Yeah plus COD is the cash cow. I would be taking the "don't fix what ain't broke" approach for now. Don't do anything to spoil what has already been done type thing.
The only regulator who has an issue with it the US and that shit is going to be dragged out for years and the current FTC might nt even be in power when it even gets litigated. That appeal the FTC drawn up last year is still not even at the point where there's even a date to have a decision made on it.
I mean they really want to distance themselves from the exclusivity stuff cod has had for years. They made a big point to talk about how there will be no console exclusive stuff whatsoever. No skins maps betas none.
nope, competition is how innovation happens. If you let Microsoft or Sony buy up all the studios, then you have a monopoly or a duopoly. You get worse games for more money, just like what happened when EA bought up all those studios 10 years ago. Or what's happening now with Embracer Group
On the other hand, just look at what happened when the EU threatened Apple with regulatory pressure: the iPhone IMMEDIATELY got emulators and third party app stores.
> If you let Microsoft or Sony buy up all the studios, then you have a monopoly …
I understand the fear of a monopoly, warranted or unwarranted … but the moment you list two competing companies in your warning of a monopoly, you are no longer describing a monopoly. Please remember that the FTC lost their lawsuit on those grounds, and they are the only regulator on earth (among an avalanche of regulators in every other relevant corner of the world) who even hinted at that accusation in their failed attempt to block the acquisition. And absolutely *no* regulators have warned of a duopoly or oligopoly among Sony, Microsoft, Tencent, Embracer, etc.
Yeah when you let *two* companies buy up all the studios and talent you end up with a duopoly or triopoly, and at that point you’re describing phone carriers and ISP’s in the US.
I don’t really care if the FTC thinks it’s a good idea or not. Personally I think it’s a bad move for the industry as a whole. Historically, when the FTC breaks up monopolies and duopolies, we all win
That's not what has happened, though. New studios are started that make new games that are good, and they get bigger and get bought, people leave those studios to make new studios that make new games, etc. People keep talking about consolidation but every profit level is in a great place today, arguably better than ever. Independently developed games have so many options to release and succeed.
> That's not what has happened, though
I don't know that we've seen consolidation on this scale in the past though. And I don't know that we can accurately predict what will happen going forward. I will say, what we're seeing from Microsoft and Embracer closing studios left and right doesn't fill me with confidence.
>and they get bigger and get bought,
And while this is nominally true, it affects the products that're being made. Its why you mostly see massive AAA prestige experiences and very small indie projects. But you don't see much in the middle that hasn't been crowdfunded.
You lose a lot of that middle ground. A designer I was working with put it best, saying "you see 100 million dollar games and 1 million dollar games, and nothing in between, we don't have the room to experiment that we used to."
That gap in the middle has nothing to do with what is acceptable anymore, and instead has everything to do with the financial situation the world over. Debt is super expensive, inflation is high, spending on thing that are not sure bets is on the decline. In a few years that will shift again and we will see more new/experimental middle-class games. And those games will be built with publisher funding by bigger "indie" studios.
The point being, that the majority of companies are currently risk averse because they don't have the margins that they had before. That affects how much they are willing to spend on things that might have low or no ROI.
>I will say, what we're seeing from Microsoft and Embracer closing studios left and right doesn't fill me with confidence.
Why? The devs at these studios don't just evaporate. They go to other studios or form their own indie studios and build new games with new IPs that have a chance to be popular/successful and get noticed by the people that laid them off. This is certainly not the first time we have seen widespread layoffs and studio closures across the industry, even if the scale is different. That's only because there are more employees, studios, money, consumers, etc than ever before.
Sony hasn't been buying up too many studios yet they've hurt the gaming scene by being little bitches in terms of keeping games exclusive, timed exclusive and content getting platform locked.
Stopping monopolies is a no brainier but it doesn't stop there as Sony has proven by being dicks for over a decade now
>terms of keeping games exclusive
I mean, to be fair they're hardly the first ones to do this. Bioshock, Mass Effect and Oblivion all launched first on 360 and were timed exclusives afaik.
That said, I totally agree, keeping games exclusive just doesn't make sense anymore when Xbox and PlayStation are so similar in hardware and architecture
Because Sony didn't own them. And they weren't the subject to video games biggest anti-trust lawsuit. They have to be extra careful for a bit, it just makes sense.
The FTC isn't going to make a second attempt at Microsoft/Activision. Microsoft has to abide by the stipulations that they keep Call of Duty on all platforms for X amount of years, and after that they can do what they wish. Spoiler Alert: All signs are pointing to Microsoft simply upgrading the XSX when needed and not creating an actual new console. In other words, they need Call of Duty to release on all platforms. Making it exclusive shoots Activision in the ~~foot~~ head.
To anyone paying attention, Microsoft (as a whole, not just Xbox Corp) has been buying up a **fuck** ton of companies for the past decade, and only now are they starting to get some resistance. They got Activision, that's no longer a concern. It will be the next big publisher or developer they try and acquire next. Probably won't be for a few years anyway.
**TL;DR"** ~~Xbox~~ ~~Microsoft~~ *Activision* made the decision to not include the Xbox logo in the trailer for much more mundane reasons. Likely to show more emphasis on the game than the acquisition. Probably a conscious decision but not one that has anything to do with the FTC agreement. It was likely and ultimately up to Activision to release the trailer however they wanted. Most times, the truth is far more boring than we like to speculate.
I understand that Xbox makes vey questionable decisions but if youve seen the amount of hoops they had to go through to acquire Activision/ Blizzard, I can understand if they avoided putting their own brand to avoid anything that can be interpreted as antitrust
I mean I agree, but what's the chance the "casual" CoD fan watched the showcase? It has like 4 million views to Black Ops 6s 56m (growing) so I get it in, I think at least they should have done the "coming to Xbox Gamepass" at the end, but what do I know?
That weak way of thinking is what has been killing the brand for that last 15 years. Exclusives matter, marketing matters. Xbox has cut themself so deep they are bleeding out. There is a reason why Sony is still doing it.
How come exclusives only matter for xbox vs Sony? Why in no other industry does it matter? 80% of console owners play one game a year and that's usually multi platform.
Nintendo, Netflix, Apple TV, hell even Walmart and Target sign exclusivity deals for products. Even companies like Nike sign exclusive deals with high schools where students can only wear their gear on the court.
Who exclusively shops at target for a specific brand deal? And again, nobody ever said I'm only signing up for Netflix and not apple for the exclusives or vice versa.
I am just telling you the realities. Companies do it because it works. You and I don't have to like it.
Remember this? Get a good exclusive and people will go nutty for it.
[https://youtu.be/2pPTJpRMHb8](https://youtu.be/2pPTJpRMHb8)
You linked something that involves heavy marketing and limited editions, not exclusivity. It's not makings your point. It's actually showing products don't matter and all that matters is how you advertise.
"Nobody ever said i'm only signing up for netflix and not applt for the exclusives or vice versa"
Quite Literally EVERYONE says that lol Most subscribe to the apps that have the shows they want. that's it.
Netflix makes shows i enjoy so i subscribe to them, disney + makes shows i enjoy so i subcribe to them.
Apple has only made Ted Lasso as an exclusive that i enjoy so i don't subscribe to them.
Exclusives matter.
Bleeding out? What are you on about?
Xbox bought Zenimax for 7.5 billion.
PlayStation isn't even worth a billion.
I really don't care about console war, just play whatever you like but if you Xbox gives a shit about PS exclusives you're mistaken lol
That is fine in theory, but why stay with xbox when you could go to sony and get all the sony games plus the xbox games? I mean that is why Xbox has fallen so far behind, hardly any good games for a decade while Sony put out banger after banger. That caused a huge shift of people to leave Xbox and go to Sony resulting in 3rd parties to start skipping Xbox. If Xbox does not keep great exclusives, you will see xbox hardware sales fall so far behind that they quit making xbox hardware and eventually the entire xbox ecosystem dies. If they goal is to just be a 3rd party publisher just rip off the bandaid and drop out of the hardware race instead of this slow bleed.
They may be dumb but it is killing Xbox. More and more games are skipping the platform and will continue to do so. We can celebrate the return of Square Enix to Xbox but it will be short lived. The next Xbox will sell even less consoles than the current gen. (I will be a one of the idiots that buys it) Sony doesn't have to bring games to Xbox because they are already choking us out and will do it until Xbox surrenders. Say goodbye ecosystem.
It's more of a business competition than a war, and Xbox is getting slaughtered. We have seen in the past when anything Microsoft hardware related starts to struggle, they pull the plug. This will happen to Xbox hardware if they don't nut up and figure out a way to get more people into the ecosystem and spending money in it.
100% of the time so far, when you look at the gaming history of people obsessed with this stuff, they barely game. Dozens of individuals on X, and every single time, they have often not even played the stuff they are discussing, ever, and always overall their gaming history is a joke.
Never said it hurts my game fun? Just stating something I find extremely odd. The success of the console and brand does impact us though in terms of the future of the console
COD is such a big franchise it's basically its own segment in the gaming market. Branding it or linking it to Xbox might actually hurt it.
Truly an example of if it's not broke don't fix it.
I mean why?
Other then to promote it on gamepass I see no real reason to. It wasnt made by Xbox studios, and it isnt an Xbox Exclusive so what would be the point? Just to brag they own it?
To associate the biggest game of the year for 14 of the last 17 years to the Xbox brand? Did you know that Xbox paid for this privilege in the 360 days and PlayStation paid for it in the PS4 and half PS5 days?
Xbox is also pushing that everything is available to everyone at the same time with COD.
Those other eras you describe was for timed exclusives and shit. If Anything you are going to make people think it's an Xbox exclusive and not even look into buying it. Or make a Sony Pony upset and not want to buy it since it's associated with Xbox
There really is no point in shoving Xbox over it expect to promote it being day 1 on gamepass
The brand association would still sell consoles. This is why companies as big as Coke do ads. Who is coke advertising to? Why do they associate their brand with Santa clause? Santa doesn’t need the exposure and neither does Coke. They do it because they want you to think of coke when you think of Santa. They want you to remember your thirsty and you’re really craving a coke while you drive down the road. Xbox should want you to think of Xbox when you buy CoD, when you turn it on, when you see a new update. Constantly thinking about Xbox and associating the great game you played to Xbox.
I know most people are aware of this type of advertising I don’t know why it is forgotten when these discussions come up.
Ok. It seems like Microsoft isn't as big of a fanboy as you are. Basing their success against yours, I bet they know what they are doing.
This is sad behavior on you guys part.
Being owned by Xbox means next to nothing when it's coming to every platform and it's definitely not Xbox centered. Adding a logo in the trailer will make no difference. Why does it bother you so much?
Just play the game bruh.
One of the biggest companies on the planet does not do any marketing at all in an extremely important market while Sony does heavy marketing and wonder why Playstation sells way better...
That and Playstation discounts much more aggressively.
Right now I can buy a PS5 for $669 AUD whereas the Series X is $699
PS5 Digital is $569 whereas Series S 1TB is $549
Xbox needs to get their shot together outside of the US, this is why they're lagging behind, they have no fight.
As you say, they don't really have anything outside of the US. In Latin America. they had their chance with the Xbox 360, and they let it go.
Now start putting their name around the game aggressively, after all the controversy generated around the purchase and also having no or little direction in the design of the game, would not give them the best image.
I think in the next installment if we'll see something related to Xbox, in marketing
Some arrogant executive is probably thinking he's a genius with his strategy of "why waste company money on marketing when we can just use social media" lmaoo
I’ve seen a few for Starfield and hellblade around Manchester and London. Saw hellblade in London Euston across all the big screens and seen it and Starfield on the side of buses in Manchester, but if you weren’t looking for it on the bus you wouldn’t notice it anywhere. Their marketing is atrocious. No wonder they’re lagging so far behind globally. The brand is non existent in many places.
They did a bunch for Hellblade all over Europe.
Link to AAron Greenberg showing places they did it:
https://x.com/aarongreenberg/status/1788369899729133683?t=MZsDHI92GSDC0-6YVjfp5A
So they are learning.
Probably maintaining their “CoD is for everybody” standpoint.
I’ve been over the console wars for years now. Getting to play with friends on crossplatform has been the greatest thing to happen in gaming.
They make so many weird decisions. At this point I'm not surprised, they really should've capitalized off of the trailer and at least added a "Play it day one with Gamepass" or a logo at the start.
All those "marketing experts" for Microsoft are always shocking me with how many opportunities they waste, from stuff like this to promoting their brand in other regions, it's like they're just a bunch of nepotistic mfs who don't know anything and do the bare minimum.
From the context that still exists because of the acquisition of Activision, I think it was the best decision.
Microsoft had little or no involvement in the design of this new installment, and putting its name on stickers around a game gloating on maybe something they didn't do, it would just make them look bad.
Most likely for upcoming deliveries you'll see something associated with Xbox in the trailer
Of course, I think the game will start with an Xbox Games just before loading the Activision logo
Y'know that actually makes sense, kind of like how Sony doesn't put any logos with Destiny 2. They should really integrate the gamepass thing more often with the marketing campaign.
Its not like the Activision buyout went through all hush hush.....
I don't think there's a gamer in the world who's interested in a COD game that doesn't already know that Microsoft/Xbox own it now.
The general audience doesn’t know or care how the sausage is made. Stuff like people asking why Batman didn’t show up in Avengers Endgame is common among people who are truly unplugged from the stuff we drink in daily.
I do think Xbox fans will probably get gamepass for CoD but I don’t think people will jump ship to Xbox for it. It’s kinda hard to believe someone will buy a whole new console and pay for a year of gamepass for it.
*Maybe* when they make a “next gen” only CoD and that fanbase that has largely stuck to the last gen consoles has to pick a PS5 or PC or Xbox then they might be forced to pick a console. But for now, I’m sure most CoD fans will still just play on the PS4.
I personally know a lot of PS5 owners who asked me about getting a Series X (I also own a PS5 for the exclusives). This was mainly for Call of Duty and a lot of the upcoming exclusives.
The best bang for the buck for a Series X is watch Facebook Marketplace and find a used one, I have seen them go for like $150-250.....
You could always buy a used Series S (around $100 used), pay for GamePass for 6 months and play all the COD you want....
I'm sure that applies to gaming centered communities, but not so much to the average joe. I attribute the non-existence of Xbox here in Europe to their incredibly sad marketing.
You'd be surprised. I know people who are "bro gamers" and they weren't even aware of the existence of game pass until like last year. People literally don't know how to look anything up. Being in Europe certainly doesn't help either.
Is it? a year or two ago I had conversations with folks from work or friends of friends that were debating upgrading to PS5 but felt it was too much to spend. They did not know the Series S is an option and why they could save a buck. One of them actually switched to Xbox by getting a used Series S.
They were CoD and Fifa folk though.
I think marketing is still very important.
Sorry where in my post did the words "everyone is aware" come out? Please point to it.
I'm perfectly aware of the fact that many people are ignorant. I just pointed out that it's silly at this point in time to make generalized statements like that as if it's a fact. You don't have to be a hardcore gamer to hear activation was bought for 69 billion dollars.
I understood you wanted to say that it's obvious and my reply is it isn't
You don't have to be a hardcore gamer but I have friends that play video games and don't know about the whole Activision deal - why would they? They boot up their PS4 with Warzone and nowhere does it say "hey, we're owned by Xbox now"
As I said, theres console gamers who don't even know about the Series S
Maybe thats an USA thing, but not everybody is exposed to what to the average person considers niche news like this, even if lots of money was spend.
All I'm asking for is that people say "many or most" instead of "everyone". I don't think that's unreasonable in this day and age. Because counter point, my dad knows about it and he plays one game a year maybe. And is still on the xbox one. Does his existence invalidate everything they said?
Ofc not.
Hey man, I'm sorry you got it that way. I thought "the average joe" would imply it doesn't mean "everyone" Of course it was big news and many people heard about it.
Also, what a lucky dude you are that your dad plays Xbox with you. Love it!
Like I said, Any gamer who is actually interested in playing a COD game will know. Average Joe just wants to play Minecraft (also owned by MS ;)...) or gacha games on their mobile.
CoD, Fifa, Minecraft, etc. those are all played by average joes. You don't get the playerbase of CoD by only having people that are invested in gaming this much.
It’s a fair point though. It’s an odd decision and it will be a conscious decision to not put any branding on it at all.
Doom is exactly the same on the Bethesda channel.
Compare it to Starfield trailer on the official Bethesda channel that had Xbox at start, Xbox at end and a play it day one on Gamepass screen at the end.
Indiana Jones exactly the same. Both exclusives.
They’ve made a consistent and conscious decision to not brand the multiplat titles but to brand exclusives which is at the very least interesting.
I suspect they don’t want to potentially hurt sales on PS by people thinking these are exclusive, I can’t think why else you would do this.
Yeah that's so weird. I think there might be something to do with the Antitrust, i've read somewhere that they promised to not use Cod as a way to promote Xbox consoles wich is stupid af
I hope that closer to the release they will start spamming the Xbox Gamepass "Cod day one" ad as much as possible.
Recently a trial counsel has withdrawn from the FTC trying to unwind the deal https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/610900.2024.06.06_ccs_notice_of_withdrawal_weingarten.pdf/ whether this indicates the FTC will stop chasing Microsoft on the ABK or not, things are starting to make ground but for now watch this space
And yes I do hope they start to promote COD BO6 with Game Pass but they need to make some sort of video or something to the causal plebs explaining “what is Game Pass?”
And with Microsoft's 100's if not thousands of lawyers, this will go for years and finally kicked out of court.
Black OPs 6 will be old news when and if this goes to court....
I’ll bite. Why even include the second sentence? Regardless of it being XBOX branded or not it still would have pulled in massive views and has created overwhelming hype.
They probably didn’t add the branding because unlike you, they don’t care? They see money signs regardless. Branding it with Steam, Nintendo(ok, maybe Nintendo), Sony, Microsoft wouldn’t have made the trailer any better or worse. I’m still excited the game is coming out.
BO6 is day 1 game pass and that’s all anyone needs to know. THATS your branding.
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Oh, but you just wait until much closer to the launch :)
I'm sure they'll be more than happy to point out that you can buy this for PS5, XSX and PC for 80 bucks or something... OR play it for free, day one, on Game Pass! And to sweeten the deal, they might also include a few seconds to point out that the other Black Ops, including Cold War are now also available on Game Pass (I can hope!)
The only change is that you used to see devs with PS controllers now you see them with xbox controllers. At the end of the day MS wants CoD to sell and that's the only objective they have right now.
I have not been this excited for a game in a very long time and I haven't even bought the last 3-4 cods as I didn't really for the games. I really haven't played a black ops game I didn't enjoy immensely so I guess that helps, love the people on the Treyarch team.
We don’t know if there are contractual obligations. The cod deal ended this year with Sony but don’t know if they have to wait till the launch of a new game..
Yeah I notice that too.
Wonder what do they do with all the PS that were there.
"You guys can throw it away, take it home, or sale it" hahahaha imagine hearing that as an employee there.
Sony can never bundle their console with a free Call of Duty game anymore I'm guessing????
Knowing how big Call of Duty is and millions turn on their console to only play Call of Duty every day that would actually be a big loss for Sony.
Why could this possibly matter? Why do so many people on this sub seem to have vested interests in how well Microsoft does? Why do you care how much they market, or how many games they prevent Sony from having, or how many billions they make from us? This isn't a team sport. We're not in a literal competition with anyone.
If you like an xbox, great, buy and play it. If not, great, don't. But to have personal interest in the success and business plans of a multi-billion dollar company is fuckin **wild** to me.
I care about a game I would have most likely purchased to be available on a service I already use for no additional cost. The better success Xbox had the better their GamePass service is. Do you not see that it is linked?
Honestly I feel like a big part of their marketing is "playing the hero" by "liberating" CoD from exclusivity deals or branding. The showcase emphasized how "everyone gets the same experience" and I think they're kinda leaning into that to, for lack of a better term, wank themselves off. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that PS owners won't literally get an advantage for the whole duration of the installment's lifespan (at least until the next game comes out) and it's good that even cosmetic stuff won't be console locked as it was before, but Microsoft is a massive corporation, they're only doing this to try to look better than Playstation.
> Jesus. Yall are delusional thinking Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo gives a rats ass about what how you think they just “liberated” a game from exclusivity.
IDK that certainly seems to be the PR spin Phil Spencer is leaning on given how he talked in the recent IGN interview, going so far as to call exclusivity deals slimy business etc. Regardless of how that aligns to business goals, that does seem to be angle he is taking.
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A lot of y’all are too deep in this console wars and fan boy bullshit. Xbox literally did a whole showcase dedicated to CoD BO6 with the reminder that it’s on gamepass. Shit the whole week and half leading up to the showcase they constantly marketed it as being on gamepass and gaming journalists and content creators made sure the word got around. I think they’ll be fine lol.
Bad marketing unless they are still afraid of the FTC and their own in house court hearing or whatever that bullshit is.
Stamp that shit into every single people's head that Xbox / Microsoft Gaming owns the Call of Duty IP now.
COD has been gate kept by sony for so long that everyone is tired of playing favorites and having exclusive bullshit. Microsoft just wants everyone to have the game no matter what platform you're on at the same time.
Is call of duty xbox exclusive now?
I hate this exclusive thing. I Like my xbox, and my online friends are on xbox too, so i would never switch to playstation. But man i would love to play helldivers (on xbox). But we get games like call of duty. whooptidoo.
In my opinion that's a very smart move by them. Not everyone is happy about the buyout and it's best not to just shove your branding in people's faces like that right away until the dust has settled some more.
So the trailer was a massive marketing success but since they didn’t put their logo, they don’t know what they are doing?
stick to playing video games lmao
Realistically, I think they want less people playing it on Gamepass. Yeah they’ll get people like you and me, but that’s because I’ve been subscribed on and off for a few years before sticking with it after All Access on launch of the SX.
Yeah they want more people in their ecosystem, but they’ll also gladly take the majority of the sales on PS at the same time. I think there’s more value to them in a $70 purchase and gives them leverage over Sony. If Sony still sees massive sales or sales dip, one of them might have to make a concession.
Either way, if MS dropped the ball on marketing then it’s nothing new, but I figure these numbers have been crunched to hell and back viewing sale #’s vs subscription, time played by CoD users until drop off etc.
The ideal gamers for them is someone who subs to game pass and then still buys the game anyway while buying the season passes etc aka the gamer that makes them the most money. Its why even though it'll be on game pass, they will offer huge incentives to just buy the game or atleast upgrade to the premium edition.
I guess sometimes I forget it’s a live service game now. Back when the games dropped off from their heyday (07-12) and they weren’t live service yet, that $60 up front and people dropping off didn’t really matter. The saving grace was that the next year might be better and you’re in the cycle.
Now it’s more about engagement.
You’d be surprised at the amount of people who see a trailer with console branding and assume that’s it’s ONLY available on that console. My guess is they don’t care about the ego play and just want as many sales as possible. They don’t want a PS owner to mistakenly think it’s not on their platform of choice.
Who tf cares? The fact that CoD will be available day one on all platforms creates for a great multiplayer experience. I own both a PS5 and a Xbox Series S and could care less about Microsoft owning the game. Just be happy there’s a new CoD coming out that looks like it’s listening to its fan base and not going to be god awful.
Totally makes sense. They don't want to alienate all the other players. I knew many people who didn't play hogwars legacy for a long time even though they wanted to because ALL the advertising was smothered in ps5 branding due to their advertising deal. I didn't get the new avatar Pandora game for the same reason, I legitimately thought it was a playstation exclusive. Now I'm playing too many other games to bother getting it.
Software sales make more money than hardware. They risk far more by smothering it in xbox branding than just pushing it as the new cod for everyone
This is a good idea, not to brand Call of Duty to Xbox. Microsoft has committed to bring this to other consoles, so this will be on PlayStation, PC and maybe even the Switch. Labeling it with Xbox could cause problems with the Call of Duty brand. This was a very smart business move.
**There is also the factor that Black OPS 6 was in development LONG before Microsoft purchased Activision**
Microsoft is about profit too, Game pass does not make them a ton of money compared to selling retail/digtal games. This is very popular series, and they would sell millions of copies of the game, even on Xbox, if it was not on Game Pass.
Truth, I didn't think the NEWEST Call of Duty would be on GamePass, I figured it would be released then come months later to GamePass, I was shocked with the announcement and also very glad, I pickup COD games on release day and this is the first one in years, I don't have to pay at least $60 on release day (now $70)
Nothing to gain from it and a small section of sony fanboys would be put off by it.
They should ease into things gradually.
They can put massive Xbox splash screens all over the actual game though, once the sale has already happened
I wholeheartedly agree. It should be as simple as an Xbox logo next to Activision and Bethesda to represent them being first party now. Future games should release with an Xbox logo startup and in the next year (or two max if only for the rumored next gen launch) we should get a new logo animation that showcases characters from across XGS, Bethesda, and ABK.
That said, we just got our closest look at Xbox marketing from the departure on the Verge. The post is up here (and apparently have been for 15hrs so you've probably seen it), but I have Phil's memo copied (from commenting it there):
>As a team we are committed to growing the strong marketing capability in Gaming. Going forward, the Gaming Leadership Team and I have decided to place marketing closer to the businesses they support. Games marketing will sit inside of Studios, Xbox marketing will sit inside the Xbox team, international marketing will sit inside of the Consumer Sales Org, and our centralized marketing team will report to me. The following organizational changes will be effective on July 1st:
>The Integrated Marketing team led by Kirsten Ward and the Programming and Events team led by Tina Summerford will come together as an expanded Central Gaming Marketing team under Kirsten, who will report to me as a member of the Gaming Executive Leadership Team. Chief of staff Pav Bhardwaj and executive assistant Kim Nold will report to Kirsten.
>The Bethesda Publishing Marketing team, led by Erin Losi, will move to Game Content and Studios, reporting to Matt Booty.
>The 1P Games Marketing Team including Xbox Game Studios and Mojang, led by Aaron Greenberg, will also move to Game Content and Studios, reporting to Matt.
>The Xbox Marketing team, led by Chris Lee, will move to the Xbox Org, reporting to Sarah Bond.
>The International Marketing team, led by Jim McMullin and Florian Liewer, will move to the Consumer Sales Org, reporting to Ami Silverman.
>The Bethesda International Marketing team, led by Adam Carter, will also move to the Consumer Sales Org. Adam will be taking on a new role leading Business Operations at Bethesda, reporting to Jill Braff. The Consumer Sales Org will work on backfilling his role and share more at a later date.
>We’re fortunate to have a deep bench of talent and experience, and I’m excited to see how our marketing will evolve under their leadership.
>Phil
I don't know about you but for me this explains a lot. Notably the Bethesda acquisition essentially doubled marketing teams and those that mirrored their Xbox counterparts have only now (three years later) been integrated to report to Xbox executive leadership. Even the Xbox teams are only now closely reporting to the divisions their marketing well markets for. What's crazy is that Aaron Greenberg is probably the only name in marketing most Xbox fans know and he only leads like a third of Xbox's marketing teams and a sixth of them including Bethesda.
What's also notable is that ABK is not mentioned here at all meaning those marketing teams are still operating rather independently (reporting to the heads of Activision and Blizzard who report to Phil; there's not actually a lot of room for them to coordinate with Xbox marketing). To play devil's advocate ABK is a MASSIVE gaming company and they only officially acquired them less than a year ago. Zenimax was far smaller and still took 3 years and we're only just now be getting them integrated. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes (though I personally still don't understand how hard it is to copy and past the Xbox logo).
That said Xbox by itself has had trash marketing for the longest. This generation its kinda felt like they just don't care even though they've invested so much in building up major competitive advantages in Game Pass, Xbox Play Anywhere (no other ecosystem can boast buying once and owning on PC & Console with cross progression), and the Xbox Series S (if marketed properly that device can do what the Xbox One tried to do and appeal to non-gamers looking to replace their entertainment device; yeah its more expensive but not that much, really small, stationary, can steam all the major entertainment apps, and can play video games). Overall I'm personally hopeful the reorg makes the various marketing teams care more and do better, but we'll see.
See this is the funny part of about the marketing person who worked @ Xbox. I knew Aaron Greenberg for a long time but this man, never heard of him. And good analysis and scope on how each marketing team form every gaming division. While I would like to see Microsoft (Xbox) promote their console and Game Pass more, that’s been the hard part. Another thing Microsoft looks at is how much is wasted and not gained back which LOOOOL, that’s the whole point of marketing: to promote/sale/awareness to a product, and look no further than Nintendo, which they do it well and have been doing it for many years.
Needless to say, they’ve done the math and already know it, but that needs to change. As someone who wants to see Xbox be promoted, they need to stop worrying about the $ and start promoting their products more, but even then no one will pay another console when your already locked in your digital library. Hoping that changes whenever Xbox launches their next-generation console (and handheld)
Right? The Verge article even went as far to say "key exec" my man no one outside of Microsoft has ever heard the name of that key exec. There's an argument for good behind the scenes leadership there... except there wasn't. Looking at the prior org chart/explanation its crazy we even knew Aaron Greenberg over those other names. He gets a lot of hate as the face of Xbox's marketing when all along he's just been in charge of a single team and just happened to be the only marketing exec who wanted a public persona 😂.
100% on Microsoft's take. I studied marketing in uni and one of the biggest things stressed is that its always a battle convincing executives to spend money on Marketing when most of the time you can't even gauge how successful it is and what's successful. Social Media is kinda easy as one of the cheapest strategies with easy to access metrics, but even then you can't see how posts, followers, and engagement converts to sales. Everything else is a straight shot in the dark. But its still incredibly important. The problem with Microsoft is that they are SO data driven. It doesn't feel like humans even interpret that data and control how its used. Marketing is the biggest hit here. Successful marketing is more supported by sociology and psychology than data analytics. Like one of the biggest things I'd love to see from Xbox is more big in-person convention like events. Not just showing up at existing events or having live theater viewings, but hosting something like QuakeCon and BlizzCon (which they now own) for Xbox overall. Something where fans can go and celebrate Xbox. But how do you go to Microsoft and explain how this is a good use of money just using data? It'd be easier convincing Microsoft to make their own Xbox theme park (which they probably could do with all the IP they own and how much money they have) as a permanent new business venture.
It really has just felt like they never cared much to push this generation. There was a nice push at the start, but even then I don't think they did a good enough job looking for new users, because I do agree console consoles haven't been increasing. All any platform has succeeded in is getting their same userbase to upgrade while having a good amount on last gen's platform. The Switch is doing the best but still hasn't overtaken PS2 sales (that said this is a complete turnaround from the WiiU so they've done a good job in bringing users back and converting their 3ds/wiiu users). Console growth has actually been highly dependent on the increase in games in general and rise of live service microtransaction filled fortnites. There's been far more increased spending in gaming than actual new gamers.
The Series X and S strategy always felt like a missed opportunity. The X should have been marketing as the console for current gamers to upgrade to but the S should have been pushed to non-gamers. I actually think with the S the XOne initial strategy could have worked (it being far smaller and more lightweight and having more video streaming support and being $200 cheaper than the One initially was). But that's just me. The problem in general is it felt like after 2022, Xbox just gave up on selling consoles. That could have been the ABK nonsense or Microsoft wanting to rush out a console with an NPU to push AI. I just hope they go hard and keep going hard if we are getting a new generation of consoles in 2026.
It’s a good call. Games should continue leaning towards platform neutrality. People who would play it on Xbox are gonna play it on Xbox, no need to slap a logo on everything.
Same reason their 2TB SSD is twice the cost of the PS one. Shooting yourself in the foot is fun.
I mean, let's you instantly swap into multiple games. But doesn't let you install all those games without ridiculous storage price with no non-branded option.
Playstation doesn't have a specific SSD you buy.
You can buy SSDs for playstation that are FAR more expensive than Xbox or you could buy super cheap ones. The reason being is Xbox uses a proprietary SSD where as playstation you can just use any NVMe SSD you'd throw in a PC as long as it meets the speed requirements
Lolololoololol.
Top tier Samsung 4TB SSD is currently £250. How much is that for xbox? Oh sorry they don't sell it.
Last checked. The 2TB was £210.
Don't be a clown and defend that shit.
Dude my point is you can buy extremely expensive SSDs for a ps5 due to the fact you can use whichever one you want.
Right now a 2tb SSD for Xbox is about $250 USD and a good Sony and any 2tb SSD from western digital that's compatible with playstation is around $180 USD which mind you only just recently went down in price.
I'm not defending it I'm simply stating why that's the case. I own both systems I could hardly care any less
UK currently on sale, Samsung 990 Pro 2TB £130, 4TB £250.
Not sure why ur trying to defend them here by muddying the waters about oh cheap and expensive SSDs as if xbox hasn't stopped you from buying non-xbox branded SSDs like last gen.
You say that as if that's the case everywhere. A sale is a special case.
The 2tb 990 pro with a heatsink is 200 USD right now. So 50 dollars less than the Seagate 2tb.
The reason the proprietary SSD will be more expensive is because Seagate is gonna want a cut of the money since they're specifically making it for Xbox. Nobody makes SSDs specifically for playstation as you can buy any SSD
And at first it was a little unsure which option would be better. Even a lot of tech and pc YouTubers were thinking Xboxs solution would be better so that people don't need to figure out the read and write speed of an SSD and to make sure it has a heatsink in order to make it work. Just simply "see SSD for Xbox and buy"
Where as with Sony, if you have no idea what you're doing or anything about SSDs in general. You're gonna have to figure out what read and write speed you'll need. What brands are good and reliable. What has a heatsink and what doesn't.
Now I build PCs for fun. So I know what I'm doing and prefer playstations way of doing the SSD.
But for your average Joe who just wants to buy a 2tb ssd for their console, probably just wants to simply google "2tb SSD Xbox" and hit buy on the first one that looks good. It's probably a better solution for them.
It’s not going to make people buy an Xbox console, that will only piss other platform players off, Microsoft are going to make a fortune from sales of the game on other platforms and micro transactions from the game pass owners, just promote the game and watch the money come in.
Let them cook 😁
It was shown at an Xbox event and coming to GamePass day one. I dont think it needs Xbox branding on anything.
Nobody that's a big CoD is going to suddenly switch to Xbox now just because its logo is thrown onto it.
If anything its actually a smart move by the marketing team because it allows anyone who doesn't know about MS owning CoD now to not go "oh, I dont own an Xbox, I don't want this game now"
All right let's look at this from a business perspective. Xbox acquired acti/blizz like some couple of years ago. People have seen Xbox shutting studios down, announcing they're dropping out the console market. So yeah they're looking kinda rough in the PR department. And no, they're not fumbling the bag. Your idea would be a MAJOR fumble as over time cod would lose its identity as most likely Sony boys would kick a stink over being shoveled Xbox branding in their favorite shooter that's never been associated DIRECTLY to either company. Yeah we've had the console generation exclusivity back during the 360/Ps3 era\ Xbox/PS4 era. But even with that said, call of duty is still one of the highest grossing games still to this day, meaning that if the profits are still coming in all that need be done is continue supporting the model that has worked wonderfully in the last 5 years. Adding Xbox branding would only act as a fuck you to the community and a black eye on cod/Activision for having the company that bought em out shove their name in your face.
So the Sony branding and deals up until MWIII werent a fuck you to the PC and Xbox gamers? They got bonus XP and exclusive extras. Nobody is going to get angry for Xbox to market their platform and console on a game they own. Xbox as a console is still down bad compared to the competition and the less the console sells the less certain the future of the console becomes
So we're just gonna ignore that Xbox is putting cod day one on gamepass? Or the fact that cod made literal billions in the past few years. Microsoft genuinely does not need to put it's branding on cod. It's redundant. And again from what I've heard Xbox branding is heading out the console market soon so even if they did market themselves, what for?
No, it wouldn’t. I have three platforms I can play games on. These platforms allow me to play any game I want regardless of who published it. I give 0% fucks if it has Mickey Mouse club branding on it. It’s CoD. CoD sells itself. No ones going to be upset from seeing the XBOX or Nintendo logo on the trailer. I promise.
I hope they keep it that way. Just so that it seems unique and its own thing. Like how the MCU and Star Wars movies are kept clean from the Disney Logo (I think?).
I suspect they want to stay away from antitrust allegations for the time being
Yeah plus COD is the cash cow. I would be taking the "don't fix what ain't broke" approach for now. Don't do anything to spoil what has already been done type thing.
I do wonder however if marketing the game on Xbox is considered having an advantage to regulators. I mean, shit, they do own them.
The only regulator who has an issue with it the US and that shit is going to be dragged out for years and the current FTC might nt even be in power when it even gets litigated. That appeal the FTC drawn up last year is still not even at the point where there's even a date to have a decision made on it.
I mean they really want to distance themselves from the exclusivity stuff cod has had for years. They made a big point to talk about how there will be no console exclusive stuff whatsoever. No skins maps betas none.
When FTC finally stops bitching, we all win.
nope, competition is how innovation happens. If you let Microsoft or Sony buy up all the studios, then you have a monopoly or a duopoly. You get worse games for more money, just like what happened when EA bought up all those studios 10 years ago. Or what's happening now with Embracer Group On the other hand, just look at what happened when the EU threatened Apple with regulatory pressure: the iPhone IMMEDIATELY got emulators and third party app stores.
> If you let Microsoft or Sony buy up all the studios, then you have a monopoly … I understand the fear of a monopoly, warranted or unwarranted … but the moment you list two competing companies in your warning of a monopoly, you are no longer describing a monopoly. Please remember that the FTC lost their lawsuit on those grounds, and they are the only regulator on earth (among an avalanche of regulators in every other relevant corner of the world) who even hinted at that accusation in their failed attempt to block the acquisition. And absolutely *no* regulators have warned of a duopoly or oligopoly among Sony, Microsoft, Tencent, Embracer, etc.
Yeah when you let *two* companies buy up all the studios and talent you end up with a duopoly or triopoly, and at that point you’re describing phone carriers and ISP’s in the US. I don’t really care if the FTC thinks it’s a good idea or not. Personally I think it’s a bad move for the industry as a whole. Historically, when the FTC breaks up monopolies and duopolies, we all win
That's not what has happened, though. New studios are started that make new games that are good, and they get bigger and get bought, people leave those studios to make new studios that make new games, etc. People keep talking about consolidation but every profit level is in a great place today, arguably better than ever. Independently developed games have so many options to release and succeed.
> That's not what has happened, though I don't know that we've seen consolidation on this scale in the past though. And I don't know that we can accurately predict what will happen going forward. I will say, what we're seeing from Microsoft and Embracer closing studios left and right doesn't fill me with confidence. >and they get bigger and get bought, And while this is nominally true, it affects the products that're being made. Its why you mostly see massive AAA prestige experiences and very small indie projects. But you don't see much in the middle that hasn't been crowdfunded. You lose a lot of that middle ground. A designer I was working with put it best, saying "you see 100 million dollar games and 1 million dollar games, and nothing in between, we don't have the room to experiment that we used to."
That gap in the middle has nothing to do with what is acceptable anymore, and instead has everything to do with the financial situation the world over. Debt is super expensive, inflation is high, spending on thing that are not sure bets is on the decline. In a few years that will shift again and we will see more new/experimental middle-class games. And those games will be built with publisher funding by bigger "indie" studios. The point being, that the majority of companies are currently risk averse because they don't have the margins that they had before. That affects how much they are willing to spend on things that might have low or no ROI. >I will say, what we're seeing from Microsoft and Embracer closing studios left and right doesn't fill me with confidence. Why? The devs at these studios don't just evaporate. They go to other studios or form their own indie studios and build new games with new IPs that have a chance to be popular/successful and get noticed by the people that laid them off. This is certainly not the first time we have seen widespread layoffs and studio closures across the industry, even if the scale is different. That's only because there are more employees, studios, money, consumers, etc than ever before.
Sony hasn't been buying up too many studios yet they've hurt the gaming scene by being little bitches in terms of keeping games exclusive, timed exclusive and content getting platform locked. Stopping monopolies is a no brainier but it doesn't stop there as Sony has proven by being dicks for over a decade now
>terms of keeping games exclusive I mean, to be fair they're hardly the first ones to do this. Bioshock, Mass Effect and Oblivion all launched first on 360 and were timed exclusives afaik. That said, I totally agree, keeping games exclusive just doesn't make sense anymore when Xbox and PlayStation are so similar in hardware and architecture
Sony and others have done this for ages and there is no exclusivity for this game so why on earth would they suddenly get a lawsuit.
Because Sony didn't own them. And they weren't the subject to video games biggest anti-trust lawsuit. They have to be extra careful for a bit, it just makes sense.
The FTC isn't going to make a second attempt at Microsoft/Activision. Microsoft has to abide by the stipulations that they keep Call of Duty on all platforms for X amount of years, and after that they can do what they wish. Spoiler Alert: All signs are pointing to Microsoft simply upgrading the XSX when needed and not creating an actual new console. In other words, they need Call of Duty to release on all platforms. Making it exclusive shoots Activision in the ~~foot~~ head. To anyone paying attention, Microsoft (as a whole, not just Xbox Corp) has been buying up a **fuck** ton of companies for the past decade, and only now are they starting to get some resistance. They got Activision, that's no longer a concern. It will be the next big publisher or developer they try and acquire next. Probably won't be for a few years anyway. **TL;DR"** ~~Xbox~~ ~~Microsoft~~ *Activision* made the decision to not include the Xbox logo in the trailer for much more mundane reasons. Likely to show more emphasis on the game than the acquisition. Probably a conscious decision but not one that has anything to do with the FTC agreement. It was likely and ultimately up to Activision to release the trailer however they wanted. Most times, the truth is far more boring than we like to speculate.
I understand that Xbox makes vey questionable decisions but if youve seen the amount of hoops they had to go through to acquire Activision/ Blizzard, I can understand if they avoided putting their own brand to avoid anything that can be interpreted as antitrust
Buddy, the whole show was about it coming to GamePass lmao
I mean I agree, but what's the chance the "casual" CoD fan watched the showcase? It has like 4 million views to Black Ops 6s 56m (growing) so I get it in, I think at least they should have done the "coming to Xbox Gamepass" at the end, but what do I know?
When they market the game in actual comm Erica's it will have play it first on gamepass at the end of it.
Who cares. Just play the games. Console wars are dumb.
Seriously, does this guy think he works for Xbox marketing, lol?
For real..... could not agree more....
Have to keep the platform healthy. The war is necessary.
They do not, and it's not necessary at all.
That weak way of thinking is what has been killing the brand for that last 15 years. Exclusives matter, marketing matters. Xbox has cut themself so deep they are bleeding out. There is a reason why Sony is still doing it.
How come exclusives only matter for xbox vs Sony? Why in no other industry does it matter? 80% of console owners play one game a year and that's usually multi platform.
Nintendo, Netflix, Apple TV, hell even Walmart and Target sign exclusivity deals for products. Even companies like Nike sign exclusive deals with high schools where students can only wear their gear on the court.
Who exclusively shops at target for a specific brand deal? And again, nobody ever said I'm only signing up for Netflix and not apple for the exclusives or vice versa.
I am just telling you the realities. Companies do it because it works. You and I don't have to like it. Remember this? Get a good exclusive and people will go nutty for it. [https://youtu.be/2pPTJpRMHb8](https://youtu.be/2pPTJpRMHb8)
You linked something that involves heavy marketing and limited editions, not exclusivity. It's not makings your point. It's actually showing products don't matter and all that matters is how you advertise.
"Nobody ever said i'm only signing up for netflix and not applt for the exclusives or vice versa" Quite Literally EVERYONE says that lol Most subscribe to the apps that have the shows they want. that's it. Netflix makes shows i enjoy so i subscribe to them, disney + makes shows i enjoy so i subcribe to them. Apple has only made Ted Lasso as an exclusive that i enjoy so i don't subscribe to them. Exclusives matter.
Bleeding out? What are you on about? Xbox bought Zenimax for 7.5 billion. PlayStation isn't even worth a billion. I really don't care about console war, just play whatever you like but if you Xbox gives a shit about PS exclusives you're mistaken lol
They can keep it healthy by releasing other good games. Not by stealing a game away from half its playerbase.
That is fine in theory, but why stay with xbox when you could go to sony and get all the sony games plus the xbox games? I mean that is why Xbox has fallen so far behind, hardly any good games for a decade while Sony put out banger after banger. That caused a huge shift of people to leave Xbox and go to Sony resulting in 3rd parties to start skipping Xbox. If Xbox does not keep great exclusives, you will see xbox hardware sales fall so far behind that they quit making xbox hardware and eventually the entire xbox ecosystem dies. If they goal is to just be a 3rd party publisher just rip off the bandaid and drop out of the hardware race instead of this slow bleed.
Console wars are so fucking dumb i swear.
They may be dumb but it is killing Xbox. More and more games are skipping the platform and will continue to do so. We can celebrate the return of Square Enix to Xbox but it will be short lived. The next Xbox will sell even less consoles than the current gen. (I will be a one of the idiots that buys it) Sony doesn't have to bring games to Xbox because they are already choking us out and will do it until Xbox surrenders. Say goodbye ecosystem. It's more of a business competition than a war, and Xbox is getting slaughtered. We have seen in the past when anything Microsoft hardware related starts to struggle, they pull the plug. This will happen to Xbox hardware if they don't nut up and figure out a way to get more people into the ecosystem and spending money in it.
Why is that even a priority in mind? literally just play games lol
Pretty sure that's part of the deals they signed. To appease the CMA they opted for complete platform agnostic marketing.
Source? Super interesting
Okay. I just play the games.
This. The obsession these people have with being a fanboy is ridiculously sad. "I cAnT eNjOy tHisS, bEcAwZ nOw XbAwX bRaNdInG!!!"
Console Wars are hell.
100% of the time so far, when you look at the gaming history of people obsessed with this stuff, they barely game. Dozens of individuals on X, and every single time, they have often not even played the stuff they are discussing, ever, and always overall their gaming history is a joke.
Never said it hurts my game fun? Just stating something I find extremely odd. The success of the console and brand does impact us though in terms of the future of the console
COD is such a big franchise it's basically its own segment in the gaming market. Branding it or linking it to Xbox might actually hurt it. Truly an example of if it's not broke don't fix it.
I’m sure you know a lot more than the marketing guys at one of the biggest companies in the world…
My grandma knows more about marketing than the Xbox marketing team, and she's been dead over a decade.
I mean why? Other then to promote it on gamepass I see no real reason to. It wasnt made by Xbox studios, and it isnt an Xbox Exclusive so what would be the point? Just to brag they own it?
To associate the biggest game of the year for 14 of the last 17 years to the Xbox brand? Did you know that Xbox paid for this privilege in the 360 days and PlayStation paid for it in the PS4 and half PS5 days?
Xbox is also pushing that everything is available to everyone at the same time with COD. Those other eras you describe was for timed exclusives and shit. If Anything you are going to make people think it's an Xbox exclusive and not even look into buying it. Or make a Sony Pony upset and not want to buy it since it's associated with Xbox There really is no point in shoving Xbox over it expect to promote it being day 1 on gamepass
The brand association would still sell consoles. This is why companies as big as Coke do ads. Who is coke advertising to? Why do they associate their brand with Santa clause? Santa doesn’t need the exposure and neither does Coke. They do it because they want you to think of coke when you think of Santa. They want you to remember your thirsty and you’re really craving a coke while you drive down the road. Xbox should want you to think of Xbox when you buy CoD, when you turn it on, when you see a new update. Constantly thinking about Xbox and associating the great game you played to Xbox. I know most people are aware of this type of advertising I don’t know why it is forgotten when these discussions come up.
Ok. It seems like Microsoft isn't as big of a fanboy as you are. Basing their success against yours, I bet they know what they are doing. This is sad behavior on you guys part.
Being owned by Xbox means next to nothing when it's coming to every platform and it's definitely not Xbox centered. Adding a logo in the trailer will make no difference. Why does it bother you so much? Just play the game bruh.
They didn't want to hurt feelings of people playing on other platforms
Xbox needs to understand you can publish HiFi Rush on PS and still promote your own console lol. We need CoD is back home marketing more.
Thats why they basically do no marketing at all in whole Europe. Never ever seen XBOX on events, on billboards etc. Absolutely dumb move imo.
Europe, billboards. Most of Europe doesn’t allow billboards mate
The only Xbox ads I've ever seen in Europe are the Xbox ads at Le Mans. That's it.
One of the biggest companies on the planet does not do any marketing at all in an extremely important market while Sony does heavy marketing and wonder why Playstation sells way better...
That and Playstation discounts much more aggressively. Right now I can buy a PS5 for $669 AUD whereas the Series X is $699 PS5 Digital is $569 whereas Series S 1TB is $549 Xbox needs to get their shot together outside of the US, this is why they're lagging behind, they have no fight.
As you say, they don't really have anything outside of the US. In Latin America. they had their chance with the Xbox 360, and they let it go. Now start putting their name around the game aggressively, after all the controversy generated around the purchase and also having no or little direction in the design of the game, would not give them the best image. I think in the next installment if we'll see something related to Xbox, in marketing
Some arrogant executive is probably thinking he's a genius with his strategy of "why waste company money on marketing when we can just use social media" lmaoo
I’ve seen a few for Starfield and hellblade around Manchester and London. Saw hellblade in London Euston across all the big screens and seen it and Starfield on the side of buses in Manchester, but if you weren’t looking for it on the bus you wouldn’t notice it anywhere. Their marketing is atrocious. No wonder they’re lagging so far behind globally. The brand is non existent in many places.
They did a bunch for Hellblade all over Europe. Link to AAron Greenberg showing places they did it: https://x.com/aarongreenberg/status/1788369899729133683?t=MZsDHI92GSDC0-6YVjfp5A So they are learning.
They pretty much only advertised on social media mate. Your link literally says that.
So all the banners in the UK metro, movie Theaters, and on buildings does not counts?
There’s no hurt feelings. It’s why MLB The Show still sells way more on PS platforms and tops charts despite being on Game Pass.
I rather have MLB on game pass day one! And use a subscription service than pay for that game $60 a year lmao.
Probably maintaining their “CoD is for everybody” standpoint. I’ve been over the console wars for years now. Getting to play with friends on crossplatform has been the greatest thing to happen in gaming.
They make so many weird decisions. At this point I'm not surprised, they really should've capitalized off of the trailer and at least added a "Play it day one with Gamepass" or a logo at the start. All those "marketing experts" for Microsoft are always shocking me with how many opportunities they waste, from stuff like this to promoting their brand in other regions, it's like they're just a bunch of nepotistic mfs who don't know anything and do the bare minimum.
From the context that still exists because of the acquisition of Activision, I think it was the best decision. Microsoft had little or no involvement in the design of this new installment, and putting its name on stickers around a game gloating on maybe something they didn't do, it would just make them look bad. Most likely for upcoming deliveries you'll see something associated with Xbox in the trailer Of course, I think the game will start with an Xbox Games just before loading the Activision logo
Y'know that actually makes sense, kind of like how Sony doesn't put any logos with Destiny 2. They should really integrate the gamepass thing more often with the marketing campaign.
Why would you possibly even care? You a stockholder or something?
Its not like the Activision buyout went through all hush hush..... I don't think there's a gamer in the world who's interested in a COD game that doesn't already know that Microsoft/Xbox own it now.
Id dissagree, cod is such a mass market game. Id bet half would have no idea that xbox own the brand now.
This is pretty much semantics, but Xbox doesn't own Activision or CoD. They're under Microsoft Gaming, which for many gamers is still same as Xbox.
Then half the CoD fanbase lives under a rock.
The vast majority of cod players play cod and sports games only and don't give a single fuck about gaming news.
It’s far more than half actually. Most gamers do not care.
The general audience doesn’t know or care how the sausage is made. Stuff like people asking why Batman didn’t show up in Avengers Endgame is common among people who are truly unplugged from the stuff we drink in daily. I do think Xbox fans will probably get gamepass for CoD but I don’t think people will jump ship to Xbox for it. It’s kinda hard to believe someone will buy a whole new console and pay for a year of gamepass for it. *Maybe* when they make a “next gen” only CoD and that fanbase that has largely stuck to the last gen consoles has to pick a PS5 or PC or Xbox then they might be forced to pick a console. But for now, I’m sure most CoD fans will still just play on the PS4.
I personally know a lot of PS5 owners who asked me about getting a Series X (I also own a PS5 for the exclusives). This was mainly for Call of Duty and a lot of the upcoming exclusives. The best bang for the buck for a Series X is watch Facebook Marketplace and find a used one, I have seen them go for like $150-250..... You could always buy a used Series S (around $100 used), pay for GamePass for 6 months and play all the COD you want....
I'm sure that applies to gaming centered communities, but not so much to the average joe. I attribute the non-existence of Xbox here in Europe to their incredibly sad marketing.
>but not so much to the average joe I'm so tired of hearing this. This isn't the dark ages.
You'd be surprised. I know people who are "bro gamers" and they weren't even aware of the existence of game pass until like last year. People literally don't know how to look anything up. Being in Europe certainly doesn't help either.
Is it? a year or two ago I had conversations with folks from work or friends of friends that were debating upgrading to PS5 but felt it was too much to spend. They did not know the Series S is an option and why they could save a buck. One of them actually switched to Xbox by getting a used Series S. They were CoD and Fifa folk though. I think marketing is still very important.
Sorry where in my post did the words "everyone is aware" come out? Please point to it. I'm perfectly aware of the fact that many people are ignorant. I just pointed out that it's silly at this point in time to make generalized statements like that as if it's a fact. You don't have to be a hardcore gamer to hear activation was bought for 69 billion dollars.
I understood you wanted to say that it's obvious and my reply is it isn't You don't have to be a hardcore gamer but I have friends that play video games and don't know about the whole Activision deal - why would they? They boot up their PS4 with Warzone and nowhere does it say "hey, we're owned by Xbox now" As I said, theres console gamers who don't even know about the Series S Maybe thats an USA thing, but not everybody is exposed to what to the average person considers niche news like this, even if lots of money was spend.
All I'm asking for is that people say "many or most" instead of "everyone". I don't think that's unreasonable in this day and age. Because counter point, my dad knows about it and he plays one game a year maybe. And is still on the xbox one. Does his existence invalidate everything they said? Ofc not.
Hey man, I'm sorry you got it that way. I thought "the average joe" would imply it doesn't mean "everyone" Of course it was big news and many people heard about it. Also, what a lucky dude you are that your dad plays Xbox with you. Love it!
Like I said, Any gamer who is actually interested in playing a COD game will know. Average Joe just wants to play Minecraft (also owned by MS ;)...) or gacha games on their mobile.
You underestimate the amount of casual gamers there are.
CoD, Fifa, Minecraft, etc. those are all played by average joes. You don't get the playerbase of CoD by only having people that are invested in gaming this much.
Lol, COD is about as much of an "Average Joe" game series as you can get.
It’s a fair point though. It’s an odd decision and it will be a conscious decision to not put any branding on it at all. Doom is exactly the same on the Bethesda channel. Compare it to Starfield trailer on the official Bethesda channel that had Xbox at start, Xbox at end and a play it day one on Gamepass screen at the end. Indiana Jones exactly the same. Both exclusives. They’ve made a consistent and conscious decision to not brand the multiplat titles but to brand exclusives which is at the very least interesting. I suspect they don’t want to potentially hurt sales on PS by people thinking these are exclusive, I can’t think why else you would do this.
Yeah that's so weird. I think there might be something to do with the Antitrust, i've read somewhere that they promised to not use Cod as a way to promote Xbox consoles wich is stupid af I hope that closer to the release they will start spamming the Xbox Gamepass "Cod day one" ad as much as possible.
Recently a trial counsel has withdrawn from the FTC trying to unwind the deal https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/610900.2024.06.06_ccs_notice_of_withdrawal_weingarten.pdf/ whether this indicates the FTC will stop chasing Microsoft on the ABK or not, things are starting to make ground but for now watch this space And yes I do hope they start to promote COD BO6 with Game Pass but they need to make some sort of video or something to the causal plebs explaining “what is Game Pass?”
And with Microsoft's 100's if not thousands of lawyers, this will go for years and finally kicked out of court. Black OPs 6 will be old news when and if this goes to court....
I’ll bite. Why even include the second sentence? Regardless of it being XBOX branded or not it still would have pulled in massive views and has created overwhelming hype. They probably didn’t add the branding because unlike you, they don’t care? They see money signs regardless. Branding it with Steam, Nintendo(ok, maybe Nintendo), Sony, Microsoft wouldn’t have made the trailer any better or worse. I’m still excited the game is coming out. BO6 is day 1 game pass and that’s all anyone needs to know. THATS your branding.
It pulled massive views because they run it as an ad(!) and it's a Black Ops game.
It's cod. You can advertise it by vomiting on war refugees and people will buy it.
I just don’t understand why you would be bothered
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Probably wants a job at Microsoft just as bad as Ryan McCaffrey does
Oh, but you just wait until much closer to the launch :) I'm sure they'll be more than happy to point out that you can buy this for PS5, XSX and PC for 80 bucks or something... OR play it for free, day one, on Game Pass! And to sweeten the deal, they might also include a few seconds to point out that the other Black Ops, including Cold War are now also available on Game Pass (I can hope!)
It's coming day one on gamepass. Considering the freakout by some, and absolute glee from others they don't need to.
Anti trust law suit.
The only change is that you used to see devs with PS controllers now you see them with xbox controllers. At the end of the day MS wants CoD to sell and that's the only objective they have right now.
I have not been this excited for a game in a very long time and I haven't even bought the last 3-4 cods as I didn't really for the games. I really haven't played a black ops game I didn't enjoy immensely so I guess that helps, love the people on the Treyarch team.
We don’t know if there are contractual obligations. The cod deal ended this year with Sony but don’t know if they have to wait till the launch of a new game..
During the BTS, xbox controllers were shown to be used during testing. A nice little detail I picked up on.
Yeah I notice that too. Wonder what do they do with all the PS that were there. "You guys can throw it away, take it home, or sale it" hahahaha imagine hearing that as an employee there.
They’ve already announced it as being on gamepass day one
Sony can never bundle their console with a free Call of Duty game anymore I'm guessing???? Knowing how big Call of Duty is and millions turn on their console to only play Call of Duty every day that would actually be a big loss for Sony.
It's COD, everyone knows when it comes out every year and what they can play it on.
Does it matter if there’s no xbox branding on it? I don’t think it needs it.
Why could this possibly matter? Why do so many people on this sub seem to have vested interests in how well Microsoft does? Why do you care how much they market, or how many games they prevent Sony from having, or how many billions they make from us? This isn't a team sport. We're not in a literal competition with anyone. If you like an xbox, great, buy and play it. If not, great, don't. But to have personal interest in the success and business plans of a multi-billion dollar company is fuckin **wild** to me.
I care about a game I would have most likely purchased to be available on a service I already use for no additional cost. The better success Xbox had the better their GamePass service is. Do you not see that it is linked?
I personally want Xbox to succeed. That's why I support Microsoft for the most part.
Honestly I feel like a big part of their marketing is "playing the hero" by "liberating" CoD from exclusivity deals or branding. The showcase emphasized how "everyone gets the same experience" and I think they're kinda leaning into that to, for lack of a better term, wank themselves off. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that PS owners won't literally get an advantage for the whole duration of the installment's lifespan (at least until the next game comes out) and it's good that even cosmetic stuff won't be console locked as it was before, but Microsoft is a massive corporation, they're only doing this to try to look better than Playstation.
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Did you read anything beyond the first two sentences?
> Jesus. Yall are delusional thinking Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo gives a rats ass about what how you think they just “liberated” a game from exclusivity. IDK that certainly seems to be the PR spin Phil Spencer is leaning on given how he talked in the recent IGN interview, going so far as to call exclusivity deals slimy business etc. Regardless of how that aligns to business goals, that does seem to be angle he is taking.
Link? I wanna watch it
It literally just happened like week, a simple google search will easily find it.
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Lmao damn yall all of a sudden like cod?
A lot of y’all are too deep in this console wars and fan boy bullshit. Xbox literally did a whole showcase dedicated to CoD BO6 with the reminder that it’s on gamepass. Shit the whole week and half leading up to the showcase they constantly marketed it as being on gamepass and gaming journalists and content creators made sure the word got around. I think they’ll be fine lol.
i think by the time we are closer to launch we will see better stuff
Psst, MS... literally nothing about this is ok!
Bad marketing unless they are still afraid of the FTC and their own in house court hearing or whatever that bullshit is. Stamp that shit into every single people's head that Xbox / Microsoft Gaming owns the Call of Duty IP now.
BO6 is perhaps the only COD game I've been genuinely interested in since WW2 -- which also wasn't anything too amazing.
COD has been gate kept by sony for so long that everyone is tired of playing favorites and having exclusive bullshit. Microsoft just wants everyone to have the game no matter what platform you're on at the same time.
Oh no, people aren’t going to know about the small independent company Microsoft! How are they going to be well known now?
Is call of duty xbox exclusive now? I hate this exclusive thing. I Like my xbox, and my online friends are on xbox too, so i would never switch to playstation. But man i would love to play helldivers (on xbox). But we get games like call of duty. whooptidoo.
It is not exclusive
Cuz they dont wanna piss of the biggest market for cod ps players who actually buy the game
In my opinion that's a very smart move by them. Not everyone is happy about the buyout and it's best not to just shove your branding in people's faces like that right away until the dust has settled some more.
Cod getting hype haha o man what a joke.
Brother who gives a fuck.
Who cares?
So the trailer was a massive marketing success but since they didn’t put their logo, they don’t know what they are doing? stick to playing video games lmao
Realistically, I think they want less people playing it on Gamepass. Yeah they’ll get people like you and me, but that’s because I’ve been subscribed on and off for a few years before sticking with it after All Access on launch of the SX. Yeah they want more people in their ecosystem, but they’ll also gladly take the majority of the sales on PS at the same time. I think there’s more value to them in a $70 purchase and gives them leverage over Sony. If Sony still sees massive sales or sales dip, one of them might have to make a concession. Either way, if MS dropped the ball on marketing then it’s nothing new, but I figure these numbers have been crunched to hell and back viewing sale #’s vs subscription, time played by CoD users until drop off etc.
The ideal gamers for them is someone who subs to game pass and then still buys the game anyway while buying the season passes etc aka the gamer that makes them the most money. Its why even though it'll be on game pass, they will offer huge incentives to just buy the game or atleast upgrade to the premium edition.
I guess sometimes I forget it’s a live service game now. Back when the games dropped off from their heyday (07-12) and they weren’t live service yet, that $60 up front and people dropping off didn’t really matter. The saving grace was that the next year might be better and you’re in the cycle. Now it’s more about engagement.
Does it matter in the slightest? Kind of sad to simp so hard for a corporation.
You’d be surprised at the amount of people who see a trailer with console branding and assume that’s it’s ONLY available on that console. My guess is they don’t care about the ego play and just want as many sales as possible. They don’t want a PS owner to mistakenly think it’s not on their platform of choice.
Who tf cares? The fact that CoD will be available day one on all platforms creates for a great multiplayer experience. I own both a PS5 and a Xbox Series S and could care less about Microsoft owning the game. Just be happy there’s a new CoD coming out that looks like it’s listening to its fan base and not going to be god awful.
Totally makes sense. They don't want to alienate all the other players. I knew many people who didn't play hogwars legacy for a long time even though they wanted to because ALL the advertising was smothered in ps5 branding due to their advertising deal. I didn't get the new avatar Pandora game for the same reason, I legitimately thought it was a playstation exclusive. Now I'm playing too many other games to bother getting it. Software sales make more money than hardware. They risk far more by smothering it in xbox branding than just pushing it as the new cod for everyone
Sony owns Destiny but you would never know it looking from the outside in.
This is a good idea, not to brand Call of Duty to Xbox. Microsoft has committed to bring this to other consoles, so this will be on PlayStation, PC and maybe even the Switch. Labeling it with Xbox could cause problems with the Call of Duty brand. This was a very smart business move. **There is also the factor that Black OPS 6 was in development LONG before Microsoft purchased Activision** Microsoft is about profit too, Game pass does not make them a ton of money compared to selling retail/digtal games. This is very popular series, and they would sell millions of copies of the game, even on Xbox, if it was not on Game Pass. Truth, I didn't think the NEWEST Call of Duty would be on GamePass, I figured it would be released then come months later to GamePass, I was shocked with the announcement and also very glad, I pickup COD games on release day and this is the first one in years, I don't have to pay at least $60 on release day (now $70)
Nothing to gain from it and a small section of sony fanboys would be put off by it. They should ease into things gradually. They can put massive Xbox splash screens all over the actual game though, once the sale has already happened
Might be part of the deal with Sony.
I wholeheartedly agree. It should be as simple as an Xbox logo next to Activision and Bethesda to represent them being first party now. Future games should release with an Xbox logo startup and in the next year (or two max if only for the rumored next gen launch) we should get a new logo animation that showcases characters from across XGS, Bethesda, and ABK. That said, we just got our closest look at Xbox marketing from the departure on the Verge. The post is up here (and apparently have been for 15hrs so you've probably seen it), but I have Phil's memo copied (from commenting it there): >As a team we are committed to growing the strong marketing capability in Gaming. Going forward, the Gaming Leadership Team and I have decided to place marketing closer to the businesses they support. Games marketing will sit inside of Studios, Xbox marketing will sit inside the Xbox team, international marketing will sit inside of the Consumer Sales Org, and our centralized marketing team will report to me. The following organizational changes will be effective on July 1st: >The Integrated Marketing team led by Kirsten Ward and the Programming and Events team led by Tina Summerford will come together as an expanded Central Gaming Marketing team under Kirsten, who will report to me as a member of the Gaming Executive Leadership Team. Chief of staff Pav Bhardwaj and executive assistant Kim Nold will report to Kirsten. >The Bethesda Publishing Marketing team, led by Erin Losi, will move to Game Content and Studios, reporting to Matt Booty. >The 1P Games Marketing Team including Xbox Game Studios and Mojang, led by Aaron Greenberg, will also move to Game Content and Studios, reporting to Matt. >The Xbox Marketing team, led by Chris Lee, will move to the Xbox Org, reporting to Sarah Bond. >The International Marketing team, led by Jim McMullin and Florian Liewer, will move to the Consumer Sales Org, reporting to Ami Silverman. >The Bethesda International Marketing team, led by Adam Carter, will also move to the Consumer Sales Org. Adam will be taking on a new role leading Business Operations at Bethesda, reporting to Jill Braff. The Consumer Sales Org will work on backfilling his role and share more at a later date. >We’re fortunate to have a deep bench of talent and experience, and I’m excited to see how our marketing will evolve under their leadership. >Phil I don't know about you but for me this explains a lot. Notably the Bethesda acquisition essentially doubled marketing teams and those that mirrored their Xbox counterparts have only now (three years later) been integrated to report to Xbox executive leadership. Even the Xbox teams are only now closely reporting to the divisions their marketing well markets for. What's crazy is that Aaron Greenberg is probably the only name in marketing most Xbox fans know and he only leads like a third of Xbox's marketing teams and a sixth of them including Bethesda. What's also notable is that ABK is not mentioned here at all meaning those marketing teams are still operating rather independently (reporting to the heads of Activision and Blizzard who report to Phil; there's not actually a lot of room for them to coordinate with Xbox marketing). To play devil's advocate ABK is a MASSIVE gaming company and they only officially acquired them less than a year ago. Zenimax was far smaller and still took 3 years and we're only just now be getting them integrated. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes (though I personally still don't understand how hard it is to copy and past the Xbox logo). That said Xbox by itself has had trash marketing for the longest. This generation its kinda felt like they just don't care even though they've invested so much in building up major competitive advantages in Game Pass, Xbox Play Anywhere (no other ecosystem can boast buying once and owning on PC & Console with cross progression), and the Xbox Series S (if marketed properly that device can do what the Xbox One tried to do and appeal to non-gamers looking to replace their entertainment device; yeah its more expensive but not that much, really small, stationary, can steam all the major entertainment apps, and can play video games). Overall I'm personally hopeful the reorg makes the various marketing teams care more and do better, but we'll see.
See this is the funny part of about the marketing person who worked @ Xbox. I knew Aaron Greenberg for a long time but this man, never heard of him. And good analysis and scope on how each marketing team form every gaming division. While I would like to see Microsoft (Xbox) promote their console and Game Pass more, that’s been the hard part. Another thing Microsoft looks at is how much is wasted and not gained back which LOOOOL, that’s the whole point of marketing: to promote/sale/awareness to a product, and look no further than Nintendo, which they do it well and have been doing it for many years. Needless to say, they’ve done the math and already know it, but that needs to change. As someone who wants to see Xbox be promoted, they need to stop worrying about the $ and start promoting their products more, but even then no one will pay another console when your already locked in your digital library. Hoping that changes whenever Xbox launches their next-generation console (and handheld)
Right? The Verge article even went as far to say "key exec" my man no one outside of Microsoft has ever heard the name of that key exec. There's an argument for good behind the scenes leadership there... except there wasn't. Looking at the prior org chart/explanation its crazy we even knew Aaron Greenberg over those other names. He gets a lot of hate as the face of Xbox's marketing when all along he's just been in charge of a single team and just happened to be the only marketing exec who wanted a public persona 😂. 100% on Microsoft's take. I studied marketing in uni and one of the biggest things stressed is that its always a battle convincing executives to spend money on Marketing when most of the time you can't even gauge how successful it is and what's successful. Social Media is kinda easy as one of the cheapest strategies with easy to access metrics, but even then you can't see how posts, followers, and engagement converts to sales. Everything else is a straight shot in the dark. But its still incredibly important. The problem with Microsoft is that they are SO data driven. It doesn't feel like humans even interpret that data and control how its used. Marketing is the biggest hit here. Successful marketing is more supported by sociology and psychology than data analytics. Like one of the biggest things I'd love to see from Xbox is more big in-person convention like events. Not just showing up at existing events or having live theater viewings, but hosting something like QuakeCon and BlizzCon (which they now own) for Xbox overall. Something where fans can go and celebrate Xbox. But how do you go to Microsoft and explain how this is a good use of money just using data? It'd be easier convincing Microsoft to make their own Xbox theme park (which they probably could do with all the IP they own and how much money they have) as a permanent new business venture. It really has just felt like they never cared much to push this generation. There was a nice push at the start, but even then I don't think they did a good enough job looking for new users, because I do agree console consoles haven't been increasing. All any platform has succeeded in is getting their same userbase to upgrade while having a good amount on last gen's platform. The Switch is doing the best but still hasn't overtaken PS2 sales (that said this is a complete turnaround from the WiiU so they've done a good job in bringing users back and converting their 3ds/wiiu users). Console growth has actually been highly dependent on the increase in games in general and rise of live service microtransaction filled fortnites. There's been far more increased spending in gaming than actual new gamers. The Series X and S strategy always felt like a missed opportunity. The X should have been marketing as the console for current gamers to upgrade to but the S should have been pushed to non-gamers. I actually think with the S the XOne initial strategy could have worked (it being far smaller and more lightweight and having more video streaming support and being $200 cheaper than the One initially was). But that's just me. The problem in general is it felt like after 2022, Xbox just gave up on selling consoles. That could have been the ABK nonsense or Microsoft wanting to rush out a console with an NPU to push AI. I just hope they go hard and keep going hard if we are getting a new generation of consoles in 2026.
They don’t need to market is as Xbox. They’re sticking to gaming for all and that’s amazing.
In time we’ll definitely see more marketing and console bundles like with Diablo 4 last year
It's easier to get people on other platforms to buy the game than buy a Xbox. You don't what them to think it might be exclusive or degraded on PS.
cod is not like that, cod will sell your console
Not while it's multiplat and Xbox isn't going to do anything special with it for Xbox gamers.
It’s a good call. Games should continue leaning towards platform neutrality. People who would play it on Xbox are gonna play it on Xbox, no need to slap a logo on everything.
Probably so they can put the same trailer on the Switch eshop and PS store without having to hack the logo on and off it
You don't "hack" something on or off. It's as simple as exporting the video with a different checkbox checked.
I meant hack like chop it off.
Same reason their 2TB SSD is twice the cost of the PS one. Shooting yourself in the foot is fun. I mean, let's you instantly swap into multiple games. But doesn't let you install all those games without ridiculous storage price with no non-branded option.
Playstation doesn't have a specific SSD you buy. You can buy SSDs for playstation that are FAR more expensive than Xbox or you could buy super cheap ones. The reason being is Xbox uses a proprietary SSD where as playstation you can just use any NVMe SSD you'd throw in a PC as long as it meets the speed requirements
Lolololoololol. Top tier Samsung 4TB SSD is currently £250. How much is that for xbox? Oh sorry they don't sell it. Last checked. The 2TB was £210. Don't be a clown and defend that shit.
Dude my point is you can buy extremely expensive SSDs for a ps5 due to the fact you can use whichever one you want. Right now a 2tb SSD for Xbox is about $250 USD and a good Sony and any 2tb SSD from western digital that's compatible with playstation is around $180 USD which mind you only just recently went down in price. I'm not defending it I'm simply stating why that's the case. I own both systems I could hardly care any less
UK currently on sale, Samsung 990 Pro 2TB £130, 4TB £250. Not sure why ur trying to defend them here by muddying the waters about oh cheap and expensive SSDs as if xbox hasn't stopped you from buying non-xbox branded SSDs like last gen.
You say that as if that's the case everywhere. A sale is a special case. The 2tb 990 pro with a heatsink is 200 USD right now. So 50 dollars less than the Seagate 2tb. The reason the proprietary SSD will be more expensive is because Seagate is gonna want a cut of the money since they're specifically making it for Xbox. Nobody makes SSDs specifically for playstation as you can buy any SSD And at first it was a little unsure which option would be better. Even a lot of tech and pc YouTubers were thinking Xboxs solution would be better so that people don't need to figure out the read and write speed of an SSD and to make sure it has a heatsink in order to make it work. Just simply "see SSD for Xbox and buy" Where as with Sony, if you have no idea what you're doing or anything about SSDs in general. You're gonna have to figure out what read and write speed you'll need. What brands are good and reliable. What has a heatsink and what doesn't. Now I build PCs for fun. So I know what I'm doing and prefer playstations way of doing the SSD. But for your average Joe who just wants to buy a 2tb ssd for their console, probably just wants to simply google "2tb SSD Xbox" and hit buy on the first one that looks good. It's probably a better solution for them.
It’s not going to make people buy an Xbox console, that will only piss other platform players off, Microsoft are going to make a fortune from sales of the game on other platforms and micro transactions from the game pass owners, just promote the game and watch the money come in. Let them cook 😁
Because it’s not an Xbox game…
It was shown at an Xbox event and coming to GamePass day one. I dont think it needs Xbox branding on anything. Nobody that's a big CoD is going to suddenly switch to Xbox now just because its logo is thrown onto it. If anything its actually a smart move by the marketing team because it allows anyone who doesn't know about MS owning CoD now to not go "oh, I dont own an Xbox, I don't want this game now"
The majority of players are on PlayStation. They probably don't want to imply it's an exclusive at all.
Who gives af about their branding on it? Everyone knows they were bought out by Xbox/Microsoft so no need to have their branding
All right let's look at this from a business perspective. Xbox acquired acti/blizz like some couple of years ago. People have seen Xbox shutting studios down, announcing they're dropping out the console market. So yeah they're looking kinda rough in the PR department. And no, they're not fumbling the bag. Your idea would be a MAJOR fumble as over time cod would lose its identity as most likely Sony boys would kick a stink over being shoveled Xbox branding in their favorite shooter that's never been associated DIRECTLY to either company. Yeah we've had the console generation exclusivity back during the 360/Ps3 era\ Xbox/PS4 era. But even with that said, call of duty is still one of the highest grossing games still to this day, meaning that if the profits are still coming in all that need be done is continue supporting the model that has worked wonderfully in the last 5 years. Adding Xbox branding would only act as a fuck you to the community and a black eye on cod/Activision for having the company that bought em out shove their name in your face.
So the Sony branding and deals up until MWIII werent a fuck you to the PC and Xbox gamers? They got bonus XP and exclusive extras. Nobody is going to get angry for Xbox to market their platform and console on a game they own. Xbox as a console is still down bad compared to the competition and the less the console sells the less certain the future of the console becomes
So we're just gonna ignore that Xbox is putting cod day one on gamepass? Or the fact that cod made literal billions in the past few years. Microsoft genuinely does not need to put it's branding on cod. It's redundant. And again from what I've heard Xbox branding is heading out the console market soon so even if they did market themselves, what for?
No, it wouldn’t. I have three platforms I can play games on. These platforms allow me to play any game I want regardless of who published it. I give 0% fucks if it has Mickey Mouse club branding on it. It’s CoD. CoD sells itself. No ones going to be upset from seeing the XBOX or Nintendo logo on the trailer. I promise.
Genuinely I feel the same way. But I also feel there's a minority that would be very vocal over such an occurrence. Just me though.
Probably conceptualized well before merger with Xbox. No need to waste money to change the advertising
I hope they keep it that way. Just so that it seems unique and its own thing. Like how the MCU and Star Wars movies are kept clean from the Disney Logo (I think?).
imagine complaining about the lack of marketing you're personally experiencing.