I've been excited for Vampire crawlers, just haven't gotten around to buying it yet. Pumped to try it out!

@Banjo- Too true. In hindsight, those blank cheques were a gift and a curse. I remember the Xbox community was so excited about these acquisitions a few years back. I had just finished Deathloop and bought a Series S just to play whatever Arkane Lyon did next.

Here's hoping Blade, whenever (if ever) it releases, turns out to be a banger.

@fatpunkslim I guess every two years was a bit much, but I was talking about the stretch post-dishonored 1. They developed Dishonored 2, co-developed Wolfenstein, and then developed Deathloop. That was pretty consistent output if you ask me. 2016, 2019, and then 2021.

@Fishmasterflex96 Not for Arkane Lyon. Again, they were releasing games every 2-3 years pretty consistently

I can't help but wonder what happened internally at these studios post acquisition. Arkane Lyon was consistently pumping out bangers every 2 years... until they were purchased by Microsoft. Then we got six years of nothing.

Side note: I still hope they stay in the fold. I bought an Xbox because of Arkane Lyon. I replay Dishonored 2 and Deathloop every couple years.

At this point, MS should position Xbox to compete with Nintendo, not Playstation. Their sustainability should be anchored in IP, low scope/low budget wins w/a single tentpole title each year, and keeping their head down.

I’ve read pull quotes saying the GP mode put them in free fall… I couldnt disagree more. Buying ABK put them in free fall. That was a stupid purchase that should have never gone through.

Say what you will about GP, but they were in free fall before its inception. No one cared about an Xbox before then. The problem was it stalled out at 30 million and MS didn’t want to admit that GP was largely tied to their console install base.

They tried to get people to care outside of the MS ecosystem, but GP was always anchored to console sales.

They didn’t know how to increase console sales.

I bought a used series S for $200 back in 2022. At the time I was worried I spent too much. There were rumors that Xbox would lower the price of the series S to the $250-$200 range

@Questionable_Duck I'd imagine so. They've only been divorced from Xbox for how long now, a month?

Given their current output of 2 games in 7 years, I don't think DF could whip this out from concept to completion in a month flat.

I'm not saying I would have preferred Brutal Legend 2 over Keeper and Kiln... but I'm not, NOT saying that either, ya know?

The lack of split screen was a real downer for me, but great game nonetheless

Obsidian was the gem of Phil’s acquisitions imo. They’ve released 5 games good to great games in 7 years. That’s some incredible output. Glad they still have work!

@themightyant I'm talking about luna abyss specifically. 17 developers across 7 years is crazy! Even if they were all entry level salaries of 28k annual, that would still come out to 3.3 mil over 7 years.

That's not including benefits either. It's a crazy industry!

@themightyant I know right?? Crazy long dev cycle!

I fear the games industry is at a tipping point. Even indie games have Dev cycles of 4+ years.

I read from a GDC interview that a “smash hit” in the indie scene sells roughly 200k. At a 7 year dev cycle, it would be impossible to recoup the cost of development with 200k sold.

And Part of me doubts Luna Abyss sold even that much.

"Hey a feedback portal. Nice!"

And then I commented and went about my evening.

Personally, I loved it. It came at a time in my life when the escapism was very much needed.

Give me a gross, Ultra-HD reboot of Battletoads a la Star Fox 2026

"Pay me $70 now!"

Waits a year

"Because it's Christmas and we have end of year quotas to meet... pay me $20 and I'll throw in the DLC for free."

Not gonna lie, I like the bullet points. Here's hoping this can trickle into the games I love.

In this economy??? Idk like $50

@Fiendish-Beaver I think she's calling out the many means Xbox makes money through its games. COD, Candy Crush, Kiln, and Sea of Thieves are all crazy different experiences that demand time and cash in different ways.

Likewise, it sounds like there are a lot of different internal processes the developers use. Which makes sense with all of the acquisitions.

Why/how can Double Fine and Obsidian push out games so much faster than our other studios? They're smaller, but does it makes sense to push out 3 AA games in the span of 4 years instead of a single AAA title?

What's wrong with a year's worth of exclusivity?

Can you image what 2025 could have been for console sales and game pass sub if Doom, Oblivion, Gears, Outer Worlds 2 and (maybe) COD released on Xbox first?

@themightyant I meant introductory as in that's the price/tier they market to their audience. They market Ultimate as de facto for the average consumer without building value in their other tiers. Everything else is a downgrade.

If GP only has marketable value on its Ultimate tier, then two things happen:

1) Users don't have anywhere else to go in the ecosystem (except downward).
2) Users are much more willing to cancel outright than downgrade.

MS needs to build the value of their lower tiers and market them, transitioning users to Ultimate over time. The "land-and-expand" model doesn't work when the only the highest tier is even worth looking at.

There's a difference between "race to the bottom" and "sustainable growth model."

Game pass needs to find a price point that can introduce gamers into their ecosystem and then upsell them over a lifetime.

They won't be able to do that at an introductory price of $30 monthly.

Throwing this out there - Coming from a corporate marketer - that logo animation was 100% AI generated.

The Alters. It's fantastic and was so under the radar, I don't even see it getting mentioned on these types of lists.

I bet it's some corporate BS.

AKA 18% profitability from Microsoft and Xbox on a "per game" basis, but with an additional 12% from internal publishers like Activision (which they HAVE to mandate to hit their own publisher profitability margin that MS separately set for them). 30% total.

Point is - MS can be technically right... but also manipulating metrics and margins to mislead the public.

MK seems a little too much these days. More power to whoever's into it, it's just no longer for me.

Can you imagine how the year would have looked if Xbox didn't go multi-platform? Wow. 2025 would have been THE year.

15 exclusives? Timed or otherwise, I don't think that's ever been done.

Sim is the only game that gave me a different kind of emotional payoff.

I beat doom 3, I knew what to expect… but SoM was unique on every level

Cancelled. I went from Ultimate to zilch. I was playing Silksong on GP, but I saved myself 10 bucks by buying it outright.

Side note: the value of Silksong is INSANE

I loved Jusant! I played it with my daughter and she was utterly entranced by it all.

@Nintendo4Sonic Remember, that's only what we know about too.

WHO KNOWS what else was cancelled.

Weird that we got less press for Keeper than we did Hellblade 2

That logo looks AI generated. That said, best of luck Sackbird!

I could own the entire Ubisoft Classic library in perpetuity for $25 on a year end sale sooooo no. Not worth the GP addition and price hike.

Bought a Series S for $200 as a Game Pass machine. Now? I simply cannot justify that price.

MS in 2026:

"Game Pass Ultimate: Now only $23.99. Bundle and save on over 150 new games!"

3 months later...

"Due to increasingly difficult market conditions, Game Pass will now be sold at a monthly rate of $33.99."

Wow big month for Xbox! NG4, OW2, and Keeper

@Millionski Wait what? Where did you find that news, push square?

Darn. It was probably a live service game, but I was still curious about this one

I’m loving all of the South of Midnight shoutouts! It’s not perfect, but it truly is a special game.

Personally, my top 3 include:

South of Midnight
Blue Prince
Doom the Dark Ages

If they drop the Xbox PC app on the series s and x... They may start selling the series s and x.

Hey but why? Why would anyone buy a new console? There are still third party games releasing on Xbox One and PS4

I've been hyped for this game after watching Mickey 17! I'm on a work trip atm but have the game pre-loaded for when I'm back.

2025 was the juggernaut year for xbox. If 2026 is going to be a somehow going to up 2025, color me excited

RIP console wars 🪦

They really are an incredible company. Their releases are truly AAA. But, unlike the other gaming giants, Capcom has managed to pump them out timely and (presumptively) within budget.

Cheers Capcom 🥂

Sad to see. In retrospect, the 2010s were really good for gaming and growth in the industry. I hope we can get there again!