@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 Iâd be spending exponentially more keeping my subscription active than Iâd get back in points. Have to look at the bigger picture.
Iâm like you, Iâve 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 itâs trying to be jack of all trades but ends up being master of none. My favourite genres arenât 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 thatâs it, game over now.
Iâve bought some stackable codes for Essential and Iâll think Iâll just stick with that tier for now. I donât see much point to Ultimate when the majority of games I play either arenât on the service or get added years later.
If the prices hadnât risen so much within the past few years Iâd have stacked it again, but itâs got to the point where I canât 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 theyâve 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 itâs the former, how much free rein will Asha actually get in course correcting (assuming she herself has any desire to).
Itâs a paid service so yeah youâd hope subscribers would actually be using it for its intended purpose lol
I meanwhile have not been. Not because I donât want to but because I just donât have time. Iâve simply been too busy playing games that arenât on Game Pass.
My Ultimate expires 3rd March and Iâm really going to have to properly mull over whether itâs worth renewing as the last game I played via Game Pass was Keeper in October. I just canât 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, weâll seeâŚ
@BAMozzy I know what you mean and I donât disagree, but I do think that first party and third party terms kinda lose much of their meaning when PCs are involved, because itâs 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. Itâs always been terminology used when talking about the world of consoles, Iâve 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 isnât multiplatform Iâll eat my hat. Also Satya and the board of directors have seen the money generated by multiplatform and they wonât let that go. Satya specifically has been constantly beating the multiplatform drum and the new Xbox lady reports directly to him. Thatâs why I think itâs simply too late to change course now, theyâre already in too deep.
Every major IP is now on PlayStation. You canât 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. Itâs 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 âvalueâ.
Copy many more store/community features from Steam. Itâs 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).
Thereâs nothing that can realistically be done about exclusivity, weâre 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 itâs a bit weird that Phil left before the 25th anniversary. With it being merely 9 months away I just assumed heâd remain on for that and then leave on a high note.
@Fiendish-Beaver the thing really is DOA if it doesnât 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 canât play any XSX games then thereâs 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? Itâd be so insanely niche that itâd be pretty much instantly become irrelevant in the market. Iâve gotta keep holding onto hope that when Sarah said itâd be fully backwards compatible that she actually meant those words and wasnât 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 theyâll realistically be willing to do to save the XSX|S from the current doom spiral in hardware sales and I donât think thereâs a high likelihood theyâll be willing to price match the PS5. The exclusive ship has obviously already sailed, so thatâs not up for debate. This is all just a bunch of PR waffle really. Actions speak far louder than words, so Iâll believe it when I see it.
Iâm sceptical. Seems like a coordinated effort to scapegoat Sarah. Which isnât to say she didnât push for the âeverything, everyone and their dogâ is an Xbox strategy, but she wouldâve needed sign off from Phil and Satya to go ahead and clearly they loved the idea. So no, I donât 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 donât bin off exclusives, raise hardware/game pass costs, and explicitly market how you donât need to buy an Xbox and then expect no repercussions from those actions. Theyâre not that stupid. As for supposed change of direction, I donât 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. Itâs 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 didnât 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 sheâs got beef with how this all went down.
@GuyinPA75 yeah itâs just Iâd to play Planet of Lana 2 when it comes out. I guess Iâll 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 theyâve made them all worth less in one fell swoop. Something Iâll have to consider when I decide whether to renew Ultimate or simply stick to Essential.
@Neither_scene thatâs exactly what I mean, sorry if it wasnât 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!
I donât really see how the PC pivot helps Microsoft here really. Yeah it allows them to target much higher price points, but all that means is a much more niche audience. The number of PC folks with 5090s and 9850X3Ds is relatively small in the grand scheme of things. Thereâs no easy way around this issue. Hardware needs to be affordable whether itâs PC or not. If not enough folks buy it then they wonât get the return on investment on R&D, so thereâs a fine balance to be struck, they canât price it to the moon.
@themightyant when you add up all the countries then Little Nightmares 3 almost certainly did get over 500 reviews in total, but it still doesnât explain how it beat out Split Fiction which not only had multiple times as many reviews but also rated significantly higher overall. Germany was the most sceptical country I could find and they rated the paid version 4.8 and friend pass version 4.7! Most other countries awarded an average of 4.9! It makes no sense to me. Xbox snubbing Hazelight for some reason đ¤
Just makes you wonder how may other deserving games ended up getting snubbed too by whatever wacky criteria theyâve used here.
You know what Iâm confused how Split Fiction isnât on this list for the highest rated category. Itâs 4.9 stars with 2.5K ratings in US and 4.9 stars with 592 ratings in UK (I also checked Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil and all versions are highly rated there too). How the hell did Little Nightmares 3 beat it? I enjoyed LN3 but come on, what is this list? đŽ
@TuscanUK itâs probably because the store categorises Warzone as an âeditionâ of Black Ops 7 (or more accurately vice-versa). So the ratings are skewed by Warzone, which is more highly rated than the separate store listings for BO7 especially in countries such as India (4.2 star rating). Itâs stupid that the ratings are counted this way for COD and BO7 is seemingly unfairly buoyed up by Warzone, but itâs the only logical explanation I can come up with.
@FraserG Iâm still getting the bug where the Store gets amnesia and forgets I already told it that Iâm happy to get notifications for my wishlisted games. Almost every single time I launch the Store it asks me if I want notifications for the wishlist, the âdonât ask me againâ tickbox does nothing đ
Sounds good, but the Push Square reviewer has said that it doesnât look like Friend Pass is supported at launch. So thatâll have to be a purchase for later in the year then.
@somnambulance earlier announcement so people have had longer to add to their wishlist and also a significantly cheaper asking price which always helps popularity
@Fiendish-Beaver yeah totally understand what you mean. I like the console experience for the controller + TV style of play. The new system needs to replicate the current experience closely but also needs to offer the full capabilities of a PC. Tricky balance, really hope they succeed!
@Llamageddon it would be the same as current PC game reviews, where the reviewer states the hardware specs theyâre using and itâs left up to the reader/viewer to interpret the results and apply that to their own hardware. Certain specialist outlets like Digital Foundry and Hardware Unboxed often do PC game benchmarks using a wide array of hardware. Many reviews do call out Steam Deck specifically too, so I imagine the first party Microsoft offering will also get similar treatment if it ends up being as popular as the Steam Deck.
@Millionski we can only hope they arenât sleazy enough to try to pass off cloud gaming as backwards compatibility. My interest will be almost non-existent for these devices if they canât even run Xbox games. At that point Iâd be better off converting my current DIY PC into a mini ITX SFF build.
Cloud streaming is not backwards compatibility. My disappointment will know no bounds if they actually try to pass off cloud gaming as a viable solution to the BC issue.
Big caveat is whether these third party offerings will have full backwards compatibility as the in-house one supposedly has. Presumably theyâre almost certainly going to be using âoff-the-shelfâ APUs from AMD rather than Microsoftâs custom Magnus chip. And if the custom silicon isnât needed for the backwards compatibility, well then thatâll raise the obvious question of whether weâll see the Xbox support roll out to all Windows 11 PCs and if not then why not? The answer of course would be money, but it wouldnât be a good look.
Furthermore, I would be somewhat wary of these third party offerings as they might try and layer additional bloatware over the core UI. Hopefully Microsoft would have some guidelines to ensure they canât go too far with this, but the ROG Ally already splits up system-level controls between Windows and ASUSâs Armoury Crate/Command Centre apps so the precedent is already there.
Could end up being a great strategy in theory, all depends on the execution.
Itâs nice to hear that Microsoft donât plan on ditching XSX|S the moment the new device launches, because the way theyâve been acting has definitely given across the impression that theyâre desperate to move on and forget about current hardware. XSX|S deserve to have the same lifespan as the XBO has been enjoying.
@Fiendish-Beaver Code Vein 2 is good I think! Though unfortunately it doesnât run all that well on XSX currently. Not unplayable by any means, but it is quite noticeable at least to my eyes. However the good news is that the devs have already committed to specifically improving performance on consoles in upcoming patches.
My advice to you is to make sure you level up your character and gear on the tutorial island a lot â youâll need everything you can get! Bosses quickly get quite tricky. The final boss of the tutorial island is like Margit in Elden Ring, a proper skill test for the early game. I actually havenât defeated it yet. Itâs optional though, just like Elden Ring. So my advice is to treat it like Elden Ring, I think the devs want you to explore and upgrade your character before tackling certain bosses, itâs very intentionally designed like Elden Ring in many ways. Elden Ring is my favourite game of all time so I absolutely donât mind this, but just be prepared for a bit of a difficulty jump from the first game!
I was playing Code Vein 2 but have decided to put it on pause. Not because I wasnât enjoying it, I definitely am. I just have an extended three week long work trip in two weekâs time and I donât want to feel rushed trying to cram a 50 hour game into such a short timespan (and I donât want to leave it half finished either). I want to take it at my own pace and really absorb the open world and combat mechanics properly. I saw the devs have committed to patching the game to bring specifically better performance and combat balance adjustments by the end of March. So it makes more sense to me to save my first play through for when I return, when itâs in a more polished technical state and for when Iâm not feeling like Iâm under so much time pressure.
Not sure what I can pivot to in the meantime. It has to be something much more bitesized and manageable within two weeks. I still have Katamari to keep me occupied but I also want something a bit more narratively and mechanically substantial too, I have the soulslike itch! Wuchang and Stellar Blade are both too long as well though, so theyâre both on my to do list for later this year.
Well Game Pass is definitely going to need another big revamp when the nextbox is released because if itâs a PC that makes Game Pass Essential entirely redundant other than for legacy support for the XSX|S.
Comments 1,341
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 đ
Re: These Seven Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass, Including Three Big Additions (March 4-17)
@Fiendish-Beaver didnât you get the memo? Weâre 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 Iâd be spending exponentially more keeping my subscription active than Iâd get back in points. Have to look at the bigger picture.
Iâm like you, Iâve 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 itâs trying to be jack of all trades but ends up being master of none. My favourite genres arenât 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 thatâs it, game over now.
Iâve bought some stackable codes for Essential and Iâll think Iâll just stick with that tier for now. I donât see much point to Ultimate when the majority of games I play either arenât on the service or get added years later.
If the prices hadnât risen so much within the past few years Iâd have stacked it again, but itâs got to the point where I canât 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 itâs too late. Horse has already bolted, to add to the metaphor party.
Itâs 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 theyâve 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 itâs 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
Itâs a paid service so yeah youâd hope subscribers would actually be using it for its intended purpose lol
I meanwhile have not been. Not because I donât want to but because I just donât have time. Iâve simply been too busy playing games that arenât on Game Pass.
My Ultimate expires 3rd March and Iâm really going to have to properly mull over whether itâs worth renewing as the last game I played via Game Pass was Keeper in October. I just canât 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, weâll seeâŚ
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 donât disagree, but I do think that first party and third party terms kinda lose much of their meaning when PCs are involved, because itâs 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. Itâs always been terminology used when talking about the world of consoles, Iâve 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 donât really know what youâre trying to say because youâre agreeing that ASUS ROG Xbox Ally isnât first party hardware.
My iPhone and iPad are literally Xboxes because they can run xcloud games, but they donât 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
Itâs funny he uses ROG Xbox Ally as the example because itâs 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 isnât multiplatform Iâll eat my hat. Also Satya and the board of directors have seen the money generated by multiplatform and they wonât let that go. Satya specifically has been constantly beating the multiplatform drum and the new Xbox lady reports directly to him. Thatâs why I think itâs simply too late to change course now, theyâre already in too deep.
Re: Xbox Boss Questioned On Whether Exclusives Could Return In The Future
Itâs too late lol
Every major IP is now on PlayStation. You canât 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. Itâs 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 âcoming soonâ for two years already thanks to extended rumour cycles đ
The word âsoonâ has lost all meaning lol
Re: Talking Point: You're The New Head Of Xbox, What Do You Do Now?
Thereâs nothing that can realistically be done about exclusivity, weâre 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 itâs a bit weird that Phil left before the 25th anniversary. With it being merely 9 months away I just assumed heâd 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 doesnât 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 canât play any XSX games then thereâs 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? Itâd be so insanely niche that itâd be pretty much instantly become irrelevant in the market. Iâve gotta keep holding onto hope that when Sarah said itâd be fully backwards compatible that she actually meant those words and wasnât 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 theyâll realistically be willing to do to save the XSX|S from the current doom spiral in hardware sales and I donât think thereâs a high likelihood theyâll be willing to price match the PS5. The exclusive ship has obviously already sailed, so thatâs not up for debate. This is all just a bunch of PR waffle really. Actions speak far louder than words, so Iâll believe it when I see it.
Re: Xbox's 'Pivot Away From Console' Had Been Failing And Questioned At Microsoft, Claims Report
Iâm sceptical. Seems like a coordinated effort to scapegoat Sarah. Which isnât to say she didnât push for the âeverything, everyone and their dogâ is an Xbox strategy, but she wouldâve needed sign off from Phil and Satya to go ahead and clearly they loved the idea. So no, I donât 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 donât bin off exclusives, raise hardware/game pass costs, and explicitly market how you donât need to buy an Xbox and then expect no repercussions from those actions. Theyâre not that stupid. As for supposed change of direction, I donât 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. Itâs 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 didnât 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 sheâs got beef with how this all went down.
Re: Phil Spencer Announces That He's Retiring From Xbox
Phil didnât even want to stay on a few months longer for the 25th anniversary that theyâve been hyping up?
Sarahâs gone too.
Replaced by an AI executive who previously worked for Meta.
I have a bad feeling about thisâŚ
Re: Microsoft Rewards Quietly Increases Its Prices For Xbox Gift Cards
@GuyinPA75 yeah itâs just Iâd to play Planet of Lana 2 when it comes out. I guess Iâll 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 theyâve made them all worth less in one fell swoop. Something Iâll 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 thatâs exactly what I mean, sorry if it wasnât 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!
Re: New Report On PS6 Delay Throws Next-Gen Timing Into Doubt
I donât really see how the PC pivot helps Microsoft here really. Yeah it allows them to target much higher price points, but all that means is a much more niche audience. The number of PC folks with 5090s and 9850X3Ds is relatively small in the grand scheme of things. Thereâs no easy way around this issue. Hardware needs to be affordable whether itâs PC or not. If not enough folks buy it then they wonât get the return on investment on R&D, so thereâs a fine balance to be struck, they canât price it to the moon.
Re: Roundup: All The Xbox Reveals From February 2026's State Of Play
Kena was my favourite and itâs exclusive because of course it is đŤ
At least I can get it over on Steam, which I definitely will be.
Re: Xbox Announces Excellence Awards Winners, Including For 20 Best-Selling Games
@themightyant when you add up all the countries then Little Nightmares 3 almost certainly did get over 500 reviews in total, but it still doesnât explain how it beat out Split Fiction which not only had multiple times as many reviews but also rated significantly higher overall. Germany was the most sceptical country I could find and they rated the paid version 4.8 and friend pass version 4.7! Most other countries awarded an average of 4.9! It makes no sense to me. Xbox snubbing Hazelight for some reason đ¤
Just makes you wonder how may other deserving games ended up getting snubbed too by whatever wacky criteria theyâve used here.
Re: Roundup: Here's What The Reviews Are Saying About Xbox Horror Title 'Reanimal'
@ILuvGames itâs my brother so I trust him, but weâd be doing it online rather than via local coop because we live opposite sides of the country!
Re: Xbox Announces Excellence Awards Winners, Including For 20 Best-Selling Games
You know what Iâm confused how Split Fiction isnât on this list for the highest rated category. Itâs 4.9 stars with 2.5K ratings in US and 4.9 stars with 592 ratings in UK (I also checked Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil and all versions are highly rated there too). How the hell did Little Nightmares 3 beat it? I enjoyed LN3 but come on, what is this list? đŽ
Re: Xbox Announces Excellence Awards Winners, Including For 20 Best-Selling Games
@TuscanUK itâs probably because the store categorises Warzone as an âeditionâ of Black Ops 7 (or more accurately vice-versa). So the ratings are skewed by Warzone, which is more highly rated than the separate store listings for BO7 especially in countries such as India (4.2 star rating). Itâs stupid that the ratings are counted this way for COD and BO7 is seemingly unfairly buoyed up by Warzone, but itâs the only logical explanation I can come up with.
Re: Xbox Signs Out Multiple Players At Once, Seemingly Related To Age Verification Issues
@FraserG Iâm still getting the bug where the Store gets amnesia and forgets I already told it that Iâm happy to get notifications for my wishlisted games. Almost every single time I launch the Store it asks me if I want notifications for the wishlist, the âdonât ask me againâ tickbox does nothing đ
Re: Xbox Signs Out Multiple Players At Once, Seemingly Related To Age Verification Issues
Iâm still signed in, maybe because I (begrudgingly) verified my age a while ago using face scan.
Re: Roundup: Here's What The Reviews Are Saying About Xbox Horror Title 'Reanimal'
Sounds good, but the Push Square reviewer has said that it doesnât look like Friend Pass is supported at launch. So thatâll have to be a purchase for later in the year then.
Re: Xbox Has A Top-Three Most Wishlisted 2026 Game On Steam Right Now
@somnambulance earlier announcement so people have had longer to add to their wishlist and also a significantly cheaper asking price which always helps popularity
Re: Report: Xbox Working With OEMs To Build Next-Gen Options For 'A Range Of Price Points'
@Fiendish-Beaver yeah totally understand what you mean. I like the console experience for the controller + TV style of play. The new system needs to replicate the current experience closely but also needs to offer the full capabilities of a PC. Tricky balance, really hope they succeed!
Re: Report: Xbox Working With OEMs To Build Next-Gen Options For 'A Range Of Price Points'
@Llamageddon it would be the same as current PC game reviews, where the reviewer states the hardware specs theyâre using and itâs left up to the reader/viewer to interpret the results and apply that to their own hardware. Certain specialist outlets like Digital Foundry and Hardware Unboxed often do PC game benchmarks using a wide array of hardware. Many reviews do call out Steam Deck specifically too, so I imagine the first party Microsoft offering will also get similar treatment if it ends up being as popular as the Steam Deck.
Re: Report: Xbox Working With OEMs To Build Next-Gen Options For 'A Range Of Price Points'
@Millionski we can only hope they arenât sleazy enough to try to pass off cloud gaming as backwards compatibility. My interest will be almost non-existent for these devices if they canât even run Xbox games. At that point Iâd be better off converting my current DIY PC into a mini ITX SFF build.
Re: Sony Is Hosting A Huge State Of Play This Week, Do You Think We'll Get Any Big Xbox Reveals?
I hope to see more Tides of Annihilation
Re: Report: Xbox Working With OEMs To Build Next-Gen Options For 'A Range Of Price Points'
@Millionski they made a big deal out of it last year: https://www.purexbox.com/news/2025/06/with-its-next-console-xbox-is-making-a-big-commitment-to-backwards-compatibility
Cloud streaming is not backwards compatibility. My disappointment will know no bounds if they actually try to pass off cloud gaming as a viable solution to the BC issue.
Re: Report: Xbox Working With OEMs To Build Next-Gen Options For 'A Range Of Price Points'
Big caveat is whether these third party offerings will have full backwards compatibility as the in-house one supposedly has. Presumably theyâre almost certainly going to be using âoff-the-shelfâ APUs from AMD rather than Microsoftâs custom Magnus chip. And if the custom silicon isnât needed for the backwards compatibility, well then thatâll raise the obvious question of whether weâll see the Xbox support roll out to all Windows 11 PCs and if not then why not? The answer of course would be money, but it wouldnât be a good look.
Furthermore, I would be somewhat wary of these third party offerings as they might try and layer additional bloatware over the core UI. Hopefully Microsoft would have some guidelines to ensure they canât go too far with this, but the ROG Ally already splits up system-level controls between Windows and ASUSâs Armoury Crate/Command Centre apps so the precedent is already there.
Could end up being a great strategy in theory, all depends on the execution.
Re: Microsoft Apparently 'Expects' The Xbox Series Era To Last, Despite Next-Gen Plans
Itâs nice to hear that Microsoft donât plan on ditching XSX|S the moment the new device launches, because the way theyâve been acting has definitely given across the impression that theyâre desperate to move on and forget about current hardware. XSX|S deserve to have the same lifespan as the XBO has been enjoying.
Re: Report: Next Year Is 'Best Case Scenario' For New Xbox Console, Microsoft Still Unsure On Price
Windows 11 support confirms the death of Game Pass Essential as a mandatory multiplayer paywall. What glorious news!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (February 7-8)
@Fiendish-Beaver Code Vein 2 is good I think! Though unfortunately it doesnât run all that well on XSX currently. Not unplayable by any means, but it is quite noticeable at least to my eyes. However the good news is that the devs have already committed to specifically improving performance on consoles in upcoming patches.
My advice to you is to make sure you level up your character and gear on the tutorial island a lot â youâll need everything you can get! Bosses quickly get quite tricky. The final boss of the tutorial island is like Margit in Elden Ring, a proper skill test for the early game. I actually havenât defeated it yet. Itâs optional though, just like Elden Ring. So my advice is to treat it like Elden Ring, I think the devs want you to explore and upgrade your character before tackling certain bosses, itâs very intentionally designed like Elden Ring in many ways. Elden Ring is my favourite game of all time so I absolutely donât mind this, but just be prepared for a bit of a difficulty jump from the first game!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (February 7-8)
I was playing Code Vein 2 but have decided to put it on pause. Not because I wasnât enjoying it, I definitely am. I just have an extended three week long work trip in two weekâs time and I donât want to feel rushed trying to cram a 50 hour game into such a short timespan (and I donât want to leave it half finished either). I want to take it at my own pace and really absorb the open world and combat mechanics properly. I saw the devs have committed to patching the game to bring specifically better performance and combat balance adjustments by the end of March. So it makes more sense to me to save my first play through for when I return, when itâs in a more polished technical state and for when Iâm not feeling like Iâm under so much time pressure.
Not sure what I can pivot to in the meantime. It has to be something much more bitesized and manageable within two weeks. I still have Katamari to keep me occupied but I also want something a bit more narratively and mechanically substantial too, I have the soulslike itch! Wuchang and Stellar Blade are both too long as well though, so theyâre both on my to do list for later this year.
Re: Report: Microsoft Is In The Early Stages Of 'Expanding' Xbox Game Pass
Just hopefully not expanding the price đ
Well Game Pass is definitely going to need another big revamp when the nextbox is released because if itâs a PC that makes Game Pass Essential entirely redundant other than for legacy support for the XSX|S.
Re: Xbox Is Reportedly Releasing A Brand-New Controller Revision In 2026
Feel free to take some inspiration from Switch 2 Pro Controller - those thumb sticks are actually real nice, so smooth and silky.