Cakefish

@Gabrie that’s definitely the feedback I’ll be sending once it arrives on the beta ring. Just give us a choice Microsoft, easy way to please all.

@Gabrie but I’ll have to sacrifice one of my precious game tiles for this useless folder that’ll be just full of cloud junk.

I won’t be able to check it out at launch because I’m going to a music festival that weekend (first world problems eh?) but I’m eagerly anticipating the reviews for this one. Hope it’s a good one!

December is decent timing too. I know it’s intended to promote the new film, but it means it stays well clear of obvious co-op competition in the form of Borderlands 4 and other big single player releases like Metroid Prime 4. I’ll keep it on my wishlist until then and may very well pick it up in the winter sale.

Hopefully we can disable this. I don’t want cloud games to show up on my console. I only use cloud to farm Rewards quest points by loading up all sorts of weird and wacky games on the iPad for the required 15 minute daily runtime. This will just clutter up my console with a load of nonsense!

Probably a 10 year long deal I’d wager. Back in 2020 Microsoft expected Game Pass to take over the world, so they would’ve been confident in signing such a long term agreement.

Wuchang hype! Well, I hope it’s good 🤞

Fingers crossed Wuchang is good. The trailers look promising 🤞

I recently purchased Lies of P: Overture so yeah I still buy games. Why would I let a bunch of corporate lackeys at a soulless trillion dollar company dictate and micromanage my gaming habits? Eww no. Game Pass is an accessory to my gaming life, not the centrepiece.

Yay no more adverts on dashboard for movies and TV. That’s an absolute win!

Edit: okay I scrolled down and it doesn’t quite make as much difference as I was hoping, as they still have a giant ‘watch and listen’ ad spot for streaming apps. Still, less advertising is just always an unequivocal positive. It’s a games console, keep it gaming focused. Movies and TV almost killed Xbox in 2013 - so good riddance I say.

I, for one, welcome Further Miyazaki Content with open arms!

I don’t plan on buying anything in this sale. The backlog demands my attention instead. Plus, I need to save up Microsoft Rewards points for Borderlands 4 and Little Nightmares 3 later in the year (assuming they review well).

Yeah I guess the problem is games take so long to develop these days that the generation is almost over by the time the first games that fully utilise all the tech actually appear. How many games actually use mesh shaders? Alan Wake 2 and I genuinely can’t think of any others. Then there’s the issue that Unreal Engine 5.0 released in a half-baked state so that set back games by many years too. How long will it take for UE5.6 games to finally surface? Probably not until the next generation hardware is already out sadly.

More evidence that next Xbox is in fact a PC. Evidence just keeps on stacking up.

Keeper and it’s not even a close contest.

@Coletrain yes I completely agree, by giving up on exclusives they made this transition to PC and a more open platform essentially mandatory for the Xbox brand to endure.

@Millionski to clarify, I agree with you. The market can’t support a XSX successor because Xbox doesn’t really offer anything unique these days other than Game Pass, which has proven to be an insufficient selling point to maintain a mass audience for a premium console. The hardware has got some neat tricks like Quick Resume but the market has spoken - it’s not enough to remain competitive. This is all a consequence of Xbox leadership’s poor management of this generation (and the obviously the one prior too).

And by thrive I mean that I think a PC ‘Xbox’ could thrive in the same sense that the Steam Deck thrives and not that it’s going to outsell the PS6, because that’ll absolutely never happen.

All signs point to Microsoft sunsetting traditional consoles in favour of console-like simplified Windows boxes that also have Steam and other PC stores etc.

It’s true I think that the market can no longer support a traditional XSX successor. Going the PC route is the only way Xbox hardware can survive. If they do it right though they won’t just survive but thrive.

Exciting times ahead next generation.

The art direction looks top notch. The screenshots are gorgeous.

Will Rare ever do anything other than Sea of Thieves or are they doomed to eternally work on live services for all eternity?

Panzer Dragoon Orta ❤️
A masterpiece for its time that has aged remarkably well. The world, the lore, the art, the atmosphere, the music - it’s all so well done.

I really wish we could get a new Panzer Dragoon game.

@BacklogBrad I was going to say something very similar (to your first comment). If Game Pass weren’t profitable then it wouldn’t have survived for this long in its current form. It really is as simple as that I think. Xbox is no charity.

Microsoft have no qualms shutting down studios, making employees redundant, cancelling games, raising prices of hardware and games all in the name of the sacred profit margin. They are cutthroat. I don’t see why Game Pass would be an exception to this rule.

Maybe! Depends if there’s interest from my brothers firstly, as it’s co-op game so it’s not just my decision alone.

The late August timing is problematic for me personally though as I’ll be away from Xbox for much of September. By the time I get back Borderlands 4 will be out and if that reviews well we’re likely to prioritise it. Then Little Nightmares 3 comes out not long after as another co-op game on our radar.

I’m travelling tomorrow, so Horizon: Forbidden West is going on pause for now. Switch 2 will be my companion all week, I just bought Sonic x Shadow Generations to have something new and shiny to play on it.

Alas, you cannot save what is already dead.

@Millionski thing is, if it truly has Steam then it won’t matter if it flops in terms of sales, because it’ll still get all the games regardless! That would be the beauty of merging with PC. I wouldn’t have to sit here constantly port begging for Stellar Blade anymore, it would just be there and just work.

Yes ‘safe’ hmmm 👀
Feels like nothing is truly safe now honestly. Well except Call of Duty. That one is definitely safe.

It’s not fake… but here’s all the ways that it’s fake.

@Millionski oh yeah I’m certainly not holding my breath for anything first party, but third party developed exclusives… well this announcement brings a little spark of hope. Stellar Blade on Xbox, make it happen Sony!

How about Stellar Blade? Pie in the Sky or a real possibility?

Woah. Well that was unexpected. Has anyone checked on hell lately? Has it frozen over? And why do I see a flock of pigs galavanting across the sky?

I was reminded that a few months ago Phil was saying this:
https://www.eurogamer.net/yes-rares-everwild-is-still-in-development-and-xbox-is-committed-to-giving-the-team-the-time-it-needs

Awkward! 😬

And Jez Corden also got this spectacularly wrong: https://www.purexbox.com/news/2025/05/microsoft-has-strong-confidence-in-rares-everwild-says-xbox-reporter

Sounds like Double Fine are safe… for now. It’s troubling that mass layoffs and studio closures are a frequent occurrence now at Xbox.

This is developing faster than poor Ben or Fraser can possibly keep up with, but the latest is that The Initiative has been closed and Perfect Dark cancelled.

Every cloud has a silver lining

So… Rare is now doomed to just toil away in the Sea of Thieves live service mines for all eternity? This is sad. Incredibly sad.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner so Rare just doomed to be a Sea of Thieves live service slop factory for all eternity? That would be a very dark outcome.

Hoping that Double Fine will make it through 🤞

Best that can be wished for is no full studio closures I guess. Let’s see what this day of misery has in store

Wooooo! Go Split Fiction! 🥳
My GOTY of 2025 so far, for sure.

I haven’t had chance to play Clair Obscur yet. The backlog of games is so very long.

Excited for Wuchang, I hope it’s good.

I’ll reserve judgement until after tomorrow’s mass layoff and studio closure announcement that is rumoured to happen. Actions speak far louder than words. That’s when we will know what Xbox truly values. Do they value high quality games like Psychonauts 2 or do they value annualised, micro-transaction infested slop? Let’s see. Double Fine is the canary in the coal mine. If they die, then it signals that Xbox are set on a dark path. Psychonauts 2 is my favourite first party XSX game and Keeper is easily the most interesting Xbox release in all of 2025. Don’t you dare harm Double Fine!

Ah yes the good old announcement of an announcement.

I hope Wuchang will end up being good. I'll need some more soulslike nourishment after I finish Lies of P: Overture.

Split Fiction, easily.

The only other 2025 game I’ve played on Xbox this year is South of Midnight. It was alright, fairly decent, but couldn’t hold a candle to the co-op masterpiece that is Split Fiction.

My overall 2025 GOTY will very likely end up being a toss-up between Split Fiction and Metroid Prime 4.

@Ricky-Spanish thanks man! Yeah the hot nights are especially unpleasant when ill! I’m happy to report that after stuffing myself full with painkillers I’m feeling a bit better now.

I’m playing the fun game of fighting some sort of cold virus thing. Why have I caught this in the middle of summer? Ugh. I feel petty crap today. Bleh.

1) Do not close any talented studios via mass layoffs. Hands off Double Fine!

2) Zero Game Pass price rises or messing about with the Core to Ultimate conversion offer. That would be appreciated.

3) No nerfing of Microsoft Rewards points. It’s already not as good as it was in its prime, let’s not degrade it any further.

4) I want to see more OS updates that focus on QOL additions to the home screen, dashboard, store, games & apps etc. Don’t stay still, keep improving the Xbox OS. I hope Xbox Ally doesn’t consume all of their focus, leaving XSX forgotten and unloved.

That’s about it I suppose, I’m not being too demanding here I feel.

@Isolte can’t argue against those points because I agree, but I think that’s exactly why they are working on this controller-friendly UI on the Xbox Ally. That’s the first step, I think that handheld is being used as a testing ground. It’s basically copying Valve’s Steam OS, which isn’t a bad idea in my opinion because everybody and their dog raves about how good Steam OS is.

Problem is that for every game that has it, you can point to several other games that don’t. This issue will only be solved once Xbox and PC are fully merged into one.

@Fiendish-Beaver you’re right, you’re absolutely right. Though I still reserve the right to be angry at Phil if he dares touch my precious Double Fine. Of all the studios, the one that delivered the narrative platforming masterpiece that is Psychonauts 2 must be spared. There is so much incredible talent in that studio. Keeper better not be their swang song!