@Decoy_Snake Cause home consoles can only play videos games… I can answer emails, write word documents, do photo shop, 3D rendering… etc on these devices.

$1k for basically a laptop isn’t bad.

$1k for a glorified toy (console) is bad.

"Steam for 21.6%. That’s a console-heavy split, which makes sense given Lego Batman’s position as a more family-oriented title with deep history on console platforms"

It also cause TT games scared away every PC gamer on the market with the spec list they released. Had everyone think it was gonna need a 5090 to be even remotely playable without frame gen. Then the reviews dropped and the performance was fine and spec sheet was a lie...

Not surprising… First it was the fraud calls. Now it sms messages. I get so many call and texts that it basically impossible to determine what real or fake anymore. At this point, using my phone for actual business things is a nightmare. I only basically now have 1 group family chat with my elderly parents and sister. Everyone else messages me through discord.

@themightyant "Game Pass Starter (Discord), Essential, Premium and Console (legacy) all don't include EA Access"

Are all very much recently new introductions within the last 7 months. We are talking about something the was cancel over 3 yrs ago... Game Pass is in a currently very different state now vs then, and the market was currently in a very different state.

@Skinny-Pete Gamepass needed as many companies on board as possible. That the issue with subscription services. Content drives subs. Hence why Netflix has suffered due to most of their main content pulling out. Given that this was 2022/2023 and before the completion of the ABK purchase. The inclusion of stuff like Battlefield and the likes were important content for the service.

"there are rumors of customizable gamepass plans coming soon"

There are rumors now, but we clearly seeing Microsoft winding down with Gamepass being a main pillar of the Xbox ecosystem vs during 2022/2023 that was not the case. Microsoft also owns enough studio to feed the content machine that is Gamepass, so not needing EA now isn't much of a lost now.

@themightyant ""remove them from the service", we're suggesting having a family tier that doesn't include EA Access"

That basically removing them... from the service. You're just talking semantics.

@themightyant @Skinny-Pete Cause that how you burn bridges. How you think EA is gonna feel if Microsoft was basically was like “Okay then. We’ll remove you from the service, and go ahead with our plan”. Potentially leading to most people going with the Friends and Family plan over traditional plans. Meaning loss revenue for EA on declining platform. Microsoft doesn’t have the weight they had in the 360 era no more. They can’t play hardball with EA. Microsoft needs EA more than EA need Microsoft.

@themightyant In Playground we trust.

This is gonna make the wait for the Playstation release difficult.

@J_Mo_Money "all solidly scored" is not the same thing as AAA critically acclaimed tho. Is Obsidian a solid studio. Yes. But can they stand on the same stage as Playground Games. HELLLL NOOOO!!!

@danny19901 "I kinda went off FH when they introduced a you can't buy your car you need to win it in a wheel and you never know you may get horn sound effect or something you just don't care about.

FH1 I loved then i didn't really play the others till 4 came out and while 4 wasn't bad it just didn't feel as good as what FH1 did back on Xbox 360."

I think you may need to actually go and play the games then cause you can buy any car you want as long as you have the money... Nothing is locked behind Wheel Spins.

@J_Mo_Money I don't know if Avowed, Grounded, and The Outer Worlds can really stand on the same stage as "AAA critically acclaimed"

@TheGameThrifter Hopefully they can keep it up wit Fable.

@Questionable_Duck Funny enough. No major review team ever reviewed The Vale: Shadow of the Crown... The only review it got on Metacritic are basically small or no name review sites. lmao.

Of course there are visual novel that have decently large fanbases not cause of fanservice. But you can't argue that they don't have ton of fanservice or stay relevant cause of fanservice. Fanservice isn't just sexual images. There are undertone that can easily be fanservice as well. Character arch types. How a character dresses or act can be fanservice. There is a lot of charcters in games like Danganronpa that fit this. Enough that people goon after a certain character. I mean... we did get Danganronpa S after all. Even stuff like Ace Attorney has it own fair share... cough cough Clown balloons cough cough

And you would be hard press to find someone who enjoys those games who doesn't have a favorite waifu or husbando they goon after.

@Questionable_Duck This is one of those situations that the only reason that this game is gaining attention about being a non traditional game is cause of it being reviewed by mainstream outlets. A lot of those visual novels and cozy narrative games avoid public criticism cause they don’t usually get reviews on site like IGN and the likes. Game journalists decided that for some reason this game was the hill they wanted die on especially during the same week they wanted to criticize Lord of the fallen 2 female armor.

TBH. All of this feels like nothing more than human engineered engagement. Cause ya know… “ Bad publicity is good publicity”. Xbox also had to money behind the title considering it a Day 1 on gamepass title and i think it was announced at one of their showcase.

Edit: Also, a lot of those visual novels are filled with some kind of fan service or waifu to goon after… so that also why no blinks an eye too much.

@Balaam_ “Full game on disc” is just as scummy/Slimy considering we know that games nowadays release in such a poor state that “full game on disc” may as well be called beta/alpha.

@AllCandyTimes And you got some many games that use built in DRM like Denuvo… Console drm and online checks are no where near as egregious as PC.

@AllCandyTimes You can not bypass steam DRM. You still need have steam do an online verification check. You can’t even use Steam offline mode without being online then going offline. GoG barely see a fraction of games releases so that very much a moot point.

@AllCandyTimes PC also DRM and Online Checking in… So that not the reason any one is jumping to any of those platforms.

@Fishysensei This year should be infinity ward… That means their last game was in 2022. So they would have had over 4 yrs to develop a game… which is already longer than usual.

@RBRTMNZ I have over 1,158 comments on Push Square and the less comments on Nintendo life is due to less games I like releasing on that platform.

@RBRTMNZ I don’t have an Xbox tho. I own a PS5, PS5 Pro, Switch, Switch 2, and PC(Steam). Owning an Xbox isn’t a requirement for visiting the site. It a gaming site… that generally covers all gaming news and games that release on multiple platforms. I like reading the opinions of people across the 3 sites. Am I only allowed to visit sites if I own the console or have interest in said topic? That how you create echo chambers.

@RBRTMNZ “ Also why do you have an account here if you don't care about Microsoft gaming?”

My account is shared between Pure Xbox sister sites… Nintendo life and Push Square 🤔

@RBRTMNZ I’m talking about Nintendo announced a $60 game today, low for them. I don’t care about GP or Microsoft

@RBRTMNZ And you really think they would be doing this if it wasn’t for the rapidly fluctuating tariffs in the U.S., and still ongoing is a massive spike in component prices that's making it significantly more expensive to make a console at all. Meanwhile, everything else is getting crazy expensive amid ongoing war and general global political uncertainty. Fuel prices are rising, making it more expensive to ship anything anywhere. Consumers are closing their wallets, particularly on unnecessary expenditures like video games.

If everything was good. They would be keeping prices the same

@RBRTMNZ More like current economic environment caused by a war that no one wanted. Kinda hard to buy videos games when you gotta spend $100 every 3 days in gas to get work.

@RBRTMNZ or they realized that the current economic environment is bleeding us dry... and in order for them to continue to survive. They have to be the ones to bend the knee.

There is a reason no one in this comment are the CEO of billion dollar company. Like it or not, you gotta do what brings the company profit so that you can keep your job… If make no exclusive for make money. Then exclusive be damn.

@Godot25 They probably also noticed that the entire world in a terrible state at the moment, and most people don’t even have enough money to put gas in their cars. Much less be able to afford to buy $60-70 videos games… and that things are only going to get worse as things go on.

Those higher profit margins demands was during a time when the industry was still riding high from Covid. That has definitely has not been the case over the last 1-2 years, and definitely not in 2026.

@NicolausCamp Sony never released any major games on Xbox… So there was never anything to put back in the bottle. On top of that, there are only rumors that Sony is stopping with their PC releases. No real concrete information yet. But if Sony does stop. They can use the poor financial sales and lack of support from PC market for the move. Microsoft can’t do that… The PlayStation versions of their games are basically well outperforming their Xbox counterparts. Bringing exclusivity back isn’t going to help the sales of their xbox. The console side is a paperweight, and market has more wiped their hands of Xbox. Any sane Xbox fans has moved to PC and the console players has basically all agreed that PlayStation and Nintendo are only worth buying.

@tho_mi There has probably been some course corrections. But no way are canceling game for PS5 apart of that… That bottle has already been opened, and there is no way to put a lid back on it. It physically and financial impossible at this point.

I know people are going to be mad about the map. I sure a lot of people was expecting that if they go Japan. The map will be 90% city and downtown

@dskatter I mean... This is Unity. No at Ubisoft has probably played the games. If they did, they would have never released it in the state that it originally released in all so many moons ago.

It a shame tho. Unity had the potential to be one of the best AC games, and it went

@chesheer Reggie came from Pizza Hut, P&G, MTV before Nintendo. Some of the most rememberable people in the Industry haven't always been lifer like Phil, Iwata... etc. If she can learn to Disagree and Commit with senior management will do fine.

@GeeEssEff There been quite a few holidays since the 1st. New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents' Day… She probably spent more time off than in the office.

@SalaciousCrumb That your nephews. I have 2 nephews one is 5 and other is 6. Both enjoys playing their Switch. Unfortunately my niece is too young to game at the moment. But considering the massive switch of the switch. There are plenty of younger kids who still enjoy console gaming.

@shiny-enzo The data to back it up is that for last two generations PlayStation has been the mainstream console meaning kids and teenagers are more likely to own it over Xbox… And the only people who still care about Xbox are people who remember the OG Xbox or was there during the golden era of Xbox 360, so people well over 30 yrs old at this point. Any stragglers are typical people who parents just bought whatever was on sale the cheapest, and people who probably have relatives that enjoyed what Xbox used to be.

I am not at all remotely that you and @InterceptorAlpha either picked PC; still playing Xbox…. We are on an Xbox fan site for a reason. But the general public has already decided and Xbox ain’t it. It PlayStation

@shiny-enzo “ As for the game itself, I’m not sure this kind of RPG is really PlayStation players’ cup of tea, but who knows? Is there really a specific player profile tied to each console?”

I would have said that this was true during PS3/360… But Xbox isn’t a competitive anymore. So at this point, unless you’re specifically interested in just Xbox first party titles… You’re probably buying a PlayStation for all games

Day 1 purchase for me. From the sounds of the content they plan to add. This will have something that all ages will love especially older people like myself who enjoy Thomas and friends as a kid. Crazy that it took so long to finally get something like this

@Zenszulu My comment was mainly about people using their accounts age to justify it being owned by an adult. But most likely the ID thing will probably be backed up by periodically ID check to continue to verify account ownership, or following the next of kin process to ensure that account transfer properly. But says anything losing their own personal account and their own digital purchases and saves? Getting another account doesn’t mean you lose your own personal one…

@Zenszulu It not really speculation. It a common thing and very bought up among many gaming communities. Microsoft does have a Next of Kin process and gamers do view their accounts as valuables:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/your-steam-library-dies-with-you/1100-6523768/

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2347640/steam-says-you-cant-leave-games-in-your-will-but-us-law-might-disagree.html#

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/0/350540974003301631/

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2748801/transfer-xbox-account-to-a-family-member

@Stocksy You do know technically a parent can add a teenager as an authorized user to a credit card, and have their name printed on the card? RIGHT??? My dad did this when I was younger to help build credit for me early. So just cause you have a credit card on file mean nothing.

@Zenszulu The issue with going off account age is that there are quite a few people who pass down their account for whatever reason... You can easily have a teenager playing on 20 yrs old account cause their dad passed away recently, and they gained ownership of the account.

If this does happen… It gonna be strange seeing HP omen Xbox, Lenovo Legion Xbox, Dell Alienware Xbox… We already have Asus ROG Xbox. An Razer Xbox laptop will be amazing.

The only negative thing is getting companies to agree to this. I’m assuming Microsoft is planning on making money the same way they do with Windows. So expect a costly Xbox-window OS licensing fee. Which means a “premium” device price along side a cheaper standard windows device?

This sounds exactly like what people has been saying for YEARS. Basically sliming down Xbox console hardware to the point where it just like Surface devices, so that it doesn’t need to sell 80+ million plus to be successful and letting OEMs carry the brand going forwards.

@Titntin They was working on multiple projects that have been cancel before and after the Microsoft purchase. So I don't expect them to try and have another ready to go at the moment... cause they have bigger fish to worry about at the moment.

@Titntin A studio not supporting their games with actual content would have worry me more. You can ask anyone who plays these games, and the major complaints is lack of substantial content. A lot these games are sinking sleeps... Blizzard should worried about righting the ship on those, and not adding more their plate if they can't properly support what they already have.

@FraserG “ GTA 6 goes ahead this year and Fable isn't ready by September, I feel they'll hold back Fable until February-April of 2027 to allow enough breathing room.”

Will there be any breathing room? If GTA6 comes an actual and lives up to the hype… Good luck pulling anyone attention away from GTA for the next year and half. I can already hear all peer pressure comments in gaming groups… “What weirdo plays Fable over GTA”, “Ew… You bought fable over GTA”, “F, Fable get on GTA….”

@swedetrap That sound like the same thing PlayStation gamers say about Xbox gamers during the 360 era; and the same thing about PlayStation and Xbox say about PC gamers

@TheGameThrifter “ Xbox sales are at an all time low and Microsoft isn't even doing a traditional console next gen. So, Play Anywhere would be pointless since it'll just be a PC.”

I wouldn’t say it be completely pointless in the future. If the end goal is pushing ARM over x86… Play Anywhere could net users a free ARM copy of a game.