Comments 2,740

Re: Sony Has Approached Subscriptions 'Healthier' Than Xbox, Says Former PlayStation Boss

BacklogBrad

As a consumer, I view the gamepass model as far superior. I do not want the company to force me to buy the game at full price or subscribe to a monthly service to get access to that game in the distant future. Xbox gives the consumer the decision, buy to own or play it with a subscription. Pro tip - buy 1 month of gamepass, use %20 discount to purchase to own a couple games the savings will be more than the month of gamepass so you save money and get 1 month of gp access.

By "healthier" he really means less appealing. FOMO/exclusion is the only card Sony plays. Now that Sony releases are so few and far between, what will ever make their subscription appealing?

Re: Microsoft Celebrates As Xbox Vs. FTC Officially Comes To An End

BacklogBrad

I am always glad to see the FTC defeated. It is a completely flawed agency in need of major reform. Now they need to drop the case vs Meta/Facebook. The FTC is using the same flawed narrow market definitions they used against xbox. They claim Facebook does not compete with TikTok or youtube because those are "video sharing sites" not family/friend based social media. I hate meta/facebook but that is crazy to suggest they dont compete with tiktok or yt. Just like suggesting xbox doesn't compete with Nintendo or steam was crazy.

The FTC also categorized Kroger grocery stores as "traditional grocery stores" so that they could make the claim that Kroger does not compete with walmart, costco, amazon etc. It is insane to claim walmart and costco do not compete with grocery stores. It blows my mind that they were successful in blocking a Kroger merger.

Re: Atomfall Was 'Immediately Profitable' Despite Launching On Xbox Game Pass

BacklogBrad

I don't think people realize how many sales it takes to offset the upfront money a gamepass deal provides.

According to a leak, xbox expects big AAA games on day 1 to require $100M to $300M. At $70 per game, that is 1.4 million to 4.3 million copies. Doom the dark ages is at 3 million players even with gamepass.

Publishers don't care if gamepass reduces their sales totals because odds are the up front amount more than covered whatever dip in sales it caused. Plus gamepass is only a temporary rental where the gp players might buy the game to keep later.

Re: Xbox & Bethesda Say DOOM: The Dark Ages Is id Software's 'Biggest Launch' Ever

BacklogBrad

Don't worry the "this is doing poorly" narrative won't go away. They will just blame it on gamepass as if thats a negative for the game. If anything that is better for xbox than a one time purchase but those doom (pun) and gloomers refuse to believe that. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of where pc gamers are for this game. If pc gamepass/playanywhere has more Doom DA players than Steam, I think that would be a huge deal and a big win for xbox.

I am going back to enjoying the game. Doom on.

Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of DOOM: The Dark Ages So Far?

BacklogBrad

It's a great game but it's my least favorite of the recent trilogy. I replayed Eternal directly before diving into this one and that game is better in almost every way. Still a great game though and I really enjoy it. I think I'm settling on a score around 8 to 8.5.

We had double jump and dozens of unique glory kills, we had it all.

Re: Xbox's 2027 Handheld Expected To Include Nintendo Switch-Like Docking System

BacklogBrad

@acmiguens I don't think ps6 and the Series X successor will be much more powerful than current systems (but they will be expensive).

I also don't think there will be many (if any) games next gen that cannot run on ps5/ series x. They will run better on ps6 and nexbox but i think the days of games being flat out unable to run on the previous gen are just about over. If developers are targeting the widest audience possible then they will continue to target mid range pcs/switch/switch2/ps5 and maybe even ps4. A series x level handheld would miss out on single digit (likely zero) games that the series x successor has. Just like how the series s still has not missed out on anything the series x offers except split screen for baldurs gate 3 for a brief period.

Games have hit a plateau. Developers pushing limits of hardware are rare and getting rarer.

Re: Talking Point: Do You Feel You've Had Value For Money With Your Xbox Series X|S?

BacklogBrad

Even though PC has been my go-to since before this gen released, I feel like owning both series x and s has been well worth it.

I plan to continue pairing the future xbox consoles with pc. Having gamepass ultimate makes them a perfect pairing. It still blows my mind how seamless it is to pick up from the same save on my consoles, desktop, handheld, cloud, etc. Transferring a save on 2 Playstation or 2 Nintendo devices feels like outdated tech compared to xbox.

Re: Xbox Seemingly Affected As Microsoft Announces Thousands More Job Cuts

BacklogBrad

It sounds like it's centered on management positions so it doesn't sound like its whole teams getting let go. It probably won't affect xbox too much from a project standpoint.

The large bank i work at does this too. They promote a ton of people after they have been there awhile to manage small teams. Then they realize there are way too many small teams and eliminate managers to consolidate to larger teams. Then the process ends up repeating a few years later.

Re: Talking Point: Xbox Fans, How Many Of You Are Buying A Switch 2?

BacklogBrad

I was on the fence for launch before the price announcement but have decided to wait and see. I will probably end up with one someday but from what I have seen so far, I don't think I will be missing anything if I never get one.

They need to prove to me that the price increases are justified. I found the switch 1 to be a neat curiosity at first but that quickly wore off. I haven't wanted to play it for a few years now. I don't know what the switch 2 can do to seem appealing to me but I know they haven't shown that yet.

I believe nintendo is the worst platform to buy or play 3rd party games on so it comes down to if i find enough exclusives interesting to justify the $450 +$80 x each game. So far, zero games fit that bill for me.

Re: Oblivion Remastered's Performance 'Degrades' Over Time, Digital Foundry Discovers

BacklogBrad

I have heard from friends having major issues with crashes later in the game on series x. I still haven't had a crash on xbox pc app but I am not anywhere near late game with my 10 hours. Performance hasnt been great even without full crashes.
I am juggling a ton of games right now and this one might take a back seat until I am a little more confident there won't be issues.

Hopefully Doom is ready for my no life playthrough.

Re: Xbox's New Job Advert Is Amazing News For Backwards Compatibility

BacklogBrad

Hopefully they get to a point where most or all of the xbox store is natively playable anywhere you have the xbox app. This would be a major advantage to xbox as all playstation and Nintendo purchases are currently locked to their device. I do not consider any 3rd party purchases on those platforms for that reason.

There are rumors that Sony is also working on a pc app with cross entitlements for all purchases, hopefully that becomes a reality too. Until then I am primarily steam/gog/epic with an eye on xbox for play anywhere titles.

Re: FTC Suffers Another Major Blow In Fight Against Xbox Activsion Deal

BacklogBrad

Not shocking that they couldn't provide enough evidence of it lessening competition because it doesn't lessen competition at all. It was not a good faith argument from the beginning, they just wanted to get in the way of a major company. I'm glad Khan is out of the FTC and her policy of tying up companies in court to inconvenience them out of their legal behavior is over.

Re: Opinion: If Xbox Is 'Just' A Game Pass Machine, That's Still Enough For Me

BacklogBrad

Series X and S are both great consoles. They offer a lot more than just gamepass. Yes gamepass is amazing and the best deal out there but both consoles are great even without it.

Series S with the xscreen attached is underrated. Such a great device. I can't wait to see the next line of hardware they offer. I dont think xbox has ever had a more exciting future.

Re: Xbox Announces Gears Of War: Reloaded, Releasing Summer 2025

BacklogBrad

I hope the multiplayer pops off with the introduction of ps5 and steam users. I will dive head first into that again.

Personally not that excited for the campaign to be getting yet another remaster/update. The 360 version is still fun and the ultimate remaster was great. I imagine i will end up doing another playthrough but it will probably end up like oblivion where I still feel the original is my preferred way to play the game.

I wish they were wrapping 1-3 and judgement into one package so the multiplayers would be in one place.

Re: Talking Point: Would You Still Buy An Xbox At Microsoft's 2025 Prices?

BacklogBrad

I might have to rethink the buy every console mentality. I have a great pc and since I love gamepass ultimate paired with console/pc/cloud, I would probably keep buying the new xbox as a secondary platform. Switch 2 and ps6 might not be happening for me though.

Pc is thoroughly more appealing than anything console related now. They really just can't compete with steam anymore.