@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?
@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.
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.
@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…
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.
@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…
@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.
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.
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.
@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.
Every major IP is now on PlayStation. You can’t undo that. The point of no return has already been crossed. The hardware sales have already tanked. Game over. Multiplatform is here to stay, we all know it.
Ditch the mandatory requirement for Game Pass Essential, price match the PS5 (expandable storage included), and get rid of dashboard ads if you want a major competitive win for consoles. It’s the only realistic path forward.
Have the XSX price match the PS5 in all regions, for both the digital and physical editions, and do a proportional XSS price cut too.
Subsidise the Expansion Cards to more closely match the current standard NVMe SSDs market price.
Make online multiplayer free for all games. Revamp Essential in some other way to compensate for the lost ‘value’.
Copy many more store/community features from Steam. It’s the premier global storefront for a reason.
Strictly enforce a quality mandate amongst first party studios that no game can perform better on PS5 vs XSX (PS5 Pro excluded for obvious reasons).
There’s nothing that can realistically be done about exclusivity, we’re already past the point of no return in that regard. So compensate for this disadvantage by making XSX|S compelling for other reasons.
I still think it’s a bit weird that Phil left before the 25th anniversary. With it being merely 9 months away I just assumed he’d remain on for that and then leave on a high note.
@Fiendish-Beaver the thing really is DOA if it doesn’t even offer basic backwards compatibility. A key pillar Xbox has built their brand upon for the last decade. If it really is just Windows 11 with the Xbox FSE overlay slapped on top and can’t play any XSX games then there’s simply no reason for me to buy it when I already have a gaming PC (which I can convert into a mini ITX SFF build if needed to play on the TV in the living room). Who would such a device appeal to? It’d be so insanely niche that it’d be pretty much instantly become irrelevant in the market. I’ve gotta keep holding onto hope that when Sarah said it’d be fully backwards compatible that she actually meant those words and wasn’t intentionally misleading us. Cloud streaming does not count as backwards compatibility!
Lowering the price to match the PS5 would be a start. Not really much else I think they’ll realistically be willing to do to save the XSX|S from the current doom spiral in hardware sales and I don’t think there’s a high likelihood they’ll be willing to price match the PS5. The exclusive ship has obviously already sailed, so that’s not up for debate. This is all just a bunch of PR waffle really. Actions speak far louder than words, so I’ll believe it when I see it.
I’m sceptical. Seems like a coordinated effort to scapegoat Sarah. Which isn’t to say she didn’t push for the ‘everything, everyone and their dog” is an Xbox strategy, but she would’ve needed sign off from Phil and Satya to go ahead and clearly they loved the idea. So no, I don’t believe for a second that she was the sole architect of the current Xbox situation. And as for Microsoft being disappointed at hardware sales… lol no. They knew exactly what they were doing. It was all intentional to slowly wind down XSX|S. You don’t bin off exclusives, raise hardware/game pass costs, and explicitly market how you don’t need to buy an Xbox and then expect no repercussions from those actions. They’re not that stupid. As for supposed change of direction, I don’t buy that either. What can they even realistically change course on? The multiplatform ship has already well and truly sailed. XSX|S sales cannot meaningfully recover. It’s all just fluffy but ultimately meaningless PR talk. Satya is still in charge at the end of the day.
@IOI yeah he did seem to lose his soul over the last few years. His heart didn’t seem in it anymore after the Activision buyout.
@Millionski yes this focus on AI is concerning. Xbox feels like a very different brand from when I bought my XSX in 2021, only 5 years ago.
@RBRTMNZ seems Sarah peaced out after getting snubbed from the top job by the AI drone. Choosing to give no public statement implies she’s got beef with how this all went down.
@GuyinPA75 yeah it’s just I’d to play Planet of Lana 2 when it comes out. I guess I’ll see how I feel when the time comes. Assuming the reviews are good for the game!
My Game Pass Ultimate expires 2nd of March. They added in all these extra rewards quest perks over the Essential tier last year and now they’ve made them all worth less in one fell swoop. Something I’ll have to consider when I decide whether to renew Ultimate or simply stick to Essential.
@Neither_scene that’s exactly what I mean, sorry if it wasn’t clear. Price it too high and the audience will end up being very niche. So I suppose it ends up being a question of just how mass market Microsoft want this device to be.
@fatpunkslim for HBM3E. HBM has hardly ever been used in consumer gaming products because it is much more expensive than GDDR memory and the latter does the job well enough, even for flagship GPUs like the RTX 5090. I would be flabbergasted if Microsoft would use such premium memory in their Xbox products, when they could use them in their much more profitable enterprise products instead and are currently crazy in love with everything AI.
@Fiendish-Beaver I suppose they will use the APU in cloud server farms too, so can make return on R&D investment that way. Something that only just came to my mind. So yeah I suppose selling X number of units isn't as important as it would've been otherwise.
10 million is probably very optimistic considering Series X has sold roughly the same as the Wii U at a much lower price point than we're all expecting this device to be. The market for a four figure priced Xbox will be significantly smaller than that still!
Comments 1,313
Re: Fortnite Price Hikes Are Coming, And They'll Affect Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
@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?
Re: Xbox Fan Shares Project Helix UI Concept, This Time Based On The 360 NXE Dashboard
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
Re: Fortnite Price Hikes Are Coming, And They'll Affect Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
@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!
Re: Fortnite Price Hikes Are Coming, And They'll Affect Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
@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.
Re: Digital Foundry Speculates Whether There'll Be An Xbox Series S Successor Next-Gen
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!
Re: Xbox Must Live Up To Expectations Of Fans Who Have 'Counted On Us', Says Microsoft Boss
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.
Re: Xbox Superfan Shares Blades Dashboard Concept For 'Project Helix' Console
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.
Re: Talking Point: Are You Happy With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate In 2026?
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.
Re: Talking Point: Will 'Project Helix' Be A Niche Device, Or An Xbox Console For The Masses?
@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…
Re: Talking Point: Will 'Project Helix' Be A Niche Device, Or An Xbox Console For The Masses?
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.
Re: Microsoft Rewards Reduces 'Daily Set' Points Across Multiple Regions
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.
Re: With Xbox's 'Project Helix' Revealed, How Likely Is A 2027 Release Date?
@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.
Re: With Xbox's 'Project Helix' Revealed, How Likely Is A 2027 Release Date?
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.
Re: Xbox Announces New 'Project Helix' Console, Says It Will Play PC Games
@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…
Re: 'It Will Lead In Performance' - Xbox's Price Tag For Project Helix Could Be Pretty High
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.
Re: Windows & Steam Support Will Make Project Helix 'The Most Open Xbox Ever', Says Report
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…
Re: Xbox Announces New 'Project Helix' Console, Says It Will Play PC Games
@Fiendish-Beaver also Steam’s community and library management features are 1000 times superior to any other storefront.
Re: Xbox Announces New 'Project Helix' Console, Says It Will Play PC Games
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.
Re: Xbox Announces New 'Project Helix' Console, Says It Will Play PC Games
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.
Re: The Gorgeous Planet Of Lana 2 Is Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (March 5)
Enjoy everyone! Unfortunately my game pass ultimate expired a couple days ago 😢
Re: Next Xbox Console Could Be Affected By PlayStation Pulling Back On PC
@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.
Re: Next Xbox Console Could Be Affected By PlayStation Pulling Back On PC
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…
Re: Roundup: Here's What The Reviews Say About Planet Of Lana 2 On Xbox Game Pass
Sounds good! Shame my Ultimate expired literally yesterday though, unfortunate timing 😭
Re: These Seven Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass, Including Three Big Additions (March 4-17)
@Fiendish-Beaver didn’t you get the memo? We’re supposed to be a hivemind. Differing opinions disrupt the functioning of the mother brain.
Re: These Seven Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass, Including Three Big Additions (March 4-17)
@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?
Re: These Seven Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass, Including Three Big Additions (March 4-17)
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.
Re: Xbox Head Doubles Down On The Importance Of Console, Says It's A 'Reference Experience'
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.
Re: Opinion: Xbox Should Consider Cancelling Halo: Campaign Evolved For PS5
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.
Re: Xbox Adds New 'Sort By' Options On The Microsoft Store, Including By Price & Discount
Nice! Next we need custom wishlist sorting like Steam has please.
Re: Poll: How Optimistic Are You Feeling About The Future Of Xbox?
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.
Re: Poll: How Optimistic Are You Feeling About The Future Of Xbox?
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).
Re: Analyst Provides Interesting Data On How Well January's Big Game Pass Additions Performed
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…
Re: Xbox Won't Back Away From First-Party And Become 'Just A Publisher', Insists EVP Matt Booty
@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.
Re: Xbox Won't Back Away From First-Party And Become 'Just A Publisher', Insists EVP Matt Booty
@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.
Re: Xbox Won't Back Away From First-Party And Become 'Just A Publisher', Insists EVP Matt Booty
It’s funny he uses ROG Xbox Ally as the example because it’s actually ASUS hardware lol
Re: Xbox Boss Questioned On Whether Exclusives Could Return In The Future
@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.
Re: Xbox Boss Questioned On Whether Exclusives Could Return In The Future
It’s too late lol
Every major IP is now on PlayStation. You can’t undo that. The point of no return has already been crossed. The hardware sales have already tanked. Game over. Multiplatform is here to stay, we all know it.
Ditch the mandatory requirement for Game Pass Essential, price match the PS5 (expandable storage included), and get rid of dashboard ads if you want a major competitive win for consoles. It’s the only realistic path forward.
Re: Xbox Says 'Hardware Announcements Are Coming Up' As Team Looks Ahead To Next-Gen
This new hardware has been ‘coming soon’ for two years already thanks to extended rumour cycles 😭
The word ‘soon’ has lost all meaning lol
Re: Talking Point: You're The New Head Of Xbox, What Do You Do Now?
There’s nothing that can realistically be done about exclusivity, we’re already past the point of no return in that regard. So compensate for this disadvantage by making XSX|S compelling for other reasons.
Re: Seven Amazing Things Phil Spencer Did During His Reign As Head Of Xbox
I still think it’s a bit weird that Phil left before the 25th anniversary. With it being merely 9 months away I just assumed he’d remain on for that and then leave on a high note.
Re: 'Return To Our Roots' - Xbox CEO Reiterates Her Goals For The Future
@Fiendish-Beaver the thing really is DOA if it doesn’t even offer basic backwards compatibility. A key pillar Xbox has built their brand upon for the last decade. If it really is just Windows 11 with the Xbox FSE overlay slapped on top and can’t play any XSX games then there’s simply no reason for me to buy it when I already have a gaming PC (which I can convert into a mini ITX SFF build if needed to play on the TV in the living room). Who would such a device appeal to? It’d be so insanely niche that it’d be pretty much instantly become irrelevant in the market. I’ve gotta keep holding onto hope that when Sarah said it’d be fully backwards compatible that she actually meant those words and wasn’t intentionally misleading us. Cloud streaming does not count as backwards compatibility!
Re: 'Return To Our Roots' - Xbox CEO Reiterates Her Goals For The Future
Lowering the price to match the PS5 would be a start. Not really much else I think they’ll realistically be willing to do to save the XSX|S from the current doom spiral in hardware sales and I don’t think there’s a high likelihood they’ll be willing to price match the PS5. The exclusive ship has obviously already sailed, so that’s not up for debate. This is all just a bunch of PR waffle really. Actions speak far louder than words, so I’ll believe it when I see it.
Re: Xbox's 'Pivot Away From Console' Had Been Failing And Questioned At Microsoft, Claims Report
I’m sceptical. Seems like a coordinated effort to scapegoat Sarah. Which isn’t to say she didn’t push for the ‘everything, everyone and their dog” is an Xbox strategy, but she would’ve needed sign off from Phil and Satya to go ahead and clearly they loved the idea. So no, I don’t believe for a second that she was the sole architect of the current Xbox situation. And as for Microsoft being disappointed at hardware sales… lol no. They knew exactly what they were doing. It was all intentional to slowly wind down XSX|S. You don’t bin off exclusives, raise hardware/game pass costs, and explicitly market how you don’t need to buy an Xbox and then expect no repercussions from those actions. They’re not that stupid. As for supposed change of direction, I don’t buy that either. What can they even realistically change course on? The multiplatform ship has already well and truly sailed. XSX|S sales cannot meaningfully recover. It’s all just fluffy but ultimately meaningless PR talk. Satya is still in charge at the end of the day.
Re: Phil Spencer Announces That He's Retiring From Xbox
@IOI yeah he did seem to lose his soul over the last few years. His heart didn’t seem in it anymore after the Activision buyout.
@Millionski yes this focus on AI is concerning. Xbox feels like a very different brand from when I bought my XSX in 2021, only 5 years ago.
@RBRTMNZ seems Sarah peaced out after getting snubbed from the top job by the AI drone. Choosing to give no public statement implies she’s got beef with how this all went down.
Re: Phil Spencer Announces That He's Retiring From Xbox
Phil didn’t even want to stay on a few months longer for the 25th anniversary that they’ve been hyping up?
Sarah’s gone too.
Replaced by an AI executive who previously worked for Meta.
I have a bad feeling about this…
Re: Microsoft Rewards Quietly Increases Its Prices For Xbox Gift Cards
@GuyinPA75 yeah it’s just I’d to play Planet of Lana 2 when it comes out. I guess I’ll see how I feel when the time comes. Assuming the reviews are good for the game!
Re: Microsoft Rewards Quietly Increases Its Prices For Xbox Gift Cards
My Game Pass Ultimate expires 2nd of March. They added in all these extra rewards quest perks over the Essential tier last year and now they’ve made them all worth less in one fell swoop. Something I’ll have to consider when I decide whether to renew Ultimate or simply stick to Essential.
Re: New Report On PS6 Delay Throws Next-Gen Timing Into Doubt
@Neither_scene that’s exactly what I mean, sorry if it wasn’t clear. Price it too high and the audience will end up being very niche. So I suppose it ends up being a question of just how mass market Microsoft want this device to be.
Re: New Report On PS6 Delay Throws Next-Gen Timing Into Doubt
@fatpunkslim for HBM3E. HBM has hardly ever been used in consumer gaming products because it is much more expensive than GDDR memory and the latter does the job well enough, even for flagship GPUs like the RTX 5090. I would be flabbergasted if Microsoft would use such premium memory in their Xbox products, when they could use them in their much more profitable enterprise products instead and are currently crazy in love with everything AI.
Re: New Report On PS6 Delay Throws Next-Gen Timing Into Doubt
@Fiendish-Beaver I suppose they will use the APU in cloud server farms too, so can make return on R&D investment that way. Something that only just came to my mind. So yeah I suppose selling X number of units isn't as important as it would've been otherwise.
10 million is probably very optimistic considering Series X has sold roughly the same as the Wii U at a much lower price point than we're all expecting this device to be. The market for a four figure priced Xbox will be significantly smaller than that still!