This is said well here if you wait out the opening remarks: (time to watch only 2m)
Consider also below for perspective in differentiating the approaches between Sony and M/s. Not wanting to stoke and sputter but it's put poignantly, IMO:
For the tweet part, M$ is buying IP's/studios that are guaranteed to deliver big $$ for them, while giving them tons of more consistent content on Gamepass. I personally don't love Gamepass, for the same reasons I don't love Netflix, I don't feel ownership. Lots of titles leave too. I like to bounce around games, so if I were to pay for a subscription, it's nice to know I can take my time with more titles.
Colin is on the money though with homegrown studios. It's not a strong suit for Xbox, regardless of examples to the contrary (Forza, Bungie Halo, Gears etc..)
People like to shit on Halo, and 343 deserves a lot of criticism. I don't know who was responsible for their outsourcing so much work, but you can feel how disjointed the game can feel (campaign). I personally love it, however, as the gameplay is amazing, and I'm enjoying the story, especially the lore behind the Ring, but it feels like a couple of games mashed into one. It's fun to have different objectives on the ring and get rewards for exploration, but there is no impact to the story overall, it's just busy work. I'm not quite finished it yet, so i'll reserve final judgment.
Phil Spencer seems to have the right vision though. If he and the suits can let dev teams create, and just be a guiding hand towards completion without too much oversight, while giving them financial security, then maybe we won't see a repeat of what happened to franchises like Fable. Xbox is a far different company than it was 7 years ago, so I'm optimistic they'll help their teams bring out some gems, rather than force them to deliver mediocre cash grabs. Having Gamepass as a constant revenue stream will let them take losses on more experimental titles. Having M$ as the ultimate financial backer gives the company plenty of breathing room too.
Ultimately, Xbox gobbling up so many studios is a bad thing for the Industry. As much as I hate EA, and Take Two, I don't want anyone owning them and restricting beloved cross-plat IP's. Having one monolith overseer is never a good thing. There are so many red flags already. Spencer wanting to ban players across platforms for "bad behaviour". Their woke insertion into word is a joke. Are people going to start getting banned because they don't want to use insane pronouns? I'm sure it won't be that bad, but giving one entity so much power is never works out better than a more decentralized approach.
One of the beauties of this industry is the low barrier to entry. Should things go south at Xbox, there are many viable ways for developers to form independent ventures. One of the games I'm most excited to see is Wayward Realms, made up of former Bethesda/Daggerall creatives.
Sony is going to be fine so long as their studios continue delivering high quality games. I'd much rather have quality over quantity. I'm sure this will encourage them to do even better, and bring more titles to PC. They have to be loving their sales on Steam alone. Where's my fucking Bloodborne PC idiots!!
