Of course, Xbox should market this, but will they? 😅

@FraserG The last playtime of the day. 😁

Playing GTA VI on Rog Xbox Ally, PC or Xbox One will be possible. This is a huge deal. Now they need to sell Cloud expansions and bundles in a way that appeals to casual/Cloud players. They should release a Cloud-only tier before the game's launch.

Playground has too much work at the moment and until Fable is out. On top of these free upgrades, they need to develop two expansions. I don't think that the PS5 version of FH6 is a priority right now, or it shouldn't be.

@awp69 Probably not the first expansion because it should have a theme already, a throwback, likely, but the second expansion could be all about street, nighttime racing, looking at the feedback and the studio's amicable attitude.

@awp69 I know what you mean, but The Coalition just created one of the most technically impressive games of the generation, and they explained in the interview with PX that they didn't really target Series X or Series S, but built a Windows game and spent a bit more time optimising the configuration on Series X and Series S compared to the different PC configurations. It looks like many developers have just made excuses and been lazy. Xbox will fare even better in the long term because of the completely unified environment.

Back in August, Asha said, "Xbox has been hard at work on a great next generation and a great family of devices for Helix, and we’ll share more soon." Now, she is being a bit more specific. I think that she considers the next-gen Xbox devices a "family" because they all will be running the same operating system, the same Windows for gaming.

I'm glad that Xbox is aware of Helix, the home console, being the most important piece of hardware for fans, but handhelds and PCs will obviously be part of the same ecosystem. I assume that there will be fixed specifications for Helix. Because all games are made for Windows, they have a huge advantage.

Flexible plans make sense because they need to tune the content and price accordingly: day one games, Cloud, online... I'm sure that day one games is the most discussed tier and price at the headquarters. I don't think it's that bad paying a bit for online gaming if it protects you from PC cheaters/pirates.

@theduckofdeath Another interesting thing is that if they chose to include an internal battery, it should be easily replaced in order to comply with the new EU law.

I stopped playing this, so I will try the remaster eventually. There was something about the game making me feel dizzy despite de 60fps on Series X. I don't know exactly what it is, and I tried both modern and classic controls. That made me not enjoy exploring.

@abe_hikura 🤣 I see. I guess you mean an 8BitDo controller for Switch. There are 8BitDo controllers for Xbox that support wireless with an included dongle which has less lag than Bluetooth. No controller will work on more than one console without adapters, sadly.

@abe_hikura And so can Nintendo and Sony. 😂

@HonestHick It would be useful to compare the specifications of the Elite 3 and Helix controllers. Perhaps they have the same features? I imagine that the non-rumble version is the casual controller previously leaked.

If the leaked specifications are real, it's a huge upgrade, and if it's also part of Xbox Design Lab, that's even better. I've tried third-party controllers because of hall effect and TMR that every console manufacture chooses to ignore, but the ergonomics are not as fine-tuned. If the next Elite Series controller has that, it also means it's anti-drift, and a no-brainer. 👍

@HonestHick And speaking of lanes, I don't know if the Fortnite wannabes were also his idea, but that's another gigantic U-turn.

Great feature to complement the campaign review. It's nice to see that the whole package has been well received by most reviewers, except the one that preferred Bubsy 4D. The developers deserve that, and the fans deserve this game!

I'm sure that Asha would have made Fable exclusive (Xbox & PC) if it had not been announced for PS5.

@Mr-Cage Even the few puzzles in Hellblade II were shockingly bland, those with spheres of light. The only part I remember as memorable is the few boss battles. I think there was this part borrowed from Tidal Terror, Donkey Kong Country Returns, that was also quite impressive because of the very well done UE5 graphics.

@Cikajovazmaj Asobo does an excellent job with a restrained budget. Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy borrowed elements from Assassin's Creed, Resident Evil and Hellblade. Like Amicia, Sophia won't shut up for more than five seconds, and I find it way too distracting, but I can't say that they don't make good games. I played the three titles on Game Pass and each one of them is even better.

I thought that Ninja Theory would finish this third entry on their own after not finding anyone interested in them despite the support received from Xbox (looking for buyers, showcase visibility, etc.) at the same time they were being divested, but with half of the employees leaving the studio now, it seems very unlikely. That and the fact that they were the only ones that didn't post anything after the news broke make me think that they were not as close-knit team as the other studios that remained together, @Mr-Cage.

@Jaxx420 Yes, people expect Xbox to reveal all their secrets and financial books, yet they understand and support Sony (and Nintendo) being completely silent and mysterious!

I do believe that after unsuccessfully trying the service and multiplayer games, Sony wants to go back to what people really want from them and even revive older IPs. The last part intrigues me.

@General-Foley Congratulations on upgrading before the price hike, wise choice! 😁

I started playing Xbox games on Xbox One, so I have played the Halo Master Chief Collection version and the Series X remake, besides the other entries. I remember most of the battles of the first Halo because that was my favourite thing about it, and the thing I liked the least about Halo 5. The battlefields in Halo (1) are great and there's strategy and freedom involved in the open areas. The weapons and enemies are fun. I feel that the human weapons are better, but the alien ones are more fun to use, and the enemies, not being a lot of races, are unique and exhilarating to deal with. The music and story are also good. I still have to play Requiem despite being a Resident Evil fan. I will!

@Jaxx420 Good points. I think that the problem with Wolverine is the context. Nothing wrong with a gory hack and slash game that plays it safe, but Insomniac is probably considered Sony's best studio, looking at their scores and sales. Besides that, the lack of other first-party output by Sony this generation because of all the cancelled games and closed studios mean that the user base is looking for something more special. Another Sony exclusive this year, Saros, received more favourable reviews than Wolverine, but didn't convince players. However, Sony earns most of its profit thanks to third-party commissions on the store, that will skyrocket on PS6 without physical media, so the scenario is a weird one, a combination of commercial success (increased by the higher prices) and lack of the exclusive content that traditionally defines PS. I remember the PS4 era often being criticised because of the "Sony template", but the PS5 era is perceived as more disappointing, judging by the comments I read.

@Sol4ris I mean, it's as if we were not able to read. 😂

@General-Foley In between, I know you are an honest person. I'm glad you enjoyed them all. Campaign Evolved is a wonderful way to revisit the original campaign. At first, it feels the same, but once you reach Halo, the graphics blow you away! Then, 343 Guilty Spark continues impressing.

It would be nice if the neutral, non-fanboys users protecting Wolverine from Xbox fanboys also defended the Xbox equivalents against PS fanboys, because I remember that the same kindness and fairness didn't apply to Xbox exclusives that were bashed unfairly. I guess morality is a one-way street.

@GuyinPA75 Not exactly Game Pass, but the blank cheques, Phil's hands-off approach to studios, the underused IPs, the overgrown structure, the laziness of some studios, the lack of internal communication despite having more layers of management than anyone else in the industry, the dragged development despite outsourcing it and relying on vendors and external assistance... There are many things that we were not aware of until recently (except the hands-off approach that I have always criticised) and that explain why Xbox was bleeding money despite having very successful studios and games. Xbox was a combination of chaos and bureaucracy.

@FraserG I know. 😊

A few years ago, it was reported that Game Pass made around $5B per year and that Xbox invested $1B on third-party deals yearly. Of course, this does not include how much does it cost to develop first-party games. Precisely, nobody knows that, thus only Xbox knows how profitable Game Pass is. Let's not forget that people pay for Game Pass and that even if 50% of players choose to play a game with a subscription and not buy it, it does not mean that the game is selling 50% fewer units. The best example is Forza Horizon 6 with 6m sales and, additionally, 6m Game Pass players. It doesn't mean that it would have sold 12m without Game Pass. That's why "Game Pass cannibalise sales" conclusions are questionable. Another important thing to consider is that games that flopped on the Xbox store, also did on PS5, Switch 2 and even had low engagement on Game Pass.

Nobody but Xbox knows the big picture. Only the hypothetical (I'd say very unlikely) removal of the subscription or the already announced by Asha adjustments will tell us what's working and what's not. I suspect that she wants to increase the reach of the content introducing cheaper tiers, but day one content will still be an Ultimate perk. Will day one content disappear eventually? Impossible to know without knowing more. We'll see.

@Highlydelicious In the article he says it took him around 10 minutes to get the hang of the combat controls, which makes total sense. This game has ranged weapons, melee and magic, so 5 additional minutes is not enough time to deliver a final conclusion but enough to anticipate that he started to feel like he could get into the flow of combat. There will be a review for judging the gameplay properly.

@Mr-Cage Exactly, it's like people are looking for non-existent problems and empty arguments.

His advice is overly simple and short-sighted. For Phil and Sarah, Xbox was a publisher that could reach new heights on competing platforms and Cloud. For Asha, Xbox, including Play Anywhere and the upcoming console-PC fusion, is clearly a standout platform, but the big games like Call of Duty and Minecraft are platforms on their own. Xbox is both a multiplatform publisher and a platform with exclusive content. Perhaps he thinks like that because that strategy didn't work well for Sony.

There is an article that covers all the aspects of this reset very well.

https://www.purexbox.com/forums/xbox-project-helix/reflection_on_the_xbox_reset

@Mr-Cage In the case of Fable and Gears of War E-Day, the people that are not interested in these IPs and Xbox in general is the people trying to boycott them. To see John Edwin wishing the Metacritic score goes down in the next days besides saying in another comment that it's a brain-dead game about killing ugly creatures after having praised Wolverine is kind of expected at this point, but reading about both games being "woke" or an equivalent definition to imply that these games have been ruined is completely absurd.

@AI-Generation I love Halo Infinite, but they needed external assistance to finish it, on top of a massive budget. Halo Campaign Evolved was reportedly outsourced. Halo Studios needed a shakeup.

I'm sure that the core staff, excluding extra staff that might have worked on E-Day and Fable, and some roles that Asha may consider not essential, are fine because, as you said, The Coalition and Playground are excellent studios. Xbox knows that, they're not stupid.

These two studios work well on their own, because they were also excellent under Phil's hands-off management and even helped other studios that were struggling, at least The Coalition did. So yes, they both are top-tier and deserve the best.

What a year for Xbox to celebrate the 25th anniversary: Forza Horizon 6, Halo Campaign Evolved, Gears of War E-Day and Fable (delayed because of you know what).

The original Fable (Anniversary Edition) really impressed me and felt like something I had not experienced before. This reboot with astonishing new graphics, the same freedom, build your character the way you want and, hopefully, the same British humour, is my most anticipated game right now.

This is not a game to rush on Game Pass. There are over 1,000 unique NPCs, hence the lack of motion capture for all of them!

This is the way to go after the disaster that Gears 5 is in terms of campaign, except the DLC that is brilliant, fun and impressive visually. This prequel successfully rebooted the series better than fans could have ever hoped.

Great interview! It's so interesting to read all the connections to other games, books and lore in order to build the beginning for fans and newcomers. I love how they took elements from previous games to expand the gameplay faithfully and make E-Day exciting and fresh.

@Stocksy The problem is not the music because they can choose any depending on the deal, but the car licences. These games feature all the cool brands and cars across the real world. What I don't get is why Forza Horizon 6 is not supported by Disc to Digital, being a new game.

@CallMeDuraSouka Yet it holds much more information, truth and context about Xbox than any of their articles.

@Sol4ris @BeastfromtheEast Right. Obviously, the "should have been on PS5" is like any other excuse and filler words they use to report every negative gossip and report about Xbox on a website about Playstation, whether it's directly linked to Xbox or not. They could also say something like "E-Day finds success without PS5", but they prefer to ignore or, even worse, transform anything that could paint Xbox in a positive light.

@Markatron84 I don't know if I want to join that discussion LOL but I think he just meant that he prefers being able to play as a male leader, that's all. I don't think he meant anything else but maybe the choice of words was not the best. Just my two-penny worth. I appreciate you, so don't really want to start any argument. I hope you have a great weekend. I'm going to get the groceries now.

@Kiryu-Kun Yes, third parties made PS1 so cool to play 😊. Good point about PS2 because PS1 was quite limited handling 3D graphics, e.g., Final Fantasy VII. Nintendo 64 was more capable of delivering games that still look amazing, like Conker's Bad Fur Day. The Rare Replay version is rendered in higher frame rate and resolution and still looks astonishingly amazing.

Regarding the engagement, sometimes it's worth mentioning because you read PS as it's like nobody plays on Xbox, but 2025, of the 2 billion PC/console game downloads, 546 million were on Xbox, 626 million were on PlayStation, and 857 million were on PC.

https://sensortower.com/report/state-of-gaming-2026/download

https://www.thurrott.com/games/333049/report-highlights-best-selling-videogames-of-2025

@Kiryu-Kun The Xbox features are amazing, I couldn't agree more with that. Xbox doesn't have as many console sales, but it has greater engagement (proportionally) and the PC-console combination will keep it going!

PS1 had very strong third-party titles. At that time, it really stood out. Ridge Racer is phenomenal. 😁

Horror is one of my favourite genres, yet I don't like most horror games, if that makes sense. The best of the best I'd say is Resident Evil (2002), Fatal Frame (any) and Silent Hill. The Evil Within as well. Definitely, I prefer psychological horror.

By the way, Shocktober Sale should be around the corner!

Congratulations! The Coalition absolutely deserves the recognition for two reasons: the game itself and the technological achievement. Now, let's deal with Grubs.

@HonestHick I started playing them on Xbox One and unexpectedly became one of my favourite IPs. After weird 5, E-Day is everything I hoped for. The Coalition deserves the recognition. 😁

@Jaxx420 Indeed.

The title that is leaving is the 2022 game. Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy was released a month ago, so I don't think it will leave Game Pass before six or twelve months after its launch, at the very least.

@AI-Generation Yes, my understanding is that Helix will run Series X|S, Xbox One and backwards compatible games, and also every game on the Microsoft Store, including Play Anywhere games that are 30fps on consoles but 60fps on PC, so there is an immediate and free bonus there. Once Helix is released, the stores will be merged because every new Xbox release will not be a port, but the Windows PC version with fixed specifications and settings on console, which is also why it doesn't matter how many Helix consoles are sold, unless they are sold at a loss. Xbox consoles will be like Surface devices, not having exclusive content and not outselling Asus, but still being profitable because you are selling your OS and ecosystem on high-quality hardware.

@Glassneedles Rendering in native 4K resolution produces outstanding results even in old games (with excellent artwork) like Sonic Generations (Xbox 360) on Series X, a version that is arguably better than the remaster. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is still 720fps and, to make things worse, has a shaky camera and a rough blur effect. I checked stuff about this game and it's not much better on PC. I wonder if it has some music licence issue which prevents Sega from updating it, something I suspect to be the reason why Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is not backwards compatible (Samba de Janeiro).

I know what you mean about engines natively supporting the last upscaling techniques, but I wonder if it could be possible to upscale older games that seem to be capped like this with AI upscaling.

@EVIL-C Perhaps, but it could also mean great sales and additional players and revenue via Game Pass subscriptions. We don't really know because sold copies are usually not revealed, but Forza Horizon 6 was reportedly a resounding success on both Game Pass and regular sales, plus premium upgrades not available on Game Pass.

The total player count of Forza Horizon 6 exceeded 12m within the first months, with approximately 6.4m copies sold and 6m people playing via Game Pass (similar 50/50). Additionally, the premium edition and upgrade sales generated $140m before the official launch and Game Pass inclusion.

Besides, when a game flops on the Xbox store, it usually flops on Game Pass as well, with a similarly low number of players. If Game Pass didn't work, they would get rid of it, or at least adjust it as they did when they lowered its price and removed day-one Call of Duty, a behemoth only comparable with Minecraft, GTA and the yearly EA Sports releases.

One of my favourite games: Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed desperately needs something like this. 🤣

How cool would it be if technically limited backwards compatible games were enhanced? Or early Xbox One games like Ryse?

@AI-Generation You started before me. Enjoy! Get immersed. 😁

@Sol4ris Don't worry. I had no doubts about E-Day in terms of technology, but I'm glad they put out the excellent game I was hoping for since it was announced. They deserve the recognition and success, and I'm sure that Xbox appreciates them and that the core staff is completely safe. I'm not so sure about extra and temporary staff as it's a very common thing in this industry. It's true that The Coalition has been safe from the staff reduction across Xbox Studios so far (except for the story writer), so perhaps some layers of management or non-essential roles will be eliminated after this release, being realistic.