Cakefish

Hopefully actually optional and not ‘optional’ in the way first party game releases and store sales are where they shove a full screen advert down your throat. I want the option not to be continually harassed to use it.

Well if this momentum continues then it seems like Phil leaving may prove to be very beneficial after all. Seemed like a nice chap, but can’t deny that console became a complete afterthought under his watch, to say the least. He talked the talk, but he didn’t walk the walk. Early days still, but a very promising start for the new leadership.

Good work Asha. Done more for console than Phil has in literally years. Perhaps this is when we start to find out that Phil was actually what was wrong with Xbox all this time 👀

@Globo I cycle between the same half dozen colour options so it’ll be really nice having more choices available!

Oh wow, very nice! It’s been a while since a meaningful console update. Mad that it’s taken 5 years for a per-game Quick Resume toggle, but better late than never eh! Great stuff and good to see the stingy 2 group limit be lifted too.

Steam already has this feature, but it’s a very good thing Xbox is copying them. It’s what I keep asking for. Be more like Steam. The ability to set custom artwork is a great example of mimicking Steam’s customisation ability. More of this please Xbox.

It’s so hard to say as so many things still up in the air, especially as the leadership just changed. The route they appear to be going down is transitioning to a PC only brand, but attempting to make PCs much more living room friendly in the process. I’m very interested in seeing where it goes, but also I struggle to see how they can compete with Steam which de facto owns the PC market.

@Balaam_ Play Anywhere will be made redundant on Helix. If Helix is a PC then Windows handhelds such as ROG Ally will automatically support Helix games without a need for specific Play Anywhere support. I guess it’ll still be useful for legacy support for XSX|S of course, but that’s it as PCs already support PC games by default.

“so bringing them from Steam to the Xbox Store hopefully won't present anywhere near as many hurdles in the next generation.”

Well not really, in my opinion. Xbox App already exists on PC and most publishers default to Steam regardless. Not a problem if Helix supports Steam of course, but just wanted to point out there’s no barrier to developers using Xbox on PC currently, they just choose not to. I don’t see how Helix will dramatically change this dynamic honestly, usurping Steam as the default PC storefront is a gigantic mountain to climb, to say the least!

Having more timely indie releases on XSX in the meantime would be a very good thing though.

It’s strange reading these articles knowing my Game Pass Ultimate has expired, after 5 years of being subbed it’s taking some adjusting mentally to not have automatic access to all of these games.

Both of these look very promising!

@BacklogBrad it still hasn’t come to fruition I would argue. I recently purchased Borderlands 4 and Code Vein 2, neither of which support Play Anywhere. It’s only really going to become reality when Helix launches, until then there’s just insufficient support from third party publishers.

The words may change, but the question is will their actions follow suit or will they still follow the ‘everything is an Xbox’ doctrine while simply pretending otherwise 🤔

@Fiendish-Beaver I personally think it’d make much more sense to simply raise price of Ultimate until it’s profitable, if it’s not already. Maybe it sheds a lot of users but at least then it’s still technically offered as an option, avoiding the terrible PR from spending a decade hyping up day one Game Pass titles only to suddenly kill them off completely.

@Fiendish-Beaver wasn’t the whole point of the pivot to PlayStation intended to offset loss of Xbox first party game sales? I don’t see why it’d be beneficial to give up on years worth of cultivating a brand (Game Pass) only to kill it cold. The whole thing would’ve been pointless and with no exclusives to turn back to and no Game Pass either then how does Xbox hope to compete with PlayStation and Steam? After putting all their eggs into the Game Pass basket I don’t see how they can ditch it and survive.

I’m no longer subscribed to Ultimate so it’s not an issue for me personally, but the main talking point about Xbox the past half decade has been Game Pass. I think the PR hit would be quite significant.

Well if the 25% price hike thing is true then that’s not good at all. Microsoft will be in hot water for sure if they go for that yet again (fourth year in a row if I count correctly). Hopefully Essential escapes the price hike madness 🤞

@Fiendish-Beaver yep, equalising the pricing of PC and Ultimate and merging the two together seems to be their goal for Helix. They’re purposely hiding away the PC only Game Pass tier on their website to put all attention on the other plans instead.

Day one games is their whole shtick that differentiates them from PS Plus. I don’t really see how they can move away from that with the Ultimate tier gracefully. It’d just be a PR disaster, as they’ve encouraged their customers to consume games this way for years. And it’s not just PlayStation they have to worry about, if all the rumours of alternative storefronts are true. If they scrap Game Pass Ultimate what does the Microsoft Store even offer that’s meaningfully different from Steam?

My eyes are burning it’s so damn ugly. And why is there a random master chief just standing there waving in front of the game art? I hate it

@Fiendish-Beaver no I think what’ll happen is PC Game Pass will merge with Game Pass Ultimate, while keeping the same price as the latter. They’ll probably add some other thing to partially compensate for the value loss of paid multiplayer, but largely will be relying on the inevitable positive PR wave to mask over that issue. Game Pass Essential may live on as some sort of bastardised ad-supported tier or just be killed off entirely.

They can’t keep paid multiplayer on Helix if it permits access to Steam because no one’s gonna use a Microsoft Store locked behind a paywall when Steam’s right there and completely free. And it would be a huge knock on the appeal of the hardware when the Xbox app on other PCs don’t charge for multiplayer. If I’m just using Steam on the hardware why would I need it in first place? My DIY PC already gives me access to Steam.

I don’t personally see a need to scrap Ultimate, what would be the advantage of that for both Microsoft and consumers? Would be interesting to hear your reasoning!

@Lup it’ll happen once Helix launches, they can’t keep charging for online for a PC. I expect them to milk it on XSX|S for all it’s worth until then though.

I wouldn’t be surprised. Even Sony is getting in on the action with a PS6 handheld edition. Just give it enough RAM this time around Microsoft!

They can promise us the moon on a stick, but what matters is their actions.

These executives have made plenty of misleading statements over the years, too many to list.

Time will tell how new leadership performs.

No adverts. It’s annoying enough that console has adverts but a non-subsidised PC absolutely shouldn’t have adverts. If they do load it up with ads then Steam Big Picture mode would offer a better experience. They’d be wise to remember that PC has alternatives.

If you asked me this last week I would’ve answered that I have Ultimate, but it expired last week so I’m now on Essential. In recent years I haven’t got that much use out of Game Pass as I’ve been busy enough playing games not on the service.

The library is a jack-of-all-trades but master of none. That’s the main issue with Game Pass. If you play every single genre then I guess you’re set, but I have a handful of favourite genres and prefer to stick to those. Game Pass doesn’t align closely enough with my tastes.

@BacklogBrad true, though it’s still a big concern of mine. If Nintendo can convince From Software to develop a Switch 2 exclusive then anything seems possible…

Depends on pricing but assuming it’s significantly more expensive than XSX then it’ll be very niche indeed. XSX has sold maybe ~15 million at best? So I predict <10 million for Helix realistically.

I don’t know how Microsoft expects their store to effectively compete with Steam on Helix when they keep nerfing Rewards, which has been the best feature of the Microsoft Store up until now. It’s actually a key reason why I built up such a large Xbox library on my XSX, I was redeeming so many Xbox gift cards. I was well aware that the glory days wouldn’t last forever, but I really wasn’t expecting Rewards to end up this degraded this quickly.

@Kramlar path tracing. It’s the future of games but is ridiculously demanding. Even an RTX 5090 has to make compromises in resolution and frame rates when utilising path tracing.

Likely. I don’t see why they’d officially announce it now if the current plan wasn’t 2027. It Osborne effects the already struggling XSX|S.

@Millionski yeah it certainly will be a much more interesting comparison than XSX vs PS5 is. The key question is whether I actually effectively already have a Helix at home with my current DIY PC…

All depends on how it functions vs a standard PC. Could be cheaper for me to convert my current DIY build into a living room PC myself. It would need to offer functionality my current PC can’t, on top of backwards compatibility, to be a compelling investment.

The issue is that this means my Xbox library meets a definitive dead end once this hardware launches. There’s no advantage to Xbox app vs Steam. None at all. Well, aside from redeeming Rewards points for gift cards, but Microsoft has scaled that back massively lately.

So that leaves me in an odd spot really with my XSX. If my future library is going to live on Steam then logically I should probably start switching over now for consolidation purposes. Though that would mean my XSX will be left neglected in the meantime, which I really don’t want to happen…

@Fiendish-Beaver also Steam’s community and library management features are 1000 times superior to any other storefront.

As I already have a PC more powerful than Helix (well I’m assuming an RTX 5070 Ti and R5 7600X3D are comfortably more powerful), the key question for me is what’s the advantage of this device vs taking a bit of time and money to simply convert my existing PC into a mini ITX SFF build? And keeping my XSX for backwards compatibility with my Xbox library. The custom version of Windows needs to seriously impress for this to be worth the investment.

Neat! Very cool to have the rumours finally officially confirmed! 🎉 😀

With the news of Sony pulling back from PC I’m feeling a bit more conflicted about Helix honestly, simply because I already have a desktop PC so in that light maybe a PS6 makes more sense — which makes Helix kinda redundant. I do still love the concept of a living room PC that can natively run Xbox games though. No mandatory multiplayer subscription will naturally be a colossal advantage over Sony’s offering and Steam is simply the best digital store in existence.

Enjoy everyone! Unfortunately my game pass ultimate expired a couple days ago 😢

@Millionski yeah I’m feeling the same way. The chances of me buying a PS6 just shot up substantially. And if I’m buying a PS6 then I probably won’t need an Xbox Magnus. Pretty grim outlook for Xbox here.

Big news that’ll impact me greatly. My PC had almost effectively become a de-facto PlayStation as I’m using it primarily to play all games I can’t access on Xbox. God of Wars, Horizons, Kenas, Stray etc. and I have Stellar Blade, AI Limit, Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted still on my Steam wishlist. I do use it for PC exclusive indie games too, but Sony’s AAA/AA games were the ones justifying the high end hardware that I invested in. So this really could change my purchasing plans in future honestly…

Sounds good! Shame my Ultimate expired literally yesterday though, unfortunate timing 😭

@Fiendish-Beaver didn’t you get the memo? We’re supposed to be a hivemind. Differing opinions disrupt the functioning of the mother brain.

@Fiendish-Beaver haha I know the feeling, they really know how to play into those addictive compulsions with the Rewards quests! I feel sad that my rewards streak is ending, but logically I’d be spending exponentially more keeping my subscription active than I’d get back in points. Have to look at the bigger picture.

I’m like you, I’ve found myself mostly ignoring the game pass library in recent years in favour of my owned games library. The problem I find with game pass is it’s trying to be jack of all trades but ends up being master of none. My favourite genres aren’t well represented in the library because Xbox is trying to appeal to as broad an audience as possible.

How long are you still signed up for?

My Game Pass Ultimate expired today. The end of 3 years of the legendary 1:1 Gold to Ultimate conversion deal. All good things come to an end eventually and that’s it, game over now.

I’ve bought some stackable codes for Essential and I’ll think I’ll just stick with that tier for now. I don’t see much point to Ultimate when the majority of games I play either aren’t on the service or get added years later.

If the prices hadn’t risen so much within the past few years I’d have stacked it again, but it’s got to the point where I can’t justify the cost anymore for how little I actually use it.

If you want console to have any chance of succeeding drop the mandatory need for Essential subscription for multiplayer games and price match the XSX with the PS5. Seriously.

I agree with the folks saying it’s too late. Horse has already bolted, to add to the metaphor party.

It’s ironic that Xbox concretely committed to no exclusives just as PlayStation allegedly has decided to ditch PC ports of single player games.

Nice! Next we need custom wishlist sorting like Steam has please.

With the suspiciously timed news that Sony has allegedly decided to scale back their PC support the future of Xbox certainly looks more uncertain (even assuming the pivot to PC strategy is executed well to begin with). I guess it depends how much quality output Sony can achieve now they’ve moved on from their disastrous live service obsession and just how nerfed their future PC support will be.

I'm a little concerned, but still have some optimism.

I guess it depends how much of the recent struggles were driven by Phil and Sarah vs Satya, who of course remains the top dog. And if it’s the former, how much free rein will Asha actually get in course correcting (assuming she herself has any desire to).

It’s a paid service so yeah you’d hope subscribers would actually be using it for its intended purpose lol

I meanwhile have not been. Not because I don’t want to but because I just don’t have time. I’ve simply been too busy playing games that aren’t on Game Pass.

My Ultimate expires 3rd March and I’m really going to have to properly mull over whether it’s worth renewing as the last game I played via Game Pass was Keeper in October. I just can’t keep up!

So I think I might just settle for Essential. Maybe Planet of Lana 2 can convince me to go for one more month, we’ll see…

@BAMozzy I know what you mean and I don’t disagree, but I do think that first party and third party terms kinda lose much of their meaning when PCs are involved, because it’s an open platform. No one would say a game like Indiana Jones is first party on a desktop PC but then suddenly becomes third party on a Steam Deck, just because the latter is Linux based. It’s always been terminology used when talking about the world of consoles, I’ve never really seen it in the context of solely PC gaming. I know next gen will blur the lines on this as we expect a PC built directly by Microsoft. I guess the difference will be that the hardware is designed in-house and with OS-level modifications to have a controller friendly UI, as opposed to any other bog standard PC.

@BAMozzy I don’t really know what you’re trying to say because you’re agreeing that ASUS ROG Xbox Ally isn’t first party hardware.

My iPhone and iPad are literally Xboxes because they can run xcloud games, but they don’t fit the criteria of first party Xbox hardware either.

It’s funny he uses ROG Xbox Ally as the example because it’s actually ASUS hardware lol

@eduscxbox Fable and Forza 6 too. Halo devs said Halo will forever be a PlayStation franchise from now onwards. Cat is out of the bag. Expectations have been publicly set. If Gears of War E-Day isn’t multiplatform I’ll eat my hat. Also Satya and the board of directors have seen the money generated by multiplatform and they won’t let that go. Satya specifically has been constantly beating the multiplatform drum and the new Xbox lady reports directly to him. That’s why I think it’s simply too late to change course now, they’re already in too deep.