@RIghteousNixon who cares about regulators at that point. None of us are naive enough to believe MS when they say they’ve accepted last place…or when Sony says they can’t compete against cod. And you’re assuming everyone is dumb enough not to see the reason why this price rise is before a trail other than you - odds are if you’ve noticed this, the regulators also have and it could equally pointed out and used as an example of willingness to raise price again never mind the disingenuous timing or doing so now.
As for it working against future acquisition if they raised the price straight after… it’s doubtful future ones are going to be in the 69billion again.
No, for gamers is would a price rise in the face of far more content and value would have been easier to accept. Now we have to see if the abk goes through…AND have some confidence yet another price rise won’t follow. You confident?
@BaldBelper78 people should rightly voice concerns or opinions on it that differ from ‘just smile and accept it’. The reality of it is that they’ve sold gamepass with the marketing of their first party AAA coming day1 - THATS gamepass biggest value. Last year they offer no first party AAA games day 1… and now they finally have them coming they raised the price…But only for console, not PC. This is on top of pc gamers not having to also pay to unlock content from Xbox games. As well as price increases to games and hardware 3 years in.
So yeah, it really doesn’t matter if the price increase is a penny. The message of it is the problem. They should have really waited till the abk deal went through before rising it…easier to defend. Maybe this is a sign confidence in that is gone. Or it’s a sign of greed because they know people want to play starfield so opportunistic to raise price of console and sub
@Zoidpilot4 I have indeed played what I consider bad games at 60fps…as well as great games at 30fps. But I do think certain expectations should be met. Outside of these consoles being sold as 60fps being the standard, I think certain genres require 60fps more than others. Hell blade 2 I’m not expecting at 60fps…and I don’t think it will suffer from being 30 too much in terms of gameplay and backlash (we can clearly see where that additional 30frames have been spent instead). Forza at 30fps though? No way… racing needs 60. Cod at 30fps? No way, online shooters need 60. Starfield is clearly ambitious…probably be the most ambitious game of the generation. And 30fps can be forgiven for such …IF it plays well. For that it needs to be a solid 30fps throughout…not regular dips to the 20s. This is going to be a £70 game at the end of the day…on a £500 console…on a new generation… there has to be certain expectations met. If a solid 30fps isn’t met then I do think the question should be asked at what point does the player/consumers needs come before ‘creative decisions’
You get why they’re saying it but is it not concerning how effortless they’ll sell us down the river? I mean today they’re saying they’ve already lost…yesterday they’re trying to sell yet another console to us. Where’s the faith? They’ve literally just increased the price of the console and subscription…the message should be one of commitment and value. Saying ‘we’ve lost’ brings up the question of how long will the console be supported. Will it have exclusives going forward or should I can I save hundreds and get them on the platform I already own?
This is the oddity of Xbox - they’re the only platform out of the 3 regularly congratulated on their transparency because they talk the most…yet they’re actually the least transparent of the 3
I don’t doubt that the motion blur techniques will be great (ID have helped them) but all this nonsense over 30fps being a creative choice goes out the window when we know the PC version isn’t capped at 30fps too. What will be the real kicker is if it’s not even a solid 30fps throughout…and going by what footage we’ve seen, where it clearly wasn’t a stable framerate, I don’t know how anyone can feel confident in ‘30fps will feel great on console’ We shall see.
Anyone defending this because it’s ‘only this amount extra’ needs a slapping. It could be a penny extra, the messaging is typical MS BS.
When Sony was raising games to create the new standard of £70 MS was there winning brownie points proclaiming ‘it’s not fair to raise the price during economically challenging times’…whilst they had no current gen games to raise the price of. The moment they did they slapped on that £70rrp
For years they’ve been selling 12month subs off the promise of games like starfield releasing day1…only to have no first party day 1 AAA games released for it all of last year…now the moment those games are actually coming they raise the price? Whilst keeping the price of PC GP the same? ***** off MS
Like I said, I dont care if it’s a penny. The message is they’re taking liberties with console gamers… Phil said it last month, console gamers are financially valuable to them… and that’s all the value we offer. Xbox think nothing of offering us unpolished incomplete games. Think nothing of still placing a paywall on mp on games they release day1 on PC without that paywall. At least when Sony are milking their customers they’re actually offering quality products, and demonstrating a sense of value in PlayStation owners by making them the priority with game releases… rather than hammering home a message of ‘gaming for everyone’ whilst treating console players as…let’s be honest, second class.
Yeah MS deserve all the L feedback then get right now
Yeah I remember feedback from series s owners about lack of space meant they wanted to have to buy a whole new console rather than be offered cheaper additional storage options. Thanks for listening MS 👍
Biggest disappointment of the show. Gameplay literally amounted to her standing up. A totally utterly pointless trailer designed to tick a box. And 2024… confirming that after a year of Xbox studios releasing nothing…2023 they just have the long shown Forza AAA to offer. Thank god for Bethesda this year!
Looked great. But wasn’t everything we wanted. It wasn’t the important thing that Phil Spencer assured us he had learned a few weeks back… ‘TRANSPARENCY’. What was it running on? What can series console owners expect?
Other than that, they pretty much covered everything.
I think it feels like a budget side project with overly complicated clunky controls. Basically, I can see why they opted to release it on gp day 1. I’ll give it one more chance as I love horror games…but in all likelihood will soon uninstall
Not meant as criticism? Lol why the disclaimer? They should be criticised… it was a complete disaster for them - a showcase confidently boasting a message of “everything here today will be released within the next 12 months”…as a response to redfall and starfield getting delayed and Xbox AAA having sweet FA to offer their subscription buyers last year. Which gathered more criticism because of ALL THE OTHER GAMES THAT STILL ARENT OUT that they showed years ago at showcases (do an article on all those).
Xbox had 3 first party AAA games in last years show…just 3. Out of those, ALL had been shown before…2 had originally been planned to release in a matter of months. Since the show only 1 of those 3 has hit that 12 month window promise…and that was released unfinished. And one still doesn’t have a date.
On Thursday we’ll applaud them for showing starfield and Forza yet again.
Xbox need the criticism because gamers have too short a memory and xbox never learn…we’re all destined to repeat the same cycles.
Can’t wait to see how beyond good and evil 2 is shaping up.
A 2D rayman would be welcome. A splinter cell… dare I? daren’t I? Theres usually patterns to these things…just go metal gear remakes announced…a splinter cell remake/reboot is almost certain, right?
@themcnoisy I think anyone with a free hotmail account can add to reviews? I’m not 100% sure though. No denying that ‘the best value in gaming’ has slowly turned into ‘the gamepass effect’… there needs to be better quality control there all around.
But this is why MS are buying up every one they can… to help get some consistency in releases. That, in theory (as they still have to manage the publishers), sorts out the AAA releases. Quality though …I guess we wait to see what the likes of starfield, hell blade 2 etc do for the sub count.
@themcnoisy sounds like you’ve translated people complaining about a lack of AAA on GP into ONLY wanting AAA… far as I’ve seen that’s never been the case. GP is marketed on AAA day 1 releases - these now cost £70 each…which in turn add more value to the subscription price. This shouldn’t be confused with quality. They will however bring more people to gamepass than any indie will…which in turn will lead to indies being played by more players
Subscribers just want a consistent balance there.
I agree the creativity and risk taking is with indies though. The budgets for AAA have become so huge that it’s far safer for them to give us more remasters and sequels.
Planet of Lana is a great game. Beautiful visuals and animation. Highly recommend gamers trying it.
We know Benzies and Dan Houser have left Rockstar. We know there’s going to be a continued focus on the money machine that is the GAAS aspect of GTA. And we’ve heard it heavily rumoured to have its sp releasing in chapters. Add that we’ve not seen anything SP related (dlc) since 2018s red dead 2 from Rockstar…
I can’t say I’m filled with confidence over GTA6. I reckon visually it will look great. That engines solid. But, I dunno…there’s just a few warning signs there for me
It’s crazy how this contributes to him leaving Xbox and Don Mattrick still rides the blame of the xboxone being a failure last gen…when he was only around for mere weeks of that generation and secured possibly Xbox’s strongest launch lineup…. Yet Phil Spencer gas lighted people for complaining their games with ‘only on Xbox’ message they sold to gamers a year prior to get them to invest in the console we’re now coming to PC day1….and then gaslighted console players again at the start of this gen for having expectations that the console was aiming to compete with PlayStation after selling us the message of ‘most powerful console in the world’…
This on top of running the console brand into the ground with lack of content due to years of mismanagement…
Releasing digital console day 1…
Investing in more tv shows…
As well as being praised for bringing us a service that requires online and doesn’t let you share, own, or sell, games….
How the hell are Xbox going to sell a midgen refresh after telling us consoles are not a priority for them and they’re not trying to compete? What’s the tagline going to be? ‘Buy at your own risk’ or ‘just one of the options to play gamepass on’…can’t imagine it will be ‘most powerful console in the world’ again.
They have so little faith in the console, so reluctant to market it, yet when it comes to releasing these things they’ll tell you they’re in the generation to win it, it ‘eats monsters for breakfast’, it’s going to be the best place to play exclusive games… etc, to get your £500…only for the following year tell you you’re stupid for having expectations on the console.
And all that noise doesn’t take into consideration that the consoles out don’t even have games taking full advantage of the hardware yet 🙃
This and quantum break were the games that convinced me I needed an xboxone. Loved this when it first came out…then they ruined it by introducing aload of f2p mechanics and made the menus a cluttered mess.
I do hope they bring it back though but seems yet another Rare ip Xbox are fine with letting die whilst they chase other publishers IPs…rather than growing the ones they chased from Nintendo. I mean how the hell we’ve not got a new banjo yet when they want they keep going on about ‘diversity of games’ for years, I don’t know… you’d think a platformer would be high on the list
Cordon said his claim is ‘mostly speculation’…by basically taking what Phil said to the kindafunny guys. Not exactly a hot scoop… given out of the 3 first party games xbox showed last year starfield got delayed, Forza still doesn’t have a date, and redfall should have been delayed further. Just embarrassing all around for them. And one of the many MANY reasons why the redfall backlash was always more than just the state of the game.
As obvious as this is, I mean even the show last year dedicated to a 12month window announced a kojima game that they knew was years away…I do take what Jez says with a pinch of salt. Guy was putting money on Avowed releasing last year… over 12 months later we still haven’t seen gameplay let alone a hint at a date. So…
@Kaloudz Ah, so Activison only see value in gamepass since looking at a cheque for 69billion… shocking.
Unfortunately xbox have placed themselves in this position where the mindset of their gamers are now not to buy games…prefering to wait for them to come to gamepass. This combined with a reluctance/ineptitude in marketing their consoles, leads to far fewer games sales with each and every release compared to the other platforms. This in turn has lead to more and more 3rd parties either skipping Xbox platforms by choice, or preferring to make exclusivity deals with Sony (knowing the vast majority of sales will be there anyway, plus the capable marketing). COD is no different when it comes to sales - the vast majority (and I truly mean majority) of sales is on PlayStation. For the longest time we’ve heard how during this deal Sony has burned bridges with Activision. IF true, I’d say, unless Phil is indeed completely useless at the business side of things, Xbox is a certainty to have the marketing rights to any Activision game they choose. Wouldn’t you? I’d also wager that those marketing deals, as we’ve seen with all previous marketing deals this gen, will include day1 gamepass releases. Which, given how low game sales are on Xbox consoles anyway, potentially makes enough sense for Activision to have a change of heart about their games on gamepass… besides, Phil will have just paid them 3billion for a years talking. I’d also say there’s still nothing stopping Xbox making exclusivity deals on Activision IP…such as a new crash etc
Yes, it would be great not to have to pay 70 for new releases. It’s one of the main marketing points of gamepass. Funnily enough though price parity is one of the main concerns Jim Ryan fed to the CMA
Sony exclusivity sounds like a Microsoft problem. Not a Sony one. Again, we want to not have to pay 70 for new games like stalker 2…so MS makes those deals. Sony are just better at it because for reasons already mentioned - they’re the leading platform. And these deals ensure they stay such. It is unfortunate for us though that regardless of the deal going through this year…none of the latest cods will be able to be on gamepass for years. I mean, activision wouldn’t have put them on gp anyway, right? So you can’t really blame them for accepting that in their contract. How life could have been if Xbox didn’t give up the cod marketing because they could t decide if they wanted our money or not eh
The cloud rests so much more on outside of the consoles than in them. All those 10year deals rely on the cloud…even if we’re talking just uk that’s a big chunk of money they’re all missing out on
Personally I no longer care now either way. I would have benefitted as much as anyone to have Diablo and cod on gamepass. I still think they can pay for gamepass day1 releases of future iterations of them. And, assuming Xbox gets to keep the 69billion, I think at this point it’d be far more interesting to see what they’d use it on… after a year of jumping through hoops and realising that though they may not see themselves as competing to ‘outconsole’ Sony and Nintendo…those platforms sure want to outconsole Xbox
@Kaloudz Right… and why can’t MS add that value regardless of the deal going through? With the Exact same games from activision on GP day 1 that this deal would potentially offer? For cheaper and without concessions?
Don’t hold your breath over ‘no extra cost’ …no price rise was one of the things the CMA wanted from MS
And why can’t MS also invest in 3rd party deals like Sony? MS buying studios isn’t going to have Sony make less 3rd party deals…one is the result of the other, and will continue to be.
And, what are you ok with MS giving away to ensure this deal is completed?
Here’s a question. Why do we care? What’s the reason we want MS buying activision? We know for at least 10years the likes of cod aren’t going to be exclusive to xbox…so I assume the reason we all want this deal passed today is so we get these games on gamepass day 1? Why can’t the likes of cod be on gamepass day 1 regardless?
This deal to me, though benefits me in the short term as a gp subscriber, has clearly always been about MS fast tracking Xbox into an app. About mobile gains.
Worse case if this deal gets blocked is that it puts those plans on hold and they have to focus back on their core audience for a bit longer - the console. Focus more on building up gamepass subs there.
The abk games aren’t gonna suddenly not be available. If anything, with it being activisions own money invested and not MS, the games will probably release in better quality.
If it was all about bringing games to Xbox there’s no reason in the world MS can’t do exclusivity deals at the fraction of 69billion price tag.
What are you willing for them to give up to get this deal across the line? They’ve already agreed to parity - meaning Xbox players don’t get any of the benefits playstation ones have enjoyed for the last decade.
Remove xcloud from the uk gamepass? We all happy paying for less services?
Put starfield and other Bethesda exclusives on playstation? Psplus does keep getting more and more Bethesda games…
How much are you wanting them to give to play games you’re gonna have access to regardless?
Remember, the CMA isn’t focusing on today…they’re looking at tomorrow. And after a year of promoting ‘play anywhere’, being hyped over ‘project keystone’, gp tv apps, kojimas announcement… we can’t suddenly pretend cloud isn’t important to Xbox’s plans today…let alone 10years from now
Got the ‘reset’ bug again on my rewards streak this week…happened a couple of weeks back too but then came back after I completed my week. Hopefully same will happen this time…but man, the Xbox dashboard needs some attention. How they’ve let that side of the console slip alone is enough of a red flag consoles an afterthought for Xbox today. I still get the ‘market place needs to update’ message everytime I’m linked into the store. Still broken links doing rewards. Still achievements not registering.
If I used Edge via the Xbox I honestly don’t fancy the Xbox’s chances of survival at this point.
@GuyinPA75 well generally, even with previous Arkane games, you dont really see everything the game potentially has to offer within the first mission. Not every mission in dishonored was a fetch quest to progress the story for example. Where as the structure of this game is say it’s been 90% fetch quest so far after about 8 or so hours…often going back and fourth to the same places for different side missions…that are also fetch quests
@GuyinPA75 enjoyment is subjective. Quality is not. All of you that enjoy the game, that’s great. Good for you. You’re getting your monies worth. All of that enjoyment doesn’t change the fact that the AI is completely broken, the game itself unfinished/missing features. And even if those were fixed you’re still left with a repetitive gameplay loop, dated visuals, a loot system that feels tacked on, npcs without personality, and an online co op game without matchmaking… that I believe still forces a requirement of gold to play sp? (Though can’t confirm)
Ironically the backlash is having more people trying it for themselves right now out of curiosity to the point where MS will probably end up claiming it a success
I still expect MS to sell Xbox console owners down the river to get this deal to happen…more so now after recent comments.
Personally I’m at a point where I don’t particularly care about this deal either way. If MS get it I’ll get to play cod as part of my sub (assuming it’s on the uk gp)…but nobody should be confident that quality control will be there. If they don’t get it I still get to play the games I want…only they will be released by a more competent publisher who doesn’t already have the bag for those games.
So yeah, let’s just get this whole thing over with and move on
@NEStalgia Ha, that was my first thought. The last time xbox had such bad faith with customers they finally made F2P games actually F2P. I don’t think this was a PR move by them, though the timings great, but would have been awesome if for all Phils talk the other day about how they’re beyond the console now and want us all feeling like first class citizens on ‘Xbox’, would have been great to announce free mp for console
Player counts are so utterly and completely meaningless I don’t understand how one would measure success from them. Current active players yes, but counting players who once started the game and then instantly stopped playing because they realised it was badly optimised offers nothing other than the risk of the next game being just as badly optimised
Yeah. I mean, even though the switch was a huge success for Nintendo it’s clear the main reason was gamers feeling locked into that ecosystem because of their digital library.
It’s also true that very very few gamers ever buy more than one console.
So I reckon Phil smart to basically give up competing in the console market. I mean yeah, it was odd that he also revealed Xbox console owners are the ones financially valuable to them. But I mean they lost last gen because they were so inept at delivering games and making marketing deals that the console today should definitely not be a priority and used to grow gamepass subs.
I wish Kinda funny had asked him for the gold subscription numbers
@Kezelpaso what he said isn’t the interesting thing…how he said it is. What he said doesn’t actually answer anything…maybe that they’ve learned to communicate about it months before rather than weeks before. I think if it was just an article of ‘expect news when news comes’ most would be like ‘ok yeah’
In an interview where he’s clearly been feeling consequences of making that choice to release Redfall. How he didn’t flat out confirm 60fps for starfield, and looked (imo) uncomfortable…well that’s definitely cause for interest One things for sure…the game needs to come out this year for them. 60fps or not.
Just all round bad look. Either Phil didn’t know the problems with the game AFTER delaying it a year…because his teams so hands off and useless at managing studios. Or he decided to put out an unfinished product, and priced it at 70, because having something on gamepass this month is worth more than quality control - and there’s probably truth in that…as we’re already of the mindset of ‘atleast it’s free with gamepass’
More I reflect on this interview the more I’m frustrated at the kinda funny crew. Under all that humbleness, Phil deflecting so much.
The whole ‘we’re gonna make 60 rated games we’re gonna make 90 rated games…games not just to your personal liking, but designed for everyone…so like it or lump it!’ Is complete misdirection from the point. Enjoyment of a game is subjective. Quality of a game (bugs, lack of polish, unfinished features) is not - and that played a big part in why redfall earned its reviews…not personal taste.
This, along with not answering why it was actually released in that state (prefering to answer why it was in that state), and a multitude of other things, makes it such a frustrating watch as you want the kinda funny crew to pull him up on actually answering the questions that have raised such concern with players that Phil finds himself having to do the interview in the first place.
This is a defeated deflated man today. He’s been saying Xbox needs to improve for years. Infact when you break it down we learned NOTHING new today.
He skirts around answering actual questions by directing the conversation to how he believes their teams should have creative freedom…rather than answering why these delayed games are released unpolished and missing features. Devs having creative freedom has never been the issue.
He then says something odd like redfall was too far gone and for it to be released with the quality expected (60fps decent ai and animation) people from Rare or other studios would have had to help last fall - the game was delayed literally a whole year ago…so he had some knowledge at that point that Arkane may have needed the extra help - it was never asked why they weren’t offered it back then.
The only positive thing he says is the acknowledgment of how financially important console players are to Xbox…but even in that he offers a mixed message at the end where he doesn’t want console owners feeling ‘second class’ yet they’re no longer the priority because they lost too much footing last gen as players are tied to PlayStations ecosystem so what’s the point?… this ignores that having players tied to an ecosystem is what brings in safe money (a sub doesn’t offer this) so it’s worth putting more effort in to make up ground with the console.
And it also ignores Nintendo - those players aren’t buying Nintendo consoles because they have hundreds of digital games from last gen tied to their profiles. They’re buying them because of Nintendo games
Oooh a ‘not bad’. That’s a shame, you were so close to being able to use ‘it sucks’ in the heading.
This game sounds like it’s dead on arrival though. With its whole ‘Jack of all trades master of none’ slow start, and unresponsive AI. I feel even if it does get better in later hours the catch of being on a sub like gamepass is that gamers feel they can quickly move on having not directly paid for it. Games coming out polished day 1 are more important now than ever…unfortunately they also seem further away than ever.
Most disappointing is learning that the different abilities in co op don’t really make enough of a difference to the gameplay.
This review just confirmed everything I felt when it was first shown…which is a shame as Arkane used to be such a good studio.
I honestly can’t believe they haven’t given any idea when the 60fps patch is coming either…people won’t wait on that long with everything else seemingly going against it.
I’ll try it tomorrow cause it’s on gamepass. But I can only hope MS hears the current noise around this, takes notice of the feedback…rather than just focus on the day 1 player count - because, like me, they’ll be there mostly through curiosity than hype. And likely won’t stick around
@101Force I haven’t tried for awhile, but have they fixed the cloud streaming local co-op yet? I tried it once last year with mortal kombat and gang beasts with my girlfriend, and you couldn’t play local multiplayer via streaming. I’d hope they’d have worked that out by now. Still the case?
@themightyant hypothetical v reality. But I personally find ALL exclusivity is great and adds value to my gaming platforms. The fact is I’m required to buy more than one platform to enjoy all the games I want (this has been the case since home consoles began)…so anything that’s dedicated to that hardware is more than likely going to take full advantage of that hardware. Offering me better quality games and placing more value on my hardware purchase - this is not me losing.
I also feel that when MS is paying for the costs of producing a game from start to finish, it being exclusive for their customers is less of a violation than if they only paid a portion of the costs and locked it behind exclusivity. And this includes known franchises.
Hopefully the next doom will indeed be Xbox exclusive and will see clear benefits from not having to stretch the team to work on the PlayStation version too. Or it could release unfinished like Redfall.
It’s just a shame we no longer get 3rd party licenced games made by completely different studios on each platform… I’d love to see an Xbox version of spiderman pitted against a PlayStation one.
Maybe that’s what gaming should do going forward…go back to the 80/90s and share licences for games. Let’s get different versions of final fantasy, doom, fallout etc on different consoles. That could be fun. Everybody gets the named games but they’re all developed as exclusives…getting those advantages
If the deal doesn’t go through you expect Xbox to go about business as normal? You mean delaying first party games whilst Phil tweets about how much he enjoys PlayStation? ***** that. I expect at the very least Xbox to be more outwardly aggressive…no more praising the competition. And talks of ‘gaming for everyone’ etc to die down a bit. I’d want them to focus on the sinking ship that is their console…and focus on the train wreck that is their current first party studios.
One things for sure, they’re going to have to get the cheque book out now and start buying 3rd party day 1 games to fill out the next couple of months of gamepass…as as far as I’m aware, without all the activision games they have nothing ‘AAA’ after redfall till September?
Time for plan B…fight to reverse the decision by making more compromises that don’t particularly benefit Xbox console owners. Then should that fail…plan c? Hopefully plan c is to buy the marketing rights to cod and start investing in marketing as a whole, a long side 3rd party full exclusivity deals akin to what Sony does…all for the fraction of that 69billion price. Getting gamepass on other consoles will just have to wait a little longer. Instead they’ll hopefully focus on offering xbox and gamepass quality titles.
The biggest blow to MS over this is the head start in mobile gaming it would have offered. Anyway, today ps fans time to party!🥳
I’m gonna try it day 1…I can’t say I’m excited for it though - there’s no buzz created by MS for it and what attention it has had has been excitement dampening for sure…and that’s a polite way to put it. I feel it being released unfinished, after a year delay, is going to reflect in the reviews. And we’ve still no knowledge of when it will be finished…could be weeks, could be years… who knows. But the trouble with these games hitting subs day 1 is it’s gonna be hard for this to get a second chance…unless MS have nothing big for gamepass till September, anyway
Comments 1,126
Re: Microsoft Is Literally Now Saying That Xbox Has 'Lost The Console Wars'
@RIghteousNixon who cares about regulators at that point. None of us are naive enough to believe MS when they say they’ve accepted last place…or when Sony says they can’t compete against cod.
And you’re assuming everyone is dumb enough not to see the reason why this price rise is before a trail other than you - odds are if you’ve noticed this, the regulators also have and it could equally pointed out and used as an example of willingness to raise price again never mind the disingenuous timing or doing so now.
As for it working against future acquisition if they raised the price straight after… it’s doubtful future ones are going to be in the 69billion again.
No, for gamers is would a price rise in the face of far more content and value would have been easier to accept. Now we have to see if the abk goes through…AND have some confidence yet another price rise won’t follow. You confident?
Re: Microsoft Is Literally Now Saying That Xbox Has 'Lost The Console Wars'
@BaldBelper78 people should rightly voice concerns or opinions on it that differ from ‘just smile and accept it’. The reality of it is that they’ve sold gamepass with the marketing of their first party AAA coming day1 - THATS gamepass biggest value. Last year they offer no first party AAA games day 1… and now they finally have them coming they raised the price…But only for console, not PC. This is on top of pc gamers not having to also pay to unlock content from Xbox games. As well as price increases to games and hardware 3 years in.
So yeah, it really doesn’t matter if the price increase is a penny. The message of it is the problem. They should have really waited till the abk deal went through before rising it…easier to defend. Maybe this is a sign confidence in that is gone. Or it’s a sign of greed because they know people want to play starfield so opportunistic to raise price of console and sub
Re: Microsoft Is Literally Now Saying That Xbox Has 'Lost The Console Wars'
@BaldBelper78 because it’s less to do with the amount and more to do with the timing.
Re: Todd Howard Explains Why Starfield At 30FPS Will 'Feel Great' On Xbox Series X|S
@Zoidpilot4 I have indeed played what I consider bad games at 60fps…as well as great games at 30fps. But I do think certain expectations should be met. Outside of these consoles being sold as 60fps being the standard, I think certain genres require 60fps more than others. Hell blade 2 I’m not expecting at 60fps…and I don’t think it will suffer from being 30 too much in terms of gameplay and backlash (we can clearly see where that additional 30frames have been spent instead). Forza at 30fps though? No way… racing needs 60. Cod at 30fps? No way, online shooters need 60.
Starfield is clearly ambitious…probably be the most ambitious game of the generation. And 30fps can be forgiven for such …IF it plays well. For that it needs to be a solid 30fps throughout…not regular dips to the 20s. This is going to be a £70 game at the end of the day…on a £500 console…on a new generation… there has to be certain expectations met. If a solid 30fps isn’t met then I do think the question should be asked at what point does the player/consumers needs come before ‘creative decisions’
Re: Microsoft Is Literally Now Saying That Xbox Has 'Lost The Console Wars'
You get why they’re saying it but is it not concerning how effortless they’ll sell us down the river? I mean today they’re saying they’ve already lost…yesterday they’re trying to sell yet another console to us. Where’s the faith? They’ve literally just increased the price of the console and subscription…the message should be one of commitment and value. Saying ‘we’ve lost’ brings up the question of how long will the console be supported. Will it have exclusives going forward or should I can I save hundreds and get them on the platform I already own?
This is the oddity of Xbox - they’re the only platform out of the 3 regularly congratulated on their transparency because they talk the most…yet they’re actually the least transparent of the 3
Re: Todd Howard Explains Why Starfield At 30FPS Will 'Feel Great' On Xbox Series X|S
I don’t doubt that the motion blur techniques will be great (ID have helped them) but all this nonsense over 30fps being a creative choice goes out the window when we know the PC version isn’t capped at 30fps too.
What will be the real kicker is if it’s not even a solid 30fps throughout…and going by what footage we’ve seen, where it clearly wasn’t a stable framerate, I don’t know how anyone can feel confident in ‘30fps will feel great on console’
We shall see.
Re: Microsoft Announces Price Increases For Xbox Series X And Xbox Game Pass
Anyone defending this because it’s ‘only this amount extra’ needs a slapping. It could be a penny extra, the messaging is typical MS BS.
When Sony was raising games to create the new standard of £70 MS was there winning brownie points proclaiming ‘it’s not fair to raise the price during economically challenging times’…whilst they had no current gen games to raise the price of. The moment they did they slapped on that £70rrp
For years they’ve been selling 12month subs off the promise of games like starfield releasing day1…only to have no first party day 1 AAA games released for it all of last year…now the moment those games are actually coming they raise the price? Whilst keeping the price of PC GP the same? ***** off MS
Like I said, I dont care if it’s a penny. The message is they’re taking liberties with console gamers… Phil said it last month, console gamers are financially valuable to them… and that’s all the value we offer. Xbox think nothing of offering us unpolished incomplete games. Think nothing of still placing a paywall on mp on games they release day1 on PC without that paywall. At least when Sony are milking their customers they’re actually offering quality products, and demonstrating a sense of value in PlayStation owners by making them the priority with game releases… rather than hammering home a message of ‘gaming for everyone’ whilst treating console players as…let’s be honest, second class.
Yeah MS deserve all the L feedback then get right now
Re: Xbox Series S 1TB Version Was Created Due To 'Really Consistent Feedback', Says Microsoft
Yeah I remember feedback from series s owners about lack of space meant they wanted to have to buy a whole new console rather than be offered cheaper additional storage options. Thanks for listening MS 👍
Re: Sony Won't Share Confidential PS6 Details With Activision If Xbox Deal Is Approved
Why the concern if activision games are going to be kept off PlayStation? …work that one out 🙃
Re: Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Gets Another Trailer At Xbox Showcase, Now Confirmed For 2024
Biggest disappointment of the show. Gameplay literally amounted to her standing up. A totally utterly pointless trailer designed to tick a box. And 2024… confirming that after a year of Xbox studios releasing nothing…2023 they just have the long shown Forza AAA to offer. Thank god for Bethesda this year!
Re: Bethesda's Huge Starfield Direct Gameplay Blowout Was Everything We Wanted
Looked great. But wasn’t everything we wanted. It wasn’t the important thing that Phil Spencer assured us he had learned a few weeks back… ‘TRANSPARENCY’. What was it running on? What can series console owners expect?
Other than that, they pretty much covered everything.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of Amnesia: The Bunker On Xbox Game Pass?
I think it feels like a budget side project with overly complicated clunky controls. Basically, I can see why they opted to release it on gp day 1. I’ll give it one more chance as I love horror games…but in all likelihood will soon uninstall
Re: Last Year's Xbox Showcase Included 14 Games That Haven't Released Yet
Not meant as criticism? Lol why the disclaimer? They should be criticised… it was a complete disaster for them - a showcase confidently boasting a message of “everything here today will be released within the next 12 months”…as a response to redfall and starfield getting delayed and Xbox AAA having sweet FA to offer their subscription buyers last year. Which gathered more criticism because of ALL THE OTHER GAMES THAT STILL ARENT OUT that they showed years ago at showcases (do an article on all those).
Xbox had 3 first party AAA games in last years show…just 3. Out of those, ALL had been shown before…2 had originally been planned to release in a matter of months. Since the show only 1 of those 3 has hit that 12 month window promise…and that was released unfinished. And one still doesn’t have a date.
On Thursday we’ll applaud them for showing starfield and Forza yet again.
Xbox need the criticism because gamers have too short a memory and xbox never learn…we’re all destined to repeat the same cycles.
Re: New Ubisoft Forward Trailer Confirms Multiple Games For This Month's Event
Can’t wait to see how beyond good and evil 2 is shaping up.
A 2D rayman would be welcome.
A splinter cell… dare I? daren’t I? Theres usually patterns to these things…just go metal gear remakes announced…a splinter cell remake/reboot is almost certain, right?
Re: Xbox Boss Phil Spencer 'Really Enjoying' New Game Pass Indie Title
@themcnoisy I think anyone with a free hotmail account can add to reviews? I’m not 100% sure though.
No denying that ‘the best value in gaming’ has slowly turned into ‘the gamepass effect’… there needs to be better quality control there all around.
But this is why MS are buying up every one they can… to help get some consistency in releases. That, in theory (as they still have to manage the publishers), sorts out the AAA releases.
Quality though …I guess we wait to see what the likes of starfield, hell blade 2 etc do for the sub count.
Re: Xbox Boss Phil Spencer 'Really Enjoying' New Game Pass Indie Title
@themcnoisy sounds like you’ve translated people complaining about a lack of AAA on GP into ONLY wanting AAA… far as I’ve seen that’s never been the case.
GP is marketed on AAA day 1 releases - these now cost £70 each…which in turn add more value to the subscription price.
This shouldn’t be confused with quality. They will however bring more people to gamepass than any indie will…which in turn will lead to indies being played by more players
Subscribers just want a consistent balance there.
I agree the creativity and risk taking is with indies though. The budgets for AAA have become so huge that it’s far safer for them to give us more remasters and sequels.
Planet of Lana is a great game. Beautiful visuals and animation. Highly recommend gamers trying it.
Re: Rockstar Is Seeking 'Nothing Short Of Perfection' With GTA 6
We know Benzies and Dan Houser have left Rockstar. We know there’s going to be a continued focus on the money machine that is the GAAS aspect of GTA. And we’ve heard it heavily rumoured to have its sp releasing in chapters.
Add that we’ve not seen anything SP related (dlc) since 2018s red dead 2 from Rockstar…
I can’t say I’m filled with confidence over GTA6. I reckon visually it will look great. That engines solid. But, I dunno…there’s just a few warning signs there for me
Re: Alan Wake 2 Launches On Xbox This October, First Gameplay Revealed
Have to imagine Sony have the marketing rights to this? Which really would be crazy if true how MS could let that happen.
Gameplay looked great. Worrying news is there’s no physical planned for it… a trend we’ll likely see more of throughout this gen
Re: Dragon's Dogma 2 Gameplay Finally Showcased Almost A Year After First Teaser
Most impressive game of the show. Can’t wait to play this one.
Re: Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Congratulates Sony On 'Nice' PlayStation Showcase
That’s the viciousness we wanted to see from Phil Spencer!
Great show. Nothing Xbox shows in June can come close to looking as good as Gran Turismo did 👍
Re: Random: Remember When Don Mattrick Told Us All To Buy An Xbox 360 In 2013?
It’s crazy how this contributes to him leaving Xbox and Don Mattrick still rides the blame of the xboxone being a failure last gen…when he was only around for mere weeks of that generation and secured possibly Xbox’s strongest launch lineup…. Yet Phil Spencer gas lighted people for complaining their games with ‘only on Xbox’ message they sold to gamers a year prior to get them to invest in the console we’re now coming to PC day1….and then gaslighted console players again at the start of this gen for having expectations that the console was aiming to compete with PlayStation after selling us the message of ‘most powerful console in the world’…
This on top of running the console brand into the ground with lack of content due to years of mismanagement…
Releasing digital console day 1…
Investing in more tv shows…
As well as being praised for bringing us a service that requires online and doesn’t let you share, own, or sell, games….
Kinda funny when you think about it
Re: We're 'Probably' Getting Mid-Gen Xbox & PlayStation Consoles, Says Take-Two CEO
How the hell are Xbox going to sell a midgen refresh after telling us consoles are not a priority for them and they’re not trying to compete? What’s the tagline going to be? ‘Buy at your own risk’ or ‘just one of the options to play gamepass on’…can’t imagine it will be ‘most powerful console in the world’ again.
They have so little faith in the console, so reluctant to market it, yet when it comes to releasing these things they’ll tell you they’re in the generation to win it, it ‘eats monsters for breakfast’, it’s going to be the best place to play exclusive games… etc, to get your £500…only for the following year tell you you’re stupid for having expectations on the console.
And all that noise doesn’t take into consideration that the consoles out don’t even have games taking full advantage of the hardware yet 🙃
Re: Xbox One Launch Title 'Killer Instinct' Gets Major Quality-Of-Life Update In 2023
This and quantum break were the games that convinced me I needed an xboxone. Loved this when it first came out…then they ruined it by introducing aload of f2p mechanics and made the menus a cluttered mess.
I do hope they bring it back though but seems yet another Rare ip Xbox are fine with letting die whilst they chase other publishers IPs…rather than growing the ones they chased from Nintendo. I mean how the hell we’ve not got a new banjo yet when they want they keep going on about ‘diversity of games’ for years, I don’t know… you’d think a platformer would be high on the list
Re: Internet Loses Its Mind As Nicholas Cage Gets Announced For Dead By Daylight
@grumpypotato how you can call Nichols cage ‘irrelevant’ when he releases 90films a year I don’t know. Guy is everywhere at every time.
Re: It Looks Like PlayStation Exclusive 'Stray' Is Coming To Xbox Soon
@UltimateOtaku91 oh yeah, you’re right. I must have been on extra back then.
Apologies @UnusedBabyWipes 👍
Re: It Looks Like PlayStation Exclusive 'Stray' Is Coming To Xbox Soon
@UnusedBabyWipes This released on Plus, not extra. Great little title
Re: Rumour: Microsoft Won't Stick To '12-Month Window' For Xbox Games Showcase 2023
Cordon said his claim is ‘mostly speculation’…by basically taking what Phil said to the kindafunny guys. Not exactly a hot scoop… given out of the 3 first party games xbox showed last year starfield got delayed, Forza still doesn’t have a date, and redfall should have been delayed further. Just embarrassing all around for them. And one of the many MANY reasons why the redfall backlash was always more than just the state of the game.
As obvious as this is, I mean even the show last year dedicated to a 12month window announced a kojima game that they knew was years away…I do take what Jez says with a pinch of salt. Guy was putting money on Avowed releasing last year… over 12 months later we still haven’t seen gameplay let alone a hint at a date. So…
Re: UK CMA Places Further Restrictions On Microsoft And Activision Blizzard
@Kaloudz Ah, so Activison only see value in gamepass since looking at a cheque for 69billion… shocking.
Unfortunately xbox have placed themselves in this position where the mindset of their gamers are now not to buy games…prefering to wait for them to come to gamepass. This combined with a reluctance/ineptitude in marketing their consoles, leads to far fewer games sales with each and every release compared to the other platforms. This in turn has lead to more and more 3rd parties either skipping Xbox platforms by choice, or preferring to make exclusivity deals with Sony (knowing the vast majority of sales will be there anyway, plus the capable marketing).
COD is no different when it comes to sales - the vast majority (and I truly mean majority) of sales is on PlayStation.
For the longest time we’ve heard how during this deal Sony has burned bridges with Activision. IF true, I’d say, unless Phil is indeed completely useless at the business side of things, Xbox is a certainty to have the marketing rights to any Activision game they choose. Wouldn’t you?
I’d also wager that those marketing deals, as we’ve seen with all previous marketing deals this gen, will include day1 gamepass releases. Which, given how low game sales are on Xbox consoles anyway, potentially makes enough sense for Activision to have a change of heart about their games on gamepass… besides, Phil will have just paid them 3billion for a years talking.
I’d also say there’s still nothing stopping Xbox making exclusivity deals on Activision IP…such as a new crash etc
Yes, it would be great not to have to pay 70 for new releases. It’s one of the main marketing points of gamepass.
Funnily enough though price parity is one of the main concerns Jim Ryan fed to the CMA
Sony exclusivity sounds like a Microsoft problem. Not a Sony one. Again, we want to not have to pay 70 for new games like stalker 2…so MS makes those deals. Sony are just better at it because for reasons already mentioned - they’re the leading platform. And these deals ensure they stay such.
It is unfortunate for us though that regardless of the deal going through this year…none of the latest cods will be able to be on gamepass for years.
I mean, activision wouldn’t have put them on gp anyway, right? So you can’t really blame them for accepting that in their contract.
How life could have been if Xbox didn’t give up the cod marketing because they could t decide if they wanted our money or not eh
The cloud rests so much more on outside of the consoles than in them. All those 10year deals rely on the cloud…even if we’re talking just uk that’s a big chunk of money they’re all missing out on
Personally I no longer care now either way. I would have benefitted as much as anyone to have Diablo and cod on gamepass. I still think they can pay for gamepass day1 releases of future iterations of them. And, assuming Xbox gets to keep the 69billion, I think at this point it’d be far more interesting to see what they’d use it on… after a year of jumping through hoops and realising that though they may not see themselves as competing to ‘outconsole’ Sony and Nintendo…those platforms sure want to outconsole Xbox
Re: UK CMA Places Further Restrictions On Microsoft And Activision Blizzard
@Kaloudz Right… and why can’t MS add that value regardless of the deal going through? With the Exact same games from activision on GP day 1 that this deal would potentially offer? For cheaper and without concessions?
Don’t hold your breath over ‘no extra cost’ …no price rise was one of the things the CMA wanted from MS
And why can’t MS also invest in 3rd party deals like Sony? MS buying studios isn’t going to have Sony make less 3rd party deals…one is the result of the other, and will continue to be.
And, what are you ok with MS giving away to ensure this deal is completed?
Re: UK CMA Places Further Restrictions On Microsoft And Activision Blizzard
Blah blah lab blah blah.
Here’s a question. Why do we care? What’s the reason we want MS buying activision? We know for at least 10years the likes of cod aren’t going to be exclusive to xbox…so I assume the reason we all want this deal passed today is so we get these games on gamepass day 1? Why can’t the likes of cod be on gamepass day 1 regardless?
This deal to me, though benefits me in the short term as a gp subscriber, has clearly always been about MS fast tracking Xbox into an app. About mobile gains.
Worse case if this deal gets blocked is that it puts those plans on hold and they have to focus back on their core audience for a bit longer - the console. Focus more on building up gamepass subs there.
The abk games aren’t gonna suddenly not be available. If anything, with it being activisions own money invested and not MS, the games will probably release in better quality.
If it was all about bringing games to Xbox there’s no reason in the world MS can’t do exclusivity deals at the fraction of 69billion price tag.
What are you willing for them to give up to get this deal across the line? They’ve already agreed to parity - meaning Xbox players don’t get any of the benefits playstation ones have enjoyed for the last decade.
Remove xcloud from the uk gamepass? We all happy paying for less services?
Put starfield and other Bethesda exclusives on playstation? Psplus does keep getting more and more Bethesda games…
How much are you wanting them to give to play games you’re gonna have access to regardless?
Remember, the CMA isn’t focusing on today…they’re looking at tomorrow. And after a year of promoting ‘play anywhere’, being hyped over ‘project keystone’, gp tv apps, kojimas announcement… we can’t suddenly pretend cloud isn’t important to Xbox’s plans today…let alone 10years from now
Re: Microsoft Rewards Giving Away 100s Of Easy Points With New 'Edge' Browser Update
Got the ‘reset’ bug again on my rewards streak this week…happened a couple of weeks back too but then came back after I completed my week. Hopefully same will happen this time…but man, the Xbox dashboard needs some attention. How they’ve let that side of the console slip alone is enough of a red flag consoles an afterthought for Xbox today. I still get the ‘market place needs to update’ message everytime I’m linked into the store. Still broken links doing rewards. Still achievements not registering.
If I used Edge via the Xbox I honestly don’t fancy the Xbox’s chances of survival at this point.
Re: Game Pass Title Hollow Knight: Silksong Has Been Delayed
@Grumblevolcano yep. Nothing every gets learned by Xbox…and, crucially, their players. Otherwise management would have changed long ago.
Re: Game Pass Title Hollow Knight: Silksong Has Been Delayed
@Grumblevolcano Redfall got delayed a solid year. Kinda makes you wonder what state the game was in last may…
Re: Redfall Dev Reveals Sadness Over 'Mean Spirited' Feedback From Peers
@GuyinPA75 well generally, even with previous Arkane games, you dont really see everything the game potentially has to offer within the first mission. Not every mission in dishonored was a fetch quest to progress the story for example. Where as the structure of this game is say it’s been 90% fetch quest so far after about 8 or so hours…often going back and fourth to the same places for different side missions…that are also fetch quests
Re: Redfall Dev Reveals Sadness Over 'Mean Spirited' Feedback From Peers
@NEStalgia yep. And you’d hope competition between studios would encourage them to want to do better next time…
Re: Redfall Dev Reveals Sadness Over 'Mean Spirited' Feedback From Peers
@GuyinPA75 enjoyment is subjective. Quality is not. All of you that enjoy the game, that’s great. Good for you. You’re getting your monies worth. All of that enjoyment doesn’t change the fact that the AI is completely broken, the game itself unfinished/missing features. And even if those were fixed you’re still left with a repetitive gameplay loop, dated visuals, a loot system that feels tacked on, npcs without personality, and an online co op game without matchmaking… that I believe still forces a requirement of gold to play sp? (Though can’t confirm)
Ironically the backlash is having more people trying it for themselves right now out of curiosity to the point where MS will probably end up claiming it a success
Re: Poll: Do You Think The Xbox ActiBlizz Deal Will Still Go Ahead?
I still expect MS to sell Xbox console owners down the river to get this deal to happen…more so now after recent comments.
Personally I’m at a point where I don’t particularly care about this deal either way. If MS get it I’ll get to play cod as part of my sub (assuming it’s on the uk gp)…but nobody should be confident that quality control will be there.
If they don’t get it I still get to play the games I want…only they will be released by a more competent publisher who doesn’t already have the bag for those games.
So yeah, let’s just get this whole thing over with and move on
Re: Xbox Announces Permanent Price Cut For Series X|S Storage Expansion Cards
@NEStalgia Ha, that was my first thought. The last time xbox had such bad faith with customers they finally made F2P games actually F2P.
I don’t think this was a PR move by them, though the timings great, but would have been awesome if for all Phils talk the other day about how they’re beyond the console now and want us all feeling like first class citizens on ‘Xbox’, would have been great to announce free mp for console
Re: Ghostwire: Tokyo Hits Major Player Milestone Following Xbox Game Pass Launch
Player counts are so utterly and completely meaningless I don’t understand how one would measure success from them. Current active players yes, but counting players who once started the game and then instantly stopped playing because they realised it was badly optimised offers nothing other than the risk of the next game being just as badly optimised
Re: Microsoft Reckons It 'Lost The Worst Generation To Lose' With Xbox One
Yeah. I mean, even though the switch was a huge success for Nintendo it’s clear the main reason was gamers feeling locked into that ecosystem because of their digital library.
It’s also true that very very few gamers ever buy more than one console.
So I reckon Phil smart to basically give up competing in the console market. I mean yeah, it was odd that he also revealed Xbox console owners are the ones financially valuable to them. But I mean they lost last gen because they were so inept at delivering games and making marketing deals that the console today should definitely not be a priority and used to grow gamepass subs.
I wish Kinda funny had asked him for the gold subscription numbers
Re: Xbox To Provide Update On Starfield's Frame Rate Ahead Of September Launch
@Kezelpaso what he said isn’t the interesting thing…how he said it is. What he said doesn’t actually answer anything…maybe that they’ve learned to communicate about it months before rather than weeks before. I think if it was just an article of ‘expect news when news comes’ most would be like ‘ok yeah’
In an interview where he’s clearly been feeling consequences of making that choice to release Redfall. How he didn’t flat out confirm 60fps for starfield, and looked (imo) uncomfortable…well that’s definitely cause for interest
One things for sure…the game needs to come out this year for them. 60fps or not.
Re: Xbox's Phil Spencer: 'I'm Upset With Myself' Over Redfall Launch
Just all round bad look. Either Phil didn’t know the problems with the game AFTER delaying it a year…because his teams so hands off and useless at managing studios.
Or he decided to put out an unfinished product, and priced it at 70, because having something on gamepass this month is worth more than quality control - and there’s probably truth in that…as we’re already of the mindset of ‘atleast it’s free with gamepass’
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
More I reflect on this interview the more I’m frustrated at the kinda funny crew. Under all that humbleness, Phil deflecting so much.
The whole ‘we’re gonna make 60 rated games we’re gonna make 90 rated games…games not just to your personal liking, but designed for everyone…so like it or lump it!’ Is complete misdirection from the point. Enjoyment of a game is subjective. Quality of a game (bugs, lack of polish, unfinished features) is not - and that played a big part in why redfall earned its reviews…not personal taste.
This, along with not answering why it was actually released in that state (prefering to answer why it was in that state), and a multitude of other things, makes it such a frustrating watch as you want the kinda funny crew to pull him up on actually answering the questions that have raised such concern with players that Phil finds himself having to do the interview in the first place.
Re: Phil Spencer Says Xbox 'Needs To Improve' Its Development Process
This is a defeated deflated man today. He’s been saying Xbox needs to improve for years. Infact when you break it down we learned NOTHING new today.
He skirts around answering actual questions by directing the conversation to how he believes their teams should have creative freedom…rather than answering why these delayed games are released unpolished and missing features. Devs having creative freedom has never been the issue.
He then says something odd like redfall was too far gone and for it to be released with the quality expected (60fps decent ai and animation) people from Rare or other studios would have had to help last fall - the game was delayed literally a whole year ago…so he had some knowledge at that point that Arkane may have needed the extra help - it was never asked why they weren’t offered it back then.
The only positive thing he says is the acknowledgment of how financially important console players are to Xbox…but even in that he offers a mixed message at the end where he doesn’t want console owners feeling ‘second class’ yet they’re no longer the priority because they lost too much footing last gen as players are tied to PlayStations ecosystem so what’s the point?… this ignores that having players tied to an ecosystem is what brings in safe money (a sub doesn’t offer this) so it’s worth putting more effort in to make up ground with the console.
And it also ignores Nintendo - those players aren’t buying Nintendo consoles because they have hundreds of digital games from last gen tied to their profiles. They’re buying them because of Nintendo games
Re: Review: Redfall - Arkane's Undead Experiment Brings Mixed Results To Xbox Game Pass
Oooh a ‘not bad’. That’s a shame, you were so close to being able to use ‘it sucks’ in the heading.
This game sounds like it’s dead on arrival though. With its whole ‘Jack of all trades master of none’ slow start, and unresponsive AI. I feel even if it does get better in later hours the catch of being on a sub like gamepass is that gamers feel they can quickly move on having not directly paid for it. Games coming out polished day 1 are more important now than ever…unfortunately they also seem further away than ever.
Most disappointing is learning that the different abilities in co op don’t really make enough of a difference to the gameplay.
This review just confirmed everything I felt when it was first shown…which is a shame as Arkane used to be such a good studio.
I honestly can’t believe they haven’t given any idea when the 60fps patch is coming either…people won’t wait on that long with everything else seemingly going against it.
I’ll try it tomorrow cause it’s on gamepass. But I can only hope MS hears the current noise around this, takes notice of the feedback…rather than just focus on the day 1 player count - because, like me, they’ll be there mostly through curiosity than hype. And likely won’t stick around
Re: Talking Point: Where Does Xbox Go Next If ActiBlizz Deal Falls Through?
@101Force I haven’t tried for awhile, but have they fixed the cloud streaming local co-op yet? I tried it once last year with mortal kombat and gang beasts with my girlfriend, and you couldn’t play local multiplayer via streaming. I’d hope they’d have worked that out by now. Still the case?
Re: Microsoft CEO: I've Never Been More Excited About Xbox's Pipeline Of Games
@themightyant hypothetical v reality. But I personally find ALL exclusivity is great and adds value to my gaming platforms. The fact is I’m required to buy more than one platform to enjoy all the games I want (this has been the case since home consoles began)…so anything that’s dedicated to that hardware is more than likely going to take full advantage of that hardware. Offering me better quality games and placing more value on my hardware purchase - this is not me losing.
I also feel that when MS is paying for the costs of producing a game from start to finish, it being exclusive for their customers is less of a violation than if they only paid a portion of the costs and locked it behind exclusivity. And this includes known franchises.
Hopefully the next doom will indeed be Xbox exclusive and will see clear benefits from not having to stretch the team to work on the PlayStation version too. Or it could release unfinished like Redfall.
It’s just a shame we no longer get 3rd party licenced games made by completely different studios on each platform… I’d love to see an Xbox version of spiderman pitted against a PlayStation one.
Maybe that’s what gaming should do going forward…go back to the 80/90s and share licences for games. Let’s get different versions of final fantasy, doom, fallout etc on different consoles. That could be fun. Everybody gets the named games but they’re all developed as exclusives…getting those advantages
Re: Talking Point: Where Does Xbox Go Next If ActiBlizz Deal Falls Through?
If the deal doesn’t go through you expect Xbox to go about business as normal? You mean delaying first party games whilst Phil tweets about how much he enjoys PlayStation? ***** that. I expect at the very least Xbox to be more outwardly aggressive…no more praising the competition. And talks of ‘gaming for everyone’ etc to die down a bit.
I’d want them to focus on the sinking ship that is their console…and focus on the train wreck that is their current first party studios.
One things for sure, they’re going to have to get the cheque book out now and start buying 3rd party day 1 games to fill out the next couple of months of gamepass…as as far as I’m aware, without all the activision games they have nothing ‘AAA’ after redfall till September?
Re: Xbox's Activision Blizzard Deal Officially Blocked In The UK
Time for plan B…fight to reverse the decision by making more compromises that don’t particularly benefit Xbox console owners. Then should that fail…plan c? Hopefully plan c is to buy the marketing rights to cod and start investing in marketing as a whole, a long side 3rd party full exclusivity deals akin to what Sony does…all for the fraction of that 69billion price. Getting gamepass on other consoles will just have to wait a little longer. Instead they’ll hopefully focus on offering xbox and gamepass quality titles.
The biggest blow to MS over this is the head start in mobile gaming it would have offered. Anyway, today ps fans time to party!🥳
Re: Poll: Are You Still Excited For Redfall To Hit Xbox Game Pass Next Week?
I’m gonna try it day 1…I can’t say I’m excited for it though - there’s no buzz created by MS for it and what attention it has had has been excitement dampening for sure…and that’s a polite way to put it.
I feel it being released unfinished, after a year delay, is going to reflect in the reviews. And we’ve still no knowledge of when it will be finished…could be weeks, could be years… who knows. But the trouble with these games hitting subs day 1 is it’s gonna be hard for this to get a second chance…unless MS have nothing big for gamepass till September, anyway