Already played it through on Luna. Massive miss from Xbox

I love my Xbox, I really do. And I don't disagree with any of those points

@Ninerguy1608 yeah I agree...hope it's what it sounds like though. After all, they're trying to promote Xbox as one ecosystem with console and PC.

Mind you, loaded.com has cheap digital games for series X all the time so I'm good either way

This would be awesome. As an example, metaphor is like £15 physical and usually £30 digital. Now I could buy physical and get play anywhere for half the price

I wholeheartedly agree. It's such an easy win.

@Scrubchub that really helps, thanks! I'm a huge RPG fan, just like that you're mentioning all the variety coz that's where things like the outer worlds fell totally flat for me (shoot, slo-mo, heal, repeat)

@Millionski haha yeah I was thinking that when I read your first comment about Ubi. AC games are sooo long.

FH6 and Fable yeah, that would work in this scenario, but halo, e-day, probably clockwork revolution too would be quick to beat

@Scrubchub how did you find Avowed overall? It's one that I'm intrigued by but worried that it would get boring after 10/15 hours

@Millionski they could, but me personally, I'd use it for a month when a new game came out then unsub. Doesn't seem that useful.

@Millionski premium is best of both worlds really, sell AAA games at launch and those that can wait will get them on the sub a year or so later. Wouldn't upset me one bit if we lost day 1 first party games. It was fun while it lasted.

@MinervaX76 it didn't work because they've had layoff after layoff and are now devolving 5 studios. It quantifiably didn't work for first party studios. The sub numbers weren't high enough to fund the games without incurring a loss on investment.

Again, game pass as a concept with 3rd parties is fine, but it's not working for first party.

@MinervaX76 well yeah but that amounts to the same thing. The game pass model subsidising those studios didn't work. It absolutely COULD work, but the games would have to be GOTY contenders.

But as @themightyant says, mismanagement probably played a huge part in that along with lack of marketing (which is extremely noticeable, at least to me)

@MinervaX76 agree, and paying a bag to get the likes of Persona 6 in there day 1 is great business. But with any first party game, you canabalise your own console game sales by adding it to the service.

If it was working, the layoffs wouldn't have been so big the last few years.

@themightyant because it is their biggest USP right now by far. Admit that game pass isn't working (for first party, not the whole service) and she basically tanks everything that happened over the last 9 years.

I'm not saying GPU doesn't work at all, but the Premium tier model might be a better fit for bigger games

@MinervaX76 not offering GPU as an annual subscription is such a strange thing. That's where they work best, when they can lock the cost in

@Fiendish-Beaver I agree. Big 1st party games will be removed as an option as soon as possible. I think e-day looks like it's going to be incredible, score high in reviews and play like a dream.

But I don't think it moves sub numbers

@themightyant it's a very good point, and no they have never said anything negative regarding game pass figures (not that they would), but I'm thinking along the lines of if they had to take new CODs away, then the same logic should apply to all high budget games

@Fiendish-Beaver I think she has to remove tentpole games from day 1. Early sales > engagement metrics

I do think it will continue to grow as decisions are made for cheaper and different tiers. I'm quite in favour of scrapping GPU and having premium as the defacto tier, but it's so hard for Xbox to walk back on day 1 games

@General-Foley my commiserations on being a united fan, it has roughly the same highs and lows as being an Xbox fan does!

I am going to seduce 1 Hollywood actress per day. To do this I'll lose my job and downsize my family. It's 100% achievable.

@Millionski i hope so too, it's definitely not there yet!

Stuck a jsaux 65wh battery in it, makes it an actually useable handheld without plugging it in all the time!

This is one I really don't understand. Some of the other layoffs yeah, but you don't cut down on one of your best studios, you just reallocate them to something else if you have to

Never heard of game friend, given it a sub on YT to see what it's all about now

@NishimaruX I haven't yet fallen out of love with the series x, but I have consigned my indie (and a little bit of AAA) gaming to a modded Rog Ally. It's wonderful messing about with settings to get it just right at 18w 🤣

@Millionski I worry about the same things. I'm a broken record at this point, but a helix has the constraint of needing to work flawlessly with a non-VRR 60hz TV for the majority of purchasers. That's a tall order if it's playing PC games.

I worry less about Steam integration. That would definitely be cool, but Xbox PC needs to figure out how to compete with it, not bend over and give it all away to them!

@AverageGamer thank god we have AI to ruin our lives further, eh! I do try to separate "Microsoft" from "Xbox", but the AI push has really rubbed me up the wrong way. At work, the IT manager gave a talk about using AI as much as possible with my "token" limit, and I died about 95% inside

@NishimaruX I must say, PC gaming does become more and more attractive with each passing fumble from the console manufacturers. Ideally, the future has a strong Xbox PC presence, and I can only assume that all this "reset" stuff is building towards that.

If I really think about the best games this generation, the best software, it's multiplatform and PC focussed. I've played more on Epic and Steam than I have on Xbox this last 2 years.

@NishimaruX where do you think it all went wrong? I can't personally see past the crazy investment period during COVID where the industry was flush with money that just got pulled out of nowhere.

For Xbox specifically, this unfortunately feels a long, LONG time coming

EDIT: I'm just replying to comment #1 by the way, not the other game pass stuff that you and the other guys were discussing

Do it Xbox. Take the W

25k and all going towards GTAVI. I honestly don't know why this isn't marketed more as a benefit of Xbox/MS store

This was the right move from Xbox. We all know the game isn't going to be complete when it only holds 50GB of data, but you still own it and can sell it.

Honestly, it's cool to see them fighting back.

I'm new to halo, but the best levels in halo 2 and 3 were when there was tonnes of variety. Vehicle sections, close quarters combat followed by wide open field combat, jacking tanks and ghosts etc.

Infinite was fun but it had no variety and got tiring towards the end. Grapple was awesome though. I'd keep the grapple and vary the environments, and make the multiplayer normal again not this free to play battle pass crap

I don't see a need for a disc drive in helix. But I am very intrigued as to what the game preservation stuff is gonna be when they announce it.

@kmtrain83 hopefully they follow it up by keeping quiet and taking the win for once!

@kmtrain83 weirdly extreme example there. Weird person.

Awesome. I absolutely love this idea. Especially if it brings play anywhere support to games that have it

@Weebleman I too thought that comment was quite funny

@AI-Generation the series x is still plenty powerful for me. I can objectively see the difference that the pro makes, but in real life on a 4k set 6 feet away, it's really nitpicking a lot of the time. DF and the likes are great but they show stills and slow motion to really give you the differences. They're really not that big in real time, apart from obvious examples like FF7 rebirth which is just horrendously optimised for 60fps.

I have a far greater issue with poor frame pacing in games because my eyes have become sensitive to it.

@AI-Generation no arguments from me, PSSR 2.0 looks fantastic. Just not something I have access to nor am I particularly bothered with buying a ps5 pro.

Undoubtedly will be the best place to play most games from an image quality point of view

@Balaam_ unannounced but Shadows used TAAU so safe bet it's that if it's the same engine

@fatpunkslim oh hell yeah, if it does everything we think it will then it's going to be amazing. Let's hope the new leadership team are actually good at marketing

@fatpunkslim I don't think price to performance will be a particularly determining factor in sales when upscaling is likely to be so good on both consoles. It'll be price only in my opinion. And the ps6 will automatically have more goodwill than Helix unfortunately for MS.

It's gonna be verrrrry interesting to watch them both navigate this

This silly story got way out of hand, once again providing ample ammunition for the "my choice of console makes me superior to you" crowd.

I shall be picking this up on XSX and do not feel a sudden urge to buy a PS5 to play it there instead. As there will be beggar all difference.

@Quaali you very much did not get a W. Nishi won convincingly

@themightyant standard edition for the exact reasons that you are. R* can royally eff off with a 20 quid cosmetic and haircut upgrade.

Won't meaningfully change the game for me anyway

@darylb24 at first I thought maybe it was just the tariff situation, but the EU prices are horrendous too. Maybe I shouldn't question it in case the Xbox pricing gods see these comments!

Couple of things to note and look into:

1) UK has been fairly resistant to price rises. Not sure what it might be in August, but series x on Amazon has been £479 for some time now, with discounts now and again to £440

2) for those who want a console, eBay has loads of deals (including ones with companies like music magpie, which comes with a short guarantee)

So hopefully those who want a console can find reasonable ways around these price rises!

@SodaPop6548 I quite agree. It has brought zero benefit to me, my family or my friends. It stands to make only a small fraction of the world richer, whilst the rest of us bear the brunt of the costs.

This is about as close to a socialist rant as I'll ever get 🤣

Sad times for a clearly troubled developer with a total lack of direction. Here's hoping the affected staff form a studio and make their own shooter game, we know they have the chops