoft misstep turned an absolutely forgettable show into the stuff of legends.  Credit where credit is due, but let’s not forget the past.  Before holding a special place in E3 history with the great “oh snap” moment in history, Sony was already famous for drawing “boos” from the audience on 3 separate occasions, awkwardly hyping PSV and PSP games that no one care about (or cheered about), showing us overpriced 21 inch TVs that no one wanted or asked for, and trying to sell CGI trailers as in game footage.  “We still don’t have DRM, and we still let you play used games” isn’t going to draw the same response it did last year, and beyond that ... there isn’t a lot of rumors in the pipe for Sony.

It’s not like Microsoft is in a stronger position.  With the PS4 outselling the Xbox One in its first year by a impressive amount, the Wii U on an upswing and questions about performance and even DRM still persisting to this day, MS has a lot of questions that gamers want answers to.  Questions they are almost surely going to ignore ... and that’s a good thing.  While everyone is speaking to  Phil’s “all about games” press conference as the perfect strategy, it really just a matter of necessity.  MS has spend the last 5 years fumbling every major communication about the direction of Xbox and the last two blundering every single aspect of the Xbox One’s branding.  I’m impressed that Phil has figured out the only real chance his team has is to shut the hell up about everything that isn’t a flashy trailer and willing to go that route, but it’s far from encouraging that he needs to do that in the first place.  At the end of E3, we are going to know the Xbox One has a ton of games coming, but we won’t know any more about how the new Direct X is going to increase performance, we won’t know if the resent GPU increase will make any difference, and we won’t know what’s going on with Kinect support for the people who bought one early.

At the end of the day, nothing will change for either system.  Arguments will be made that the Sony failed because the PS4 still doesn’t have any games, and MS failed because they didn’t do anything to show me why the Xbox isn’t just a less powerful PS4 ... and both sides will be right.  Without an “OMG” moment, nothing is going to change in the perception of gamers, and when you spend a few million dollars to do just that and fail, it’s kind of a big deal.  This year, it will be Nintendo that will steal the show ... by not being there.  After spending the last few years shipping in a full orchestra to play movements from “Symphony of the goddesses”, letting Miyamoto run around in cos-play, and jamming to some Wii Music beats Nintendo has realized that they don’t’ really get E3, and E3 really doesn’t get them.  I think we’ll see their second live stream show deliver a much more “Nintendo” message then we’ve seen in years.  And that’s a very, very good thing.

I’m not sure giving up a month of sales was a great idea

I love the Kinect.  Just the simple things; how it will log in my wife when she enters the room, allowing her to jump into multi-player without a sign in.  The ability to control Netflix with my voice while eating.  Being able to start up any game on my harddrive without having to find it in a menu.  My wife loves Just Dance, the only game I’ve ever played using motion controls.  It’s a fantastic add on, but even I would be hard-pressed to justify its $100 value to anyone else simply because it’s situational and personal.  So it’s fantastic news that Microsoft has finally listened to gamers cry for a cheaper sku without a Kinect, and the $399 Xbox One is a reality.  The response was extremely positive, with MS fanboys calling it a victory for MS as the champion of gamers by showing they are willing to listen and react. Even the most cynical Sony fanboy has to admit it shows a encouraging change in direction from the “you’ll buy what we sell you and LIKE it” days under Don Mattrick.  Just about every major retailer has weighted in as well, saying interest in the Xbox One has increased significantly.  So it’s in the books; this is a clear cut, undeniable win for the Xbox One!  Or ... is it?

Due to this announcement, sales of the Xbox One for May are a write off.  Between waiting for E3 bundles or the new $399 SKU, there has never been a WORSE time to buy an Xbox One.  This coming at a point where Xbox Hype is greater than ever, and in a month that saw the release of the first truly hyped next gen game multiplatform game, Watchdogs.  For anyone wanting to play that game day one on a new system, the choice was obvious; I can pay $500 for a system that going to be $100 cheaper in a few weeks and includes hardware that might lose core support, or I can just buy a PS4.  Rather than leverage the up-swing in Xbox press to sell more units, they told everyone to wait a while, or buy the competitor if you need something right now.  Worse, if Sony has a good E3, or MS a bad one, all the Xbox One hype from the last month could vanish without it ever translating into sales.  It’s hard to see this as anything but a misstep; there was no need to make the announcement until the SKU was on shelves.

Did I miss anything?  What did YOU notice this month that everyone else seemed to miss?  Let me know in the comments!

E3 - Xbox Main Stage

Minutes away from the E3 main stage, it’s time for some last minute perdition before I start my blog.  I think we are going to see an exclusive Shadow Run game for the Xbox One, and one big 3rd party exclusive from Activision.  Although I’m a little surprised to see Phil sporting an AC shirt in the pre-show, but knowing him that could just be a personal plug rather than deliberate product placement.  I’m also confident we are going to see a lot of independent games shown, while we will see some time on Xbox TV and other online driven programs.  What I don’t expect to see is any talk of performance.  No GPU upgrade from the 10% block, no Direct X, no “power of the cloud”.  All and all, it should be almost nothing but games.  Let’s see how it goes.

12:30 – A lot less green then I expected from the opening theatrics

12:31 – Start with Phil ... I guess there is no other way to go, but still, I’m already happy to see they didn't mess up something so simple.  This is the man we all came here to listen to.  He’s already talking about the other competitors as allies and not enemies.  What a great way to not just start this conference, but to start E3.  Go Phil

12:35 – What a great way to thank Fanboys for all the crap they flung at Xbox.  Humble, accepting, but not discouraged.

12:36 – COD continues to bring DLC to Xbox first.  Not really shocking, but if there was any year they were going to lose that it would be this one.

12:36 – This call of duty game looks a lot like call of duty.  Go figure.

12:37 – Rocket boots!

12:40 – Huge battle in a major city, looks like South Korea.

12:41 – This look to be a lot more science fiction then any pervious COD.  Robots and far future drones are everywhere, the solders are in mech suits, one just ripped a car door off to use as a shield.  It will be interesting to see how this translates to multiplayer.

12:43 – Looked fantastic, and the focus on the set piece reminds us why COD is great.  It’s almost enough to forgive them for the crap-a-thon that was ghosts

12:45 – Turn 10 is now on stage.  Not the way I would have gone.  Forza is awesome, we know that, and FH will also be awesome, but we also know that.

12:46 – OH SNAP, never mind, Nerbough Ring for free OUT TODAY is some pretty big news.  I see what you did there.

12:47 – “when you create a club”, a subtle nod to how Froza Horizon is showing much better then drive club.

12:49 – Looks amazing.  A true focus on “driving freedom”.  Clearly a winner.

12:50 – Evolve looks great, but I’m surprised to see it on MS stage.  It’s been pretty PlayStation friendly in the hype to this point.  DLC first on evolve?  Wow, that’s a shock.  Good job I guess.

12:51 – Hey look, AC on stage as the second 3rd party with game play.  I have a feeling MS is getting some exclusive content, which would again be stolen from Sony.

12:54 – Visually this is the most impressive thing I’ve seen this generation, and the period is fantastic, a world I really want to be a part of.

12:57 – No Xbox exclusive content after all.  Still, a great showing.

12:58 – Oh dragon age.  I’m not at all shocked at the production values of this trailer, but to be honest, I kind of expected game play.  Oh, a release date, and much sooner than expected.  Although that makes it even more shocking to not see game play.  Content coming to Xbox first ... again, that’s surprising.

1:00 – Sunset overdrive trailer.  What a great way to drive home the “not another shooter” game play message.  Well done Sir.

1:01 – insomniac is on stage.  Not sure how you follow that up ... not sure you NEED to follow that up.  I’m already sold.

1:03 – Game play is showing off the need for mobility and the use of interesting weapons.  Very fluid movement that looks to be single button driven.

1:04 – Oct. 28 release date.  Good news

1:06 – Capcom exclusive ... what am I watching?

1:07 – Ok, it was fun to watch Capcom make fun of themselves, but I’m not really sure that trailer landed.  I don’t know what the DLC is and I’m not sure why I would buy it.

1:08 – Dance Central: Spotlight exclusive to Xbox One.  This isn't a surprise.  Dance Central wasn't going away, and the PS4 simply can’t do it without “move”, so they are really just keeping it off Wii U.

1:09 – Fable legends ... going into this E3, this is the game I knew the most about without knowing anything able.  Let’s see if they clear up what exactly this game is about.

1:10 – Sure, sure, there is a story. I don’t care.  What the hell is the game about?  Is it multi player fable?  Is this a persistent server?  Right now this looks like every other 3rd person action game ever and there is no reason it’s called fable.

1:12 – Really?  That’s the gimmick?  There is a real time game master?  I’ve never been a fan on selling you game on the fact that you didn’t have time to build things yourself and want players to do it for you.  Don’t we already have project spark for people who want that creative experience?  Is there a campaign?  What do I do if I can’t get 4 friends to play this with me?

1:14 – “To sign up or learn more” ... what more?  I didn't learn ANYTHING.  What a horrible showing.

1:15 – Go right into spark after that?  Just to drive home the fact we are seeing the same thing twice.

1:16 – Not a bad showing of project spark, much better than last year.

1:17 – haha Conker in the Spark logo.

1:19 – Hey look, an activation exclusive.  When I made that perdition I was thinking an old, AAA IP.  But hey, I’ll take it.

1:20 – Halo.  You don’t even need the trailer, just hearing the music gets me excited.

1:21 – Looks like you might not be playing the whole game as master chief.

1:22 – Master Chief collection; this was leaked a while ago, but still fanatic news.  The details on multiplayer is all we should hear about from this point on.

1:25 – Halo Remix mode, a complete remake of halo 2, the ability to move between classic  and new on the fly ... what’s not to like

1:26 – Halo 2 multi-player directly ported ... that just sold more Xbox Ones then anything MS has said to this point.

1:27 – 100 maps, 1080p, dedicated servers ... wow.

1:28 – Halo Nightfall, the new Halo live actions series, comes with the collection.  This is an fantastic value.

1:29 – Halo is the first confirmed multiplayer game running at 1080p/60 this gen.

1:30 – WORK IT PHIL

1:31 – Although Limbo was a fantastic game, it’s hard to get too worked up over a new game using the same formula.  Will be solid I’m sure, but isn’t ground breaking.

1:32 – ID@Box – let’s see if you can brand the message a little better then you've done up to this point.

1:33 - Show the games, don’t do anything about how horrible you messed up the messaging of the program itself.  Equal parts disappointing and encouraging; you learned, but only after the damage was done to the point where you can’t recover.

1:37 – Raise of the tomb raider looks great and I’m excited.  But again, nothing exclusive to Xbox.

1:38 – Witcher 3, same as above.  CD projeck has already committed to no platform preference.

1:41 – The game looks fanatic, but we have already seen game play and knew what to expect.  I like the contextual way the game tells you to go back when you finish the quest you are on.

1:45 – Phantom dust.  Huge cult value, but they could have done better when going for cult appeal.  Still, shows a strong commitment to gamers and bringing back what has been asked for.

1:47 – Division.  I’m very excited about this game, but this has been shown before.  Again, I don’t foresee any “only one xbox” content.  Mind you, even seeing it before, this game is still very impressive.  Is that voice an NPC of a live person?

1:48 – Looks live.  Smart glass “god mode”?  Everything about this game is great.  I’ve seen it played a number of times, but every time I get more excited.

1:49 – Division DLC coming first to Xbox, plus beta is coming first to Xbox.  Honestly shocked.

1:50 – Scale bound, a new exclusive IP from Plantumgames ... not enough to go on, but the trailer looks great.

1:55 – Crack down 3.  Great trailer, great to know it’s happening, but after 2 it’s hard to call this one a guaranteed hit.

All and all I think MS did a fantastic job in that they did what they said they would. They showed a lot of games, confirmed the commitment they have to gaming, and showed some compelling reasons to pick up and Xbox one. More importantly, they did it with class; the first thing they did was thank Sony and Nintendo, and the second was to thank everyone who has been hating on them for a year. This shows a company that's found its footing, and that's a great thing.

They didn't spend any time on the exclusives we already know are coming unless they had game play, showed us some new games, and showed they have a great partnership with 3rd party.

They never WOW'd me ... but that's ok. I was expecting to be wow'd. They did make me very, very excited about Xbox.

Are they really doomed?

It seems like every day we are getting new updates on who is losing money, and how that means our favorite consoles and games are doomed (well, it’s more like we get quarterly reports every 3 months, but work with me here).  It’s hard to know what to believe and what’s just click-bate, especially when most of the people reporting the numbers are gamers who don’t fully understand what’s going on themselves.  I don’t blame game sits for not providing context as they simply pass along some information that’s about video games and no one is claiming to be an expert.  I'm not either.  But I do know my way around a balance sheet, and know a thing or two about investigative reporting.   My goal here, as always, is to dispel ignorance and provide objectivity so I’ll be focusing on disproving commonly held notions rather than trying to pass myself off as an investment banker and provide stock advice.

Before I start, let me speak to the most common statements that get tossed around when talking about a company’s balance sheet, which are complete rubbish.

They are just lying about the numbers

As near as makes no difference to impossible.  As publicly traded companies, they have to submit to diligence are their books are open to review at least 4 times a year.   Due to both heavy regulation and a pretty strong desire to get the numbers right, a quarterly report is generally prepared by an independent firm and your own accountants at the same time, and any discrepancies are investigated.  It is a very serious crime to publish numbers you know to be false. It’s a reasonably serious crime to publish numbers that are wrong even if you thought they were right.

But they have billion in assets!

Imagine you own a retail store. You have a ton of assets; you have the store itself, you have the point of sale system, you have computers, you have office furniture, you have fixtures.  When you start losing money, can you go and sell your point of sale system to generate some quick revenue?  Obviously not, as it’s essential to running you store.  So are the computers, the fixtures, and the store itself.  You might be able to sell the furniture, but just this simple thought experiment shows the problem with that logic; even with a billion in assets, the amount you can sell without drastically impacting your ability to make money in the future is going to be a very small percentage.  Also your outstanding stock NEVER counts and an assist; if people wanted to buy your stock, you wouldn’t have a problem.

So let’s take a look at the big three, asking 3 important questions:  Are they making money from gaming, are they DOOOOOOOOOOMED, and would they ever sell off their consoles.

Sony

Once a giant of manufacturing, innovation and sales, Sony’s decline over the last 10 years has been as tragic as it has been spectacular. In 2000, Sony had a Market Capitalization* of almost $82 billion, making it one of the largest and most valuable companies in the world at the time outside of the energy sector.  They had positioned themselves as the cutting edge of numerous technologies including digital cameras, camcorders, MP3 players, and personal computers.  Sony TVs were considered among the best money could buy, with good reason.  Even at this stage, the PlayStation seemed an unstoppable force, taking market share from Nintendo at a rate higher than anyone expected and fending off any encroachment from the original Xbox.  However due to a string of poor decisions, declining PC sales, decline in demand for high end electronics, competition from Samsung and Apple, and dozens of other factors,  Sony today has only $17 billion Market Capitalization and is suffering yearly loses in the billions.

Is Sony making any Money from gaming:  It comes and goes.  Recently no, but that’s changing.

People often talk about PlayStation “keeping Sony afloat” but that has simply never been the case. The original PlayStation and the PlayStation 2 were money makers for sure, but at a time when Sony was extremely successful in other areas.  By the time Sony started to decline, PlayStation was contributing to losses.  The PlayStation 3 was not well received at launch and was sold well below cost despite being extremely expensive.  The PSP was a disappointment, never approaching the sales targets Sony had set for it.  By the time PS3 started to gain momentum and move units, the disastrous PSV was cutting into the bottom line.  It has yet to reach its first year sales target, despite being 3 years old.  SOE has been the only consistent bright spot, but has never made enough to truly make a difference with Sony as a whole.  But things are starting to turn around with the PlayStation 4.  This year’s PlayStation profit of almost $300 million US may be first yearly profit in almost a decade, but it’s a very impressive number well beyond even the most aggressive estimates. It’s hard to call a single data point a “trend”, but the market seems to be extremely receptive of PlayStation right now, and I think we can expect this profitably to continue with upward momentum in the near future.

Is Sony in any real danger - Very much so.

Look, we all love PlayStation and it’s easy to think of Sony as “too big to fail” ... but they are not in good shape.  The easiest to understand indicator of a company’s overall health is “Levered Free Cash Flow” which is the most basic terms is the amount of money a company will have left to spend (or give back to investors) after it pays off all its debts that are due.  Sony’s Levered Cash Flow sits at -8.87B, meaning Sony needs almost 9 billion more cash than they are expected to bring in to pay for obligations like rent, wages, interest, and non-renewable loans, while they only have 7 billion in the bank.   If they cannot raise that outstanding 1.9 billion in cash some other way they will enter default protect and essentially be bankrupt. But that’s not going to happen just yet.  Sony is a well structured company and is able to sell valuable assist from one area without impacting others.  Still, selling $23 million in assists a day simply to survive is not sustainable for any real amount of time. The “already sold” list includes a  HQ in Tokyo and 250 million in shares in other companies,  as well as Sony’s E-book and PC business.  Not really anything people on a gaming site are going to care about, but It won’t be long until they are forced to sell something much harder to ignore.

Would they ever sell PlayStation – Almost certainly not.  And who would buy it?

PlayStation is very healthy right now and is extremely valuable.  Forbes rates its value as a brand higher then Sony itself,  and I think it’s easy to see why.  An educated guess at an acquisition price for PlayStation is in the double digit billions, which keep the potential buyer list extremely low.  Microsoft and Nintendo can both afford that, but what’s the benefit?  You rarely buy your competitors because Investing 10 billion in their own brands is the smarter play if you have the money to burn.  Amazon and Google are both already invested in the console game with systems focused on the market  they care about, content distribution.  While they might pay for PSN, having to buy the hardware and software business to get it is just a waste of money.  The same could be said of FaceBook, who might be interested in the social side of things but already have “gaming hardware”.  This leaves private investment funds, and they traditionally shun video games like the plague.  So let’s firmly put this speculation to bed; Sony isn't selling PlayStation.

Even if they want to.

It’s far more likely they will sell their phone business to Samsung or Microsoft, which will raise more than enough capital to keep them afloat until they can restructure and truly cash in on the success of the PS4.

Nintendo

Oh Nintendo, you crazy little games company.  With their 4th straight year of loses totaling almost 2 billion US dollars there has to be a lot of hurt to go around.  Worse, by their own sales estimates it looks like there is no chance for the Wii U to fully recover, they have no new hardware on the shelf to replace it with, and the DS isn’t paying the bills any more.  It’s easy to assume that Nintendo is in just as bad a bind as Sony ... and unfortunately  that’s about the only thing that’s easy to do.  Where Sony and Microsoft have the decency to neatly categorize everything in a logical fashion (Sony Music, Sony Movies, Sony PlayStation, Xbox Entertainment), Nintendo’s corporate stature is an a misrepresented  and tangled mess.   We tend to think of Nintendo and Nintendo of America interchangeable and that's lead is to think of Nintedo has just being a games company.  Nintendo of America is just selling games and systems (and owes a baseball team.  Because why the hell not?), but the global company has a hand in everything from hotels, a  taxi company, restaurants, food, candy, TV shows and movies without any clear department structure that makes it easy to track who is making and losing money, .  Given that Nintendo of America has seen double digit percentage stock price decreases (and hundred million market cap. loses) on days where Nintendo's global stock has seen an increase, it's clear that games are a unexpectedly small price of the Nintendo Pie.

Nintendo also owns this small little PRIVATE company which I’ll get to soon, and because it’s not publicly traded I can’t simple look at its balance sheet and tell you what’s going on with it ... and that’s a problem.

Is Nintendo making any Money from gaming:  Mother of god, yes

But 4 straight years of losses!  I know.  But the Wii U is failing!  I know that too.  But software sales are plumping!  I know, I know, I know.  Like I said, with Nintendo it’s not that easy.  Remember that small little private company I was talking about?  It’s called “The Pokémon Company” and it’s not really small or tiny.   By all estimates it is worth considerably more than Nintendo on its own or Sony’s global operations, at about 23 billion US.  It’s hard to accept, but nevertheless true:  For all the next gen hype and market share debate, for all the $100 million controllers and games with $500 million budgets,  even the most conservative estimates put Nintendo’s profits from licensing it’s video games characters as generating more money than Sony, Microsoft  and Nintendo themselves make selling gaming hardware and software.  Combined.

So why is Nintendo posting a lose?  I wish I could tell you.  But without access to the balance sheet for the Pokémon company to make some educated comments about how their profits are being reported by Nintendo, or where the money is going, I can’t really say.  And that only compounds the fact that it’s hard to say where Nintendo’s money is coming from or going to, given its lack of structure.  For all we know, they could be losing a billion a year in a bad hotel deal, or own a race car driver who is under performing.  Wouldn't surprise me one bit.   What I can say without doubt is that game related sales (because selling a plushy of Pikachu is a game related sales) are extremely profitable for Nintendo when you look at the big picture.

Is Nintendo in any real danger – Not even close.

Nintendo has around $8 billion US in the bank, making them one of the richest companies in the world (top 25) when it comes to cash on hand.  Nintendo could support itself without operational income anywhere from 25 to 35 years, and that’s without having to sell another assists.  Most importantly, when compared to Sony, Nintendo’s burn rate** is extremely high, and they could shut that off at any time in order to balance things out.

Would they ever exit hardware (sell off isn't really a valid question for Nintendo) – No, but there is a strong “crazy” factor at work here.

Let me introduce you to Seth Fischer.  Everything you have ever heard negative about Nintendo’s current operations, including calls for the CEO to step down, calls to move out of hardware, calls to sell on mobile platforms ... Seth is personally (and generally solely) responsible for.   A US investor in charge of Oasis Management, Seth bought into Nintendo because he thought the Wii U would be another Wii.  This hasn't made him very popular with people who’s money he used to do that, and he has been doing everything he can to get Nintendo to follow a more “US” approach to profit.  He has influence in the US media, and we generally read stories about the crazy things he wants to do (like add micro transactions to Mario 3D world) as “Nintendo investors urges ....” when that’s simply not the case.  The board of directors, as a whole, have complete confidence in Iwata.  Sure, the Wii U is far from a hit ...but  he also brought the Wii and the 3DS to the market.  The Wii is the best selling home console of all time, and given time, the 3DS should overtake the original DS to be the best selling handheld as well.  So he’s got that going for him.

That said ... Nintendo is crazy!  It’s hard to predict where they will be even a year from now because more than other company in this article they have the money and freedom to just bet it all on a whim, and the historical data shows that every 8 years or so they like to do exactly that.

Microsoft

What can I say about Microsoft?  Comparing there balance sheet to Sony or Nintendo is like comparing a major league baseball player to some guy on the company softball team.   Currently the 23rd most valuable company in the world, Microsoft holds its own against banks, automotive giants, and power companies.  It’s annual sales total more than the combined value of the entire video game industry. They are worth 17 Sony’s or 23 Nintendo’s.  Microsoft is so rich, they could buy Nintendo AND Sony at current estimated market value (not subsidiaries or assists) with the cash they have in the bank and it wouldn't even drop them down a spot on the “most cash on hand” list.  So big fish in a small pound has never been more accurate.

At the same time, the Xbox is a tiny fish in a vast ocean.  Contributing less than 1% of Microsoft’s bottom line, it’s not uncommon to make it though earning calls without it even being mentioned.  It’s a big deal to all of us because we are gamers ... but it can’t be overstated how little most of the people at Microsoft care about it.  Put in perspective, Sony make more of its total bottom line as a percentage selling magnetic storage tapes then Microsoft makes from Xbox, and when was the last time you saw a tape backup at E3?

Is Microsoft making any Money from gaming:  Maybe?  Probably not though

Xbox entertainment has finished in the green every quarter since 2007, which seems to be a clear cut indicator that I just lied to you with the headline up there.  But I didn't ask if Xbox was profitable, I asked if Microsoft was making money off gaming.  From day one Microsoft has envisioned the Xbox as a content delivery platform and monetized it in ways that go beyond gaming, and they have done a fantastic job of it. While the average PlayStation 4 owner spends almost 90% of the time the console is on playing games, the average Xbox One owner spends less than 40%.  The other 60% of the times they are using apps, buying movies, buying TV shows, or buying music.  Unlike Nintendo who shipped all that non-gaming profit off to a subsidiary, Microsoft just reports all under the same line and the profits roll right into “Xbox Entertainment”.  That makes it impossible to tell how much money they are making from games, but I’m not going to let that deter me.

Doing some quick math it’s easy to figure the answer is “not much”.  Xbox Live Gold subscriptions alone are bringing in $700 million with almost no overhead, but Xbox is reporting profit numbers much lower than that.  In fairness, these are the people who spent $100 million to make a controller worse, so we can assume they have a burn rate** even higher then Nintendo.  Bottom line on the bottom line is that Xbox is making money, and it looks like a fair bit of money ... but games seem to be a loss leader in the overall strategy.

Is Microsoft in any real danger – No.

Obviously.  They are going to make 22 billion in profit this year and have 80 billion in the bank.  I’m done. (for maximum effect, please picture me dropping a microphone to the ground as you read this)

Would they ever sell Xbox – Why not?  Also ... why?

I don’t think there would be any objection to selling Xbox from the board, and if the motion was tabled it would more than likely carry.  As I talked about just last week MS started off more of a branding exercises then anything else, with a secondary goal of content distribution.  The Xbox investment, on this level, might better be served today focusing on cell phone and mobile destitution.  Not only is that where the money seems to be, but it fast becoming a better way to reach the youth demographic as the average age of gamers is going up every year (by about ... .one year ).  But the much more important question is why would they sell?

With 80 billion in the bank, they have too much money*** and selling off Xbox to raise capital would just be counterproductive.  Microsoft is actively looking for more ways to increase its brand awareness and product diversity, regardless of how much of a gamble they are, as they are in the same boat Google was when they bought a thermostat for no good reason, or Facebook was when they bought OR for about 10 times what it was worth. They are not going to give away something they already have, especially if it’s in the green.

The final word

So there you have it.  3000 words to tell you that regardless of what you read in the latest “The sky is falling” article, we can expect more of the same for the conceivable future.  Sony is struggling, Nintendo is stumbling, and Microsoft keeps doing their thing, but it’s all going to work itself out without any major shake down.  No one said it better than Mr. Kevin Butler ... Long Live Play.  And that’s exactly what’s going to happen, regardless of where you like to do your playing.

*Market Capitalization – The poor man’s “What a company is worth”, Market Cap. Is the value of each share multiplied by the number of shares issued.  It has no direct translation to value, but is a strong indicator of the trending of what a company is worth (as it goes up or down, so does the worth of the company)

**Burn Rate – The rate at which you tell your R&D, marketing, and other controllable spending to “burn” though money.  Companies with high burn rates are good investments because in hard time they can just “turn off the taps” and stop investing so much in these areas.

***Too much money -  This is very much a real thing.  Money is volatile.  If the US dollar went down 5 cents, Microsoft would lose 4 billion in cash.  Having this much cash on hand also means you haven’t been able to found ways to leverage investments, and shows you don’t have people in place to manage your cash flow.  It’s a very poor indicator.

Little Xbox in Big China

With the Xbox set to release in China, there has been a lot of talk, and not a lot of objectivity, about what that means for us as gamers.  Below, I do my best to give a no-bias outline of what we can expect.

Why Xbox?

Before we look at X-box in China, lets look at why we even have an X-box in the first place.  No one really wants to enter the video game market, and with good reason.  Traditionally a small slice of the entertainment pie, the industry had proven itself to be volatile and unforgiving from its conception.   You hardly have time to recoup development costs before your console is obsolete, and a single piece of unpopular hardware or even software could be disastrous.  Even Sony’s entry into the market in 1994 was more the results of a opportunity that presented itself after a Nintendo mistake then a real desire to be console makers.  It’s rather shocking, then, that in 2001 software giant Microsoft decided to enter the console business with the Xbox.  They had just seen the launch of the Dreamcast devastate Sega (a failure they played an important part in*) and launched alongside the Nintendo game cube to do battle with the PS2, a juggernaut of sales that showed no signs it was ready to give up market share (spoiler: it didn’t).  It’s seems almost self evident that Microsoft would have been much better off leveraging the PC as a gaming platform if video games were something they wanted to do, or by spending the money to market Windows to developers directly.  Why then, make an Xbox?

The answer is hidden in plain sight; the Xbox name.  The brand has become so common place it’s easy to forget its origin as “The Direct-x Windows Box”, a modified Dell computer taken to market with the goal of doing exactly what Microsoft should be doing; selling the Windows brand to the 18-25 demographic, and selling Windows tech to game designers.   Even Bill Gates himself downplayed the video game aspect of the Xbox, refusing to call it anything other than a “Multimedia Device” when speaking internally. He sold it to shareholders as being in line with the goal of Multimedia Convergence, meaning his goal from day one with the Xbox was to use it as a content deliver platform.  Some say he spent more time and effort on getting professional wrestler “The Rock” to do the official announcement at GDC then he did on what they were going to say about the system, because the branding was more important to him then the product.  He just needed someone "cool" to say it ran direct-x, and call it a day.  It was brilliant.  A targeted marketing campaign to reach people that were moving off PC gaming to console would have a cost in the millions, and a re-branding of Microsoft as a whole to be a “hip” company the next generation would be interested in would be in the hundreds of millions.  By spending that money instead on a console, they were able to build that brand awareness with a key demographic and have something to show for it.   And it worked.  Brand awareness with young adults started to see double digit increases.  The numbers of developers that used Direct X sky-rocketed.  I think they sold a few copies of “Halo” as well, if that’s important.

Xbox One, take two

Over the last few years, Microsoft has seen strong increases in the US and global enterprise market, and has shown they are more than able to fend off powerful rivals such as Goggle and Apple in that space.  Unfortunately that’s the only space they are winning in.  Although they have yet to get to the point where they are losing market share in the consumer market at dangerous levels, just about everyone else is doing a much better job of getting a foot in the door, and over the last 2 years Sony has very successfully eroded their current console market share.  Because of this, China is both the Wild Wild West, and the land of opportunity.   With over 1.3 billion people already using knock off or pirated  Microsoft products ripe to be monetized and a market that is opening up to consoles for the first time in 14 years, it seems like the perfect opportunity to do more of the same; use the Xbox brand to sell the Microsoft brand, use the Microsoft brand to make money.  Given a head start of over a year, a contract with one of the most respected companies and China, and the fact that both major console competitors are Japanese** Microsoft looks like they are in an incredibly strong position to capture the market and it’s hard to say why we shouldn't take note of that.  After all, there are more gamers in China then there are PEOPLE in the USA, and that has to mean China will have a huge impact on the market moving forward.  Doesn't it?

What games?

There might be more gamers in China than anywhere else, but there is also a uniquely Chinese infrastructure at play.  The ban on consoles isn't doing anything to free up the ban on anything we here in the west would consider “a game”.  We all know by now that video games in China can’t have violence or drug use, but we often forget they (as well as all media in China) can’t feature ideologies that are not pro-china, can’t mention world events, can’t talk about themes that involve questioning the government, can’t mention religions other then Buddhism and Taoism*** ... and that’s just the big stuff.  Any published media needs to get by an “ethics” review, and that’s where things get subjective and subtle.  Maybe the map screen shows lines around Tibet.  Maybe you mention a date where something bad happened, and that needs to be changed.  Who knows.  Localization is a non-negotiable that you have no control over, and it’s obtusely corrupt to boot.   The games people play in China, therefore, are mostly casual and simple games on mobile platforms they already own.  Social games, like our “Second Life” are the most popular, as they allow people to interact from home in a society where going outside has heath risks, and personal interaction is riddled with class, ethnic, and  social stigma.  The idea that Microsoft is going to make money developing and selling traditional games is laughable, and predictably that’s not at all what they are looking to do.

Instead, they spent over a year working on content distribution and hosting agreements with one of China’s largest media outlets ... and that’s a big deal.  This will allow them to play on China's national and brand loyalty while taking a cut of everything that gets sold on their platform.  They will work on releasing casual MMOs, while repurposing games like Peggle to appeal to this market.  And while this isn't a core area of Microsoft’s focus, it’s important to note that by breaking down the huge barriers of entry to the China’s market as a publisher, they could easily set themselves up to be the  go-to console for indie and small developers looking for a breakout hit.  In addition, this puts them in a position to negotiate distribution of TV, Movie and Music to over a billion people for thousands of publishers who would otherwise be unable to get a foot in China’s door.  This could very well give them enormous power when it comes to distribution contracts in other markets.  But what’s that mean for the Xbox owner here in the West?

Number, numbers everywhere.

Any other year, any other console generation, this would seem far less important.  But with fanboy devotion at an all time high, news sites posting “click bate” to drive comments and traffic, and information and sales figures being tracked and published at an unprecedented rate, this story is perfect to fuel the flames of the “console wars”.  Let’s not beat around the bush; it has an effect on a landscape people really seem to care about.  If you look at the plan, for all effective purposes the Xbox One has overtaken the global sales title from PlayStation 4, as they have already signed an agreement to “sell to” 5 million consoles.  If you’re a Sony fanboy who has spent the last 4 months defining your worth as a person based on the sales gaps between the systems, I can see where this might be a problem.  If you’re an Xbox One fan boy waiting for a chance to “pounce” on your enemy, I can see why you would care.  The obvious rebuttal is that the sales don’t count until the system launches, or that “sell though” is all that matters, but I have some good (or bad) news for you.  First, your fanaticism is not based in reality, so you never have to worry about FACTS.  Second ... China's sales numbers are completely meaningless.  They won’t affect Xbox’s ability to lure developers to Xbox One, and won’t result in Xbox One getting any new games (and why else would sales figures matter?)

If you look at everything I've been talking about to this point, it seems very clear that what Microsoft is doing is trying to make the Xbox One the best possible tool for developers and publishers who were ALREADY interested in the Chinese market.  Microsoft has paid off the right people on the ethics committee and already has a deal for distribution, so if you are planning on making a game for China putting it on Xbox One can save you a world of hurt.  But we would have gotten these games anyways, and they wont spend any more money on development just because the craps shot that is China now has slightly better odds.  At the same time, any new game made for China to take advantage of the console itself will need to be so “Chinese” that it’s not going to be ported to the west ... “Super Chairman’s Communist adventures” tested poorly in the US market. The only way we would see a port is if the game had a big enough budget to support localization, which simply wont happen any time soon.   Given how fickle China’s government is no one is going to invest in an AAA game, because what happens when the ethics committee pulls the plug because Xi Jinping decides he doesn't like the color blue any more and it can't appear in media?

The Final Word

The Xbox One in China  is already a winner for Microsoft.  Even if it crashes and burns, the money was well spent in creating distribution partners and brand awareness in this very difficult space.  But win, lose, fail, success ... the opening of the Chinese console market is not going to have any impact on gamers outside of China for a long time.  There is nothing to see here, and we should all move along.

Did I miss anything?  What do YOU think about the Xbox One coming to China?  Let me know in the comments below!

*The Dreamcast used a optimized version of Windows CE which was fully Div X compatible.  It took over two years to develop, and this was a large factor in both the huge development cost of the system and it’s high sticker price, which ultimately lead to its downfall.

**Anti Japanese sentiment in China can’t be overstated.  Protests and rallies in support of rejecting everything Japanese still happen to this day, when you think they would have bigger problems to worry about.

***This is a resent change, and like all things China, hard to make a definitive statement about.  While China’s leadership is STRICTLY an atheist organisation they recognize religion as a strong pillar of a functioning society and have allowed the practice of the two religions mentioned, as well as Islam, Christianity, and Protestantism.  Actions by Xi Jinping starting in 2012 seem to be eliminating these 3 religions in favor of the “traditional” values of Buddhism and Taoism.